Juneteenth

This is Juneteenth.

I had long known that on June 19th, 1865 -- Juneteenth -- the Emancipation Proclamation was announced in Texas.

That's the short version, of course, the "I learned it in elementary school" version. (Actually, I think it was in junior high.)

What I did not realize was that the man doing the announcing was General Gordon Granger. General Granger had been my great great grandfather's corps commander at the Battle of Chickamauga.

I'm not claiming any deep personal connection. It's unlikely General Granger had a clue who some random rifleman in Company K of the 22nd Michigan was, and G'G'Grandfather was still convalescing in a hospital in Detroit a year and a half after the battle, so he probably never saw Texas.

I think what impresses me more than the (tenuous) connection is the fact that, this morning, I actually learned something from a Pubic Service Announcement on TV.