[Tribune7]

Maybe what I heard was she kept them after the Emancipation Proclamation.

It's funny I did some searching and can't find anything definite. One souce says that Julia says in her memoirs that she freed them with the Emancipation Proclamation. I do remember reading somewhere else that was not the case.

And, in truth, Grant, himself, was opposed to slavery.

Still it is ironic that Lee freed his slaves without compulsion and Julia Grant apparently did not.

[Non-Sequitur]

One souce says that Julia says in her memoirs that she freed them with the Emancipation Proclamation. I do remember reading somewhere else that was not the case.

When relying on Julia Grant's memoirs one has to remember that they were no published until about 70 years after her death. They are open to some question.

Still it is ironic that Lee freed his slaves without compulsion and Julia Grant apparently did not.

The slaves were freed because George Washington Parke Custis's will required them to be freed. That seems pretty compulsive to me. If Missouri records are correct, the Dent family freed their slaves early in 1863, two years before the Missouri Constitution required the do so.