The Confederación Granadina had been wracked with division and civil war since its founding in the Constitution of 1858.  A new constitutional convention met in February 1863 in Rionegro and amended the document to produce a federalist republic with a weak central government and a two year presidential term. The state was also renamed as the Estados Unidos de Colombia. In 1886, another constitution, much more conservative, once again radically changed the structure of Colombian government.  (By John Osborne)

Marching on Vicksburg, General U.S. Grant's forces had crossed the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg, Mississippi  the evening before and advanced inland.  Confederate General John S. Bowen, at the head of one reinforced division, made an attempt near Port Gibson to hold back the much larger Union force.  Hit on both flanks, the Confederate forces broke and Grant moved on towards Vicksburg.  Several hundred men, including CSA General Edward Tracy, were killed in heavy fighting and total casualties numbered around sixteen hundred.  (By John Osborne)