1863

President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, declared all enslaved people in Confederate states 'then in rebellion' to be 'forever free.' As a war measure under commander-in-chief authority, it did not apply to border states or Union-occupied Confederate territory. It immediately freed no one under Confederate control but transformed the Union war aim to include emancipation, authorized Black men to enlist in the Union Army (leading to 180,000 Black soldiers serving by war's end), and made European recognition of the Confederacy politically impossible. Combined with the Thirteenth Amendment (ratified December 1865), it ended legal slavery in the United States.

The Bureau of Colored Troops was established May 22, 1863; by war's end approximately 180,000 Black men served in 175 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. Black soldiers received $10 per month versus $13 for white soldiers (with $3 deducted for clothing) — a wage disparity that Black soldiers and abolitionists protested for two years until Congress equalized pay in June 1864. The Confederate government declared it would execute Black Union soldiers as insurrectionists rather than treat them as prisoners of war. The Fort Pillow Massacre (April 12, 1864) saw Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest kill approximately 300 Black Union soldiers who had surrendered, the most notorious of multiple documented massacres.

The Bureau of Colored Troops was established May 22, 1863; by war's end approximately 180,000 Black men served in 175 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. Black soldiers received $10 per month versus $13 for white soldiers, a wage disparity Congress equalized only in June 1864. The Confederate government declared it would execute Black Union soldiers as insurrectionists rather than treat them as prisoners of war, a policy carried out at Fort Pillow and other engagements.

For four days, white New Yorkers — largely Irish immigrants — rioted against the federal draft, turning their fury on the Black community. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum (233 children escaped), lynched at least 11 Black men, and drove thousands of Black residents from the city. Estimates of the death toll range from 105 to over 1,000. Federal troops had to be diverted from Gettysburg to restore order.

The Militia Act of 1862 set Black soldiers' pay at $10 per month (minus $3 for clothing), compared to $13 plus clothing for white soldiers. The 54th Massachusetts famously refused to accept any pay for 18 months in protest. Sergeant Robert John Simmons was killed at Fort Wagner having never received equal compensation. Congress equalized pay in June 1864, but many Black soldiers never received back pay.

Lincoln declares the enslaved in rebel states free, transforming the war into a fight for freedom.

Black Union soldiers prove their valor in a costly assault on a Confederate fort.

White mobs attack Black New Yorkers during anti-draft violence.