Confederate forces in Florida are defeated in their effort to take Santa Rosa Island on October 9, 1861.

Confederate Richard Anderson had crossed from the Florida mainland onto Santa Rosa Island with twelve hundred men, in two small steamers, in a failed attempt to capture Fort Pickens (located on the west end of the island).

The Union will hold the fort throughout the war.

Union Major General David Hunter, commander of the Department of the South (including Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina), had proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in his Department on May 9, but President Lincoln disavows the order on May 19.

The new Confederate raider, Alabama, joins its sister ship Florida (which, together with other Southern raiders, will ultimately destroy two hundred and fifty-seven Union vessels) in July.

The net effect of the American battles and maneuvers of 1862 has been slight.

The SS Georgiana, reputed to be the "most powerful" cruiser in the Confederate fleet, is destroyed on her maiden voyage from Scotland, while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina, on March 19, 1863.

The wreck will be discovered exactly one hundred and two years later, by E. Lee Spence.

The 54th Massachusetts—the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War—leaves Boston to fight for the Union on May 28, 1863.

Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consists of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.

The unit had begun recruiting in February 1863 and trained at Camp Meigs on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts.

Prominent abolitionists have been active in recruitment efforts, including Frederick Douglass, whose two sons had been among the first to enlist.

Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew, who has long pressured the U.S. Department of War to begin recruiting African-Americans, places a high priority on the formation of the 54th Massachusetts.

Andrew has appointed Robert Gould Shaw, the son of Boston abolitionists, to command the regiment as Colonel.

The free black community in Boston has also been instrumental in recruiting efforts, utilizing networks reaching beyond Massachusetts and even into the southern states to attract soldiers and fill out the ranks.

After its departure from Massachusetts, the 54th Massachusetts will be shipped to Beaufort, South Carolina and become part of the X Corps commanded by Major General David Hunter.

The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner on July 18, but their valiant fighting proves the worth of African American soldiers to the Union during the war.

Their commander, Colonel Robert Shaw, is shot leading the attack, and is buried with his men (four hundred and fifty Union, together with one hundred and seventy-five Confederate).

Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter beginning August 17 (the bombardment will not end until December 31).

Confederates defending Charleston evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island on September 6.

The tiny Confederate States of America hand-propelled submarine H. L. Hunley, which had first been tested successfully in July 1863, sinks off Charleston during a test on October 15, killing its inventor Horace Lawson Hunley and a crew of seven.

Five men from the first crew of H. L. Hunley had died during early tests when she was accidentally swamped by the wake of a passing ship through her open hatches; four had managed to escape.

The second crew had been recruited in Charleston.

The vessel will be later raised and used again in 1864 in the first successful sinking of an enemy vessel (the USS Housatonic) by a submarine in naval history.

The operation will also be fateful for the H. L. Hunley, which will sink a third time, and for the second time lose all hands.