On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declairing all slaves in the "areas of rebellion" were, in the eyes of the federal government, free.
This followed an 1862 year of long and momentous struggle. I will highlight a few of them here:
March - Battle of Monitor and the Merrimac
April - Shiloh, fall of New Orleans and beginning of the Peninsular Campaign
May - Stonewall Jackson defeats Union Forces in the Shenandoah Valley
June - Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks)
July - The Seven Days' Battless
August - Pope's CampaignSeptember - Haper's Ferry
September - Antietam
December - Fredericksburg
I think we have blogged about most of these battles during the year. Tomorrow, lets look ahead at wht 1863 holds for our beloved Confederacy.