PREFACE. 



IN presenting to the public another volume of the ANIHJAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 

 containing the record of the most turbulent year which the country has wit- 

 nessed, the publishers trust that it will be found truthful and impartial. 

 No efforts have been spared to secure its completeness and accuracy, and to pre- 

 serve it free from every mark of partisanship. 



The year 1863 was a remarkable one. Principles adopted in the previous 

 years had gone into effect, and now manifested their results. Many new 

 and important questions thus came up, and were discussed in Congress, by the 

 press, and before civil tribunals. In Europe, also, similar developments were 

 manifested, and although the conflict of arms was not so extensive or violent as 

 in this country, the agitation of men's minds was no less deep and earnest. In 

 these pages the effort has been made to present the facts of this seething con- 

 dition, so that the reader may see what steps have been taken in public 

 and social affairs, and how far forward they lead toward any amelioration of 

 mankind. 



Among the numerous questions discussed were those relating to confiscation, 

 emancipation, indemnity official and pecuniary, the relations of the insurrec- 

 tionary States to the Union, personal liberty, martial law, prize, the liability of 

 Great Britain for damages done by the Alabama, the reconstruction of the map 

 of Europe, and the reorganization of Germany. 



A detailed statement of the vast military and naval operations in this coun- 

 try is given, which presents the movements of the armies day by day, and step 

 by step, with the objects of those movements, and tHeir consequences ; also the 

 efforts of the Government to improve the condition of the freedmen who came 

 within their control, and to organize the able-bodied as soldiers ; also the plans 

 and arrangements of its immense hospitals for the sick and wounded. The 

 military operations are illustrated with complete topographical maps of the 

 country. 



The details of the internal affairs of the country embrace the organization 

 of the armies, North and South ; the number and condition of the troops ; the 

 important measures and debates in Congress ; the acts of State Legislatures, 



