1863

Events

January

• January 1 - Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's four million slaves and immediately frees 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as the Union Army advances. This event marks the start of America's Reconstruction Era.
• January 2 - Master Lucius Tar Paint Company, predecessor of Hoechst, as a worldwide chemical manufacturing brand, founded in a suburb of Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• January 4 - Founding date of the New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, in a schism with the Catholic Apostolic Church in Hamburg, Germany.
• January 7 - In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the village of Bedretto is partly destroyed and 29 killed by an avalanche.
• January 8
• * The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel, in Sheffield, England.
• * American Civil War: The Second Battle of Springfield takes place near Springfield, Missouri. Fighting for the Union, General Egbert B. Brown leads the Missouri militia to victory over Confederate General John S. Marmaduke and the 18th Arkansas Infantry.
• January 10 - The first section of the London Underground Railway opens officially. This was the world’s first ever underground railway.

• January 11
• * American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post - General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
• * In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the roof of the church of Sant'Antonio in Locarno collapses under the weight of snow, killing 47.
• January 15 - French intervention in Mexico: French forces bombard Veracruz.
• January 21 - Adam Opel founds Opel in Germany, originally for the manufacture of sewing machines.
• January 22 - The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to liberate the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from Russian occupation.
• January 29 - American Indian Wars - Bear River Massacre: The United States Army, led by General Patrick Edward Connor, massacres Chief Bear Hunter and forces of the Shoshone, in the Idaho Territory.
• January 31 - Jules Verne's first adventure novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, is published in Paris.

  February

• February 1 - Radicals in Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, northern Ukraine and western Russia join the January Uprising.
• February 2 - January Uprising: Polish peasants are massacred by Russian hussars at Čysta Būda, near Marijampolė.

• February 7 - sinks while attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.
• February 10 - Alanson Crane of Virginia patents a fire extinguisher.
• February 17 - The "Committee of the Five" holds their first meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, which is regarded as the foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, following the lead of humanitarian businessman Henry Dunant.
• February 24 - Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
• February 26 - Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.

  March

• March 3
• * Idaho Territory is organized by the U.S. Congress.
• * The U.S. National Conscription Act is signed, leading to the New York City draft riots in July.
• March 10 - Albert Edward, Prince of Wales marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark.
• March 14 - Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent granting Goulburn city status, making it Australia's first inland city.
• March 19 - The is destroyed on her maiden voyage while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina. The wreck is discovered exactly 102 years later, by E. Lee Spence.
• March 25 - U.S. Army Private Jacob Parrott, a soldier in "Andrews' Raiders", becomes the first person to receive the Medal of Honor, presented by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to six of the Raiders. Parrott is followed that day by six others.
• March 30 - Prince Wilhelm George of Denmark is elected at the age of 17 by the Hellenic Parliament as George, King of the Hellenes; he will reign in Greece for 50 years. He arrives in Athens on October 30 to take the throne.

  April

• April 13 – The Winged Victory of Samothrace, one of the most significant sculptures of classical antiquity, is found in excavations on the Greek island of Samothrace by Charles Champoiseau. Made 190 BC, it is shipped to the Louvre in Paris.
• April 14 - The Treaty of Huế is signed between Vietnam and the French Empire.
• April 16 - The first ever submarine to be propelled by mechanized power, Plongeur, of the French Navy, is launched in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime.
• April 17-May 2 - American Civil War: Grierson's Raid - Union cavalrymen are ambushed while crossing the Tickfaw River in Mississippi.
• April 20
• * American Civil War: The Battle of Washington ends inconclusively in Beaufort County, North Carolina.
• * The Augustus of Prima Porta, one of the most significant sculptures of classical antiquity, is found in excavations in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, near Rome.
• April 21
• * Ayyam-i butun: Bahá'u'lláh begins a 12-day stay in the Najibiyyih gardens, Baghdad during which he declares his station as He whom God shall make manifest. This date is celebrated in the Baháʼí Faith as the festival of Ridván.
• * January Uprising: The Polish peasant army, now led by Zygmunt Sierakowski, achieves its first victory over the Russian army, near Raguva.
• April 24 - The Lieber Code signed and issued by President Abraham Lincoln to the Union forces of the United States in the American Civil War constitutes the world's first official comprehensive code of the modern laws of war.
• April 30 - Battle of Camarón in Mexico: 65 soldiers of the French Foreign Legion fight 2,000 Mexicans.

  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 8
• * The Granadine Confederation becomes the United States of Colombia, under President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.
• * January Uprising: The Polish insurgent army is defeated by the Russians near Gudiškis.
• May 14 - American Civil War: Battle of Jackson, Mississippi - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeats Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, opening the way for the siege of Vicksburg.

• May 17
• * After a 2-month siege, the French army of Bazaine takes Puebla, Mexico.
• * The opening of Salon des Refusés in Paris draws attention to paintings by avant-garde artists, notably Manet's_ Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe.
• 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 23 - Ferdinand Lassalle founds the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, the first socialist workers party in Germany.
• May 27 - Afghan Civil War : Herat is captured by the forces of Dost Mohammad Khan.
• May 28 - American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston to fight for the Union.
• May 31 - The first Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race is held.

  June

• June 7 - French intervention in Mexico: French forces enter Mexico City.
• June 9 - American Civil War: The Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia, ends inconclusively.
• June 12 - The Arts Club is founded by Charles Dickens, Frederic Leighton and others in Hanover Square, London.
• June 13 - Samuel Butler's dystopian article "Darwin among the Machines" is published in The Press newspaper in Christchurch, New Zealand; it will be incorporated into his novel Erewhon.
• American Civil War:
• * June 14 - 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 - The Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg campaign ends inconclusively.
• June 27 - The Chōshū Five leave Japan secretly to study at University College London, which is part of the ending of sakoku.
• June 20 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

  July

• July 1
• * Slavery is abolished in the Dutch colonies of Suriname and Curaçao and Dependencies.
• * The Kingston loop line of the London and South Western Railway opens.
• American Civil War:
• *July 1-3 - Battle of Gettysburg - Union forces under George G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion by Robert E. Lee in the largest battle of the war.
• *July 4 - Siege of Vicksburg - Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi, after the town surrenders following a 47-day siege.
• July 6 - Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent, annexing to South Australia the part of the colony of New South Wales that will later become the Northern Territory.
• July 9 - American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends, and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.
• July 13 - New York City draft riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription to the American Civil War begin 3 days of violent rioting, which will be regarded as the worst in the history of the United States with around 120 killed.
• July 16 - Battle of Shimonoseki Straits: The screw sloop engages with the Chōshū Domain fleet before withdrawing, in Japan's first naval engagement between elements of modern navies.
• July 17 - The New Zealand Wars against the Māori people resume, as British forces in New Zealand led by Duncan Cameron begin their Invasion of the Waikato.

• * July 17 - Battle of Honey Springs - Union troops win a strategic victory over the Confederates for control of Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River.
• * July 18 - 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 is 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 - American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello sign the Box Elder Treaty.
• July 30 - Valuev Circular bans the publication of religious, educational and training books in Ukrainian in the Russian Empire.