Celebrate Shove Off Day! The USCT’s Fateful Journey from City Point to Juneteenth

PETERSBURG, VA – Petersburg National Battlefield (PETE) is partnering with the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF) for a free event on Thursday, May 25, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Shove Off Day will feature a Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony performed by United States Colored Troops (USCT) reenactors. There will also be guest speakers highlighting this powerful story followed by a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment, and General Order #3. Invited guests include Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, Commonwealth of Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Mayor of Hopewell, Virginia, and other local officials.

Shove Off Day will honor the USCT journey, as part of the U.S. Army expedition starting at City Point, setting sail for Texas at the end of the Civil War. They helped enforce the freedom of those enslaved in the remote areas of the Confederacy. Following the program, National Park Service staff will offer tours of City Point and the Appomattox Plantation buildings. Parking for the program is at the Old City Point Waterfront Park, 1199 Pecan Avenue, Hopewell, VA 23860. The address for City Point is 1001 Pecan Avenue, Hopewell, VA 23860.

Background

Frank Baker, James Townsend, and Sheppard Mallory had been leased by their so-called masters to the Confederate Army. They escaped at night to Old Point Comfort, VA Ft. Monroe for freedom. When a Confederate officer requested their return, the request was refused. The Union would no longer return escaped enslaved people but rather classify them as “Contraband of War” since the Confederates had left the Union. The word spread quickly among the enslaved people and these contraband camps developed around Union-held forts and camps. 

After the Emancipation Proclamation and the authorization of Black military units, thousands of formerly enslaved and free Blacks began to enlist in the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The Army allowed their families to take refuge at contraband camps. By the end of the war, more than 100 contraband camps had been developed in the South.  Missionary teachers recruited from the free states, together with free Blacks and freedmen, agreed that the education of the formerly enslaved was of the highest priority. 

It was this confiscation of “property” by General Butler that inspired Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. And these are the gatherings referred to in General Order #3. Working for wages is also from the Emancipation Proclamation.

Exodus from Chattel Slavery

“Once let the Black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.” -Fredrick Douglas. 

As the Civil War raged on the USCT’s impact on the effort increased, finally it was USCT that trapped General Lee at Appomattox.  Throughout the siege, City Point, Virginia was the US Army’s logistics center and General Grant’s Headquarters. President Lincoln spent two weeks there in March and April of 1865. With  America in confusion over the war and an assassinated president, Maximilian was going to invade Texas. (Same Maximilian as Cinco De Mayo)

Several USCT regiments left City Point, Virginia (present-day Hopewell, VA) by ship on May 25, 1865, as a “Show of Force” along the Texas\Mexico border to France’s Maximilian, that ran into a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and were forced to land at Galveston, TX on June 19, 1865. Over 4,000 USCT soldiers were on the island that day and brought the news of freedom to those still enslaved, while General Order #3 was posted on the door of the Colored church (present-day Reedy Chapel) informing all of their Absolute Equality. This is Juneteenth.

City Point is located on the grounds of the Appomattox Plantation owned by the Epps family dating back to the 1600s. The Epps family enslaved generations of Black people to work in their fields and in their homes. It is fitting that this point of land became the staging ground for the whole U.S. Army, including the USCTs who would help end the Confederacy and the system of chattel slavery. In the 1970s it became part of the Petersburg National Battlefield (PETE). 

Revelation – Juneteenth as a National Holiday

The “Modern Juneteenth Movement” began when a group of Juneteenth leaders from across the country gathered in New Orleans, LA, at Christian Unity Baptist Church, to work for greater national recognition of Juneteenth. The late Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. was named Chairman of the NJOF and brought Juneteenth legislation to 43 states and Washington D.C. paving the way for Juneteenth to be recognized. The NJOF continued to advocate for Juneteenth using the tactics and techniques “Doc Myers” passed along which culminated the Congress passing the Juneteenth National Independence Day Bill on June 17, 2021.

Steve William, President of NJOF reached out to the National Park Service in January of 2023 to find a way to commemorate “Shove-off Day” on May 25th, the anniversary of the start of this fateful trip. The park will be partnering with NJOF to plan this event. Juneteenth is the nation’s newest national holiday designated in 2021, though it has been celebrated by many generations all over the country. 

Know Before You Go

The General Grant’s Headquarters Unit of Petersburg National Battlefield, 1001 Pecan Avenue, Hopewell, VA, 23860, includes a visitor contact station inside the Eppes Family plantation home built in 1763. Visitors can tour the area around the Eppes home, including plantation outbuildings and numerous exhibits that focus on plantation life for free and enslaved people. The grounds are open from sunrise to sunset. Please bring water and wear comfortable clothing appropriate for the weather. 

For more information about the event contact the Manager of Interpretation at (804) 732-3531 ext. 201, or by email at Eric_Schreiner@nps.gov. To learn more about Petersburg National Battlefield, follow the park on social media, @PetersburgNPS, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/pete.