Historic Mitchelville
Three days after the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of all Southern ports. In the first major naval battle of the war, the Battle of Port Royal on November 7, 1861, the Union Navy captured Hilton Head Island from the Confederate forces. Hilton Head Island became the Union’s southern naval headquarters for the war. With the news of the retreat of the confederate forces, many who had either escaped slavery or been abandoned when their plantation owners fled the island, sought refuge at the Union army’s encampment. A Union soldier stationed on Hilton Head at the time recounted: "Negro slaves came flocking into our camp by the hundreds, escaping their masters when they knew of the landing of 'Linkum sojers' [sic], as they called us - many of them with no other clothing than gunny sacks" (Trinkley 1986). (1)
Early in the war, escaped and abandoned slaves were simply considered contraband and were often half starved and sick from exposure. In 1861, Harriet Tubman enlisted into the Union army as a "contraband" nurse in a hospital on Hilton Head Island, caring not only for former slaves, but also Union soldiers. Harriet nursed the sick and wounded back to health, treating patients with medicine from roots. After helping former slaves return to health, she then helped them find work. (2)
In April 1862, a military order was issued freeing the blacks on the sea islands. These sea island people, Gullah and Geechee, were the first slaves freed during the Civil War. Nine months later, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (3)
Per a directive from Washington, Edward L. Pierce, an outspoken opponent of slavery was sent to oversee the education, welfare, and employment of former slaves on the sea islands and in March 1862. He was given charge of the freedmen. He, along with the American Missionary Association, organized nearly sixty teachers and superintendents to established schools. Pierce also recommended the formation of Freedmen's Aid Societies. Later in 1862, the care of the negros on the islands was transferred to the war department. Pierce was asked to continue his work under the war department, but declined. (4)
Partially out of a desired to segregate negros from the union soldiers, a town was established for the freedmen in late 1862. Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Michel, the commander of the Department of the South headquartered at Hilton Head, created a separate freedman's village, which eventually became known as Mitchelville. It was located in a cotton field on the former Drayton Plantation, in close proximity to the union camps. Unlike other contraband camps, Mitchelville was developed as an actual town, with neatly arranged streets, one-quarter-acre lots, elected officials and a church. Laws were instituted addressing such issues as community behavior, sanitation and taxes. Importantly, the first compulsory education law in South Carolina (for any race) was instituted for the Gullah children of Mitchelville. South Carolina did not institute a state-wide compulsory education law until 1968 (1, 5).
By November 1865, 1,500 freedman lived in Mitchelville. Residents supported themselves largely as laborers for the military or served in the Union army themselves. In fact, the freedman's town of Mitchelville was guarded by black Union solders. The 32nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment from Pennsylvania constructed the earthworks Fort Howell in 1864 to protect the town of Mitchelville from Confederate forces. Today, Fort Howell is on the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public. The fort is located where Beach City Road connects with Dillon Road. [1, 6]
When the Union military left the island in 1868 residents switched to a farm-based economy. Many residents participated in farming collectives, banding together to rent large tracts of land from the government. The town of Mitchelville continued relatively intact into the early 1870s but in the early 1880s, the town became a small community of kinfolk which survived into the 1920s. In 1890, there were approximately 3,000 African-Americans living on Hilton Head Island; by 1930 there were only about 300 living on the island. According to a 2010 estimate approximately 2,766 of the 37,099 year round residents on Hilton Head are African American. (1)
Today, much of the Mitchelville site is on land used by the Hilton Head Airport. The St, James Baptist Church, although rebuilt several times, sits on the same site where the original church was built in 1886. The church is the only institution that survives of Mitchelville. Descendants of the town of Mitchelville built the Cherry Hill School in 1937. The school stands directly across from St. James Baptist Church on Beach City Road.
In recent years the Mitchelville Preservation Project has organized archaeological digs of the Mitchelville site and gathered artifacts and historical information about the people who lived and worked there. The result of that work is currently on display in the Westin Hotel, Hilton Head Island. Future plans include Mitchelville Freedom Park, which is in the planning and fundraising phase. Parts of the original town of Mitchelville will be recreated and the park will offer exhibits, lectures, forums, tours and cultural programs. The Mitchelville Preservation Project is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization whose vision is to preserve a portion of the historic site of what was once Mitchelville and to commemorate the former slaves’ "experiment in freedom." We encourage you to visit the site at 229 Beach City Rd Hilton Head Island, SC and experience Mitchelville for yourself.
(1) Wikipedia "Mitchelville"
(2) African American History of Western New York "Harriet Tubman"
(3) National Archives & Records Administration "Emancipation Proclamation"
(4) Wikipedia "Edward L. Pierce"
(5) The History of South Carolina Schools Edited by Virginia B. Bartels Study commissioned by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA--SC)
(6) Historical Marker Database "Fort Howell
Early in the war, escaped and abandoned slaves were simply considered contraband and were often half starved and sick from exposure. In 1861, Harriet Tubman enlisted into the Union army as a "contraband" nurse in a hospital on Hilton Head Island, caring not only for former slaves, but also Union soldiers. Harriet nursed the sick and wounded back to health, treating patients with medicine from roots. After helping former slaves return to health, she then helped them find work. (2)
In April 1862, a military order was issued freeing the blacks on the sea islands. These sea island people, Gullah and Geechee, were the first slaves freed during the Civil War. Nine months later, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (3)
Per a directive from Washington, Edward L. Pierce, an outspoken opponent of slavery was sent to oversee the education, welfare, and employment of former slaves on the sea islands and in March 1862. He was given charge of the freedmen. He, along with the American Missionary Association, organized nearly sixty teachers and superintendents to established schools. Pierce also recommended the formation of Freedmen's Aid Societies. Later in 1862, the care of the negros on the islands was transferred to the war department. Pierce was asked to continue his work under the war department, but declined. (4)
Partially out of a desired to segregate negros from the union soldiers, a town was established for the freedmen in late 1862. Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Michel, the commander of the Department of the South headquartered at Hilton Head, created a separate freedman's village, which eventually became known as Mitchelville. It was located in a cotton field on the former Drayton Plantation, in close proximity to the union camps. Unlike other contraband camps, Mitchelville was developed as an actual town, with neatly arranged streets, one-quarter-acre lots, elected officials and a church. Laws were instituted addressing such issues as community behavior, sanitation and taxes. Importantly, the first compulsory education law in South Carolina (for any race) was instituted for the Gullah children of Mitchelville. South Carolina did not institute a state-wide compulsory education law until 1968 (1, 5).
By November 1865, 1,500 freedman lived in Mitchelville. Residents supported themselves largely as laborers for the military or served in the Union army themselves. In fact, the freedman's town of Mitchelville was guarded by black Union solders. The 32nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment from Pennsylvania constructed the earthworks Fort Howell in 1864 to protect the town of Mitchelville from Confederate forces. Today, Fort Howell is on the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public. The fort is located where Beach City Road connects with Dillon Road. [1, 6]
When the Union military left the island in 1868 residents switched to a farm-based economy. Many residents participated in farming collectives, banding together to rent large tracts of land from the government. The town of Mitchelville continued relatively intact into the early 1870s but in the early 1880s, the town became a small community of kinfolk which survived into the 1920s. In 1890, there were approximately 3,000 African-Americans living on Hilton Head Island; by 1930 there were only about 300 living on the island. According to a 2010 estimate approximately 2,766 of the 37,099 year round residents on Hilton Head are African American. (1)
Today, much of the Mitchelville site is on land used by the Hilton Head Airport. The St, James Baptist Church, although rebuilt several times, sits on the same site where the original church was built in 1886. The church is the only institution that survives of Mitchelville. Descendants of the town of Mitchelville built the Cherry Hill School in 1937. The school stands directly across from St. James Baptist Church on Beach City Road.
In recent years the Mitchelville Preservation Project has organized archaeological digs of the Mitchelville site and gathered artifacts and historical information about the people who lived and worked there. The result of that work is currently on display in the Westin Hotel, Hilton Head Island. Future plans include Mitchelville Freedom Park, which is in the planning and fundraising phase. Parts of the original town of Mitchelville will be recreated and the park will offer exhibits, lectures, forums, tours and cultural programs. The Mitchelville Preservation Project is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization whose vision is to preserve a portion of the historic site of what was once Mitchelville and to commemorate the former slaves’ "experiment in freedom." We encourage you to visit the site at 229 Beach City Rd Hilton Head Island, SC and experience Mitchelville for yourself.
(1) Wikipedia "Mitchelville"
(2) African American History of Western New York "Harriet Tubman"
(3) National Archives & Records Administration "Emancipation Proclamation"
(4) Wikipedia "Edward L. Pierce"
(5) The History of South Carolina Schools Edited by Virginia B. Bartels Study commissioned by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA--SC)
(6) Historical Marker Database "Fort Howell