Civil War - 1863

The Bristoe Campaign was fought from October 13 to November 7, 1863, after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. General George G. Meade and the Army of the Potomac pursued General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia during a series of battles and maneuvers. Although Lee opened the campaign with an offensive, Union victories at Bristoe Station and Rappahannock Station helped Meade force Lee to retreat southward.

The Chattanooga Campaign was a series of Union military operations from September 21 to November 27, 1863, that broke the Confederate Siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee. After General Ulysses S. Grant restored the Union supply line, he launched attacks on Confederate positions at Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, and drove the Confederates away. The Union victories forced Bragg to retreat toward Dalton, Georgia, and secured Chattanooga as an important supply center for General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.

The East Tennessee Campaign was a Union operation led by General Ambrose Burnside to occupy Knoxville, Tennessee, capture the Cumberland Gap, and remove Confederate forces from northeast Tennessee in 1863. Burnside’s forces entered Knoxville with little resistance, forced the Confederate surrender at the Cumberland Gap, and won engagements at Blountville and Blue Springs. The campaign resulted in a Union victory and secured control of much of East Tennessee.

Fort Wagner Battle facts, including dates, location, casualties, leaders, who won, and more interesting facts you might not know.

On July 18, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the Union volunteer army's first colored units, enhanced the reputation of black soldiers in combat by displaying conspicuous valor during the Confederate victory at the Battle of Fort Wagner.

The Gettysburg Campaign was Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s second Invasion of the North during the Civil War. Lee moved the Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland and Pennsylvania, where the campaign included major engagements at Brandy Station, Winchester, Gettysburg, and Williamsport. The Union victory at Gettysburg forced Lee to retreat into Virginia, ending the invasion and shifting the war’s momentum toward the Union.

The Battle of Honey Springs was fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America on July 17, 1863, during the Civil War and ended in a Union victory. It was the largest battle fought in Indian Territory and the victory gave Union forces control of the region.

The Knoxville Campaign was a Confederate offensive in East Tennessee from November 4–December 14, 1863, led by General James Longstreet against Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. The campaign included the Battle of Campbell’s Station, the Siege of Knoxville, the Battle of Fort Sanders, and the Battle of Bean’s Station. Longstreet failed to capture Knoxville, allowing the Union to maintain control of East Tennessee for the rest of the Civil War.

The Battle of Milliken’s Bend was fought on June 7, 1863, during the Vicksburg Campaign. Confederate troops attacked a Union supply depot defended largely by newly recruited black soldiers, many of whom had formerly been enslaved. The Union defenders held their position with support from the gunboats Choctaw and Lexington, forcing the Confederates to withdraw. The courage of the African American soldiers helped change attitudes about them serving in the Union Army.

The Mine Run Campaign was a short-lived Union offensive that pitted the Army of the Potomac against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from November 26–December 2, 1863, in Orange County, Virginia.

On December 30, 1863, U. S. President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order threatening retaliation-in-kind against Confederate prisoners of war for the mistreatment of African-American soldiers captured by the enemy during the American Civil War.

The Stones River Campaign was a short Union offensive from December 26, 1862, to January 3, 1863. The campaign included one major engagement, the Battle of Stones River, where General William S. Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland defeated General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee. The victory forced Bragg to withdraw to Tullahoma and ended Confederate control of Middle Tennessee.

The Tullahoma Campaign was a Union military campaign carried out in Middle Tennessee from June 24 to July 3, 1863. Union General William Rosecrans used the success of Colonel John Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade” at Hoover’s Gap to force General Braxton Bragg to retreat. The Union victory drove Confederate forces out of Middle Tennessee while inflicting relatively few casualties on Rosecrans’ forces.

The Vicksburg Campaign was a major Union offensive from December 26, 1862, to July 4, 1863, that ended with the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi. General Ulysses S. Grant led Union forces through a series of operations that isolated the city and trapped General John C. Pemberton’s Confederate army. The victory gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River and severed Confederate connections with territories in the American West.