Clarification on Abolition

This interesting article refers to Austin, Texas, as a city “in the last state where enslaved people became free.” Unfortunately, this is incorrect. Even during the Civil War, slavery was still legal in four non-seceding border states: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. Maryland and Missouri abolished slavery during the war, but it remained legal under the state laws of Delaware and Kentucky, and presumably some people retained their slave status there. 

It was not until U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward formally declared on December 18, 1865 — after the end of the Civil War and almost exactly six months after the June 19 “Juneteenth” announcement by Union troops entering Texas — that the required three-quarters of states had ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery. 

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to clarify that Texas, as a member of the Confederacy, was the last state to receive notification of the Emancipation Proclamation.