ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
THE NEW-YORK TIMES. New York, Friday, January 9, 1863. Front page headlines include THE BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO; THE FIGHT AT VICKSBURG; THE FLORIDA COLONIZATION SCHEME AND REPORTS FROM FREDERICKSBURG.
The Battle of Murfreesboro, as called by the Confederates, or the Battle of Stone River was fought December 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863. In the end the Union found victory but the battle to that point in the war had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. It was an important victory for the Union because it provided a much-needed boost in morale after the Union's recent defeat at Fredericksburg and also reinforced President Abraham Lincoln’s foundation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ultimately discouraged European powers from intervening on the Confederacy's behalf.
Which brings us to the importance of the paper. On page two is an interesting article titled INTERESTING FROM PORT ROYAL. A JUBILEE AMONG THE NEGROES ON THE FIRST – THE PRESIDENT’S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION – HOW THE SOLDIERS ENJOYED THE DAY – CULTIVATION OF THE PLANTATIONS, &C.
From Our Own Correspondent
Port Royal, S.C. Friday, Jan. 2, 1863
“Yesterday, the first day of the new year, 1863, was an important day to the negroes here, and one of which they will long retain the remembrance as the first dawn of freedom. Upon that day President Lincoln’s Proclamation of freedom to the negroes went into effect, and in view of this Gen. Saxton, the Military Governor of South Carolina, issued the following:
A HAPPY NEW-YEAR’S GREETING GO THE COLORED PEOPLE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH. In accordance, as I believe with the will of our Heavenly Father, and by direction of your great and good friend, whose name you are all familiar with ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, on the 1st day of January, 1863, you will be declared “forever free”…… (pg. 2 – 1 ¼ column)
Page 4 features a one column article titled THE EMPLOYMENT OF ENFRANCHISED NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.
“President Lincoln in his Proclamation, declares that emancipated slaves “of suitable condition will be employed in the armed service of the United States”. “…..We admit that if we could prove within the next year, by actual experiment, that the African race can defend themselves in arms we should have solved, in the eyes of the world, the great problem of their use and their destiny…. The sole question to be considered, therefore, in employing negroes as soldiers, is what its immediate effects will be on the fortunes of the war….”
8 pgs., dbd, vg cond.