Frederick W. Emery
Major Frederick W. Emery wrote General Order # 3 which includes the powerful language “all slaves are free” and “absolute equality”. Maj. Frederick Emery hailed from an abolitionist family in Free Kansas and as a crusader against slavery in Kansas, Emery was well versed on the subject of emancipation, serving with John Brown’s son. He was also a note abolitionist that published an anti-slavery newspaper before the civil war.
Frederick W. Emery
Photographer: Armstead & White.
This sepia carte de visite depicts Frederick W. Emery, 1st Lieut. and Adjt. of the Seventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph, ca. 1861-1865, was produced by Armstead & White of Corinth, Mississippi.
Source: Reproduced with Permission from Kansas Historical Society.
The Untold Story Behind General Order Number 3
Author Edward T. Cotham Jr explains Frederick W. Emery’s untold role in writing General Article number 3:
“A staff officer named F. W. Emery had been tapped by Union Army top brass to sign and administer the order on behalf of his superior, Major General Gordon Granger (whom Army leadership disliked and mistrusted). The 29-year-old editor of a crusading antislavery newspaper, Emery had fought alongside John Brown Jr., son of the martyred abolitionist. The young idealist took the opportunity to make his mark, and Cotham said he is “100 percent convinced” Emery wrote that line and slipped it into the order. “He just happened to be on the scene to write that order in a way that would last through the ages and in a very specific way define freedom.”
That revelation clarified some details about the way Juneteenth has been popularly understood. Because Granger’s name appears on the Juneteenth order, he has been incorrectly portrayed as a champion of abolition who not only authored the document but read it from a balcony to the surprise and awe of his enslaved listeners. Cotham contends that none of that is true. Granger had a questionable record when it came to the enslaved population, probably knew little about the order’s content, and would not have been pegged as a civil rights icon by those who knew him.”
Read Full Article Here.
Source: University of Chicago News
Download General Order Number 3
Source: National Archives