In Remembrance: Juneteenth



African-American Civil War Monument, Washington D.C.

For African-Americans, the commemoration of the Civil War and Emancipation is an extra special time of year known as Juneteenth. Juneteenth came about near the end of the Civil War when the Union Army marched into Texas. Union General Gordon Granger issued General Order #3 officially liberating enslaved African descendants in the state of Texas at Galveston on about June 19, 1865, making it the last slave state to legally end slavery. Since that time, Texans and later African-Americans from all over the U.S. began to commemorate Emancipation.

I honor and remember the service of African-American men and women in the war of African liberation in America. Those men and women who didn't think it was robbery to sacrifice their lives to ensure the physical freedom of African descended people in the United States of America. In my own family research, I've been able to identify five men who served in the USCT (United States Colored Troops)who are my ancestors. Today I'd like to remember them by name: Benjamin Thompson (82nd USCT), Charles Rounds Jr.(50th USCT) Thomas Hinyard and Edward Hinyard 58th USCT, and James Galmore 5th Heavy Artillery USCT .

African American Civil War Monument Wall of Names