← 1862 1861 1860 1863 in the United States → 1864 1865 1866
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	History of the United States (1849–1865) Timeline of the history of the United States (1860-1899) List of years in the United States

Events from the year1863 in the United States.

• President:Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois)
• Vice President:Hannibal Hamlin (R-Maine)
• Chief Justice:Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives:

Galusha A. Grow (R-Pennsylvania) (until March 4)

Schuyler Colfax (R-Indiana) (starting December 7)

• Congress:37th (until March 4),38th (starting March 4)

• January 1
  • President Lincoln issues the second executive order of theEmancipation Proclamation, specifying tenConfederate states in whichslaves were to be freed.^[1]
  • The first claim under theHomestead Act is made for a farm inNebraska.
• January 3 – TheThomas Nast drawing of the modernSanta Claus appears on the cover ofHarper's Weekly, although Santa existed previously.
• January 8 – Ground is broken inSacramento, California, on the construction of theFirst transcontinental railroad in the United States.
• January 11 –American Civil War –Battle of Arkansas Post: GeneralJohn McClernand and AdmiralDavid Dixon Porter capture theArkansas River for the Union.
• January 29 – In theBear River Massacre, the U.S. Army attacks aShoshone encampment in present-day Idaho led by ChiefBear Hunter killing hundreds.

• February 3 –Samuel Clemens first uses the pen name Mark Twain in aVirginia City newspaper, theTerritorial Enterprise.
• February 10
  • The world-famous midgetsGeneral Tom Thumb andLavinia Warren get married inNew York City;P. T. Barnum takes an entrance fee.
  • The firstfire extinguisher patent is granted to Alanson Crane in Virginia.^[2]
• February 16 –Kansas State Agricultural College is established as the firstland grant college newly created under the 1862Morrill Act.
• February 24 –Arizona Territory is organized.
• February 26 – Abraham Lincoln signs theNational Banking Act into law.

• March 3
  • Idaho Territory is organized by theU.S. Congress.
  • TheEnrollment Act is signed, leading to the week-longNew York Draft Riots.
  • Third Legal Tender Act is passed.
  • Issue ofgold certificates is authorized.
  • PresidentAbraham Lincoln approves charter for theNational Academy of Sciences.
• March 19 – TheSS Georgiana is destroyed on her maiden voyage while attempting to run theblockade intoCharleston, South Carolina. Lost to history, the wreck is discovered March 19, 1965 (exactly 102 years later) byE. Lee Spence.
• March 31 – The charter ofBoston College is approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, establishing the college.

• April 2 –Southern bread riots: InRichmond, Virginia, about 5,000 people, mostly poor women, riot to protest the exorbitant price of bread.
• April 20 –American Civil War – TheBattle of Washington ends inconclusively inBeaufort County, North Carolina.

• May 1–4 –American Civil War –Battle of Chancellorsville: GeneralRobert E. Lee defeats Union forces with 13,000 Confederate casualties, among themStonewall Jackson (lost to friendly fire), and 17,500 Union casualties.
• May 14 –American Civil War –Battle of Jackson (MS): Union GeneralUlysses S. Grant defeats Confederate GeneralJoseph E. Johnston, opening the way for thesiege of Vicksburg.
• May 18 –American Civil War: Thesiege of Vicksburg begins (ends Saturday, July 4, when 30,189 Confederate men surrender).
• May 21
  • American Civil War: Thesiege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, by Union forces begins.
  • TheGeneral Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is formed inBattle Creek, Michigan.
• May 28 –American Civil War – The54th Massachusetts, the firstAfrican-American regiment, leavesBoston, Massachusetts to fight for the Union.

• June 9 –American Civil War – TheBattle of Brandy Station,Virginia ends inconclusively.
• June 14 –American Civil War –Second Battle of Winchester: A Union garrison is defeated by theArmy of Northern Virginia in theShenandoah Valley town ofWinchester, Virginia.
• June 17 –American Civil War – TheBattle of Aldie in theGettysburg campaign ends inconclusively.
• June 20 –West Virginia is admitted as the 35thU.S. state (seeHistory of West Virginia).

• July 1–3 –American Civil War:Battle of Gettysburg: Union forces underGeorge G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion byRobert E. Lee at theBattle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the war (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).
• July 4 –American Civil War:Battle of Vicksburg –Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate cityVicksburg, Mississippi, after the town surrendered. The siege lasted 47 days.
• July 9 – Thesiege of Port Hudson ends and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.
• July 13 –American Civil War – (New York Draft Riots): InNew York City, opponents ofconscription 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, the54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-heldFort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war. Their commander, ColonelRobert Shaw is shot leading the attack and was buried with his men (450 Union, 175 Confederate).
• July 26 –American Civil War –Morgan's Raid: AtSalineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leaderJohn Hunt Morgan and 375 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
• July 30 –Indian Wars:Chief Pocatello of theShoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northernUtah.

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

• September 6 –American Civil War: Confederates evacuateBattery Wagner andMorris Island inSouth Carolina.
• September 10 –American Civil War: Confederate Major-GeneralSterling Price evacuates the Arkansas state capital ofLittle Rock after his defensive line is breached atBayou Fourche, eight miles below the city.
• September 16 –Robert College ofIstanbul–Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded byChristopher Robert, an American philanthropist.

• October 3 – PresidentLincoln designates the last Thursday in November asThanksgiving Day
• October 5 – TheBrooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road starts operations inBrooklyn, New York; this is now the oldestright-of-way on theNew York City Subway, the largestrapid 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 ofVirginia.
• October 15 –American Civil War: The first successfulsubmarine, theCSSHunley sinks during a test, killingHorace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) 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 GeneralJames Longstreet. Union forces thus open asupply line intoChattanooga, Tennessee.

• November 16 –American Civil War –Battle of Campbell's Station: NearKnoxville, Tennessee, Confederate troops led by General James Longstreet unsuccessfully attack Union forces under GeneralAmbrose Burnside.
• November 17 –American Civil War – TheSiege 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 theGettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony inGettysburg, Pennsylvania.
• November 23 –American Civil War – TheBattle 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 GeneralBraxton Bragg.
• November 25 –American Civil War –Battle of Missionary Ridge: AtMissionary Ridge inTennessee, 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 GeneralGeorge 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: Confederate cavalry leaderJohn Hunt Morgan and several of his men escape the Ohio state prison, and return safely to the South.

• December 8 – President Lincoln issues theProclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
• December 10 –Leland Stanford, the 8thGovernor of California, is succeeded byFrederick Low.
• December 25 –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes the poemChristmas Bells, or, as it is better knownI Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

• American Civil War (1861–1865)

• February 12 –Edith Julia Griswold, patent attorney (died1926)
• March 9 –Mary Harris Armor, suffragist and temperance campaigner (died1950)
• March 25 –Simon Flexner, pathologist (died1946)
• March –Texana A. Castle, Texas social worker, missionary (died1930)^[3]
• May 4 –Charles S. Deneen, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1925 to 1931 (died1940)
• May 18 –J. Hamilton Lewis, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1913 to 1919 (died1939)
• June 14 –Judson S. Siler, member of theWashington House of Representatives from 1913 to 1921 and 1923 to 1929 (died1942)
• October 1 –Adolph Otto Niedner, cartridge designer (died1954)
• October 9 –Enoch J. Rector, cinema technician, inventor, and film director (died1957)
• October 18 –Tommy Tucker, baseball pioneer (died1935)
• October 21 –Ralph H. Cameron, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1921 to 1927 (died1953)
• October 29 –Mark Baldwin, baseball player (died1929)
• October 31 –William Gibbs McAdoo, U.S. Senator from California from 1913 to 1918 (died1941)
• November 29 –Aaron S. Watkins, presidential candidate (Prohibition Party) (died1941)
• December 5 –Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer, businessman (Prophet ofSpindletop) (d.1955)
• December 7 –Richard Warren Sears, co-founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company (died1914)
• December 11
  • T. Coleman du Pont, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1921 to 1922 and from 1925 to 1928 (died1930)
  • Annie Jump Cannon, astronomer and academic (died1941)^[4]
• December 13 –Mason Patrick, Chief of U.S. Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces 1918 (died1942)
• Undated –Alfred Owen Crozier, attorney (died1939)

• January 3 –John Branch, United States Senator from North Carolina from 1817 till 1820. (born1782)
• February 13 –Presley Spruance, United States Senator from Delaware from 1847 till 1853. (born1785)
• February 19 –Roger Sherman Baldwin, United States Senator from Connecticut from 1847 till 1851. (born1793)
• February 27 –Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman, AmericanUnion Army soldier ofNative Hawaiian descent (born1845)
• March 18 –Powhatan Ellis, United States Senator from Mississippi from 1825 till 1826 and from 1827 till 1832. (born1790)
• May 10 –Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general (born1824)
• June 26 –Andrew Hull Foote, naval officer during theAmerican Civil War (born1806)
• July 3 –George Hull Ward, Union army officer (b.1826)
• July 26
  • John J. Crittenden, United States Senator from Kentucky 1817–1819, 1835–1841, 1842–1848, and 1855–1861. (born1787)
  • Sam Houston,President of the Republic of Texas (born1793)
• September 16 –Richard Brodhead, United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1851 to 1857. (born1811)
• November 2 –Theodore Judah, railroad engineer (born1826)
• December 2 –Jane Pierce,First Lady of the United States (born1806)
• December 3 –John Wales, United States Senator from Delaware from 1849 till 1851. (born1783)

• Timeline of United States history (1860–1899)

• American Annual Cyclopaedia ... 1863, NY: D. Appleton & Co. – via HathiTrust
• Charles E. Little (1900),"America: 1863",Cyclopedia of Classified Dates, New York: Funk & Wagnalls

• Media related to1863 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
• Booknotes interview with Joseph Stevens on1863: The Rebirth of a Nation, June 13, 1999.

• 1863 in the United States
• 1860s in the United States
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• 1863 in North America
• Years of the 19th century in the United States

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