VIGIL IN PETERBORO

Annual event marks long night in preparation for Emancipation Proclamation

PETERBORO » Retired Navy Commander Owen Corpin will again host the annual Peterboro Watch Night at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road.

Watch Night is held by the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in commemoration of the long wait through the night of Dec. 31, 1862 to see if President Abraham Lincoln would issue the Emancipation Proclamation on the first day of 1863.

After remarks and historical information, the program will move to Peterboro Green for the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation beside the prepared watch fire.

On Sept. 22, 1862 President Lincoln issued a (Preliminary) Emancipation Proclamation ordering that in 100 days the federal government would deem all slaves free in those states still rebelling against the Union. On Jan. 1, 1863 Lincoln did issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1864, Lincoln donated the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which raffled off the document at the Albany Relief Bazaar to help raise

money for the Union war effort. Abolitionist Gerrit Smith won the raffle after buying 1000 tickets. Smith, in turn, sold the document to the NewYork State Legislature, with funds going to the Sanitary Commission. The legislature, in turn, deposited the document in the NewYork State Library, where it remains today.

The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is the only surviving Proclamation document in Lincoln’s own hand. The New York State Library gifted NAHOFwith a facsimile of the Proclamation – which will be on display at NAHOF at 3:30 p.m. prior to the 4 p.m. program.

The public is encouraged to join in this free observance of the 1862 Watch Night. Copies of “The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation” are free.

Participants should dress warmly and bring a flashlight. For more information, contact Corpin at 315750-6561 or dwillsey@twcny.rr.com

PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE DISPATCH BY MIKE JAQUAYS A crowd reflects on the words of retired Navy Commander Owen Corpin, seen in his aviator’s jacket on the right, after he read the Emancipation Proclamation Dec. 31, 2016, by the watch fire on the Peterboro Green. This year’s Watch Night will be Sunday,...

SUBMITTED PHOTO Retired Navy Commander Owen Corpin reads the Emancipation Proclamation at a Peterboro Watch Night in 2015.