On June 19, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger announced to
the people of Texas that all slaves were freed. A portion of his
statement reads:
"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 rights and rights
of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection
heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and
hired laborer."
This statement made in Galveston, Texas marked the last known
report of the Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, this last
report was made more than two years after President Lincoln
actually issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863,
ordering that all enslaved individuals throughout the Confederacy
be freed. As a result, while President Lincoln's declaration is
commonly known as the moment in which the United States ended
slavery as a formal, lawful, policy,
