What happened in 1862?

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the Confederacy henceforth and forever free. Though this has no immediate impact - the Confederacy, after all, is not in Lincoln's control - emancipation becomes inextricably linked with war aims from this point on. Units made up of ex-slaves start to fight in the Union Army.

It was the second year of the American Civil War.

Plans are made to build the first transcontinental railroads in the United States.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement in England has its first successes. Christina Rossetti publishes Goblin Market and Other Poems,and her brother Dante's wife dies of an overdose of laudanum, inspiring him to paint pale, beautiful women.

See the following websites for timelines of events from 1862-1863:

http://timelines.ws/1862_1863.HTML

http://www.history.com/wt.do?year=1862