1863 Feb Am Civil War Gazette

Highlights of the February 1863 Edition:

- Napoleon III of France proposes a mediation between the North and the South
- Lincoln and Seward decline

- "So far from being about to end, we believe that the war is about to assume a shape more terrible that it has ever yet presented."
Richmond Daily Dispatch, February 18, 1863

- Grant's Vicksburg Campaign continues
- "The Battle for the Mississippi"
- Work on Grant's Canal continues
- Yazoo Pass Expedition

- Middle Tennessee Operations begin
- Battle of Dover/Second Battle of Fort Donaldson

- Virginia Operations
- Report of the Battle of Deserted House/Battle on the Blackwater

- U.S. Congress
- Thaddeus Stevens' "Negro Soldier Bill" passes allowing for:
- "the enlistment of any number of negroes, not over 300,000"
- "to be paid $10 a month"
- "to be armed and equipped as other soldiers"
- "officered by white men"
- Gov. Andrews of Massachusetts authorizes "the enlistment of colored men as United States soldiers"
- Will later be organized as the Massachusetts 54th featured in the 1989 film "Glory"

- Continued debate about the Emancipation Proclamation
- Kentucky affirms support
- Tennessee denounces
- Frederick Douglas' speech at the Cooper Institute
- Soldiers of the N.Y. 99th are caught seizing slaves and selling them across the lines

- Gen. Longstreet (CSA) takes command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina

- The "Dead Rabbits" gang (portrayed in Scorcese's Gangs of New York) pressure the Governor of New-York to pardon two of their members; the Higgins brothers.

- The Supreme Court hears evidence to determine whether the Government is engaged in a war or a civil rebellion, and whether the blockade is legal under a rebellion.