19, General Orders, No. 7, relative to prohibition of beer sales in Memphis
Drunkenness upon the streets has become so common that it is a disgrace to the army now occupying the city.
Hereafter the sale of ale and larger beer is prohibited, and the Provost Guard is instructed to arrest all persons guilty of a violation of this order.
James R. Slack, Provost Marshal
Memphis Daily Union Appeal, July 4, 1862.
19-20, Federal forces repulsed from Knoxville and burn railroad bridges over Flat Creek and at Strawberry Plains
No circumstantial reports filed.
KNOXVILLE, June 22, 1863.
Gen. BRAXTON BRAGG, Shelbyville:
The enemy appeared near Knoxville on the 19th, and attacked on 20th. Were repulsed. They burned the railroad bridges at Flat Creek and Strawberry Plains. Please grant permission to [A. L.] Maxwell, bridge-builder, to rebuild them at once.
S. B. BUCKNER, Maj.-Gen., Cmdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, p 882.
19, Amphibious engagement at Cerro Gordo, U.S.N.
Report of Acting Ensign Hanford, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Robb, regarding an engagement at Cerro Gordo, Tenn., June 19, 1863.
U. S. GUNBOAT ROBB, Fort Hindman, Ky., June 24, 1863.
SIR: I send you a report of the action that took place on the morning of the 19th instant at Cerro Gordo, resulting in the loss of 1 of my men and 2 severely wounded:
On the afternoon of the 18th I suggested to Captain Hurd the possibility of catching some of [Colonel] Biffle's men if I placed a couple of pieces of artillery at Cerro Gordo, opposite to where they came, and fired across the river during the departure of gunboats from that place. It met Captain Hurd's approval. In the evening I got a horse and rode down to Cerro Gordo, in order to pick out a good situation for the battery. Having found one to suit me, I returned and got my guns mounted on field carriages, and at 10 p.m. started down, and had everything fixed ready, taking particular care to double-picket all the roads to guard against surprise. I sent to man the battery 16 of my best man. It was my instruction in the morning to run down to Saltillo, 5 miles, in order to give the rebs a good chance to come in.
On the morning of the 19th, about 4:30, I heard my guns firing. The Silver Cloud and myself started down, where we found that Biffle had made a charge on the battery with 400 men, but my men were prepared for them and opened their ranks well. I have learned since, but it is only a picked-up report, that Biffle lost 50 killed and wounded. I believe that their loss was about that, as they charged four abreast (dismounted) and came to within 20 yards of the cannon's mouth, while canister was being fired into them like rain. 1 lost, killed, Cranford I. Hill (fireman), and buried him at Craven's landing: Madison M. Hill (second gunner), and John N. Matthews (quartermaster), severely wounded. These I have sent to Smith's and to their homes.
Too much credit can not be awarded to the men who manned the battery. They did their duty faithfully.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. C. HANFORD, Commanding Robb.
Acting Rear-Admiral DAVID D. PORTER, Commanding Mississippi Squadron.
NOR, Ser. I, Vol. 25, pp. 188-189.
June 19 1865: Slaves declared free in state of Texas. Celebrated each year in Texas, mostly by people of color, as the holiday Juneteenth."
JUNETEENTH. By Teresa Palomo Acosta
On June 19 ("Juneteenth"), 1865, Union general Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, thus belatedly bringing about the freeing of 250,000 slaves in Texas. The tidings of freedom reached slaves gradually as individual plantation owners read the proclamation to their bondsmen over the months following the end of the war. The news elicited an array of personal celebrations, some of which have been described in The Slave Narratives of Texas (1974). The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth were used as political rallies and to teach freed African Americans about their voting rights. Within a short time, however, Juneteenth was marked by festivities throughout the state, some of which were organized by official Juneteenth committees.
The day has been celebrated through formal thanksgiving ceremonies at which the hymn "Lift Every Voice" furnished the opening. In addition, public entertainment, picnics, and family reunions have often featured dramatic readings, pageants, parades, barbecues, and ball games. Blues festivals have also shaped the Juneteenth remembrance. In Limestone County, celebrants gather for a three-day reunion organized by the Nineteenth of June Organization. Some of the early emancipation festivities were relegated by city authorities to a town's outskirts; in time, however, black groups collected funds to purchase tracts of land for their celebrations, including Juneteenth. A common name for these sites was Emancipation Park. In Houston, for instance, a deed for a ten-acre site was signed in 1872, and in Austin the Travis County Emancipation Celebration Association acquired land for its Emancipation Park in the early 1900s; the Juneteenth event was later moved to Rosewood Park. In Limestone County the Nineteenth of June Association acquired thirty acres, which has since been reduced to twenty acres by the rising of Lake Mexia.
Particular celebrations of Juneteenth have had unique beginnings or aspects. In the state capital Juneteenth was first celebrated in 1867 under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau and became part of the calendar of public events by 1872. Juneteenth in Limestone County has gathered "thousands" to be with families and friends. At one time 30,000 blacks gathered at Booker T. Washington Park, known more popularly as Comanche Crossing, for the event. one of the most important parts of the Limestone celebration is the recollection of family history, both under slavery and since. Another of the state's memorable celebrations of Juneteenth occurred in Brenham, where large, racially mixed crowds witness the annual promenade through town. In Beeville, black, white, and brown residents have also joined together to commemorate the day with barbecue, picnics, and other festivities.
Juneteenth declined in popularity in the early 1960s, when the civil-rights movement, with its push for integration, diminished interest in the event. In the 1970s African Americans' renewed interest in celebrating their cultural heritage led to the revitalization of the holiday throughout the state. At the end of the decade Representative Al Edwards, a Democrat from Houston, introduced a bill calling for Juneteenth to become a state holiday. The legislature passed the act in 1979, and Governor William P. Clements, Jr., signed it into law. The first state-sponsored Juneteenth celebration took place in 1980.
Juneteenth has also had an impact outside the state. Black Texans who moved to Louisiana and Oklahoma have taken the celebration with them. In 1991 the Anacostia Museum of the Smithsonian Institution sponsored "Juneteenth '91, Freedom Revisited," featuring public speeches, African-American arts and crafts, and other cultural programs. There, as in Texas, the state of its origin, Juneteenth has provided the public the opportunity to recall the milestone in human rights the day represents for African Americans.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Randolph B. Campbell, "The End of Slavery in Texas: A Research Note," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 88 (July 1984). Doris Hollis Pemberton, Juneteenth at Comanche Crossing (Austin: Eakin Press, 1983). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. William H. Wiggins, Jr., O Freedom! Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987). David A. Williams, The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the Emancipation Proclamation, Texas Style (June 19, 1865) (Austin: Williams Independent Research Enterprises, 1979).
Teresa Palomo Acosta
No comments:
Post a Comment