1863

Events from the year **1863 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Galusha A. Grow (R-PA) (until March 4), Schuyler Colfax (R-IN) (starting December 7)
* Congress: 37th (until March 4), 38th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: John Gill Shorter (Democratic) (until December 1), Thomas H. Watts (Democratic) (starting December 1)
* Governor of Arkansas: Harris Flanagin (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Leland Stanford (Republican) (until December 10), Frederick Low (Republican) (starting December 10)
* Governor of Connecticut: William A. Buckingham (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: William Burton (Democratic) (until January 20), William Cannon (Republican) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Florida: John Milton (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Joseph E. Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Richard Yates (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Oliver P. Morton (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Samuel J. Kirkwood (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Charles L. Robinson (Republican) (until January 12), Thomas Carney (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Kentucky: James F. Robinson (Democratic) (until September 1), Thomas E. Bramlette (Democratic) (starting September 1)
* Governor of Louisiana: Thomas Overton Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Israel Washburn Jr. (Republican) (until January 7), Abner Coburn (Republican) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Maryland: Augustus Bradford (Unionist)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John Albion Andrew (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Austin Blair (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Alexander Ramsey (Republican) (until July 10), Henry A. Swift (Republican) (starting July 10)
* Governor of Mississippi: John J. Pettus (Democratic) (until November 16), Charles Clark (Democratic) (starting November 16)
* Governor of Missouri: Hamilton Rowan Gamble (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Nathaniel S. Berry (Republican) (until June 3), Joseph A. Gilmore (Republican) (starting June 3)
* Governor of New Jersey: Charles Smith Olden (Republican) (until January 20), Joel Parker (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of New York: Horatio Seymour (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Zebulon Baird Vance (Conservative)
* Governor of Ohio: David Tod (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: A. C. Gibbs (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Andrew Gregg Curtin (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island:
	+ until March 3: William Sprague IV (Republican)
	+ March 3-May 26: William C. Cozzens (Democratic)
	+ starting May 26: James Y. Smith (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Milledge Luke Bonham (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: Andrew Johnson (Unionist)
* Governor of Texas: Francis R. Lubbock (Democratic) (until November 5), Pendleton Murrah (Democratic) (starting November 5)
* Governor of Vermont: Frederick Holbrook (Republican) (until October 9), J. Gregory Smith (Republican) (starting October 9)
* Governor of Virginia: John Letcher (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Arthur I. Boreman (Republican) (starting June 20)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Edward Salomon (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of California: John F. Chellis (Republican) (starting December 10), Tim N. Machin (Republican) (starting December 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Benjamin Douglas (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Francis Hoffmann (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John R. Cravens (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Nicholas J. Rusch (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Joseph Pomeroy Root (Republican) (until January 12), Thomas Andrew Osborn (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: vacant (until December 10), Richard Taylor Jacob (Democratic) (starting December 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Henry M. Hyams (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Henry T. Backus (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota:
	+ until March 4: Ignatius L. Donnelly (Republican)
	+ March 4-July 10: Henry A. Swift (Republican)
	+ starting July 10: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William Preble Hall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: David R. Floyd-Jones (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Benjamin Stanton (Republican) (until January 13), Benjamin Stanton (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: vacant (until March 3), Seth Padelford (Republican) (starting March 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Plowden Weston (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: John McClannahan Crockett (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Paul Dillingham (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Paul Dillingham (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Robert Latane Montague (no political party)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Edward Salomon (Republican) (until January 6), Edward Salomon (Republican) (starting January 6)

## Events

### January

* January 1
	+ President Lincoln issues the second executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation, specifying ten Confederate states in which slaves were to be freed.
	+ The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Galveston.
* January 2 – American Civil War: Battle of Stones River ends.
* January 3 – The Thomas Nast drawing of the modern Santa Claus appears on the cover of *Harper's Weekly*, although Santa existed previously.
* January 8 – Ground is broken in Sacramento, California, on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States.
* January 9
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post begins.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Hartville begins.
* January 11
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post ends: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Hartville ends.
* January 27 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort McAllister begins.
* January 29 – In the Bear River Massacre, the U.S. Army attacks a Shoshone encampment in present-day Idaho led by Chief Bear Hunter killing hundreds.

### February

* February 3
	+ Samuel Clemens first uses the pen name Mark Twain in a Virginia City newspaper, the *Territorial Enterprise*.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Dover.
* February 10
	+ The world-famous midgets General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren get married in New York City; P. T. Barnum takes an entrance fee.
	+ The first fire extinguisher patent is granted to Alanson Crane in Virginia.
* February 16 – Kansas State Agricultural College is established as the first land grant college newly created under the 1862 Morrill Act.
* February 24 – Arizona Territory is organized.
* February 26 – Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.

### March

* March 3
	+ Idaho Territory is organized by the U.S. Congress.
	+ The Enrollment Act is signed, leading to the week-long New York Draft Riots.
	+ Third Legal Tender Act is passed.
	+ Issue of gold certificates is authorized.
	+ President Abraham Lincoln approves charter for the National Academy of Sciences.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Fort McAllister ends.
* March 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Thompson's Station.
* March 13 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Anderson begins.
* March 14 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Anderson ends.
* March 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Kelly's Ford.
* March 19 – The SS *Georgiana* is destroyed on her maiden voyage while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina. Lost to history, the wreck is discovered March 19, 1965 (exactly 102 years later) by E. Lee Spence.
* March 20 – American Civil War: Battle of Vaught's Hill.
* March 25 – American Civil War: Battle of Brentwood.
* March 30 – American Civil War: Battle of Washington begins.
* March 31 – The charter of Boston College is approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, establishing the college.

### April

* April 2 – Southern bread riots: In Richmond, Virginia, about 5,000 people, mostly poor women, riot to protest the exorbitant price of bread.
* April 7 – American Civil War: First Battle of Charleston Harbor.
* April 10 – American Civil War: Battle of Franklin.
* April 11
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Hill's Point begins.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Suffolk begins.
* April 12 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Bisland begins.
* April 13 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Bisland ends.
* April 14
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Irish Bend.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Norfleet House begins.
* April 15 – American Civil War: Battle of Norfleet House ends.
* April 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Vermillion Bayou.
* April 20 – American Civil War: The Battle of Washington ends inconclusively in Beaufort County, North Carolina.
* April 21 – Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
* April 26 – American Civil War: Battle of Cape Girardeau.
* April 29
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Grand Gulf.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Snyder's Bluff begins.
* April 30
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Day's Gap.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville begins.

### May

* May 1
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Snyder's Bluff ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Port Gibson.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Chalk Bluff begins.
* May 2 – American Civil War: Battle of Chalk Bluff ends.
* May 3
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Fredericksburg.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Salem Church begins.
* May 4 – American Civil War: Battle of Salem Church ends.
* May 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville ends: General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces with 13,000 Confederate casualties, among them Stonewall Jackson (lost to friendly fire), and 17,500 Union casualties.
* May 12 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond.
* May 14 – American Civil War: Battle of Jackson: Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeats Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, opening the way for the siege of Vicksburg.
* May 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Champion Hill.
* May 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Big Black River Bridge.
* May 18 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins (ends Saturday, July 4, when 30,189 Confederate men surrender).
* May 21
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Plains Store.
	+ The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is formed in Battle Creek, Michigan.
* May 22 – American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, by Union forces begins.
* May 28 – American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts to fight for the Union.

### June

* June 7 – American Civil War: Battle of Milliken's Bend.
* June 9
	+ American Civil War: The Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia ends inconclusively.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Lake Providence.
* June 13 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester begins: A Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
* June 15 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester ends.
* June 17
	+ American Civil War: The Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign ends inconclusively.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Middleburg begins.
* June 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Middleburg ends.
* June 20
	+ West Virginia admitted becomes the 35th U.S. state.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of LaFourche Crossing begins.
* June 21
	+ American Civil War: Battle of LaFourche Crossing ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Upperville.
* June 24 – American Civil War: Battle of Hoover's Gap begins.
* June 26 – American Civil War: Battle of Hoover's Gap ends.
* June 28 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Donaldsonville.
* June 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Goodrich's Landing begins.
* June 30
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Goodrich's Landing ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Hanover.

### July

* July 1
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg begins: Union forces under George G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion by Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Cabin Creek begins.
* July 2 – American Civil War: Battle of Cabin Creek ends.
* July 3 – American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg ends.
* July 4
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Vicksburg: Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi, after the town surrendered. The siege lasted 47 days.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Helena.
* July 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Williamsport begins.
* July 8 – American Civil War: Battle of Boonsboro.
* July 9
	+ American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Corydon.
* July 10 – American Civil War: First Battle of Fort Wagner begins.
* July 11 – American Civil War: First Battle of Fort Wagner ends.
* July 12 – American Civil War: Battle of Kock's Plantation begins.
* July 13
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Kock's Plantation ends.
	+ American Civil War: (New York Draft Riots): In New York City, opponents of conscription begin 3 days of violent rioting, which would later be regarded as the worst in the history of the U.S. with around 120 killed.
* July 16
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Williamsport ends.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Grimball's Landing.
* July 17 – American Civil War: Battle of Honey Springs.
* July 18
	+ American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Second Battle of Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war. Their commander, Colonel Robert Shaw is shot leading the attack and was buried with his men (450 Union, 175 Confederate).
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Charleston Harbor begins.
* July 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Buffington Island.
* July 23 – American Civil War: Battle of Manassas Gap.
* July 24 – American Civil War: Battle of Big Mound.
* July 26
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Salineville: At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 375 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
* July 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Stony Lake.
* July 30 – Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.

### August

* August 8 – American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (Davis refuses the request upon receipt).
* August 17 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter (the bombardment does not end until Thursday, December 31).
* August 21
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Chattanooga.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Lawrence: Lawrence, Kansas is attacked by William Quantrill's raiders, who kill an estimated 200 men and boys. The raid becomes notorious in the North as one of the most vicious atrocities of the Civil War.

### September

* September 1 – American Civil War: Battle of Devil's Backbone.
* September 3 – American Civil War: Battle of Whitestone Hill begins.
* September 5 – American Civil War: Battle of Whitestone Hill ends.
* September 6 – American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina.
* September 7 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Sumter begins.
* September 8
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Sumter ends.
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass.
* September 10
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Bayou Fourche.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Davis's Cross Roads begins.
* September 11 – American Civil War: Battle of Davis's Cross Roads ends.
* September 16 – Robert College of Istanbul–Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.
* September 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga begins.
* September 20 – American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga ends.
* September 22 – American Civil War: Battle of Blountville.
* September 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Stirling's Plantation.

### October

* October 3 – President Lincoln designates the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day
* October 5 – The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road starts operations in Brooklyn, New York; this is now the oldest right-of-way on the New York City Subway, the largest rapid transit system in the United States and one of the largest in the world.
* October 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Baxter Springs.
* October 10 – American Civil War: Battle of Blue Springs.
* October 13 – American Civil War: First Battle of Auburn.
* October 14
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Bristoe Station: Confederate General Robert E. Lee forces fail to drive the Union army out of Virginia.
	+ American Civil War: Second Battle of Auburn.
* October 15 – American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS *Hunley* sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.
* October 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Brooke begins.
* October 18 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Brooke ends.
* October 19 – American Civil War: Battle of Buckland Mills.
* October 25 – American Civil War: Battle of Pine Bluff.
* October 28 – American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie begins.
* October 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie ends: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant, having fought through the night, ward-off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.

### November

* November 3 – American Civil War: Battle of Collierville.
* November 6 – American Civil War: Battle of Droop Mountain.
* November 7 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Rappahannock Station.
* November 16 – American Civil War: Battle of Campbell's Station: Near Knoxville, Tennessee, Confederate troops led by General James Longstreet unsuccessfully attack Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside.
* November 17 – American Civil War: The Siege of Knoxville begins: Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege (the 2-week-long siege and 1 failed attack are unsuccessful).
* November 19 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
* November 23 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chattanooga III begins: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.
* November 24 – American Civil War: Battle of Lookout Mountain: Near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant capture Lookout Mountain and begin to break the Confederate siege of the city led by General Braxton Bragg.
* November 25 – American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge: At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
* November 26 – American Civil War: Battle of Mine Run: Union forces under General George Meade position against troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee (Meade's forces can not find any weaknesses in the Confederate lines and give up trying after 5 days).
* November 27
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Ringgold Gap.
	+ American Civil War: Battle of Mine Run begins.
	+ American Civil War: Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and several of his men escape the Ohio state prison, and return safely to the South.
* November 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sanders.

### December

* December 2 – American Civil War: Battle of Mine Run ends.
* December 8 – President Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
* December 10 – Leland Stanford, the 8th Governor of California, is succeeded by Frederick Low.
* December 14 – American Civil War: Battle of Bean's Station.
* December 25 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes the poem *Christmas Bells*, or, as it is better known *I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day*.
* December 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Mossy Creek.

## Memoriam

* January 3 – John Branch, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1817 to 1820 (aged 80; Enfield, NC, CSA)
* February 13 – Presley Spruance, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1847 to 1853 (aged 77; Smyrna, DE, USA)
* February 19 – Roger Sherman Baldwin, U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1847 to 1851 (aged 70; New Haven, CT, USA)
* February 27 – Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman, American Union Army soldier of Native Hawaiian descent (aged 17; Annapolis, MD, USA)
* March 18 – Powhatan Ellis, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1825 to 1826 and from 1827 to 1832 (aged 73; Richmond, VA, CSA)
* May 10 – Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general (aged 39; Guinea Station, VA, CSA)
* June 26 – Andrew Hull Foote, naval officer during the American Civil War (aged 56; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 3 – George Hull Ward, Union army officer (aged 37; Gettysburg, PA, USA)
* July 26
	+ John J. Crittenden, U.S. Senator from Kentucky 1817–1819, 1835–1841, 1842–1848, and 1855–1861 (aged 75; Frankfort, KY, USA)
	+ Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas (aged 70; Huntsville, TX, CSA)
* September 16 – Richard Brodhead, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1851 to 1857 (aged 52; Easton, PA, USA)
* November 2 – Theodore Judah, railroad engineer (aged 37; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 2 – Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States as wife of Franklin Pierce (aged 57; Andover, MA, USA)
* December 3 – John Wales, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1849 to 1851 (aged 80; Wilmington, DE, USA)