Compiled by Jim Hachtel, President
Gen. William T. Sherman Memorial Civil War Roundtable
June 2, 1863 - Peace Democrat Clement Vallandigham is moved to Wilmington, North Carolina for detention per President Davis' instructions. He is held as an enemy alien.
June 2, 1863 - Following an eight-hour chase, the CSS Alabama captures and burns the USS Amazonian in the South Atlantic. Captain Raphael Semmes continues to have success.
June 3, 1863 - The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a newly formed African American unit, arrives in Port Royal, South Carolina. Colonel Robert G. Shaw commands them.
June 3, 1863 - General Robert E. Lee moves his 75,000-men Army of Northern Virginia from Fredericksburg, Virginia toward the Shenandoah Valley. This begins the second invasion of the north by General Lee. General A.P. Hill's Corps remains in Fredericksburg.
June 3, 1863 - The USS Stars and Stripes captures the Confederate sloop 'Florida' at St Mark's Bay, Florida.
June 4, 1863 - President Lincoln orders Secretary of War Stanton to reverse the suspension placed on the Chicago Times by General Burnside.
June 4, 1863 - General William Rosecrans' Union force faces General Braxton Bragg's Confederates in a skirmish near Snow Hill, Tennessee.
June 5, 1863 - Union leaders assume the Army of Northern Virginia is moving to invade Maryland. To test if the Confederates have moved en mass from Fredericksburg, General John Sedgwick probes across the Rappahannock River at Franklin's Crossing. Stiff resistance is encountered and Sedgwick realizes that General Ambrose Hill's unit is still in place. General Joseph Hooker believes the entire Confederate Army is moving so orders further reconnaissance. General A.P. Hill moves to join General Lee the next day.
June 5, 1863 - Captain Raphael Semmes and the CSS Alabama capture and burn the Union ship 'Talisman' in the mid-Atlantic.
June 6, 1863 - Dignitaries and spectators assemble at Brandy Station, Virginia to observe a grand review of 8,000 Confederate Cavalry by General J.E.B. Stuart.
June 6, 1863 - To relieve pressure on Vicksburg, General Richard Taylor is ordered to attack Union positions along Milliken's Bend, Louisiana. Elements of the 10th Illinois Cavalry detect the advance and alert Colonel Hermann Lieb, commander at Milliken's Bend. Preparations are hastily made to meet the 4,500 men Confederate force.
June 7, 1863 - Union forces advance below Vicksburg and burn Brierfield, President Jefferson Davis's plantation.
June 7, 1863 - Colonel Hermann Lieb's 1,061 men are attacked at Milliken's Bend at 5:30 AM and are driven back to the riverbank. Union gunboats 'Choctaw' and 'Lexington' arrive by 7:00 AM and direct accurate cannon fire on the attacking forces. The newly organized African-American forces of the 9th and 13th Louisiana and the 1st Mississippi fight courageously but have disproportionate losses. They kill several Confederate prisoners when they discover the Confederates killed captured black soldiers in their custody.
June 8, 1863 - General Lee arrives at Culpepper Court House where General J.E.B. Stuart stages another grand review of his cavalry. The jaunty and supremely confident calvary commander delights in showing off his unit.
June 8, 1863 - General Alfred Pleasanton musters 11,000 Union men at Falmouth, Virginia, to locate the main body of the Confederate Army and determine if they are moving north into Union territory on the offensive.
