January 1863
Two regiments of cavalry are mustered into service.
January 1, 1863
President Lincoln signs the final Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved African Americans held in states or portions of states that are in rebellion against Federal authority. Illinois opinion regarding the action varies widely. Approximately 135,000 Illinoisans are in the military service.
January 2, 1863
The struggle along Stones River, Tennessee, continues. After-action reports tally casualties in Illinois units as: over 400 killed, 1,700 wounded, 870 captured or missing.
For the involvement of Illinois troops in the battle see: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. There are a number of studies of the battle, including: Peter Cozzens, No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River; James L. McDonough, Stones River: Bloody Battle in Tennessee.
January 11, 1863
Federal troops, many of them from Illinois, under the command of former Illinois congressman John A. McClernand, capture Arkansas Post, Arkansas. About 5,000 prisoners are taken.
January 12, 1863
The U. S. Army quartermaster department opens a facility in Quincy to manufacture army uniform items. The workforce of over 150 is mostly women, with preference given as possible to “the families of soldiers and refugees.” In just over a year of operation the shop will produce almost 76,000 pairs of infantry pants.
The creation of government clothing shops and the employment of needy soldiers’ wives and children at clothing depots is described in: Mark R. Wilson, The Business of Civil War: Military Mobilization and the State, 1861-1865, pp. 86-97.
January 12, 1863
Democrat William Richardson of Quincy (Adams County) is elected U.S. Senator to fill the unexpired term of Stephen A. Douglas, which had been temporarily filled by the appointment of Orville H. Browning.
February 1863
Circulation of the Chicago Times, a Democratic newspaper often critical of the Lincoln administration, is banned by some railroads and a number of commanders of military posts.
February 2, 1863
Gen. Thomas M. Vincent reports that from Aug. 15, 1862-Jan. 31, 1863, the state of Illinois sent 3,089 recruits to the state’s old units.
March 3, 1863
President Lincoln signs the bill creating the first effective military draft. All male citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five are liable to service, with exceptions for physical or mental disability, felons, certain classes of dependents, and certain government officials. Under the law drafted men can hire a substitute to fight in their place or pay a $300 commutation fee. Postwar records note that 8,941Illinoisans felt the draft. Of those 5,505 avoided entering the ranks by hiring a substitute to serve in their place.
April 8, 1863
Gov. Yates departs to visit the army near Vicksburg. He stays for several weeks.
April 16, 1863
Gunboats of U.S. Admiral David D. Porter run the Mississippi River under fire of Vicksburg’s Confederate guns, a part of Ulysses S. Grant’s plan to capture the city.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
April 17-May 2, 1863
Gen. Benjamin H. Grierson of Jacksonville leads 1,700 Federal troops including the 6th and 7th Illinois Cavalry regiments on a raid through Mississippi. His mission is to disrupt Confederate communications and confuse leaders about Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s operations near Vicksburg.
Raid participant Stephen A. Forbes, formerly of the 7th Illinois Cavalry, wrote “Grierson’s Cavalry Raid,” Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1907 (1908), pp. 99-140. A fuller, more modern account is: D. Alexander Brown, Grierson’s Raid.
April 30, 1863
Many Illinoisans observe the “day of humiliation, fasting and prayer” declared by President Lincoln on March 30 at the urging of the Senate.
Late April 1863
U. S. navy vessels carry Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s army across the Mississippi River below Vicksburg. It places Grant’s main force on the same side of the river as the Confederates and on dry land that will allow his army to attack the city.
May 1, 1863
Illinois regiments help to defeat Confederates at Port Gibson, Mississippi, an early action in the Federal campaign to capture Vicksburg.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
May 2-4, 1863
Confederate forces administer a crushing defeat to the U.S. Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. The 82nd Illinois Infantry is involved in the collapse of the 11th Corps.
For the 82nd Illinois Infantry in the battle see Eric Benjaminson, A Regiment of Immigrants: The 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the Letters of Captain Rudolph Mueller, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 94:2 (Summer 2001). A full history of the battle is Stephen W. Sears, Chancellorsville.
May 8, 1863
President Lincoln issues a proclamation that immigrants who had declared an intention to become a U.S. citizen are subject to the draft. The law affects thousands in Illinois and throughout the North.
May 12, 1863
Gen. John A. Logan of Murphysboro (Jackson County) commands U. S. forces at the battle of Raymond, Mississippi , during movement toward Vicksburg.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
May 14, 1863
Federal troops, including several Illinois regiments, capture Mississippi’s capital city, Jackson.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
May 16, 1863
The battle of Champion’s Hill, Mississippi, is fought.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. A full account of the battle is Timothy B. Smith, The Battle of Champion’s Hill. An extended account of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River.
May 17, 1863
Gen. Michael K. Lawler of Gallatin County commands victorious U.S. forces in battle at Big Black River, capturing an estimated 1,100 prisoners and 1,400 weapons. The force proceeds on to Vicksburg.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
May 19, 1863
U. S. troops commanded by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant troops attempt to take Vicksburg by assault. They fail.
The participation of Illinoisans in the campaign is discussed in: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
May 22, 1863
Grant’s troops attempt again to take Vicksburg by storm. After-action reports tally casualties in Illinois units as over 160 killed, 700 wounded, 55 captured or missing.
For the involvement of Illinois troops in the battle see: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Extended accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
June 1, 1863
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, commanding the military department that includes Illinois, closes the Chicago Times and the Jonesboro Gazette for “disloyal and incendiary statements.” The order is revoked on June 4, under instruction of President Lincoln.
June 2-3, 1863
A convention of western interests is held at Chicago to urge deepening the Illinois and Michigan Canal to allow large ships, including military vessels, to pass from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Efforts in Congress to fund the project ultimately fail.
See: Arthur C. Cole, “The Era of The Civil War, 1848-1870”, Centennial History of Illinois, vol. 3, p. 354-56.
June 10, 1863
Gov. Richard Yates, angry with Democratic majorities in the Illinois General Assembly over what he considers their hindrance of the war effort, uses a clause of the Illinois constitution to close the legislative session against the wishes of both houses.
For an account of Yates’s actions see: Jack Nortrup, Yates, the Prorogued Legislature, and the Constitutional Convention, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 62:1 (Spring 1969): 5-34.
June 24, 1863
Federal troops, including the 98th and 123rd Illinois Infantry regiments armed with Spencer repeating rifles, capture Hoover’s Gap and Liberty Gap, Tennessee. It is an early move toward the Federal capture of Chattanooga.
For a history of the famed “Lightning Brigade,” including the fight at Hoover’s Gap, see: Glenn W. Sunderland, Lightning at Hoover’s Gap: The Story of Wilder’s Brigade.
June 25, 1863
Federal troops attempt to blow a hole in Confederate entrenchments at Vicksburg using explosives packed underground. The effort fails.
Accounts of the battle and the larger campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
July 1, 1863
The battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, begins. Cavalry under Gen. John Buford of Rock Island open the fighting. Marcellus Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry is said to fire the battle’s first shot. Three Illinois regiments—the 8th and 12th Cavalry and the 82nd Infantry—take part in the first day’s battle. The 82nd is involved in the afternoon collapse of the 11th Corps.
For the story of the first day of action, including fighting by the three Illinois regiments, see Harry W. Pfanz, Gettysburg: The First Day. Argument over Jones’s first-shot claim is found in David Petruzzi, “Battle of Gettysburg: Who Really Fired the First Shot?” America’s Civil War (2006). For more on the 82nd Illinois Infantry in the battle see Eric Benjaminson, A Regiment of Immigrants: The 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry and the Letters of Captain Rudolph Mueller, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 94:2 (Summer 2001).
July 4, 1863
Confederate forces surrender Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Ulysses S. Grant’s army. An estimated one-third of Grant’s army is composed of men from Illinois. The flag of the 45th Illinois Infantry is said to be the first to fly from the Vicksburg courthouse.
For the involvement of Illinois troops see Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. The Illinois-Vicksburg Military Park Commission report, Illinois at Vicksburg (digital format: http://www.archive.org/details/illinoisatvicksb02illi ) contains unit-by-unit information as well as a roster of Illinois troops who participated in the campaign. Full accounts of the campaign are: William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel, Vicksburg is Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River; Terrence J. Winschel, Triumph and Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign.
July 8, 1863
Port Hudson, Louisiana , is surrendered by Confederate troops. This opens the full length of the Mississippi River to U.S. control, though guerrilla attacks are often staged from the shores.
Mid-July 1863
The Needle Pickets of Quincy (Adams County) display “a Grand Historical Painting representing the Death of Gen. LYON” to raise funds for the relief of local soldier families.
July 18, 1863
Federal forces assault Fort Wagner, one of the fortifications protecting Charleston, South Carolina, in a continuing effort to capture the city. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, an African American regiment, fights valiantly. A number of men recruited in Illinois serve in the 54th.
July 21, 1863
A group of men estimated at 200 to 500 comes to Olney (Richland County) to destroy draft enrollment records. The raid is stopped and the records are removed to St. Louis.
August 6, 1863
Many Illinoisans observe the “day of National Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer” declared by President Lincoln on July 15, following victories at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
August 28, 1863
Gov. Yates writes to Sec. of War Stanton that “After careful consideration I am satisfied that it is my duty to attempt to organize a colored regiment in this State.” He asks for authority to do so and asks what “control will be given me in the organization.”
September 9, 1863
Confederate troops evacuate Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 92nd Illinois Infantry is the first U.S. unit to enter the city. The Federals begin pursuit of the Confederates into Georgia.
September 19-20, 1863
Confederate forces administer a crushing defeat to the U.S. Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga Creek in northern Georgia. After-action reports tally casualties in Illinois units as over 340 killed, 2,000 wounded, 800 captured. Confederates drive U.S. troops into Chattanooga, Tennessee, and lay siege to the city.
For the involvement of Illinois troops see: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Full studies of the battle include: Steven E. Woodworth, et al, The Chickamauga Campaign; Peter Cozzens, This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga.
September 21, 1863
The Illinois State Agricultural Society begins a trial of agricultural implements at Decatur.
For a report of the trial see Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society vol. 5, 1861-64, pp. 251-62. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015073297049
September 28, 1863
The Illinois State Agricultural Society opens its annual fair at Decatur. The 1862 fair had been cancelled, due to the heavy recruiting of troops and the occupation of the Peoria County fairground as a military camp.
Fall 1863
Some county agricultural societies hold annual fairs, among them Greene, Grundy, Schuyler, St. Clair, and Tazewell. County societies not holding a fair include Peoria and Stark.
October 1863
One battery of light artillery is mustered into service.
October 10, 1863
It is reported that the number of deserters arrested in Illinois from June 1, 1863 to Oct. 10 is 2,000. Over 760 were made during August alone.
October 16, 1863
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is given command of all U.S. armies between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
October 17, 1863
President Lincoln issues a call for 300,000 new troops to serve for three years. Another call on February 1, 1864, results in a total quota to Illinois of 46,309. Enlistments total 28,818. The difference is made up for by surplus volunteers that had enlisted under earlier calls.
October 23, 1863
Ulysses S. Grant arrives in Chattanooga and begins planning to lift the siege of the city.
November 19, 1863
President Lincoln dedicates the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
November 23-25, 1863
Federal armies under command of Gen. Ulysses Grant break the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, fighting at Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and Tunnel Hill. After-action reports tally casualties in Illinois units as: more than 135 killed, 900 wounded, 50 captured or missing.
For the involvement of Illinois troops see: Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War. Full histories of the campaign include: Peter Cozzens, The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga; James L. McDonough, Chattanooga: Death Grip on the Confederacy; Wiley Sword, Mountains Touched with Fire: Chattanooga Besieged, 1863.
November 26, 1863
Many Illinoisans observe the “day of Thanksgiving and Praise” declared by President Lincoln at the urging of writer Sarah J. Hale.
December 1863
One regiment of cavalry is mustered into service. Appropriations to provide enlistment incentives or “bounties” are approved by the boards of supervisors in some counties, including Grundy and Will. McDonough County officials refuse to offer a bounty as incentive to volunteer.
December 3, 1863
Confederate prisoners of war arrive at the new military prison at Rock Island.
A full history of the Rock Island prison, including relations with the local civilian population, is: Benton McAdams, Rebels at Rock Island: The Story of a Civil War Prison.
December 23, 1863
Gov. Yates issues a proclamation forbidding the recruitment in Illinois of men (black or white) to serve in the units of other states. The assistant provost marshal general in Chicago will arrest all who try to do so.