In July 1862, President Lincoln read his “preliminary proclamation” to his Cabinet, then decided to wait for a Union military victory to issue it. On September 22, 1862, following the victory at Antietam, he signed the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, formally alerting the Confederacy of his intention to free all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states. One hundred days later, with the Confederacy still in full rebellion, President Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation.
Under his wartime authority as Commander-in-Chief, he ordered that as of January 1, 1863, enslaved individuals in all areas still in rebellion against the United States, “henceforward shall be free.” On New Years’ Day, the day the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, cannon shots fired, church bells rang, and speakers orated at public observances throughout the North and in Union-held areas of the South. January 1, formerly known among the enslaved as “Heartbreak Day” for the large slave auctions often held, would be known henceforth as a day of deliverance and jubilee.
It wasn’t until over 2 years later, that the word went forth to free Black people still enslaved in the state of Texas.