In 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation and executive order encouraging slaves in the South to become contrabands behind Union lines. It applied only in areas of the 10 Southern states that had seceded from the union. Those areas did not recognize his authority. States that had seceded in all or in part were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Lincoln’s proclamation did not address slavery in Union border states. Lincoln’s action tied slavery to preserving the union, the major issue in the Civil War. The proclamation set the stage for the 13th Amendment, but it did not end slavery. Some celebrate the end of slavery on Juneteenth, short for June 19th. On that day in 1865, two months after the Civil War, Union troops arrived in Galveston to take control of Texas and enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
