Approaching the third year of the Civil War, on September 22nd, 1862, President Lincoln issued an executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation. This declaration was the announcement "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The Emancipation Proclamation became official on January 1, 1863. However, it was not until, June 19th, 1865 that Major General Gordon Granger and roughly 2000 Union soldiers descended onto Galveston, Texa
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