January 1 - President Lincoln's final
Emancipation Proclamation is issued, freeing all slaves in
Confederate territories, and abolishing the practice of slavery; He
makes a point of emphasizing the enlisting of African-American soldiers
in the Union army.
January 25 -
General Joseph Hooker is appointed by President Lincoln as the new
commander of the Army of the Potomac.
January 29 - General Ulysses S. Grant is given command of the
Army of the West, and ordered to take Vicksburg, Mississippi.
March 3 - A draft affecting all male citizens aged between 20
and 45 is issued to strengthen the Union forces. Poor families are
outraged at the exemption of those able to afford a sum of $300 in lieu
of service.
May 1-4 - General Hooker's Union Army is defeated by Lee's
forces at the
Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. Lee's innovative
strategies are at the heart of his success, but it is still a small
victory for the Confederates, as General Stonewall Jackson is fatally
wounded by his own men. General Hooker later admits to losing his
self-confidence during the battle. 17,000 Union soldiers and 13,000
Confederates die during the fight.
May 10 - General Stonewall Jackson dies as the result of his
wounds. General Lee is now the only remaining threat to the Union
forces.
June 3 - General Lee decides to try and once again invade the
North, sending 75,000 Confederates towards Pennsylvania.
June 28 -
George G. Meade is appointed as the new commander of the Army of the
Potomac. Meade is the fifth man appointed to the post by President
Lincoln in less than a year, replacing General Hooker.
July 1-3 - General
Lee's Confederate soldiers are defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in
Pennsylvania.
July 4 - After a six
week siege, Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on
the Mississippi, surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant and
the Army of the West. This is a significant victory for the Union
forces, which are now in control of the Mississippi.
July 13-16 -
Over 100 people die in the New York City anti-draft riots. Union
forces on their way back from Gettysburg are called in to restore order.
July 18 - Fort Wagner
is attacked by
Colonel Robert G. Shaw and the "Negro troops" of the 54th Massachusetts
Infantry Regiment. Shaw and 600 of his men perish in the assault.
August 10 - President
Lincoln meets abolitionist
Frederick Douglass. The two discuss equal rights for the
African-Americans of the Union "Negro Troops".
August 21 -
Pro-Confederate
William C. Quantrill and a mob of his followers raid the town of
Lawrence, Kansas, and massacre nearly 200 boys and men.
September 19/20 -
Confederate
General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Chickamauga
traps
General William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the
Cumberland in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
October 16 - General
Grant is given command of all Western theater operations by President
Lincoln.
November 19 -
President Lincoln delivers a two minute
Gettysburg Address during a ceremony in which the battlefield is
designated as a National Cemetery.
November 23-25 -
General Bragg's siege army, which has been holding General Rosecrans'
Unions forces trapped in Chattanooga, is defeated by Grant's Union
forces.
