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The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was made by Abraham Lincoln on January 1st. It freed all Confederate slaves and had followed from the statements he made after 1862's Battle of Antietam. He was not able to declare from within the boundaries of Confederate states, but from the battle lines of the conflicting armies as the commander in chief. It allowed the Union to recruit black soldiers. -
First Underground Railroad
The First underground railway between Paddington Station and Farringdon Street via King's Cross "The Metropolitan Railway" is completed in London, England, now part of The London Underground. -
Congress Passes First Conscription Act
The act stated that men aged between 20 and 45 were required to register for service, but the law favored the rich because for $300.00 you could hire a substitute to fight in your place therefore avoiding going to war. -
The Union Uses African American Troops
The United States War Department issued General Order Number 143 on May 22, 1863, establishing a "Bureau of Colored Troops" to facilitate the recruitment of African-American soldiers to fight for the Union Army. By the end of the civil war, about 178,000 free blacks and freed slaves served in the army. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was an important battle in the war, with Lee's invasion of a northern state (from Maryland to Pennsylvania). Some 23,000 Union soldiers and over 20,000 Confederate soldiers were killed by the end of the third day. This was where Lincoln made his Gettysburg Address (on November 19th). -
Ulysses S. Grant
This was the year that Ulysses S. Grant was made commander of all Union Forces (a position in which he served until 1865) -
First Use of Submarine In Warfare
A Confederate submarine, the Hunley, is the first submarine to torpedo an enemy vessel. It sank three times (which included the death of its inventor, Horace Hunley) before deployment against a Union blockade of Charleston, South Carolina. It sank (with all nine crew) shortly after its attack on the sloop Housatonic. -
Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee defeats Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in one of American history's bloodiest battles. -
KKK formed
A group of Confederate veterans convenes to form the secret society the "Ku Klux Klan." The KKK wished to ensure the local African American population did not gain civil and legal rights. -
The Thirteenth Amendment Ratified
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. -
Abraham Lincoln Assassinated
It was on April 14th that President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day. -
Indian War Continues
Red Cloud (Sioux Tribe) leads his tribe into battle against white settlers in Montana and Wyoming on the Bozeman Trail. The Snake (Northern Paiute Tribe) attack settlers and miners in Oregon and Idaho. These attacks continued for two years until the Army forced the tribes back to reservation -
Dynamite
Alfred Nobel a Swedish chemist, engineer and armaments manufacturer discovers that when when nitroglycerin was mixed with kieselguhr powder it became safer and more convenient to handle, he called his invention Dynamite. Some years later a French newspaper published his obituary stating "The Merchant of Death Is Dead", the first line said "Dr Alfred Nobel who became rich by finding ways of killing more people faster than ever before has died". -
Jesse James
Jesse and his brother Frank James, who were Confederate guerrillas during the Civil War, turn to crime when they create the James-Younger Gang. Their first robbery is the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States in peacetime of the Clay County Savings Association in the town of Liberty, Missouri, on February 13, 1866 -
The Austro-Prussian War
This war was fought between Prussia and Austria, Hanover, Bavaria and Saxony. Its conclusive battle was at Königggratz in Bohemia on July 3rd, when the Prussian army beat the Austrian and Saxon ones. Even the Italians were involved in an attack on Austria's southern flank. The campaign was planned by Otto von Bismarck, with the intent of unifying Germany. It was also seen as the means of negating the Habsburg's influence on the German states.