1863 CE

Master Lucius Tar Paint Company (Teerfarbenfabrik Meister Lucius), predecessor of Hoechst as a worldwide chemical manufacturing brand, is founded in a suburb of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Valuev Circular bans the publication of religious, educational and training books in Ukrainian in the Russian Empire. The pharmaceutical brand Bayer is founded by Friedrich Bayer in Germany.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

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 proclaims 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.source
February 24 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.source
March 3 – Idaho Territory is organized by the U.S. Congress.source
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.source
April 14 – The Treaty of Huế is signed between Vietnam and the French Empire.source
May 8 – The Granadine Confederation becomes the United States of Colombia, under President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.source
June 20 – West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.source
July 1 – Slavery is abolished in the Dutch colonies of Suriname (independent from 1975) and Curaçao and Dependencies.source
July 30 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Box Elder Treaty.source
August 1 – At the suggestion of Senator J. V. Snellman and the order of Emperor Alexander II, full rights are promised to the Finnish language by a language regulation in the Grand Duchy of Finland.source
August 16 – After Spain's annexation of the Dominican Republic, rebels raise the Dominican flag in Santiago to begin the Dominican Restoration War.source
October 26–29 – The Resolutions of the Geneva International Conference are signed by sixteen countries meeting in Geneva agreeing to form the International Red Cross.source
Douglas becomes the capital of the Isle of Man, after its parliament (Tynwald) moves its chambers from Castletown.source

Conflict & Security

January 15 – French intervention in Mexico: French forces bombard Veracruz.source
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.source
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.source
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.source
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 (fatally wounded by friendly fire), and 17,500 Union casualties.source
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.source
May 28 – American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston to fight for the Union.source
June 7 – French intervention in Mexico: French forces enter Mexico City.source
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.source
June 17 – The Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg campaign ends inconclusively.source
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 (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).source
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.source
July 9 – American Civil War: The Siege of Port Hudson ends, and the Union controls the entire Mississippi River for the first time.source
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.source
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.source
August 8 – American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (Davis refuses the request upon receipt).source
August 15–17 – Bombardment of Kagoshima: The British Royal Navy bombards the town of Kagoshima in Japan in retribution, after the Namamugi Incident of 1862.source
Battle of Lawrence: Lawrence, Kansas, is attacked by William Quantrill's raiders, who kill an estimated 200 men and boys. The raid becomes notorious in the North as one of the most vicious atrocities of the Civil War.source
September 19–20 – Battle of Chickamauga – Confederate forces turn back a Union invasion of Georgia.source
October 29 – American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie – Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant, having fought through the night, ward off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.source
November 16 – Battle of Campbell's Station – Near Knoxville, Tennessee, Confederate troops led by General James Longstreet unsuccessfully attack Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside.source
November 18 – King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November Constitution, which declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark, regarded by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol of 1852, leading to the German–Danish war of 1864.source
November 19 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.source
November 25 – Battle of Missionary Ridge – At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the siege of Chattanooga, by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.source

Exploration & Expansion

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.source
The American clipper ship Anglo Saxon (westbound) is captured and burned by Confederate privateer Florida off the south coast of Ireland.source

Religion & Belief

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.source
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.source
May 21 – The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is formed in Battle Creek, Michigan.source
July 30 – Valuev Circular bans the publication of religious, educational and training books in Ukrainian in the Russian Empire.source
November 15 – King Christian IX of Denmark succeeds his distant cousin Frederick VII, giving rise to the beginning of the Second Schleswig-Holstein crisis.source

Economy & Finance

January 2 – Master Lucius Tar Paint Company (Teerfarbenfabrik Meister Lucius), predecessor of Hoechst as a worldwide chemical manufacturing brand, is founded in a suburb of Frankfurt am Main, Germany.source
February 26 – Abraham Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law.source
August 1 – The pharmaceutical brand Bayer is founded by Friedrich Bayer in Germany.source
December 15 – Gerard Adriaan Heineken, 22, buys the brewery 'De Hooiberg' ("The Haystack") in Amsterdam.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 10 – The first section of the London Underground Railway (Paddington to Farringdon Street) opens officially. This is the world’s first ever underground railway.source
January 21 – Adam Opel founds Opel in Germany, originally for the manufacture of sewing machines.source
February 10 – Alanson Crane of Virginia patents a fire extinguisher.source
March 14 – Queen Victoria issues Letters Patent granting Goulburn city status, making it Australia's first inland city.source
April 16 – The first ever submarine to be propelled by mechanized (rather than human) power, Plongeur, of the French Navy, propelled by compressed air, is launched in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime.source
July 1 – The Kingston loop line of the London and South Western Railway opens.source
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.source
September – The Western Railroad from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the coal fields of Egypt, North Carolina, is completed.source
October 5 – The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road starts operations in Brooklyn, New York, making it the oldest right-of-way on the New York City Subway, the largest rapid transit system in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.source
December 1 – The first steam-operated passenger railway in New Zealand opens at Christchurch in South Island.source
December 15 – Romania opens its first mountain railway (from Anina to Oravița).source

Science & Discovery

June 27 – The Chōshū Five leave Japan secretly to study at University College London, which is part of the ending of sakoku.source
December 19 – Linoleum is patented in the United Kingdom.source
Richard Owen publishes the first description of a fossilised bird, Archaeopteryx.source

Health & Medicine

The first outbreak of phylloxera on the European mainland is observed, in the vineyards of the southern Rhône region of France.source
The recipe for the herbal liqueur Bénédictine is devised by Alexandre Le Grand in Fécamp, France.source

Crime & Justice

January 7 – In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the village of Bedretto is partly destroyed and 29 killed by an avalanche.source
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 c. 190 BC, it is later shipped to the Louvre in Paris.source
April 20 – 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.source
May 17 – The opening of Salon des Refusés in Paris draws attention to paintings by avant-garde artists, notably Manet's_ Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe.source
The Colmar Treasure, a hoard of 14th century Jewish precious metal objects, is discovered in Alsace.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 11 – In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the roof of the church of Sant'Antonio in Locarno collapses under the weight of snow, killing 47.source
February 7 – sinks while attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.source
October 15 – The Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, first tested in July, sinks during another test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.source
December 8 – The Church of the Company Fire in Santiago, Chile, kills between 2,000 and 3,000 people.source

Culture & Society

January 8 – The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel, in Sheffield, England.source
January 31 – Jules Verne's first adventure novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon (Cinq semaines en ballon), is published in Paris.source
March 10 – Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII of the United Kingdom) marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra).source
April 21 – Ayyam-i butun: Bahá'u'lláh begins a 12-day stay in the Najibiyyih gardens, Baghdad (later known as the Garden of Ridván) 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.source
May 23 – Ferdinand Lassalle founds the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein (General German Workers' Association, ADAV), the first socialist workers party in Germany.source
May 31 – The first Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race is held.source
June 12 – The Arts Club is founded by Charles Dickens, Frederic Leighton and others in Hanover Square, London.source
June 13 – Samuel Butler's dystopian article "Darwin among the Machines" is published (under the pen name Cellarius) in The Press newspaper in Christchurch, New Zealand; it will be incorporated into his novel Erewhon (1872).source
August 3 – Otago Boys' High School is founded in New Zealand.source
August 26 – The Swedish-language liberal newspaper Helsingfors Dagblad proposes a blue-and-white cross as the flag of Finland.source
September 30 – Georges Bizet's opera Les pêcheurs de perles debuts, at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.source
October 3 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaims a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November.source
November 4 – Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens is performed for the first time, at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.source
December 6 – C.S.A.C. Fides Quadrat Intellectum, the First Reformed student society, is founded at the Theologische Universiteit Kampen (Broederweg), in Kampen, the Netherlands.source

Births

January 7 – Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (d. 1955)source
January 12 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian Hindu religious leader (d. 1902)source
January 17 – David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)source
January 17 – Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner, founder of modern realistic acting (d. 1938)source
April 18 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942)source
April 29 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher (d. 1951)source
July 6 – Reginald McKenna, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (1915-1916) (d. 1943)source
August 1 – Gaston Doumergue, President of France during the Third Republic (d. 1937)source
August 17 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author, screenwriter and naturalist (d. 1924)source
September 13 – Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1935)source
October 16 – Austen Chamberlain, English politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)source
November 30 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (d. 1897)source
December 1 – Black Elk/ Heȟáka Sápa', Oglala Teton Lakota (Western Sioux) medicine/holy man (d. 1950)source
December 16 – George Santayana, Spanish-born philosopher, poet, essayist and novelist (d. 1952)source

Deaths

May 7 – Earl Van Dorn, American Confederate general (murdered) (b. 1820)source
May 10 – Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, American Confederate general (died of wounds) (b. 1824)source
June 7 – Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Latin American liberator (b. 1790)source
June 9 – Dost Mohammad Khan, Emir of Kabul, King of Kandahar (b. 1793)source
July 1 – John F. Reynolds, American general (killed in action) (b. 1820)source
July 5 – Lewis Armistead, American Confederate general (died of wounds) (b. 1817)source
July 18 – Robert Gould Shaw, American Union Army officer (killed in action) (b. 1837)source
July 26 – Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)source
August 13 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter (b. 1798)source
September 21 – Benjamin Hardin Helm, Confederate politician and general (died of wounds) (b. 1831)source
November 2 – Theodore Judah, American railroad engineer (yellow fever) (b. 1826)source
November 13 – Ignacio Comonfort, President of Mexico 1855-1857 (killed in action) (b. 1812)source
December 2 – Jane Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (b. 1806)source
December 24 – William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist (b. 1811)source