Q. David Bowers
The Year 1863 in History
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1st, but it made little difference to the nearly four million slaves in: the South who remained in bondage. The Civil War progressed on several bloody fronts. In the first week of July 1863 the Battle of Gettysburg marked the turning point of the war. Southern troops were routed in Pickett's Charge, although both sides sustained thousands of casualties. On November 19, 1863 vast tracts of land in the area were dedicated as the Gettysburg National Cemetery, and Edward Everett and President Lincoln were featured at the podium. Everett, erstwhile president of Harvard, gave a well prepared and quite lengthy speech describing in minute detail the battle that had taken place there. At the conclusion of Everett's oration, President Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to give brief remarks which he had composed by making notes on the backs of envelopes.
The next day Everett wrote Lincoln: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes." In reply to this comment on his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln modestly stated that he was pleased to learn that what he "did say was not entirely a failure." In a separate actions Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving day as October 3, 1863.
The draft of citizens for the Union Army began on July 11th, under terms of the Conscription Act of March 3rd, but exempting anyone who paid $300. Draft riots broke out in several northern cities. In New York City, a violent mob attacked the Colored Orphans Asylum on Fifth Avenue, but the more than 200 orphans had been evacuated earlier. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in the melee, and thousands were injured.
Congress continued to encourage the railroads, and a bill was passed which provided the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad $16,000 for every mile of track laid on the plains, $32,000 per mile through intermountain stretches, and $48,000 per mile for every mile through the mountains. Vast land grants were also given to the railroads. Congress also established the National Academy of Science, an advisory body for scientific research. Young John D. Rockefeller, who had learned about the oil business in the Titusville, Pennsylvania boom of the late 1850s, built a refinery in Cleveland. In Hartford, Connecticut the Travelers Insurance Company was established. A century laterits then president.]. Doyle Dewitt, would be an ardent numismatist and write the standard reference work on political tokens and medals. In Idaho Territory a gold strike was made in Alder Gulch, touching off another gold rush, this one of fairly modest proportions.
In the field of literature, Edward Everett Hale's The Man Without a Country was published and would go on to become an American classic. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) was on the staff of the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada, a town which was experiencing great prosperity from the Comstock Lode. Popular songs of the year included Clementine, The Battle Cry of Freedom, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and. The Rock Island Line.
In England, rules were established for soccer, a game that would achieve great international prominence but could not be a first ranking sport in the United States. In Saratoga Springs, New York, a health spa, the first large racetrack in the United States opened. For decades to coin, Saratoga Springs would be the center of horse racing in this country.
In the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis sought to alleviate a food shortage by suggesting that plantation owners plant vegetables instead of cotton and tobacco.
By mid-1863 it took $140 to $150 in Legal Tender "green-back" paper notes to buy $100 worth of gold coins. Later, that same $100 in gold cost $200 to $220 in paper, and paper was worth 45 to 50 cents on the dollar. During this time the United States government would not accept its own paper money for the purchase of Proof coins and sets, and collectors were forced to pay in coin. Suspension of specie payments remained in effect, and what silver and gold coins were minted in Philadelphia did not circulate, but were used to buy goods in the export trade, or stayed in Treasury vaults. Paper money would not trade on a par with gold and silver until December 1878. Mintages were low for certain series, and in particular the 1863 $2.50 was struck only in Proof finish; none was made for circulation. On the other hand, the mintage of Indian cents was very generous. The lack of specie in circulation gave rise to an immense variety of private scrip notes and cent-size copper tokens.