In recognition of #Juneteenth today, we’re sharing scans of General Order No. 3, the document that informed enslaved people in Texas that they were free on June 19, 1865, carrying out the Federal Government’s final execution of emancipation. 📜
Read the text in scans based on the original handwritten records preserved by the U.S. National Archives and saved to the Internet Archive ⤵️
https://archive.org/details/general-order-3-juneteenth-details
Page 2 of a scanned handwritten ledger from Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, Texas. Contains the conclusion of General Orders No. 3 — the Juneteenth order freeing all slaves in Texas — and the full text of General Orders No. 4, dated June 19, 1865.
Page 1 of a scanned handwritten ledger from Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, Texas, bearing blue "War Records Copied 1861–1865" stamps. Contains General Orders Nos. 1, 2, and the beginning of No. 3, dated June 17–19, 1865, signed by Major General G. Granger.
Full text of General Orders No. 3, across two pages, dated June 19, 1865, from Headquarters District of Texas in Galveston, Texas, bearing a blue "War Records Copied 1861–1865" stamp. The handwritten document announces that all slaves are free in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, establishes absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and redefines their relationship as that between employer and hired labor. It advises freedmen to remain at their present homes and work for wages, noting they will not be allowed to collect at military posts or be supported in idleness. Signed by order of Major General Granger by R.W. Emery, Major A.A. General.