October 1-3 -- St. John's Bluff
Brig. Gen. John Finegan established a battery on St. John' s Bluff near Jacksonville to stop the movement of Federal ships up the St. Johns River . Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan embarked with about 1,500 infantry aboard the transports Boston , Ben DeFord, Cosmopolitan, and Neptune at Hilton Head, South Carolina , on September 30. The flotilla arrived at the mouth of the St. John's River on October 1, where Cdr. Charles Steedman' s gunboats—Paul Jones, Cimarron , Uncas, Patroon, Hale, and Water Witch—joined them. By midday, the gunboats approached the bluff, while Brannan began landing troops at Mayport Mills. Another infantry force landed at Mount Pleasant Creek, about five miles in the rear of the Confederate battery, and began marching overland on the 2nd. Outmaneuvered, Lt. Col. Charles F. Hopkins abandoned the position after dark. When the gunboats approached the bluff the next day, its guns were silent.

October 3-4, 1862 Corinth

October 4 -- Galveston Texas .
At 6:00 am on October 4, 1862, Cdr. W.B. Renshaw, commanding the blockading ships in the Galveston Bay area, sent Harriet Lane into the harbor.

October 4, 1862 Galveston
October 5, 1862 Hatchie's Bridge / Davis Bridge / Matamora
October 8, 1862 Perryville
October 22, 1862 Old Fort Wayne / Beaty's Prairie
October 27, 1862 Georgia Landing / Labadieville / Texana

November 7, 1862 Clark's Mill / Vera Cruz
November 28, 1862 Cane Hill / Boston Mountains

December 7, 1862 Hartsville
December 14, 1862 Kinston
December 16, 1862 White Hall / Whitehall / White Hall Ferry
December 17, 1862 Goldsborough Bridge
December 19, 1862 Jackson
December 26-29, 1862 Chickasaw Bayou / Walnut Hills
December 31, 1862 Parker's Cross Roads
Dec 31, 1862-Jan 2, 1863 Stones River / Murfreesboro

December 29 -- Murfreesboro Stones River Campaign

December 1862 -- The Battle of Fredericksburg.
General McClellan's slow movements, combined with General Lee's escape, and continued raiding by Confederate cavalry, dismayed many in the North. On November 7, Lincoln replaced McClellan with Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside's forces were defeated in a series of attacks against entrenched Confederate forces at Fredericksburg , Virginia , and Burnside was replaced with General Joseph Hooker.

December 7, 1862 Prairie Grove / Fayetteville
December 11-15, 1862 Fredericksburg I / Marye's Heights

January 1863 -- Emancipation Proclamation.
In an effort to placate the slave-holding border states , Lincoln resisted the demands of radical Republicans for complete abolition. Yet some Union generals, such as General B. F. Butler, declared slaves escaping to their lines "contraband of war," not to be returned to their masters. Other generals decreed that the slaves of men rebelling against the Union were to be considered free. Congress, too, had been moving toward abolition. In 1861, Congress had passed an act stating that all slaves employed against the Union were to be considered free. In 1862, another act stated that all slaves of men who supported the Confederacy were to be considered free. Lincoln , aware of the public's growing support of abolition, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all slaves in areas still in rebellion were, in the eyes of the federal government, free.

January 1
Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder, who became the Confederate commander of military forces in Texas on November 29, 1862, gave the recapture of Galveston top priority. At 3:00 am on New Year's Day, 1863, four Confederate gunboats appeared, coming down the bay toward Galveston . Soon afterward, the Rebels commenced a land attack. The Union forces in Galveston were three companies of the 42nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment under the command of Col. Isaac S. Burrell. The Confederates captured or killed all of them except for the regiment's adjutant. They also took Harriet Lane , by boarding her, and two barks and a schooner. Cdr. W.B. Renshaw's flagship, U.S.S. Westfield, ran aground when trying to help Harriet Lane and, at 10:00 am, she was blown up to prevent her capture by the Confederates. Galveston was in Confederate hands again although the Union blockade would limit commerce in and out of the harbor. Galveston. Soon afterward, the Rebels commenced a land attack.

January 1, 1863 Galveston
January 8, 1863 Springfield
January 9-11, 1863 Hartville
January 9-11, 1863 Arkansas Post / Fort Hindman
January 29, 1863 Bear River / Massacre at Boa Ogoi

February 3, 1863 Dover / Fort Donelson

March 1863 -- The First Conscription Act.
Because of recruiting difficulties, an act was passed making all men between the ages of 20 and 45 liable to be called for military service. Service could be avoided by paying a fee or finding a substitute. The act was seen as unfair to the poor, and riots in working-class sections of New York City broke out in protest. A similar conscription act in the South provoked a similar reaction.

March 3, 1863 Fort McAllister I
March 5, 1863 Thompson's Station
March 13-15, 1863 Fort Anderson / Deep Gully
March 17, 1863 Kelly's Ford / Kellysville
March 20, 1863 Vaught's Hill / Milton
March 25, 1863 Brentwood
March 30-April 20, 1863 Washington

April -- Charleston Harbor
Maj. Gen. David Hunter prepared his land forces on Folly, Cole's, and North Edisto Islands to cooperate with a naval bombardment of Fort Sumter . On April 7, the South Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral S.F. Du Pont bombarded Fort Sumter , having little impact on the Confederate defenses of Charleston Harbor . Although several of Hunter's units had embarked on transports, the infantry were not landed, and the joint operation was abandoned.

The ironclad warships Keokuk, Weehawken , Passaic , Montauk, Patapsco, New Ironsides, Catskill, Nantucket , and Nahant participated in the bombardment. Keokuk, struck more than 90 times by the accurate Confederate fire, sunk the next day. 

The New Jersey Volunteer Home Page contains pages of Civil War material including Photos, Images, Battles, Documents, Troops Furnished, Death Stats, Associations, Letters & Diaries, New Jersey Census of 1860, Maps, Official Records, Dyer's Compendium, Fox's Regimental Losses, Regimental Histories, Genealogy, Biographical Information,  and Unit Information.

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