Posted on 06/19/2020 5:52:41 PM PDT by BeauBo
One of the federal government's first attacks on slavery during the war was an "Act to Secure Freedom to All Persons Within the Territories of the United States," passed on June 19, 1862.
Exactly three years later, Gen. Gordon Granger would sail into Galveston, Texas, to read the Emancipation Proclamation to the people of Texas.
The day would become known as "Juneteenth" and would be celebrated as a holiday —‚ a second independence day — for former slaves.
On June 19, 1865, Granger read the words written by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Texas was the last state in the defeated Confederacy to hear them.
"All persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free ... " and "the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons," it read...
Lincoln's executive order didn't end slavery in the United States. It did mean that when the Union Army came rolling into a Confederate-controlled area, the slaves in that area would be set free.
Even though the Civil War brought the end of slavery in the former Confederacy, there were four "border" states where slavery was legal but that did not secede from the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri...
The "peculiar institution" itself wouldn't technically be abolished until the passage of the 13th Amendment on Dec. 18, 1865...
Some 175 regiments comprising more than 178,000 free blacks and former slaves joined the newly formed United States Colored Troops' regiments, making up 10% of the Union Army.
United States Colored Troops fought in every major campaign of the war's final two years...
Texas... last to be occupied... (saw) the freedom of an estimated quarter-million slaves, the last slaves in the newly restored Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
BOL! No wonder the BLMers and Dems don’t want to discuss this historical event.
“United States Colored Troops fought in every major campaign of the war’s final two years.”
The article is incorrect on this point. General Sherman would not allow black troops (USCTs) to serve in his armies.
No black troops marched with Sherman through Georgia to the sea. Nor did any march with him through South Carolina and North Carolina.
Lincoln only proclaimed that slaves were free in states & territories that were in armed rebellion with the U.S.
Bump
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