On June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, which freed all of the estimated 250,000 slaves in Texas. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in January 1863, but since Texas was part of the Confederacy, it had little immediate effect. The day is now widely celebrated as Juneteenth.