Celebrate Juneteenth Freedom, Flawed As It Was …

By Dr. E. Curtis Alexander

Officer In Charge
USCT Descendants

“My paramount object in the struggle (Civil War) is to save the Union and not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union …”

– Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln

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The beginning of the end of slavery following the Civil War is now commemorated annually in Juneteenth Celebrations locally and across the nation. And while the historical occasion is rooted deep in the heart of Texas, Afro-Union soldiers from what is now modern-day Chesapeake played a pivotal role in bringing it about.

At the end of the Civil War (April 9, 1865), there were more Afro-Union soldiers in the Federal armies than soldiers in the entire Confederate armies. Another little-known fact is that from May 1865 to December 1866 there were at least 34 United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) Infantry and Cavalry regiments transferred to the Department of Texas. In addition, countless numbers of Afro-Union Patriot Heroes serving in the Regular Federal army regiments also served in Texas.

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Research strongly supports my contention that “it was the presence of the thousands of Afro-Union soldiers that prompted Major General Gordon Granger to issue General Order Number 3.”

The Proclamation issued by Granger on June 19, 1865 (some 70 days after the end of the Civil War) marks two pivotal events in American History.

First, the Granger proclamation began Reconstruction and secondly, it represents the beginning for “the oldest annual African-American Celebration in the United States of America.”

The record shows that in Dallas, Texas, in June 1866, the freed Africans began a celebration that they called Juneteenth. In 1980, Juneteenth became a legal holiday in Texas.

When General Granger issued General Order No. 3 from Headquarters District of Texas in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, “he clearly showed more caution that courage.”

General Order No. 3 said: “The people are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection here thereto existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor.

“The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be supported in idleness either – there or elsewhere. By order of Major General Granger.”

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Today, we must recognize the quietly kept “historic secret” that we have been a resilient and self-determining people who have defied all odds to even be here today talking about freedom, civil rights and human rights.

Consider the options presented by Granger as he carried out the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, that was to go into effect on January 1, 1863. The proverbial “rock and a hard place” dilemma of the newly freed Africans was no more than the “liberal” version of to work from “can see” in the morning to “can’t see” at night with “no future in sight.” 

Juneteenth does not mark the beginning for the freed Africans of Texas. Not only was Granger’s logic flawed, but the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was flawed. The Proclamation only freed enslaved Africans who were living in States in rebellion against the Union. The enslaved Africans who were living in states like Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland were still not free.

The Juneteenth celebrants are urged to become serious students of history because unless you begin to do so you will find yourselves celebrating the “wrongheadedness” of the “Emancipation” without even realizing that you are desecrating the memories of our ancestors with “insidious and invidious” pronouncements that Juneteenth’s freedom journey is for “all people.” Did Granger tell “all people” that “wage slavery” is your best choice after more than almost 250 years of a “chattel existence?”

In conclusion, the Bells Mill Historical Research and Restoration Society, Inc., in Chesapeake has sponsored Juneteenth Celebrations of Affirmation since 2002. The first and subsequent celebrations have saluted the Cuffeytown 13 and Cuffeytown Patriot Heroes who served in Texas with the “Occupational Forces.”

The Cuffeytown Patriot Heroes represents the largest contingent of Afro- Virginian Union Army Soldiers from the same community to serve as members of the Occupational Forces in Texas from 1865 to 1866. In fact, they represent the largest contingent of Afro-Virginian Union Army Soldiers to serve from the same family in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The majority of Cuffeytown and vicinity, in particular, and from Norfolk County, in general, served in the 10th U.S.C.T. Infantry regiment. In addition, those soldiers served in the 1st and 2nd U.S.C.T. Cavalry regiments and the 23rd and 38th U.S.C.T. Infantry regiments. These five regiments were all organized in Virginia.

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My great grandfather Sgt. March Corprew was a member of the 2nd U.S.C.T. Cavalry regiment, while my great uncles, Pvt. Daniel Corprew, and Pvt. Lemuel Babb served in the 1st U.S.C.T. Infantry regiment. These Afro-Virginian Union Army Soldiers were instrumental in creating the conditions that precipitated General Order No. 3 after the war ended on April 9, 1865 and slavery was defeated.

However, it was the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that officially ended the enslavement of over 4 million Africans in America in December 1865.

This year on Saturday, we will open our Juneteenth Celebration of Affirmation in Cuffeytown with the singing of the Negro National Anthem – “Lift Every Voice and Sing”—followed by a reading of the “Emancipation Proclamation.” The words and music were offered by James Weldon Johnson and his brother J. Rosamond Johnson more than 100 years ago and “need to be sung today with much vigor and a greater resolve” because “freedom is still not free today.”

Dr. E. Curtis Alexander is an acclaimed historian and author who lives in Chesapeake. Recently WTKR-TV awarded him the ‘Everyday Hero’ for his work in preserving the history of the U.S. Colored Troops.

This article was first published in the Clipper supplement of The Virginian – Pilot Newspaper on Friday, June 16, 2008. The program was held on June 17, 2008 at the Gabriel Chapel A.M.E.Z. Church at 2216 Long Ridge Road, Chesapeake, VA. Permission for reprinting this article by the author Dr. E. Curtis Alexander © 2025