General Order No. 3
On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and a contingent of some 2,000 Union troops entered Galveston, Texas, to deliver General Order No. 3, a proclamation to alert the enslaved Black residents of the state that they were free. Juneteenth (a combination of the words June and nineteenth) arose as a holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed more than 3,000,000 enslaved people living in the Confederate states. Yet freedom remained elusive for two more years for the more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas. It was not until Major General Granger and his soldiers arrived in Galveston and enforced the edict that the state’s enslaved residents finally experienced freedom. For some—enslavers and enslaved alike—news of the end of slavery came with the reading of General Order No. 3.
Following is the full text and manuscript images of Major General Granger’s order, taken from the original manuscript copy housed in the U.S. Army Continental Commands collection at the National Archives and Record Administration, Washington, D.C.
Transcription
Head Quarters District of Texas
Galveston Texas June 19th, 1865.
General Orders
No. 3.
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.
By order of Major General Granger.
F.W. Emery, [signed]
Major A.A. Genl.
Manuscript
