General Order No. 3 (Juneteenth General Order)
6/19/1865
This order represents the Federal Government’s final execution and fulfillment of the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation. The people to whom this order was addressed were the last group of Americans to be informed that all formerly enslaved persons were now free.
The effects of this order would later be celebrated as the "Juneteenth" holiday, a combination of June and nineteenth. It is also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Transcript
Headquarters 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
Major A.A.Genl
Activities that use this document
- Comparing and Contrasting the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment and General Order No. 3
Created by the National Archives Education Team - From Slavery to Juneteenth: Emancipation and Ending Enslavement
Created by the National Archives Education Team - Juneteenth General Order
Created by the National Archives Education Team - National Holidays Matching
Created by the National Archives Education Team
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