1863 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Abraham Lincoln
• Vice President: Hannibal Hamlin
• Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Galusha A. Grow , Schuyler Colfax
• Congress: 37th, 38th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

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.
• 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 11 - American Civil War - Battle of Arkansas Post: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
• January 29 - In the Bear River Massacre, the US 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.
• 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.
• March 19 - The 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 by E. Lee Spence.
• March 31 - Boston College is chartered.

  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 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.

  May

• May 1-4 - American Civil War - Battle of Chancellorsville: General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces with 13,000 Confederate casualties, among them Stonewall Jackson, and 17,500 Union casualties.
• 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 18 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
• May 21
• *American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana by Union forces begins.
• *The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is formed in Battle Creek, Michigan.
• May 28 - American Civil War - The 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts to fight for the Union.

  June

• June 9 - American Civil War - The Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia ends inconclusively.
• June 14 - American Civil War - Second Battle of Winchester: A Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
• June 17 - American Civil War - The Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign ends inconclusively.
• June 20 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

July

• July 1 - 3 - American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg: 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.
• 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.
• July 9 - The Siege of Port Hudson ends and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.
• July 13 - American Civil War - : 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 18 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held 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.
• July 26 - American Civil War - Morgan's Raid: At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 375 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
• 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.
• August 17 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
• August 21 - 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 6 - American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina.
• September 16 - Robert College of Istanbul–Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.

  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 14 - American Civil War: Battle of Bristoe Station - Confederate General Robert E. Lee forces fail to drive the Union army out of Virginia.
• October 15 - American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley and a crew of seven.
• October 29 – American Civil War - Battle of Wauhatchie: 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 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.
• 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.
• November 27 - 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.

  December

• 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.

  Ongoing

• American Civil War

  Births

• March 9 - Mary Harris Armor, suffragist and temperance campaigner
• May 4 - Charles S. Deneen, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1925 to 1931
• May 18 - J. Hamilton Lewis, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1913 to 1919
• October 21 - Ralph H. Cameron, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1921 to 1927
• October 31 - William Gibbs McAdoo, U.S. Senator from California from 1913 to 1918
• December 7 - Richard Warren Sears, co-founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company
• December 11 - T. Coleman du Pont, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1921 to 1922 and from 1925 to 1928
• December 13 - Mason Patrick, Chief of U.S. Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces 1918

  Deaths

• January 3 - John Branch, United States Senator from North Carolina from 1817 till 1820.
• February 13 - Presley Spruance, United States Senator from Delaware from 1847 till 1853.
• February 19 - Roger Sherman Baldwin, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1847 till 1851.
• February 27 - Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman, American Union Army soldier of Native Hawaiian descent
• March 18 - Powhatan Ellis, United States Senator from Mississippi from 1825 till 1826 and from 1827 till 1832.
• May 10 - Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general
• June 26 - Andrew Hull Foote, naval officer during the American Civil War
• July 3 - George Hull Ward, Union army officer
• July 26
• *John J. Crittenden, United States Senator from Kentucky 1817–1819, 1835–1841, 1842–1848, and 1855–1861.
• *Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas
• September 16 - Richard Brodhead, United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1851 to 1857.
• November 2 - Theodore Judah, railroad engineer
• December 2 - Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States
• December 3 - John Wales, United States Senator from Delaware from 1849 till 1851.