Gordon Granger
Brevet Major General
3d Cavalry Regiment
November 6, 1821 – January 10, 1876
Gen. Gordon Granger, circa 1860 Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
A person’s legacy is determined by those on whom we have an impact. For Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger his legacy has become defined by issuing General Orders No. 3. This simple order freed thousands of Black Americans still enslaved in Texas in 1865. It had a monumental impact on countless lives, an impact that is still felt today.
Granger was born on Nov. 6, 1821, to Gaius and Catherine Granger. He grew up in the rural hamlet of Joy, New York. He was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1841, when he was nineteen years of age. After graduating in July 1845, Granger was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the Second Infantry Regiment.
During his thirty-year Army career, Granger was noted for meritorious service. Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Wood said of Granger “…When the necessity was urgent, the exigency pressing, the danger great and imminent, he always rose to the dignity and importance of the occasion, [he] became instinct with energy, ardor, intrepidity, and martial daring…” For the majority of his career, Granger was posted in the American Southwest in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. Between 1846 and 1848, Granger fought under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War, including the Siege of Veracruz, the Battle of Cerro Gordo, the Battle of Contreras, and the Battle for Mexico City. His actions during these engagements earned him two citations for gallantry.
In April 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Ft. Sumter, South Carolina, Granger had taken leave due to illness. He returned to service to defend the Union. His prior experience in the South made him familiar with Southern attitudes toward the Federal government. His peers knew him to be well-informed on the preparation of Southern militias during the secession movement. His fellow Soldiers recalled, “[He] had seen the formation of military companies everywhere and the incessant drilling which had been going on…his information was eagerly sought by us all.”
During the Civil War, Granger proved his mettle as both a Soldier and an officer at the Battle of Dug Springs and Wilson’s Creek in August 1861 near Cleaver, Missouri. For his actions at the later, he was breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service. According to Maj. Samuel Sturgis, Granger’s commanding officer, “[He] rendered such excellent aid in various ways … Suffice it to say that he appeared to be almost ubiquitous… To whatever part of the field I might direct my attention, there I would find Captain Granger, hard at work at some important service …” Granger served the remainder of the war on the Tran-Mississippi Campaign. He was noted for his “remarkable and brilliant actions” at the Battle of New Madrid, Mississippi in 1862. The following year in September 1863, his counterattack at Chickamauga, Tennessee saved the Union forces from defeat. Of his actions, General Wood recalled that, “Granger’s heroic bravery on that momentous Sunday afternoon in its inspiring influence was worth a thousand men.” However, none of these actions would be his most famous legacy.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862. That proclamation, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, announced the emancipation of all enslaved individuals held in Confederate territory. The Civil War continued for two more bloody years. Union Soldiers freed many slaves in the southern territories they occupied. Yet enslaved persons residing in Confederate-held territory did not receive emancipation. By the war’s end in April 1865, thousands of people remained enslaved in the former confederacy.
Despite the Army of Northern Virginia’s surrender at Appomattox in April 1865, the spirit of rebellion remained alive and well in Texas. Texas had been largely untouched by the war and avoided Union military occupation. As a result, its civilians’ will to resist emancipation remained unbroken.
Under orders from Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Granger was dispatched to Texas. He was charged with bringing the state to heel under Federal control. On June 19, Granger began his tenure in Texas by issuing five General Orders, the most famous of which was General Orders No. 3 which stated the following:
“The people of Texas 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 heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor….”
General Orders No. 3 brought Black freedom to Texas nearly three years after it had been issued by Lincoln. As a result of the order, jubilant celebrations erupted in Galveston and rippled across Texas as the news of the Union’s military occupation and enforcement measures swept the Lone Star state. Although June 19 was a day that finally announced freedom to thousands of people, from Granger’s perspective it was a routine order.
The role Granger played in establishing Juneteenth is small but undeniable. Yet, in his own life, it did not even warrant mention in a biographical sketch produced by the West Point Association of Graduates. Of his time in Texas it simply says, “Till the end of the Rebellion, he was efficiently engaged in the varied operations about Mobile, and in command of the District of Texas and the Department of Kentucky…”
In June 2021, 156 years after Granger arrived in Galveston, President Joseph R. Biden proclaimed Juneteenth (celebrated on June 19) a federal holiday. Juneteenth commemorates General Orders No. 3 and is the only federally recognized holiday dedicated to celebrating the liberation of African Americans.
Brevet Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger’s biggest legacy lies in the role he played in establishing Juneteenth. After his death, however, Granger was remembered by the men he fought beside. Granger spent the rest of his life in the Southwest region. He married in 1869 to Maria Letcher; they had at least one son, Gordon “Commodore” Granger. Granger died on Jan. 10, 1876, from an apparent stroke. His friend, General Wood, said of Granger: “Thus- his work well and faithfully done, at his post of duty, and with his harness on, did this gallant soldier sink to his last rest.”
Allison Schwartz
Education Specialist
Sources
President Abraham Lincoln. “The Emancipation Proclamation”. Proclamation, September 22, 1862. From https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation (accessed September 20, 2024).
Conner, Robert C., General Gordon Granger: The Savior of Chickamauga and the Man Behind “Juneteenth”. United States: Casemate Publishers (Ignition), 2013.
Cullum, G. W. (George Washington)., Et Al. Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. military academy at West Point, N.Y.: from its establishment, in 1802, to 1890; with the early history of the United States military academy. 3d ed., rev. and extended. 1891. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin.
Granger, Gordon. “General Order No. 3”. Galveston, Texas. 1865
https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/juneteenth-original-document.
Gen. Gordon Granger. United States, None. [Between 1860 and 1870] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018668631/.
“Juneteenth: The Army’s Role.” The Army Historical Foundation. Accessed November 5, 2024. https://armyhistory.org/juneteenth-the-armys-role/.
Torre, Nicholas. “Information Paper: Juneteenth.” U.S. Army Center of Military History, March 2022.
United States Congress. “Reconstruction Acts”. Law, March 02, 1867. From Teaching American History. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/reconstruction-acts/ (accessed September 20, 2024).