Port Dumfries — Juneteenth: Delving into the Realities of Freedom

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Juneteenth: Delving into the Realities of Freedom

By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director

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The Town of Dumfries was an attractive strategic target for both Union and Confederate soldiers. Union soldiers occupied Prince William County during their Fredericksburg campaign. Acting under James Ewell Brown Stuart, General Wade Hampton led three raids, two of them successful. On 12/10/1862, General Wade Hampton and 500 cavalrymen raided the Town of Dumfries and vicinity. Union Colonel Anson Stager, superintendent of the U.S. Military Telegraph, reported that Hampton’s soldiers attacked a Confederate telegraph station and “…cut telegraph and captured two operators and one repairer; also several officers, orderlies, etc…They stated that they were only a detachment of the force that had crossed with them, saying they expected, and came to meet, a large force of cavalry.” Anson noted that Union General Steinwehr’s division engaged the “rebels” and was able to release the captured officers. On 12/17/1862, Hampton led a raid towards Occoquan, capturing more men and supplies.

Dumfries was already in a state of decline when considering their previous nautical power fueled by the intense labor of the enslaved and the tobacco economy. One soldier remarked that Dumfries was an “old, God-forsaken town”, and the Civil War certainly did not help the Town’s economy. However, Confederate J.F. Wheat later recounted a different experience near Dumfries, “…My cousin C.A. Dunnington & myself while scouting within the enemies lines one cold winter night called at this cabin & asked for something to eat & to be permitted to warm and rest our tired bodies. King Bates invited us in & gave of such food as he had – permitted us to spend the night & occupy his bed. This negro was a quiet, orderly, sober & industrious citizen, he could have easily captured us…As it were, we were warmed & fed and sheltered… Bates lived many years after the war and did a great deal of work for the old soldiers that he had fed & sheltered during the war. The Cabin is standing today & looks about as it did 43 years ago. Poor old King has passed into that unknown world after a long life of faithful service. The writer will never cease to remember him with feelings of gratitude & good will.” The original photo and negative of “King Bates Log Cabin” with the Confederate’s inscription are currently on display at The Weems-Botts Museum.

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(Source: 1863 Issued Army of the Potomac Map,  Eastern PWC, Library of Congress)

On 01/01/1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved persons from rebellious states, “…And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.” The Union army and sometimes navy, attempted to enforce the Proclamation, but there were areas of exemptions and the government did not equally free everyone. During the Civil War, Virginia divided into two parts – the nationally recognized “official” state (future West Virginia), and the Confederate state. In 12/1863, Governor Francis H. Pierpont requested Virginia’s General Assembly convene and abolish slavery via a Constitutional Convention. On 03/10/1864, the Constitutional Convention voted in favor of abolishing slavery, “Slavery and involuntary servitude (except for crime) is hereby abolished and prohibited in the State forever.” Did this finally free all the enslaved persons in Virginia? No. It was not uniformly enforced and even in Union controlled areas, the enslaved remained enslaved. The people of Virginia were not truly freed until the end of the Civil War when the state fully operated under the Constitution of 1864, the army enforced the Emancipation Proclamation, and the General Assembly ratified the 13th Amendment and U.S. Constitution.          

Juneteenth celebrates the day Major General Gordon Granger issued General Orders No. 3 on 06/19/1865 in Galveston, Texas. “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. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts, and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” Many factors contributed to the delay in news reaching Texas ranging from racism, resistance, miscommunication, and inability to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the celebration of Juneteenth spread outside of Texas over the decades, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s planned Poor People’s March (carried out by Ralph Abernathy and others after Dr. King’s assassination) led to its national recognition in 1968.

The Weems-Botts Museum usually hosts a face-to-face children’s program inviting families to write their own proclamations and craft/color a Juneteenth flag. Due to the pandemic, we are celebrating this program online with a downloadable PDF on our website and a Zoom book reading. Although social distancing has led to many missed face-to-face opportunities, it has also allowed for more accessible online programs and events. Consider attending Councilwoman Neville’s Virtual Genealogy session (contact Ms. Neville at HonCNeville@DumfriesVA.gov) and submitting your performance piece to the Rosa Parks Museum (contact Madeline at mburkhardt@troy.edu) as your family safely recognizes and celebrates Juneteenth 2020.

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(Sources: Thunderbird Archaeology Phase I Archaeological Investigation of the +110 Acre 12th High School Property, Prince William County, Virginia, By Kimberly A. Snyder and Boyd Sipe, 08/2008; Encyclopedia Virginia: The Abolition of Slavery in Virginia by Brent Tarter; National Park Service: Prince William Forest: Civil War; Smithsonian Magazine: Why Juneteenth Celebrates the New Birth of Freedom)