On This Day

July 1863 in History

Events in History

  • Jul 1 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee's northward advance halted
  • Jul 1 Free city delivery of mail begins in 49 US cities; postage 3 cents per oz
  • Jul 1 Slavery abolished in Dutch territories including Sint Maarten, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles, (now marked as Keti Koti Day in Suriname and the Netherlands)
  • Jul 2 2nd day of the Battle of Gettysburg (US Civil War)
  • Jul 2 R Morgan's: Burksville, Kentucky to Salineville, Ohio [->JUL 26]
  • Jul 3 Battle of Gettysburg, largest battle ever fought on the American continent, ends in a major victory for the Union during the US Civil War
  • Jul 4 Boise, Idaho, founded (now capital of Idaho)
  • Jul 4 Failed Confederate assault on Helena Arkansas (640 casualties)

Event of Interest

Jul 4 General Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg

Robert E. Lee
Confederate General Robert E. Lee
  • Jul 4 Skirmish at Smithburg, Tennessee
  • Jul 4 Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Union forces
  • Jul 5 Battle of Jackson, Mississippi and Battle of Birdsong Ferry, Mississippi
  • Jul 6 Battle of Williamsport, Maryland [-Jul 07]
  • Jul 6 Northern Territory passes from New South Wales to South Australia
  • Jul 7 1st military draft by US (exemptions cost $100)

Event of Interest

Jul 7 Orders barring Jews from serving under US General Ulysses S. Grant are revoked

Ulysses S. Grant
Union General and US President Ulysses S. Grant
  • Jul 9 Confederate John Hunt Morgan begins his cavalry aid into Indiana by leading 2,100 men across the Ohio river
  • Jul 9 Union troops enter Port Hudson
  • Jul 10 Battle of Charleston, South Carolina (Morris Island) [->SEP 06]
  • Jul 10 Battle of Jackson, Mississippi - captured by federals [->JUL 16]
  • Jul 11 Battle at Green River, Kentucky (Morgan's Ohio Raid)
  • Jul 11 Japanese battle cruiser shoots at Dutch warship Medusa, kills 4
  • Jul 12 In New Zealand, British forces invade Waikato, home of the Maori King Movement, beginning a new phase of the wars between Maori and Colonial British
  • Jul 13 Anti-draft mobs lynch blacks in NYC; about 1,000 die
  • Jul 13 Battle of Bayou La Fourche, Louisiana
  • Jul 13 Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi (Harrisburg) [->JUL 15]
  • Jul 13 Rebellion at Morgan's, Ohio [->JUL 26]
  • Jul 14 Battle of Falling Waters, Maryland (Beaver Creek)
  • Jul 14 Jews of Holstein Germany granted equality
  • Jul 15 President Davis orders service duty for confederate army
  • Jul 16 Utrecht-Swells railway opens
  • Jul 17 Battle of Honey Springs - largest battle in Indian Territory
  • Jul 17 Māori forces are defeated by British troops at Koheroa, Waikato, in the New Zealand Wars between Maori tribes and British colonials
  • Jul 18 Battle of Fort Wagner, South Carolina - Second assault
  • Jul 19 Battle of Buffington's Island (St George Creek), Ohio
  • Jul 23 Alexandra Park opens in North London, England
  • Jul 24 Battle at Battle Mountain, Virginia
  • Jul 25 Skirmish at Barbee's Crossroads, Virginia
  • Jul 26 Battle of Salineville Ohio: Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 364 troops surrender to Union forces after a 17-day unauthorized raid through Indiana and Ohio
  • Jul 30 Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah

Event of Interest

Jul 30 President Abraham Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot

Abraham Lincoln
16th US President Abraham Lincoln

Birthdays in History

  • Jul 1 William Grant Stairs, Canadian-British explorer and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
  • Jul 12 Albert Calmette, French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin), born in Nice, France (d. 1933)
  • Jul 12 Paul Karl Ludwig Drude, German physicist (optics), born in Brunswick, Germany (d. 1906)
  • Jul 13 Emma Mary Wooley, educator (Mary Anna Wells)
  • Jul 26 Paul Walden, Latvian chemist (Walden inversion, room-temperature ionic liquid, ethylammonium nitrate), born in Rozulas, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (d. 1957)
  • Jul 28 Hussein Khan Nakhichevanski, Russian general (d. 1919)

Henry FordHenry Ford (1863-1947)

Jul 30 American industrialist and auto maker (Ford Model T), born in Dearborn Township, Michigan

Henry Ford

Deaths in History

  • Jul 1 John Fulton Reynolds, American Union general-major, dies in the Battle of Gettysburg at 42
  • Jul 2 Stephen Hinsdale Weed, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle at 28
  • Jul 3 Alonzo Cushing, American Union officer, dies at the Battle of Gettsburg at about 22
  • Jul 3 Elon John Farnsworth, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at the battle of Gettysburg at 25
  • Jul 3 George Hull Ward, American general and Union officer in the American Civil War, dies of his wounds at the Battle of Gettysburg at 37
  • Jul 3 Little Crow [Ta-oya-te-duta], Mdewakanton Dakota leader (Treaty of Mendota), shot and killed by settlers at about 53
  • Jul 3 Richard B. Garnett, American Confederate Brigadier General, killed during Pickett's Charge, Battle of Gettysburg at 45
  • Jul 3 Samuel K. Zook, American Union general-major, dies of his wounds from the Battle of Gettysburg at 40
  • Jul 3 William Barksdale, American Confederate Brigadier General, dies in the Battle of Gettysburg while leading his brigade's attack at 41
  • Jul 4 Paul Joseph Revere, American grandson of Paul Revere, Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 30
  • Jul 5 Lewis Armistead, Confederate brigadier general at Gettysburg (Pickett's Charge), dies of his injuries from the battle of Gettysburg at 46
  • Jul 6 Strong Vincent, American army officer (fought at Battle of Gettysburg), dies at 26 fighting at the Little Round Top in Gettysburg
  • Jul 8 Francis Kenrick, Irish-American Archbishop of Baltimore (1851-63), dies at 65
  • Jul 10 Clement Clarke Moore, American Professor and writer ('Twas the Night Before Xmas), dies at 83
  • Jul 10 Paul Jones Semmes, American businessman and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 48
  • Jul 13 John S. Bowen, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 32
  • Jul 17 J. Johnston Pettigrew, American lawyer and Confederate General in the American Civil War, dies at 35
  • Jul 18 William Dorsey Pender, US Confederate Major General, dies of injuries at 29

Sam HoustonSam Houston (1793-1863)

Jul 26 1st President of Republic of Texas (1836-38, 1841-44) who helped bring Texas into the United States as a constituent state, dies at 70

Sam Houston
  • Jul 27 William Lowndes Yancey, American Confederate leader (b. 1813)
  • Jul 28 James Deshler, US Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 30
  • Jul 29 Edward Needle Kirk, US Union brigadier general, dies in battle at about 35
  • Jul 30 George Crockett Strong, US Union gen-mjr, dies of injuries at 29

Historical Figures

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