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What happened on this day during the Civil War - April 16th?

  1. April 16, 1862 - Confederate Congress, following numerous Western Theater losses in the past three months, issues the first-ever conscription act in American military history. This would be just the first of three Confederate conscription acts.
  2. April 16, 1862 – Lincoln signs a bill outlawing slavery in the District of Columbia.
  3. April 16, 1863 – Grant turns his attention again towards Vicksburg by sending gunboats and transports to the region. He will eventually capture the city in a couple months. The city was deemed impregnable by the citizens, hailing it as the “Gibraltar of the West”.
  4. April 16, 1864 – An official report from the ward department lists 146,634 prisoners of war.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

April 16 – Grant turns his attention again towards Vicksburg by sending gunboats and transports to the region. He will eventually capture the city in a couple months. The city was deemed impregnable by the citizens, hailing it as the “Gibraltar of the West”.

April 17Gierson’s 600 mile cavalry raid begins in Mississippi in an effort to divert attention away from Grant’s gunboats near Vicksburg. 1,700 Union cavalry wound wreak havoc in Mississippi in a two week period.

April 27 – Union General Joe Hooker launches his Chancellorsville Campaign in Northern Virginia in an attempt to get around Lee’s left flank.

See the complete Civil War Timeline here.

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