Civil War – Juneteenth – Slaves in Texas are Freed

June 19, 1865

News of the end of the Civil War reaches Galveston, Texas with Union army general Gordon Granger’s reading of federal orders. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered two months earlier.
Along with the Emancipation Proclamation, this freed the slaves. This event has been celebrated in the Texas area as Juneteenth since 1866 and as an official Texas state holiday since 1938 and became a U.S. federal holiday in 2021. “Juneteenth” is a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth”.