OK, how many of you never heard of Juneteenth before a month ago, raise your hands.
(I see you guys in the back, waving)
Once unique to Texas, now the Lefties want it to be a national holiday.
Which is funny considering that should be the date the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, but that went into effect January 1, 1863.
So scratch New Year's. Also MLK's birthday because it's too close. Not to mention the fact it wasn't all that popular at the time. 50,000 Union soldiers deserted when the news was made public, I learned in history class.
Then there's the backstory. In our last exciting episode, we learned the protective tariff was the big source of revenue for the Feds, so Abe was short money to prosecute the war. This was the reason for the first income tax in the country's history and it flopped, mostly because it couldn't be collected.
So Abe went to the rich Abolitionists and asked for money, "What's in it for us?". "Name it". "Free the slaves".
So we have the Emancipation Proclamation, which only freed slaves already free, i.e., in Union-held territory. This was such a weasel, William Seward even criticized to Lincoln's face.So the war went on another 2 1/2 years and, no, it didn't end at Appomattox, either.
How many didn't know that one, either?
(yeah, I see you over there, mumbling "S'ter, S'ter", under your breath)
It was a whole lot more complicated than that. Jefferson Davis knew the war on the battlefield was lost, so he tried to convince Robert E Lee to move his men up into the mountains and drag the war out for another 20 years until the Union finally gave in. Uncle Robert, who detested bushwhackers like John Mosby, would have none of it, and made his decision to surrender.
Lincoln, ever the shrewd propagandist, ballyhooed this as the end of the war. John Wilkes Booth thought otherwise.
Davis then attempted to push his idea on Joe Johnston, still duelling in the Carolinas with Sherman. Like Lee, Joe's supply lines were gone, and he felt he had no choice but surrender, so he went to Sherman and proposed terms. Basically he asked for everything Grant gave Lee, but also a general peace proclaiming the war over in all theaters (Ford's, included). Sherman could make no promises on his own, but said he'd ask.
Although the Radical Republicans screamed, Sherman was able to give Johnston Grant's terms, for which Joe remained grateful the rest of his life.
That was April 26. Aprentieth doesn't have much of a ring, do it?
By then, Jefferson Davis had been captured. That left the theaters comprising the Deep South and Texas.
Richard Taylor, son of Zachary Taylor, held command of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana and was held in high regard by his contemporaries for his ability to hold his ground, as well as Arkansas and Texas against the Yankees, but, by the end of April, he also saw the writing on the wall.
Commander of the Union's Military Division of Western Mississippi. was Edward Canby, who had won the New Mexico campaign, but was now being roundly criticized for rebuilding infrastructure, rather than killing Johnny Rebs.
Taylor rode with Bedford Forrest (of all people) to Canby's camp to inquire about surrender terms, and were met with an offer to do lunch. Basically, Grant's terms were offered plus something only Canby, a Kentuckian, could offer. He would see that any of Taylor's men too far from home to get there by himself would get a free ride on one of his railroads.
Taylor agreed and formally surrendered on May 4. Doesn't exactly sing, either.
So now we are down to Texas, commanded by Edmond Kirby Smith. He had heard of all the other surrenders and was in the same straits, although he also wanted to put Davis' idea and fight a guerrilla war on the plains of Texas. He had already won what would be the last fight of the Civil War at Palmito Ranch and decided to see if he had the supply lines to do it.
In his absence, second in command Simon Buckner, hopped a train to New Orleans and did lunch with Canby. The surrender, unofficial, was on May 26, and Kirby Smith, returning to his HQ and learning he had been outmaneuvered, endorsed the surrender on June 2. And that was the real end of the war.
Junetooth?
It took 2 1/2 weeks to get the word out that the slaves of Texas were free. And so, in those areas of Texas with a Negro population, Juneteenth became an unofficial holiday.
Now, does that make it worthy of national recognition?
I mean good ol' Delaware, home of Gropin' Joe, the man who had a restrictive covenant on his house, didn't abolish slavery until December of 1865.
Sorry about the length, but I wanted to make a point. I'll try to do better.
7 comments:
Wow!!! Impressive knowledge and context.
How does a local unofficial holiday turn into a national cause?
When you need to sow division, deflect attention from your exclusive role in causing the division both then and now, and then pretend to address the problem.
Just want to say thanks to everybody for responding to my efforts.
Another great post ed.
Don't worry about the length. Just get out what you have to say. I confess I learned something in this post.
Keep up the great work.
General Joe Johnston did well at the first battle of Manassas, and I saw the reenactment of that battle in 1961. I would post a picture that my father took of three of his sons that day but said picture would cause my instant cancellation.
Years went by, many bad things happened, then General Joe arrived at Bennett's Place, right over yonder. I live on land where his army bivouacked prior to the stacking of their weapons. These are local stories and we have not forgotten.
I have heard rumors to the effect that the news of Lincoln's assassination had was not widely known, but I also read that many of Johnston's troops had deserted. In any case, I am glad they wrapped it up and I hope that version two dot oh does not heat up.
This story is for Sixty. I was saving it, but I think it's so good, I'll tell it here.
Sherman took a lot of heat for the terms he gave Joe, so much so Grant had to come up to DC to help his bud. Johnston never forgot that and would never let anyone say a word against Sherman in his presence.
20 years later, Sherman died and Johnston is one of the pallbearers. It's a miserable day in New York, cold, windy, rainy, and the pallbearers are waiting outside the church, hats off, for the coffin to come out.
Someone walks up to Johnston and says, "General, you should really get back in the church. You'll catch your death in this weather".
Johnston smiled and said, "Son, If I was in there and he was out here, he'd be doing the same thing I am. I'm staying".
A month later Johnston was dead of pneumonia.
About 50 years ago, I saw an old black man interviewed on some issue, about how racial progress changed the country from the time of his youth, I believe, and in answer to a question, he said, "Times were better then. Men were better".
Being 20 and knowing everything, I thought he was crazy.
I had to hear a few stories like that to understand what he meant.
Trooper York said...
I confess I learned something in this post.
If so, the day has been a success.
Thank you for another history lesson to add to the many you've shared over the years.
Even though it never became as popular as Cinco de Mayo I've been under the impression that Juneteenth was somewhat the same in that it wasn't quite historically accurate.
Juneteenth should be a holiday because it's a cool name.
My Dad was a racist of the Scotch-Irish type. We had a running joke that I always called him on Martin Luther King Day, and when he answered the phone I would say, 'I have a dream!'
He's been gone these few years, but amidst all the hullabaloo I wished him an ironic and tender Happy Juneteenth.
Post a Comment