Today in History (1862) - The U.S. government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation. On the same day in 1865, the Confederate Congress voted to enlist 300,000 black troops, granting them freedom with the consent of their owners. Lee surrendered a few weeks later.
By Queen Elizabeth II's proclamation, July 28 is a day of commemoration for the ethnic cleansing of Acadians -- but only for Canada, the country from which they were deported, not for Britain, which committed the expulsion.