TimeLine 1862 to 1863

January 13 - Appointed Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War.

Lincoln sent a special message to Congress in which he recommended gradual, compensated, emancipation of the slaves.

July 11 - appointed Henry Wager Halleck General in Chief. Halleck was much criticized as incompetent. The Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles described Halleck as follows: he "originates nothing, anticipates nothing. . . . takes no responsibility, plans nothing, suggests nothing, is good for nothing."

September 22, Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation of emancipation after the Battle of Antietem.

In December, Lincoln issued a message to Congress again urging gradual emancipation, with compensation being given to the former slave owners.

Replaced Mclellan with General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

December 13 - Burnside was defeated by the Confederates at Fredericksburg.

January 1 - Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared free the slaves in all territories of the Confederacy whether or not they were currently under Federal occupation. The Proclamation did not free the slaves which were held in states and territories which had remained loyal to the Union and had not seceded. Moreover, actual freedom for the slaves in rebel territory would have to wait until the end of the Civil War.

January 26 - Lincoln appointed General Hooker to succeed General Burnside.

May 2 - General Hooker is defeated at the Battle of Chancellorsville.com

June 27 - General Hooker is replaced by Meade.

July 1 to 4 - Battle of Gettysburg

July 4 - Fall of Vicksburg, Union victory

September 19 to 20 - Battle of Chicamauga

November 19 - delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Gettysburg war cemetery on the site of the battlefield

November 24 to 25 - General Grant won the battle of Lookout Mountain and the battle of Missionary Ridge

December 8 - Delivered a message to congress and issued a Proclamation of Amnesty

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