Chronological History of the American Civil War

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1863 - Civil War Rages On into its Third Year

The real fighting began in 1862. Nearly a million armed men confronted each other along a line stretching some 1200 miles from Virginia to Missouri. Huge battles like Shiloh in Tennessee, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, and Fredericksburg in Virginia, and America’s bloodiest single day, the Battle of Antietam in Maryland showed how terrible the cost in human life both sides were willing to go to win this war. The year 1862, Lincoln first announced his plan for Emancipation Proclamation and the first clashes between ironclad warships, in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The future will bring changes in the way we will fight, and why we are fighting. On January 1st, 1863, Lincoln will issue his Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in captured Confederate territory. From that point on, the war officially became one over the issue of slavery. Still, it wasn't until after the war, in December 1865, that the 13th Amendment was ratified, finally freeing all slaves in America, both in the NORTH and SOUTH!

1863 the war continues… We still stand divided.