Toledo Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, Inc.

2 weeks ago

Ok, for this post, I would recommend you remove your shoes, kick back in your favorite chair with a favorite beverage and a snack and enjoy this brief piece of true American history, some would like to cover up.

**JUNETEENTH** THE FINAL STRONGHOLD OF SLAVERY ENDED JUNE 19, 1865.

The Toledo Buffalo Soldiers' Posts commemorate this day and celebrate the news that came to Galveston, Texas, announcing, “Slavery has ended, and the Slaves are freed!” Here are some little known facts: President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing Slaves, though we were going into the 3rd year of the Civil War. The War ended April 9, 1865. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed two years earlier and the War had ended, Texas was one of the Confederate States that wanted to continue it's lucrative free labor slave trade as its economic advantage, although the Confederacy lost the War.

These slave owners of Galveston and surrounding areas never told their slaves, "You Are Freed!" Therefore, Slaves remained in the belief they were the property of Slave owners and continued being controlled and working for free in Texas.

In short, here's how this discovery was made. During the war between the French and Mexico, the French had invaded Mexico and amassed their Troops along the border of the United States and Mexico. After learning of this, General Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Colored Troop Regiments to the Mexican border as a show of force along the Rio Grande. Gordon Granger, an American Major General and the 900 men of the 29th US Regiment of Illinois Colored Volunteer Troops, were part of the units. Mostly Colored Troops were used due to most of the White Union Soldiers were already discharged for home after the Civil War. Most of the Colored Troops had 1 year left of service.

Two Navy ships, the USS Wilmington and the USS William Kennedy, were ordered to load the Union Colored Troops to transport them to the border. It was a rough ride. From Mobile, Ala., the ships were sent out into very rough stormy seas to disembark at South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas. The weather was too rough to unload anyone, and the Rio Grande was flooding. After two days, the Navy needed safe harbor, so they tried the Aransas Pass, which is a city in Aransas, Nueces, near Corpus Christi Texas, for another three days. It was still too rough to unload though. The senior Navy captain warned General Granger they were running out of supplies and the nearest resupply was at Galveston. This would be a turning point of history for the state of Texas.

On June 18, 1865, General Granger and the 29th Colored Troop Regiments arrived at Galveston's Pier 21. The sight was shocking to see black uniformed sailors and soldiers working side-by-side with still enslaved longshoremen, who had never heard of an “Emancipation.” The expressions from General Granger and the Colored Troops were a resounding, “WHAT?” This discovery traveled up the chain of command very quickly.

Without further orders and under threat of martial law enforced by the 29th Colored Troop Regiments armed soldiers, the entire town and Slave owners were ordered to assemble the next morning, June 19, 1865, at Ashton Villa. General Granger stood on the second floor balcony, with the Colored Troops standing around the crowd at strategic points, to read General Order No. 3. At the last four words of the first sentence, “all slaves are free,” the entire crowd was motionless at first. It seemed no one even breathed. While it took a while to sink in, the order soon turned into an explosion of emotional celebration. Most of the 29th Colored Troop Regiment, who later became Buffalo Soldiers, were part of the 6 all Black Army Regiments enacted in 1866.

The Buffalo Soldiers Posts commemorate Juneteenth and General Order #3 in the service of and the mission of freedom! ... See MoreSee Less