May 1863 in History

Events in History

Stonewall Jackson Wounded

May 2 Stonewall Jackson attacking Chancellorsville is wounded by his own men

May 3 Battle of Salem Church, Virginia
May 3 The Second Battle of Fredericksburg occurs in Virginia, part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War
May 4 U.S. Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville, action at Salem Church; Union Army withdraws
May 8 Confederación Granadina becomes Estados Unidos de Colombia
May 12 Battle of Raymond, Mississippi
May 14 American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson, Mississippi takes place

Salon des Refusés

May 15 Salon des Refusés opens in Paris, exhibition of works rejected by official Salon, features Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Henri Fantin-Latour, James Whistler, and Édouard Manet

May 16 Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi - bloodiest action of Vicksburg Campaign
May 17 Battle of Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi
May 17 Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, her first book in the Galician language

Siege of Vicksburg

May 18 US General Ulysses S. Grant begins siege on Vicksburg, Mississippi; after 47 days of battle siege, Confederate Lt. General John C. Pemberton’s troops surrender [1]

Union General and US President Ulysses S. Grant

May 19 Siege of Vicksburg, investment of city complete
May 21 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, begins
May 22 War Department establishes Bureau of Colored Troops
May 23 Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan
May 27 US Civil War: Confederate gunboat CSS Chattahoochee steam boiler explosion kills 19 crew members on the Apalachicola River, near Blountstown, Florida
May 27 US Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson in Louisiana by Union forces begins; lasts 48 days, longest American military siege
May 28 1st black regiment (54 Mass) leaves Boston to fight in US Civil War

Birthdays in History

May 5 Frederik August Stoett, Dutch linguist (Dutch Proverbs), born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1936)
May 14 John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician and founder of the Fields Medal, born in Hamilton, Ontario (d. 1932)
May 18 William Heinemann, English publisher (Heinnemann), born in Surbiton, England (d. 1920)
May 24 George Grey Barnard, American sculptor, born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (d. 1938)
May 28 Georg Adler, Polish state economist, born in Poznań, Poland (d. 1908)
May 31 Francis Younghusband, British journalist and explorer (1904 British expedition to Tibet), born in Murree, British India (d. 1942)

Deaths in History

May 1 Edward D. Tracy, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 29
May 3 Elisha Franklin Paxton [Bull Paxton], American general (Confederate Army), dies leading Stoneville Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville at 35
May 7 Amiel Weeks Whipple, US Union gen-major, dies of injuries at 46

Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863)

May 10 Confederate general during the American Civil War, dies of pneumonia at 39

May 16 Lloyd Tilghman, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at 47
May 27 Edward Payson Chapin, American lawyer and Union Army Colonel (posthumously elevated to Brigadier General), dies of injuries from the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana at 31
May 28 Edmund Kirby Jr, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies of injuries at 23