An Evil Demigod in the White House

A “conservative” government’s first unjust and insensitive slap in the face to all ex-slaves AFTER being freed on June 15, 1865. But why have liberals been unable to correct this hideous wrong?

• Special Field Order No. 15: In January 1865, following his march to the sea, General Sherman met with a group of Black leaders in Savannah, Georgia. The leaders stated that land ownership was essential to secure their freedom. In response, Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15.
• The “Forty Acres”: The order set aside a strip of coastal land stretching from South Carolina down to Florida. It provided that formerly enslaved families would be allotted plots of land no larger than 40 acres.
• The “Mule”: While the original order made no mention of animals, Sherman later issued a subsequent directive allowing the Union Army to lend surplus mules to the newly settled farmers to help them till the land.
• The Broken Promise: The policy was never codified into a permanent federal law. Following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson vetoed extensions to the Freedmen’s Bureau and pardoned former Confederates. This resulted in the confiscated land being returned to its pre-war owners, evicting the newly freed families who had started farming there.

On this Juneteenth 2026 celebration, the phrase “Forty Achers and a Mule” remains a powerful symbol of the federal government’s failure to provide reparations and economic justice to Black Americans following emancipation.