Juneteenth Independence Day and Slavery's History in Carroll County

June 19 is recognized by 38 states as a state holiday marking Juneteenth Independence Day--or Emancipation Day.  Juneteenth is not a state holiday in Maryland.

The origin of the holiday dates back to the end of the Civil War and celebrates freedom being granted to more than 250,000 slaves.

It began when Union General Gordon Granger arrived with 2,000 federal troops in Galveston, Texas, on June 18, 1865. This was more than two months after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on the afternoon of April 9, 1865.

One of the foremost matters on the mind of Granger was to take possession of the rebel state of Texas and enforce the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862.

The proclamation carried an effective date of January 1, 1863; although in reality, in Texas and most of the states in rebellion, it had little impact on the enslaved population of the south--and freed few, if any, slaves.

Granger was determined to change that, at least in Texas.  On June 19, 1865 he stood upon the balcony of the Ashton Villa and read the contents of “General Order No. 3,” which put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation throughout the state.

The result was a spontaneous community celebration that has been observed every year ever since.

In 1840, almost 30 years before the first Juneteenth celebration, the population of Carroll County was 17,421.  Three years earlier, in 1837, there were 1,044 slaves living in the County.  According to Nancy Warner’s “Carroll County Maryland--A History 1837-1976,” there was even a value of $220,400 placed on the aggregate number of slaves in Carroll County.

In one of the many ironies of the history of slavery in Carroll County, the northern part of the county, whose residents did not generally own slaves, supported the southern states during the American Civil War.  

Southern Carroll County, which owned two-thirds of the slaves in the county, supported the northern states.

Maryland emancipated its enslaved population on Oct. 13, 1864 upon the ratification of the Maryland Constitution of 1864.  On March 22, 1867, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation to record the number of slaves who had been emancipated in 1864.

A number of years ago, local historian Duane K. Doxzen reported in research for the Historical Society of Carroll County that Carroll County appointed Lewis Welsh as Commissioner of slave statistics, and the compilation was finished in 1869.  

“The original (‘slave statistics’) records are housed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Westminster.  Copies of these records are part of the collection of the Historical Society of Carroll County,” notes Doxzen.

In additional research on freeing slaves in Carroll County, Doxzen reports, “After the formation of Carroll County in 1837 from parts of Baltimore and Frederick counties, the register of wills in Westminster began recording manumissions of slaves from wills of county residents.  Some of Carroll's slaves, though not most, were freed through the wills of their masters before the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in Maryland.”

The ‘Manumissions From Wills’ record for this county, covering the years 1837-1865, is located at the office of the Register of Wills/Clerk of the Orphan's Court in Westminster.

Over the years, Juneteenth celebrations have evolved into daylong events, which include readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, history plays and presentations, picnics, parades, music, and dancing.