Wednesday, May 20, 1863
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| Operation: | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | April 21 - May 31, 1863 | Expedition to: | Bear River, Idaho Territory | May 5 - 30, 1863 | Scout: | Calhoun County, WV | May 15 - 22, 1863 | Expedition from: | Camp Douglass, Utah Territory | May 5 - 30, 1863 | Skirmish: | Cheyneyville, LA | May 20, 1863 | Scout: | Clarksville, TN | May 20 - 22, 1863 | Raid: | Clendennin's Raid, VA | May 20 - 28, 1863 | Skirmish: | Colliersville, TN | May 20, 1863 | Operation: | Eastern Shore, VA | August 20 - June 3, 1863 | Skirmish: | Fayetteville, WV | May 18 - 20, 1863 | Action: | Fort Blunt, Indian Territory | May 20, 1863 | Skirmish: | Fort Gibson, Indian Territory | May 20, 1863 | Skirmish: | Foster's Plantation, VA | May 20, 1863 | Operation: | Gloucester Peninsula, VA | August 20, 1862 - June 4, 1863 | Expedition from: | Gloucester Point, VA | May 19 - 22, 1863 | Raid: | Jones' Raid | April 21 - May 31, 1863 | Demonstration: | Kinston, NC | May 20 - 23, 1863 | Skirmish: | Lancaster, VA | May 20 - 21, 1863 | Expedition to: | Matthews County, VA | May 19 - 22, 1863 | Operation: | Middlesex County, VA | May 20 - 26, 1863 | Operation: | Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, VA | May 15 - 28, 1863 | Operation: | Northern Neck, VA | May 20 - 26, 1863 | Raid: | Northwestern Railroad, TN | April 21 - May 21, 1863 | Operation: | Owen's Valley, CA | April 24 - May 26, 1863 | Skirmish: | Salem, TN | May 20, 1863 | Operation: | Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, VA | May 12 - 26, 1863 | Operation: | Skull Creek, SC | May 18 - 21, 1863 | Expedition against: | Snake Indians, Idaho Territory | May 4 - October 26, 1863 | Expedition to: | Soda Springs, Idaho Territory | May 5 - 30, 1863 | Expedition from: | Vicksburg, MS | May 20 - 23, 1863 | Siege: | Vicksburg, MS | May 18 - July 4, 1863 | Operation: | Vicksburg, MS | January 20 - July 4, 1863 | Expedition to: | Yazoo City, MS | May 20 - 23, 1863 |
| Appointment: | Thomas Green, CSA, to Brigadier General | Appointment: | David Bell Birney, USA, to Major General | Appointment: | Adelbert Ames, USA, to Brigadier General |
(Source: Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Vol. I, p. 660-991. Frederick H. Dyer; The Chronological Tracking Of The American Civil War Per The Offical Records Of The War of the Rebellion pp. 1-336. Ronald A. Mosocco.)
Naval Events:
Confederate troops planted torpedoes in Skull Creek, South Carolina, "with a view of destroying the enemy's vessels, which are constantly passing through this thoroughfare."(Source: Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. pp. I:1-41; II:1-117; III:1-170; IV:1-152; V:1-134. 1971: Naval History Division, Navy Department.)Rear Admiral Farragut reported to Secretary Welles: "We are again about to attack Port Hudson. General Banks supported by the Hartford, Albatross and some of the small gunboats, will attack from above, landing probably at Bayou Sara, while General Augur will march up from Baton Rouge and will attack the place from below. . . . my vessels are pretty well used up, but they must work as long as they can."
Writing of the reports he had made to the Navy Department after the Charleston attack, Rear Admiral Du Pont noted: "I did not call a failure, a reconnaissance. I told them, to renew the attack would be to convert failure into disaster. I told them moreover that Charleston could not be taken by a purely naval attack--nor can it be in the ordinary professional acceptation of the term--not that there is not power enough in the country to do it--but there is nothing to justify its application or to reward its success--commensurate with the sacrifice etc. When Admiral Sir Charles Napier informed the Admiralty that to attack Cronstadt would be the destruction of the British fleet--or when the combined fleets withdrew from the attack of the forts at Sebastopol, it was not intended to convey, there was not wealth and life enough in Britain and France to accomplish it. Blood and treasure may do almost anything in war. Suvorov bridged marshes with human bodies, by forcing his advance guard into them, until the remainder of his army found a foot-hold on their fallen comrades."
Boat crew under Acting Master's Mate Charles W. Fisher of U.S.S. Louisiana captured schooner R. T. Renshaw in the Tar River, above Washington, North Carolina.
Additional Information:
The Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi. (MS011) (Grant's Operations Against Vicksburg [March-July 1863]).
(Source: Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report: Battle Summaries. National Park Service. In The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., 1998. Edited by Frances H. Kennedy.)