page_title: 1863
section_title: January–March
hierarchical_section_title: 1863 / Events / January–March
caption_attribution_description: painting depicting the February 1863 shipwreck of HMS Orpheus in Auckland, New Zealand.
context_page_description: 1863 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1863rd year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 863rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 63rd year of the 19th century, and the 4th year of the 1860s decade. As of the start of 1863, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
context_section_description: January 1
  Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It proclaims the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's four million slaves and immediately frees 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as Union armies advance.
  The first claim under the 1862 Homestead Act is made, for a farm in Nebraska.
  January 3 – Harper's Weekly post dated publication of Thomas Nast's first drawing of the modern Santa Claus (although Santa existed previously). The edition was published and distributed a fortnight earlier.
  January 4 – The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.
  January 7 – In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the village of Bedretto is partly destroyed and 29 killed, by an avalanche.
  January 8
  Ground is broken in Sacramento, California, on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States.
  The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel, in Sheffield, England. 
  Second Battle of Springfield
  January 10 – The first section of the London Underground Railway (Paddington to Farringdon Street) opens officially.
  January 11
  American Civil War – Battle of Arkansas Post: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
  In the Swiss Canton Ticino, the roof of the church of Sant'Antonio in Locarno collapses under the weight of snow, killing 47.
  January 15 – French intervention in Mexico: French forces bombard Veracruz.
  January 21 – Adam Opel founds Opel AG.
  January 22 – The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to liberate the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from Russian occupation.
  January 29 – American Indian Wars – Bear River Massacre: The United States Army, led by General Patrick Edward Connor, massacres Chief Bear Hunter and forces of the Shoshone, in the Idaho Territory.
  January 31 – Jules Verne's first adventure novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinq semaines en ballon), is published in Paris.
  February 1 – Radicals in Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, northern Ukraine and western Russia join the January Uprising.
  February 2 – January Uprising: Polish peasants are massacred by Russian hussars at Čysta Būda, near Marijampolė.
  February 7 – HMS Orpheus sinks, while attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.
  February 10
  World-famous midgets General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City; P. T. Barnum takes an entrance fee.
  Alanson Crane of Virginia patents a fire extinguisher.
  February 16 – Kansas State Agricultural College is established, as the first land grant college created under the 1862 Morrill Act.
  February 17 – The "Committee of the Five" holds their first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, which is regarded as the foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, following the lead of humanitarian businessman Henry Dunant.
  February 24 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
  February 26 – Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.
  March 2 – The Clapham Junction railway station opens in London.
  March 3
  Idaho Territory is organized by the U.S. Congress.
  The U.S. National Conscription Act is signed, leading to the New York City draft riots in July.
  March 10 – Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra).
  March 14 – Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent granting Goulburn, New South Wales, city status, making it Australia's first inland city.
  March 19 – The SS Georgiana is destroyed on her maiden voyage, while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina. The wreck is discovered exactly 102 years later, by E. Lee Spence.
  March 30 – Prince Wilhelm George of Denmark, 17, is elected by the Hellenic Parliament as George, King of the Hellenes; he will reign in Greece for 50 years. He arrives in Athens on October 30 to take the throne.
  March 
caption: February 7: HMS Orpheus sinks.
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