1863
President Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in enumerated Confederate-held areas on January 1. General William T. Sherman withdraws his troops from the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on January 2. (Sherman had unsuccessfully attacked the Confederate positions at Chickasaw Bluffs on December 29, 1862, as part of a failed Union attempt to capture Vicksburg.) After a lull on New Year’s Day, General Braxton Bragg resumes attacks on Union forces along Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 2 (battle had begun on December 31). On January 3 Bragg withdraws his Army of Tennessee to Tullahoma, thirty-five miles to the south. Confederates lose approximately 12,000 men killed, wounded, or missing at Stones River, while General William S. Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland loses about 13,000. General John A. McClernand, a politically influential War Democrat and former Illinois congressman who had been authorized by Lincoln to raise and lead troops against Vicksburg, assumes command of Sherman’s forces at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, January 4. The same day, Lincoln responds to protests by revoking General Ulysses S. Grant’s order of December 17, 1862, expelling all Jews from the Department of the Tennessee. Lincoln nominates John P. Usher on January 5 to replace Caleb P. Smith as secretary of the interior. On January 11, Union forces under McClernand capture Fort Hindman and almost 4,800 Confederate prisoners at Arkansas Post, fifty miles up the Arkansas River, at the cost of 1,061 men killed, wounded, or missing. The same day, the Confederate raider Alabama sinks the Union gunboat Hatteras off Galveston, Texas. Jefferson Davis sends message to new session of the Confederate Congress on January 12 in which he praises recent military successes at Fredericksburg and Vicksburg, criticizes Britain and France for failing to recognize southern independence, and calls the Emancipation Proclamation “the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man,” one which makes restoration of the Union “forever impossible.” In Virginia General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Army of the Potomac, begins offensive on January 20 designed to cross the Rappahannock River above Fredericksburg and outflank General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. When heavy rain makes the roads impassable, Burnside abandons the movement, which becomes known as the “Mud March,” on January 22. Burnside asks Lincoln on January 24 to either remove several of his generals, including Joseph Hooker, or accept his resignation. The next day, Lincoln replaces Burnside with Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Union navy bombards Fort McAllister outside of Savannah, Georgia, on January 27 (attack is designed to test effectiveness of modern naval guns against earth fortifications). Grant assumes direct command of operations against Vicksburg on January 30 and assigns McClernand to command of one of four infantry corps in the Army of the Tennessee. On Grant’s orders Union troops continue work on canal cutting across peninsula opposite Vicksburg, and begin attempt to open a water route through several Louisiana lakes, rivers, and bayous to the Mississippi below the city. Confederate ironclad rams Chicora and Palmetto State damage two Union gunboats off Charleston, South Carolina, on January 31, but are unable to break the blockade of the port.
Fort McAllister is bombarded again on February 1. Union ram Queen of the West runs past Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 2, and begins capturing ships bringing supplies down the Red River to the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson, Louisiana, the other remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. On February 3 Union forces cut through Mississippi River levee at Yazoo Pass, beginning attempt to open route through the waterways of the Mississippi Delta to the Yazoo River northeast of Vicksburg. The same day, Secretary of State William H. Seward rejects proposal by French foreign minister Édouard Drouyhn de Lhuys for peace negotiations between the Union and the Confederacy. Queen Victoria declares in address to Parliament on February 5 that her government believes a British attempt to mediate the conflict would be unsuccessful. Union ironclad gunboat Indianola runs Vicksburg batteries on February 13. Queen of the West runs aground on the Red River below Alexandria, Louisiana, on February 14 and is abandoned by crew. Cherokee National Council meets at Cowskin Prairie in northeastern Indian Territory, February 17, and votes to revoke its October 1861 treaty of alliance with the Confederacy and to abolish slavery in the Cherokee Nation. (Cherokees remain divided between pro-Union faction led by John Ross and Thomas Pegg and pro-Confederate faction headed by Stand Watie.) Four Confederate vessels, including the captured Queen of the West, sink the Indianola in shallow water south of Vicksburg on February 24. Lincoln signs legislation creating Arizona Territory, February 24, and establishing national banking system authorized to issue banknotes, February 25. U.S.S. Vanderbilt seizes the British merchant vessel Peterhoff in the Danish West Indies, February 25, on suspicion that the ship, bound for Matamoros, Mexico, was carrying contraband cargo intended for importation into the Confederacy. British protest removal of official mailbag from the Peterhoff, raising Anglo-American tensions. (Incident is resolved in April 1863 when U.S. officials return the mail unopened.) Confederates abandon attempt to salvage the Indianola and destroy the ship on February 26 after Union forces float a coal barge disguised as a gunboat downriver.
On March 3 Lincoln signs conscription act making most males between twenty and forty-five eligible for service if voluntary enlistments fail to meet the recruitment quotas for their district. The law allows individuals who are drafted to avoid service by hiring a substitute or paying a $300 commutation fee. Lincoln also signs into law on March 3 a bill adding a tenth justice to the Supreme Court, as well as an act authorizing the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the “present rebellion” while limiting his power to detain persons indefinitely without charge. Union naval force bombards Fort McAllister on March 3 and then withdraws to prepare for attack on Charleston, South Carolina. Jacksonville, Florida, is occupied by Union troops, March 10–29, who gather provisions and recruit freed slaves for service in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Volunteer regiments. In the Prize Cases, decided March 10, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds 5–4 the legality of the blockade proclamations issued by Lincoln in April 1861. Lincoln issues proclamation on March 10 granting amnesty to soldiers absent without leave who return to duty by April 1. Confederates at Fort Pemberton on the Tallahatchie River repel Union gunboats attempting to reach the Yazoo River by way of Yazoo Pass, March 11. Two ships from Union squadron led by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut run past the Confederate defenses at Port Hudson on night of March 14. Union gunboats make unsuccessful attacks on Fort Pemberton, March 13 and March 16, then withdraw. Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter send expedition up Steele’s Bayou on March 16 in attempt to open route through the southern Mississippi Delta to the Yazoo northeast of Vicksburg. In Virginia, Union cavalry cross the Rappahannock River at Kelly’s Ford on March 17 and skirmish with Confederate cavalry before withdrawing. French banking house Erlanger & Cie floats £3 million loan to the Confederacy financed by sale of cotton bonds, March 19. (Proceeds from loan eventually total about $8.5 million, which Confederate agents use to buy arms and war supplies in Europe.) Porter abandons Steele’s Bayou expedition on March 22 when Confederates block passage of Union gunboats up Deer Creek in the southern delta. West Virginia voters overwhelmingly approve amendment to state constitution abolishing slavery through gradual emancipation, March 26. The same day, the Confederate Congress passes law authorizing government agents to impress property, including slaves, in support of military operations. On March 29 Grant orders McClernand’s corps to begin marching to New Carthage, Louisiana, in preparation for a possible crossing of the Mississippi south of Vicksburg.
Farragut begins blockading the mouth of the Red River on April 1. Several hundred women riot in Richmond, Virginia, on April 2 to protest food shortages. Nine Union ironclads bombard Fort Sumter and other fortifications guarding Charleston Harbor on April 7, but are repulsed by artillery fire that sinks one ship and seriously damages five others. In southeastern Virginia two divisions detached from the Army of Northern Virginia under General James Longstreet begin siege of Suffolk, April 11, while gathering forage and supplies for Lee’s army. Union forces under General Nathaniel P. Banks attack Fort Bisland on Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana, April 12–13. The Confederates evacuate the fort on April 14, the same day Union gunboats sink the Queen of the West on nearby Grand Lake. Ship carrying 453 former slaves sails from Fort Monroe, Virginia, on April 14, beginning colonization project on Île à Vache off Haiti authorized by Lincoln in 1862. Union gunboats and transports run past the batteries at Vicksburg on the night of April 16, providing Grant with the means to cross the Mississippi south of the city. Union cavalry brigade led by Colonel Grierson conducts raid from La Grange, Tennessee, through central Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, April 17–May 2, destroying railroads and further confusing Confederate commanders as to Union intentions. Second Union fleet of transport steamers runs past the Vicksburg batteries on April 22 as most of Grant’s army moves down the west bank of the Mississippi below the city. Confederate Congress passes its first comprehensive tax law, April 24, laying taxes on income, licenses, and products, and imposing a 10 percent “tax in kind” on agricultural produce for the year. (Law is resented by many small farmers for not taxing the land and slaves of plantation owners.) Union army issues General Orders No. 100, a comprehensive code of the laws of war drafted by jurist Francis Lieber, April 24. In Virginia, Hooker begins offensive on April 27, sending one wing of his army up the Rappahannock to turn Lee’s left flank while the other wing prepares to cross the river at Fredericksburg. Union troops cross the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers west of Fredericksburg, April 29, as cavalry forces begin raid on railroad lines supplying Lee’s army. On April 30 Hooker halts Union advance at Chancellorsville, ten miles west of Fredericksburg. Grant has Sherman feint an attack along the Yazoo on April 29, then crosses the Mississippi with more than 20,000 men at Bruinsburg, thirty miles southwest of Vicksburg, on April 30.
On May 1 Grant defeats Confederate forces at Port Gibson, Mississippi. Lee leaves 10,000 men to defend Fredericksburg and sends the rest of his army to face Hooker. Fighting begins on May 1 as Hooker resumes advance toward Fredericksburg, then withdraws to defensive positions around Chancellorsville. On May 2 Lee sends General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson with about 30,000 men on a twelve-mile march to strike Hooker’s exposed right flank west of Chancellorsville. Jackson attacks in the late afternoon and routs the Union Eleventh Corps, but is then accidentally shot by his own men while attempting to continue his offensive in darkness. On the morning of May 3 Lee’s army drives Union forces from Chancellorsville north toward the Rappahannock after Hooker is concussed by debris from the impact of a Confederate cannonball. The same day, the other wing of Hooker’s army captures Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg and advances toward Chancellorsville, but is stopped by Confederate defenders at Salem Church. In Mississippi, Grant captures Grand Gulf on May 3 and learns that General Nathaniel P. Banks’s expedition against Port Hudson has been delayed. Grant abandons plan to cooperate with Banks and decides instead to advance into central Mississippi and have his men live off the countryside as they march. Longstreet abandons siege of Suffolk on May 4 and moves north to reinforce Lee. The same day, Lee attacks at Salem Church, and the Union forces there withdraw across the Rappahannock on the night of May 4. Lee plans attack on Hooker’s defensive line near the Rappahannock, but the Union troops withdraw north of the river on the night of May 5. Chancellorsville costs the Union about 17,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, and the Confederates about 13,000. In Ohio, former Democratic congressman Clement L. Vallandigham is arrested in Dayton by Union soldiers on May 5 on orders from General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio. Vallandigham is convicted by a military commission on May 7 of having expressed “disloyal sentiments and opinions” in a recent speech and is sentenced to imprisonment for the duration of the war. Banks occupies Alexandria, Louisiana, on May 7. The same day, Sherman’s corps crosses the Mississippi and joins Grant’s army as it advances into central Mississippi. Jackson dies from his wounds at Guiney Station, Virginia, on May 10. Grant’s army defeats Confederates at Raymond, Mississippi, May 12, and captures Jackson, May 14, frustrating attempt by General Joseph E. Johnston to assemble reinforcements there. While Sherman’s men destroy factories and railroads in Jackson, Grant turns most of his army west toward Vicksburg. Grant’s forces defeat General John C. Pemberton’s army at Champion Hill, May 16, and capture crossings on the Big Black River, May 17, forcing the Confederates to retreat inside the Vicksburg fortifications. Banks evacuates Alexandria on May 17 and begins advance on Port Hudson. Grant orders assault on Vicksburg that fails, May 19. The same day, Lincoln commutes Vallandigham’s sentence to banishment in Confederate-held territory. Banks begins siege of Port Hudson, May 21. Grant orders second assault on Vicksburg, May 22, which also fails, then begins siege operations. Vallandigham is expelled across the lines in Tennessee, May 25. Union troops, including two black Louisiana regiments, make unsuccessful assault on fortifications at Port Hudson on May 27. Lee reorganizes the infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia, previously divided into two corps led by Longstreet and Jackson, into three corps commanded by Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, and A. P. Hill, May 30.
On June 1 Burnside orders the suppression of the Chicago Times, an anti-administration Democratic newspaper, for “repeated expression of disloyal and incendiary sentiments” (Lincoln revokes suppression order on June 4). Army of Northern Virginia begins moving toward Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on June 3 as Lee plans an invasion of the North. French troops occupy Mexico City, June 7, as part of attempt by Napoleon III to install the Hapsburg archduke Maximilian as emperor of Mexico. On June 7, Confederate forces attack Union supply depot at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, defended by brigade of black troops; after several hours of intense fighting, the Confederates retreat under fire from Union gunboats. In Virginia the largest cavalry battle of the war is fought on June 9 when Union forces cross the Rappahannock and engage Confederate cavalry near Brandy Station before withdrawing. (Although inconclusive, the engagement increases confidence of the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry corps.) Ohio Democratic convention nominates Vallandigham for governor, June 11. Grant receives significant reinforcements at Vicksburg, some of which he uses to guard against a possible offensive from central Mississippi by Joseph E. Johnston. Second Union assault at Port Hudson is repulsed on June 14. Ewell defeats Union forces at Winchester, Virginia, June 15, opening the Shenandoah Valley to the remainder of Lee’s army. The same day, Confederate troops cross the Potomac into western Maryland as Hooker moves north, keeping his army between Lee and Washington, D.C. Vallandigham sails for Bermuda from Wilmington, North Carolina, on June 17. (After arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 5, he will campaign for governor of Ohio from exile in Canada.) As the siege of Vicksburg continues, Grant relieves McClernand for insubordination on June 18 and replaces him with General Edward O. C. Ord. West Virginia becomes the thirty-fifth state on June 20. Advance Confederate forces cross into Pennsylvania on June 22. William S. Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland begins offensive on June 23, advancing from Murfreesboro toward Tullahoma with objective of driving the Confederates out of central Tennessee. On June 25 General J.E.B. Stuart, Lee’s cavalry commander, begins weeklong raid through Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. (Stuart’s absence will deprive Lee of his main source of intelligence regarding Union troop movements.) The same day, Hooker’s army starts to cross the Potomac into Maryland. After series of disputes with General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck, Hooker offers his resignation as commander of the Army of the Potomac on June 27, and Lincoln replaces him with General George G. Meade. On June 28 Meade assumes command at Frederick, Maryland, and orders advance north toward Pennsylvania. The same day, Lee learns that the Army of the Potomac is in Maryland and issues orders reuniting his three infantry corps in preparation for battle. Union cavalry enters Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on June 30 and deploys north and west of the small crossroads town.
Fighting begins outside Gettysburg on the morning of July 1 as Confederate infantry advancing from the west encounters dismounted Union cavalry. As both sides bring up reinforcements, the Confederates capture Gettysburg but are unable to prevent Union troops from establishing defensive line on the high ground south of the town. Confederate attacks on both Union flanks on July 2 result in heavy casualties on both sides but fail to drive the Army of the Potomac from the high ground. Lee orders assault against the Union center on July 3 that is repulsed with heavy Confederate losses. The battle costs the Confederates about 28,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, and the Union about 23,000. In Mississippi Pemberton opens negotiations, July 3, and surrenders Vicksburg and its garrison of 30,000 on July 4 after Grant agrees to parole the Confederate prisoners. Confederate attack against Union garrison at Helena, Arkansas, is repulsed the same day. Lee begins retreat from Gettysburg on evening of July 4. Lincoln refuses on July 6 to receive Confederate vice president Alexander H. Stephens, who had requested safe passage to Washington in attempt to open peace negotiations. Bragg retreats with his army to Chattanooga, Tennessee, July 7, after being outmaneuvered by Rosecrans during Union advance from Murfreesboro. Union authorities begin implementing conscription, July 7. General John Hunt Morgan and 2,000 Confederate cavalry cross Ohio River at Brandenburg, Kentucky, July 8, and begin raid through southern Indiana and Ohio. Confederate garrison of 6,000 surrenders at Port Hudson, Louisiana, on July 9, giving the Union control of the entire length of the Mississippi. Union troops land on Morris Island at the southern entrance to Charleston Harbor, July 10, but fail to capture Fort Wagner at the northern end of the island, July 11. Meade plans attack on Lee’s army at Williamsport, Maryland, July 12, but then postpones it. Mob in New York City burns draft office on July 13, beginning riots in which blacks and prominent Republicans become targets. Lee’s army crosses Potomac River from Williamsport into West Virginia, July 13–14, shortly before planned Union advance on the Confederate lines. Union troops led by Sherman force Joseph E. Johnston to abandon Jackson, Mississippi, on July 16. New York draft riots are suppressed by Union troops on July 17 after at least 105 people are killed. In South Carolina, Union forces led by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a black regiment, are repulsed with heavy losses in unsuccessful assault on Fort Wagner, July 18. Union troops and gunboats defeat Morgan at Buffington Island on the Ohio River, July 19, and capture most of his command. Attempt by Meade to cut off Lee’s withdrawal through the Shenandoah Valley fails when Union forces are blocked at Manassas Gap, Virginia, on July 23. Morgan is captured in Salineville, Ohio, July 29. Lincoln issues order on July 30 pledging retaliation for the execution or enslavement of black Union prisoners of war on July 30.
On August 1 Jefferson Davis offers amnesty to soldiers absent without leave if they report for duty within twenty days. Horatio Seymour, the Democratic governor of New York, asks Lincoln to suspend conscription in his state on August 3; on August 7 Lincoln refuses. In Virginia, Lee withdraws south of the Rapidan River on August 4. Union forces at Helena, Arkansas, begin advance on Little Rock, August 10. Rosecrans resumes offensive in Tennessee on August 16 with Chattanooga as his objective, while Burnside’s Army of the Ohio begins advance from Kentucky toward Knoxville in eastern Tennessee. Union siege artillery on Morris Island engages in intensive bombardment of Fort Sumter, August 17–23, causing heavy damage. Confederate guerrillas from Missouri led by William C. Quantrill raid Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, killing 180 men. Union artillery shells city of Charleston, August 22–24. In Missouri, Union general Thomas Ewing issues General Orders No. 11 on August 25, expelling almost the entire civilian population of four counties along the Kansas border in an effort to suppress Confederate guerrillas. (Order will result in the expulsion of between 10,000 and 20,000 persons.) Alabama legislature adopts resolution on August 29 asking the Confederate Congress to consider using slaves as soldiers. Rosecrans’s Army of the Cumberland crosses the Tennessee River below Chattanooga, August 29–September 4. Union artillery resumes intense bombardment of Fort Sumter, August 30–September 1.
Burnside’s army occupies Knoxville on September 2. In response to protests from U.S. minister Charles Francis Adams, on September 3 British foreign secretary Lord Russell orders that two ironclad rams built for the Confederacy by the Laird shipyards in Liverpool be detained in port. On September 5 Adams sends another note to Russell, warning that the United States will go to war with Great Britain if the rams are allowed to sail. Confederates evacuate Fort Wagner on night of September 6 after weeks of bombardment, giving Union forces control of all of Morris Island. Confederate artillery repulses attempt by Union gunboats and troop transports to sail up Sabine Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border, September 8. Attempt by landing party of Union sailors and marines to capture Fort Sumter on night of September 8 is defeated. Rosecrans’s army occupies Chattanooga, September 9, as Bragg retreats into northwest Georgia. The same day, Burnside’s army captures Confederate garrison at the Cumberland Gap, a mountain pass at the juncture of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Davis sends Longstreet and two divisions from the Army of Northern Virginia by rail to reinforce Bragg, September 9 (Bragg also receives reinforcements from Mississippi and eastern Tennessee). Union forces occupy Little Rock, Arkansas, September 10. Lincoln issues proclamation on September 15 suspending the writ of habeas corpus, including in cases where judges issue writs releasing draftees from the military. In northwest Georgia the opposing armies skirmish on September 18 as Rosecrans concentrates his forces along the western side of Chickamauga Creek. Battle begins on September 19 as Bragg attacks Union positions with limited success. On September 20 Confederate assault splits the Union center. Rosecrans and the Union right wing retreat toward Chattanooga, while General George H. Thomas and the Union left hold defensive position on Snodgrass Hill for several hours before withdrawing at nightfall. Battle costs Confederates about 18,000 men killed, wounded, or missing, and the Union about 16,000. Rosecrans establishes defensive line around Chattanooga on September 22, the same day Grant begins sending reinforcements from Mississippi to Tennessee. Bragg seizes heights overlooking Chattanooga from the south and east on September 23 and begins laying siege to the city. On night of September 23 Lincoln approves proposal by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to send two corps from the Army of the Potomac west under the command of Joseph Hooker. First Union troops leave Virginia on September 25 and arrive in Bridgeport, Alabama, about thirty miles west of Chattanooga, on September 30 after traveling 1,200 miles by train (rail movement of more than 20,000 men is completed on October 8).
Confederate cavalry led by General Joseph Wheeler raids eastern Tennessee, October 1–9, attacking wagon trains and depots used to supply Rosecrans’s army at Chattanooga. Confederate attorney general Thomas H. Watts resigns on October 1 after winning election as governor of Alabama. On night of October 5, Confederate steamboat David uses a torpedo (underwater explosive charge) mounted on a spar to damage the Union ironclad New Ironsides off Charleston. Jefferson Davis leaves Richmond on October 6 to visit Bragg’s army. Lord Russell orders seizure of Laird rams on October 8. Lee begins offensive in northern Virginia on October 9 that turns the right flank of the Army of the Potomac and forces Meade to retreat across the Rappahannock and fall back toward Centreville. Davis arrives at headquarters of the Army of Tennessee near Chattanooga on October 9 and tries to resolve conflict between Bragg and his generals, many of whom seek his replacement. On October 13, Republicans win victories in several state elections, including Ohio, where John A. Brough, a War Democrat running for governor on the Union ticket, defeats Vallandigham by more than 100,000 votes, and Pennsylvania, where Republican governor Andrew G. Curtin defeats George W. Woodward, a Peace Democrat. Confederate attack on Union rearguard at Bristoe Station, Virginia, October 14, fails to disrupt Meade’s withdrawal to Centreville. The same day, Davis leaves Bragg’s headquarters and begins tour through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the Carolinas in effort to rally public support for the war. Lincoln issues proclamation on October 17 calling for 300,000 new volunteers and ordering draft for January 1864 (draft is postponed). Lee abandons offensive in northern Virginia and begins withdrawal to the Rappahannock, October 18. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton meets with Grant at Indianapolis on October 18 and gives Grant order appointing him commander of the newly created Military Division of the Mississippi (division covers the territory between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi, except for Louisiana). Grant replaces Rosecrans with George H. Thomas and makes Sherman the new commander of the Army of the Tennessee. After arriving in Chattanooga on October 23, Grant orders implementation of plan devised by General William F. Smith to open new supply line to the Army of the Cumberland. Union artillery resumes heavy bombardment of Fort Sumter, October 26–December 5. New supply route into Chattanooga is opened, October 27. Attempt by Longstreet to break the new line is repulsed at Wauhatchie, Tennessee, on night of October 28.
Union forces land on Brazos Island at the mouth of the Rio Grande, November 2. During his return to Richmond, Jefferson Davis visits Charleston and inspects its harbor defenses, November 2–4, as bombardment of Fort Sumter continues. On November 4 Bragg sends Longstreet and his two divisions to retake Knoxville. Elections held in the eleven seceding states for the Second Confederate Congress, May 28–November 4, result in increased number of representatives opposed to Davis, although supporters of the administration still hold a majority in the new Congress, which will meet in May 1864. (Confederate soldiers and refugees from Kentucky and Missouri elect representatives, February 10–May 2, 1864.) In Texas, Union forces occupy Brownsville on November 6. Union troops capture Confederate bridgehead at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, on November 7. Lee withdraws across the Rapidan, November 10. Sherman and the first of four divisions from the Army of the Tennessee reach Bridgeport, Alabama, on November 13 as Grant plans offensive against Bragg. In fighting at Campbell’s Station, Tennessee, on November 16 Longstreet fails to prevent Burnside from retreating inside the fortifications around Knoxville. Union forces occupy Corpus Christi, Texas, November 16. The same day, Union artillery resumes bombardment of Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln delivers address at dedication of national cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19. Union offensive at Chattanooga begins on November 23 as Thomas captures advance Confederate position at Orchard Knob. On November 24, Hooker’s troops seize Lookout Mountain while Sherman occupies hill near the north end of Missionary Ridge. Sherman’s attack on November 25 fails to push back the Confederate right and Hooker’s advance against the Confederate left is delayed, but Thomas’s men break the Confederate center on Missionary Ridge and force Bragg to retreat into northern Georgia. Meade crosses the Rapidan River on November 26 in attempt to turn Lee’s right flank. Attempt by Longstreet to capture Fort Sanders outside of Knoxville is repulsed on November 29. Meade cancels attack against Lee’s positions along Mine Run south of the Rapidan on November 30. Davis accepts Bragg’s resignation as commander of the Army of Tennessee, November 30.
Meade withdraws the Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan on December 1 and goes into winter quarters. As relief force led by Sherman approaches Knoxville, Longstreet abandons siege on December 4 and withdraws into northeast Tennessee. Davis sends message to the Confederate Congress on December 7, acknowledging defeat at Chattanooga and grave “reverses” at Vicksburg and Port Hudson while calling for continued resistance. In his annual message to Congress on December 8, Lincoln outlines his plan for restoring loyal governments in the insurrectionary states. The same day, he issues a proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction. Republican congressmen James M. Ashley of Ohio and James F. Wilson of Iowa introduce proposals in the House of Representatives on December 14 to abolish slavery by constitutional amendment. Davis names Joseph E. Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee on December 16. Confederate Congress abolishes the hiring of substitutes for military service on December 28. Davis appoints George Davis (no relation) as Confederate attorney general, December 31.
1864
On January 2 General Patrick R. Cleburne proposes to meeting of senior commanders in the Army of Tennessee in Dalton, Georgia, that the Confederacy emancipate slaves and enlist them as soldiers. John B. Henderson, a Unionist from Missouri, introduces proposal in the Senate on January 11 for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. Confederate raider Alabama burns merchant vessel Emma Jane off southern India on January 14, the thirty-seventh American ship it has captured since sinking the Hatteras in January 1863. Convention of Arkansas Unionists meeting in Little Rock adopts new state constitution abolishing slavery, January 19. Lincoln writes letter on January 23 approving efforts by plantation owners in Mississippi and Arkansas to hire former slaves as free laborers and resume growing cotton.
On February 1 Lincoln orders draft on March 10 of up to 500,000 men, depending on number of voluntary enlistments (draft is postponed to April 15). The same day, Lincoln orders ship sent to the Île à Vache off Haiti to evacuate those colonists wishing to leave. (Ship returns to the United States on March 20 with all 368 surviving colonists.) In North Carolina, Confederate forces under General George E. Pickett make an unsuccessful attempt to capture Union-held New Bern, February 1–3. Sherman leaves Vicksburg on February 3 with 25,000 men and begins marching across central Mississippi toward Meridian, destroying railroads and war materials and stripping the countryside of food and forage. The same day, Davis sends message to the Confederate Congress warning of increasing “discontent, disaffection, and disloyalty” within the Confederacy and asking that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be suspended (previous suspension had expired in February 1863). Union forces occupy Jacksonville, Florida, on February 7. Illinois Republican Lyman Trumbull, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reports text of proposed constitutional amendment abolishing slavery to the Senate on February 10. General William Sooy Smith and 7,000 Union cavalry leave Collierville, Tennessee, on February 11 with orders to destroy railroads in northern Mississippi before joining Sherman at Meridian. Sherman’s troops occupy Meridian, February 14–20, destroying railroads, storehouses, and an arsenal. On February 15 the Confederate Congress suspends writ of habeas corpus through August 1, 1864, including in cases of desertion and draft evasion, and on February 17 it requires all Confederate soldiers to serve for the duration of the war and makes all white males from seventeen to fifty eligible for conscription. Experimental Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley uses spar torpedo to sink the Union sloop Housatonic off Charleston on the night of February 17; the Hunley also sinks, with the loss of all seven crew members. The “Pomeroy Circular,” confidential letter sent to influential Republicans by Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy criticizing Lincoln and supporting the nomination of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, is published in the Washington press on February 20. Union advance toward Lake City, Florida, is defeated at Olustee, February 20. Confederate cavalry led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats William Sooy Smith’s raiding force at Okolona, Mississippi, February 22. Davis appoints Braxton Bragg as his chief military advisor on February 24. General Judson Kilpatrick crosses Rapidan on February 28 with 3,500 men on cavalry raid aimed at freeing Union prisoners of war held in Richmond. Lincoln signs legislation reestablishing the rank of lieutenant general and nominates Grant for the position, February 29.
On March 1 Kilpatrick abandons attempt to enter Richmond and begins retreat toward Union lines. Senate confirms Grant’s nomination on March 2. Embarrassed by the publication of the “Pomeroy Circular,” Chase declares on March 5 that he is not a candidate for president. The same day, the Richmond newspapers publish documents found during the Kilpatrick raid on the body of Union colonel Ulric Dahlgren outlining a plot to kill Jefferson Davis and burn Richmond. Grant arrives in Washington on March 8, and meets Lincoln for the first time that evening at a White House reception. He receives his commission the following day, and on March 10 is named general-in-chief of the armies of the United States.