Editing Juneteenth (section)

==== End of slavery in Texas ====
{{Further|Emancipation Proclamation}}

Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War on September 22, 1862, declaring that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union, all enslaved people in the Confederacy would be freed on the first day of the year.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|title=Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, 1862|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals_iv/sections/preliminary_emancipation_proclamation.html|access-date=June 3, 2020|website=The National Archives|archive-date=June 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610202334/https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals_iv/sections/preliminary_emancipation_proclamation.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved people in the Confederate States of America in rebellion and not in Union hands were freed.<ref name=":10" />{{efn|name="war powers"|Enslaved people in Union hands had not been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation due to the limited scope of presidential "war powers". See [[Emancipation Proclamation#Coverage]] for more information.}}

Planters and other slaveholders from eastern states had migrated into Texas to escape the fighting, and many brought enslaved people with them, increasing by the thousands the enslaved population in the state at the end of the Civil War.<ref name="gates"/> Although most lived in rural areas, more than 1,000 resided in [[Galveston, Texas|Galveston]] or [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns.<ref name=barr24>Barr (1996), p. 24.</ref> By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas.<ref name="gates"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Garrett-Scott|first=Shennette|date=2013|title="When Peace Come": Teaching the Significance of Juneteenth|journal=Black History Bulletin|volume=76|issue=2|pages=19–25|doi=10.1353/bhb.2013.0015 |jstor=24759690|s2cid=245657706 }}</ref>

Despite the surrender of Confederate General-in-Chief [[Robert E. Lee]] at [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|Appomattox Court House]] on April&nbsp;9, 1865, the western Confederate [[Army of the Trans-Mississippi]] did not formally surrender until June 2.<ref name="gates"/> On the morning of June&nbsp;19, 1865, [[Union Army|Union]] Major General [[Gordon Granger]] arrived on the island of Galveston<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JFI3AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA929|title=Serial set (no. 3100-3500)|date=July 20, 1896}}</ref> to take command of the more than 2,000 federal troops recently landed in the department of Texas to enforce the emancipation of its enslaved population and oversee [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]], nullifying all laws passed within Texas during the war by Confederate lawmakers.<ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/18/juneteenth-holiday-history-slavery-george-floyd/|title=Juneteenth celebrates 'a moment of indescribable joy': Slavery's end in Texas|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=DeNeen L.|last=Brown|date=June 19, 2020|access-date=June 29, 2020|archive-date=June 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628161327/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/18/juneteenth-holiday-history-slavery-george-floyd/|url-status=live}}</ref> The order informed all Texans that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all enslaved people were free:

{{Blockquote|The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.<ref name = "TXJ19"/>|sign=|source=}}

Longstanding urban legend places a historic reading of General Order No.&nbsp;3 at [[Ashton Villa]]; but no historical evidence supports this claim.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Ed |last=Cotham |url=https://www.galvnews.com/opinion/guest_columns/article_73af8892-f75d-11e3-8626-001a4bcf6878.html |title=Juneteenth: Four myths and one great truth |newspaper=[[The Daily News (Texas)|The Daily News]] |date=June 18, 2014 |access-date=June 29, 2020 |archive-date=June 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628042023/https://www.galvnews.com/opinion/guest_columns/article_73af8892-f75d-11e3-8626-001a4bcf6878.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There is no evidence that Granger or any of his troops ''proclaimed'' the Ordinance by reading it aloud. All indications are that copies of the Ordinance were posted in public places, including the Negro Church on Broadway, since renamed [[Reedy Chapel A.M.E. Church]].<ref name="Burnett2020">{{cite web |last1=Burnett |first1=John |title=Four enduring myths about Juneteenth are not based on facts |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/1105945119/four-enduring-myths-about-juneteenth-are-not-based-on-facts |access-date=June 21, 2022 |website=[[NPR]] |date=June 20, 2022 |archive-date=June 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621030938/https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/1105945119/four-enduring-myths-about-juneteenth-are-not-based-on-facts |url-status=live }}</ref>

On June&nbsp;21, 2014, the Galveston Historical Foundation and [[Texas Historical Commission]] erected a Juneteenth plaque where the Osterman Building once stood signifying the location of Major General Granger's Union Headquarters believed to be where he issued his general orders.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Harvey|last=Rice|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Galveston-unveils-long-awaited-Juneteenth-marker-5569640.php|title=Galveston unveils long-awaited Juneteenth marker|date=June 22, 2014|newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]|access-date=June 29, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629050045/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Galveston-unveils-long-awaited-Juneteenth-marker-5569640.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although this event commemorates the end of slavery, emancipation for the remaining enslaved in two Union [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]], Delaware and Kentucky, would not come until December&nbsp;6, 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified;{{sfn|Wynn|2009|p=}}{{efn|name="war powers"}}{{efn|name="Kentucky"|Unlike in Texas, where slavery grew during the war, in Kentucky, due largely to Union military measures and escapes to Union lines, the number of those enslaved fell by over 70%.<ref name=Harrison>{{Cite journal |last=Harrison |first=Lowell H. |date=Fall 1983 |title=Slavery in Kentucky: A Civil War Casualty |journal=The Kentucky Review |publisher=[[University of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington, Kentucky |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=38–40}}</ref>}} furthermore, thousands of black slaves were not freed until after the [[Reconstruction Treaties]] of late 1866, when tribes such as the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, and others were forced to sign new treaties that required them to free their slaves.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Donald A. Grinde, Jr. |author2=Quintard Taylor |author1-link=Donald A. Grinde Jr. |author2-link=Quintard Taylor |title=Red vs Black: Conflict and Accommodation in the Post Civil War Indian Territory, 1865–1907 |journal=[[American Indian Quarterly]] |date=Summer 1984 |volume=8 |issue=3 |page=212 |doi=10.2307/1183929 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1183929 |access-date=February 23, 2024 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |jstor=1183929 |language=en |issn=0095-182X |oclc=499289594 |quote=New treaties negotiated in 1866 abolished slavery […]  The most significant accomplishment of the treaties was the liberation of 7,000 black slaves |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216061123/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1183929 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The freedom of formerly enslaved people in Texas was given state law status in a series of [[Texas Supreme Court]] decisions between 1868 and 1874.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Randolph |date=1984 |title=The End of Slavery in Texas: A Research Note |journal=Southwestern Historical Quarterly |publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]] |location=Austin, Texas|volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=71–80 |jstor=30239840}}</ref>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="200px">
File:Gordon Granger - Brady-Handy.jpg|Major General [[Gordon Granger]] issued General Order No. 3 formally informing Texas residents that slavery had ended.
File:General order No. 3 of June 19, 1865.jpg|[[General Order No. 3]], June 19, 1865
</gallery>