Existing comment:
Lincoln's Order:
On September 22, 1862, five days after the costly Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. He presented the proclamation as a wartime necessity, under his authority as Commander-in-Chief. It ordered that as of January 1, 1863, all enslaved individuals in all areas still in rebellion against the United States "henceforward shall be free," and under the protection of the military. Those willing to enlist would be received into the armed forces. The proclamation was limited in scope and revolutionary in impact. The war to preserve the Union also became a war to end slavery. |