On June 19, 1865, a Union General read an official military decree to the people of Texas which would become the catalyst for the modern-day Juneteeth holiday and celebrations.
That same general is now buried in Section P, Lot 66 of the Lexington Cemetery in Kentucky.
Today, 155 years ago, Major Gen. Gordon Granger marched into Galveston, Texas with nearly 2,000 Union solider to announce the Civil War had ended and all enslaved people were free. Gordon arrived with the news in the Lone Star State Texas nearly two and half years after President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed black people enslaved in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union, on Jan. 1, 1863.
Information in the mid-1800s was not shared as instantaneously as it is today. The news that the Civil War had ended and slavery had been abolished traveled slowly to the western edge of the former Confederate states.
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When the Union army did finally arrived in 1865, Granger's official announcement was met with great jubilation throughout the Black community — at the time around 250,000 people were slaves in Texas — and that celebration has been passed down through generations for more than a century.
Granger, whose wife was from Lexington, died in 1876 from a stroke at age 54. The general would have no knowledge that June 19 would become the most popular date to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth has been adopted in many states, including Kentucky, as National Freedom Day.
Maj. General Granger is buried next to his wife, Maria, at Lexington Cemetery, 833 W. Main St. in Lexington.
Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com or Twitter @kirbylouisville. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/kirbya.
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