In the late 1970s, the Texas Legislature declared Juneteenth a “holiday of significance particularly to the blacks of Texas”. Since then, the annual commemoration has grown from local roots to a national celebration featuring parades, readings, processions, and more. It was from that moment that Juneteenth would be born. Osterman Building – Left Foreground, Picturesque Galveston, 1900, Galveston Historical Foundation The order informed all Texans that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves were free. Granger delivered to Galveston General Orders, No. Two and a half years later, in June of 1865, more than two thousand Federal soldiers of the 13th Army Corps arrived in Galveston, and with them were Major General Gordon Granger, Commanding Officer, District of Texas. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward and forever free…” However, Lincoln’s proclamation would have little impact on Texans at that time due to the small number of Union troops available to enforce it. Issued under powers granted to the president “as a fit and necessary war measure”, the proclamation declared, “That on the 1st day of January, A.D. US President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. 3, read on Jannouncing that all slaves were free, is one of Galveston’s most important historical moments. 3 Major General Gordon Granger, Library of Congress Juneteenth and General Orders, No. The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. Galveston’s Immigration Experience – Ship To Shore.Galveston Historic Seaport – Home of the 1877 Tall Ship ELISSA.Galveston’s Juneteenth Exhibhit – “And Still We Rise…”.

Army general orders brief