| The Port Royal Experiment |
| On November 7, 1861 the U. S. Navy under the command of Commodore Samuel F. Du Pont and the Army under the command of General T. W. Sherman arrived in Port Royal and fired on the Forts Beauregard and Walker at the entrance of Port Royal Sound. As soon as the Union navy and troops arrived in Hilton Head, Port Royal, and St. Helena,South Carolina they spread throughout the islands of Georgia and South Carolina where the troops encountered the newly freed slaves. The attack was a success, and the Confederate forces retreated inland, abandoning Beaufort and Port Royal Sound, including Paris Island. This new Union site would eventually become the headquarters for a command called the Department of the South, which would cover the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and part of Florida. Plantation owners and other white residents fled, leaving behind the bulk of their possessions, including thousands of slaves and large amounts of cotton from the record crop then in the process of being harvested. The people left behind would provide the north with some of its first view of slavery and a unique look into the culture of the Sea Islands. At Port Royal by John Greenleaf Whittier Ole Massa on he trabbels gone ; He leaf de land behind : De Lord's breff blow him furder on Like corn-shuck in de wind. We own de hoe, we own de plough, We own de hands dat hold; We sell de pig, we sell de cow, But nebber chile be sold. "De yam will grow, de cotton blow, We'll hab de rice an' corn : O nebber you fear, if nebber you hear De driver blow his horn! The Fleeing Confederates The South Sea Islands contained some of the most notable South Carolinians: Robert Barnwell Rhett, William J. Grayson, Elliotts, Heywards, Coffins, Fripps, Barnwells and Seabrooks. As the Union came the white population left leaving only one white resident in Beaufort who was too drunk to move. The Union Traveling through the South Sea Islands would be Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Robert Gould Shaw, Robert Smalls, James Montgomery, Harriet Tubman and Clara Barton. Working with them was Salmon P. Chase, Edwin M. Stanton, Senator Charles Sumner and the American Missionary Society among other social reform groups. The Day of the Gun-shoot at Bay Point November 7, 1861 9:25 the Union fleet entered the Sound. They were fired upon and the bombardment began. The Wabash, Commodore Du Pont's flagship led the ships straight up the sound. First Bay Point and then Hilton Head. 3 turns and the Confederate flags came down. The whites evacuated in confusion. In December, 1861 U. S. Agents were appointed by Capt. Saxton as Quartermaster to take possession of crops and other goods. See: (Appointment of William H. Nobel as U. S. Agent ) (General Isaac Steven's Response) Captain Saxton as Quartermaster was also in charge of the contraband labor and controlled the contraband camps established. He appointed Banard K. Lee as the supervisor of the camps. The laborers were paid little in the beginning and no share of the rations, so that the laborers would simply come and go. First Impressions In the beginning General T. W. Sherman didn't think much of the newly freed slaves. He reported back to Washington: General Sherman Reports on Newly Freed Slaves December 15, 1861 and General T. W. Sherman and Negro Labor December 14 ,1861 Treasury Department Takes Over Cotton The Treasury Department responsible for the collection of abandoned property. On Dec. 20. Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase sent Col. William H. Reynolds, an officer in the 1st Rhode Island Artillery, to Port Royal to collect abandoned cotton, prevent slaves from destroying plantations and gins. There were 883,048 acres of improved land and 33,339 slaves. Shortly thereafter, he sent Edward L. Pierce, well known for his work with freed slaves or contrabands at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, to look into the situation among the thousands of freed slaves who had been abandoned by their owners or who had escaped into the Union lines. Pierce was to use contraband labor to plant and harvest the 1862 cotton crop to help pay for mounting war costs, including feeding the numerous contrabands (perhaps as many as 16,000) at Port Royal. Start of the Gideonites On January 15, 1862 Gen. Thomas Sherman wrote letter requesting teachers for the ex-slaves on plantations under Union control, and northern churches sent to Port Royal. Tappans and AMA sent Rev. Mansfield French, and began recruitment of "Gideon's Band" of missionaries. Meanwhile another agent, the Reverend Mansfield French of the American Missionary Association, arrived to assess the needs of the former slaves. Pierce recruited missionaries and raised funds through friends in Boston, and French sought the same through contacts in New York. A PEACEFUL EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL. DEPARTURE OF MISSIONARIES. (from The Rebellion Record, A Diary of American Events and Documents) The first missionary expedition to propagate industry, religion, and education among the contrabands at Hilton Head, as well as to encourage agriculture and like useful measures, sailed from New-York City March third, 1862. It is composed of some sixty persons, about fifteen of whom are ladies. Mr. Edward L. Pierce, the Government agent, in charge of the plantations and contrabands at Port Royal, is to be the directing genius of this association; and from the experience he has already gained, the selection of that gentleman for the position is considered very judicious. The duty of the men, who include persons of about every trade and business, will be to take charge of the abandoned estates of the chivalry, and to direct the labors of the negroes, who are to be employed in such agricultural pursuits as the cultivation of cotton and the raising of necessary vegetables for the use of the army. The ladies go with the intention of establishing an industrial school, under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. French, of this city. Among the ladies we should mention the name of Mrs. Harlan, wife of the United States Senator from Iowa. It will thus be seen that the persons composing the expedition do not come from one locality, but hail from Washington, New-York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other places. Some go as volunteers, but the bulk proceed under the auspices of the National Freedman's Relief Association of this city, and the Educational Commission in Boston. Each member was obliged to take the following oath of allegiance before being finally accepted: I, , do solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign; that I will bear true and faithful allegiance and loyalty to the same, any allegiance, resolution, or law of any State convention to the contrary notwithstanding. And further, that I do this with a full determination and pledge to perform it, without any mental reservation whatever; and further, that I will faithfully perform all the duties which may be required of me by law. So help me God. The Atlantic, which conveys the expedition, takes out with her a large cargo, consisting of army stores, agricultural implements, seeds, clothing, sewing-machines, and numerous contributions toward the success of the object New England Freedmen's Aid Society On Tuesday, February 4, 1862 in response to Pierce's letters the New England Freedmen's Aid Society was formed in Boston at the house of Rev. Jacob M. Manning. Rev. Edward Hale was elected chair and Edward Atkinson secretary. Hon. Gov. John A. Andrew was elected president of the society. The first general meeting was held in Old South Church on Sunday, February 16, 1862. William Endicott, Jr. was named treasurer, Edward Atkinson remained secretary, Mr. George B. Emerson headed up the committee to get teachers for $50 per month and expenses for the teachers. John Murray Forbes, Samuel Cabot, Jr., George Higginson, and Patrick Tracy Jackson, Jr. were active members. Edward Everett Hale was vice-president. By March 6 38 teachers had been hired and $5,367.55 raised. Its aims were: to relieve bodily suffering to organize industry; give instructions in the rudiments of knowledge, morals, religion and civilized life; to inform the public of the needs, rights, capacities and disposition of the freedmen. Sherman's General Order No. 9 On February 6, 1862 General T. W. Sherman writes General Order No. 9 calling on Northern societies to assist in helping freedmen and outlines the general plan of superintendents for plantation labor and teachers for teaching freedmen. See General T. W. Sherman General Order 9 Requesting Help for Freedmen The National Freedman's Relief Association On February 20 the National Freedman's Relief Association. New York, originated at a meeting held in the hall of the Cooper Institute, in response to an appeal from Gen. Sherman and Commodore Dupont, representing in a general order, dated the 6th of that month, the helpless condition of the blacks within the vast area occupied by the forces under their command, and calling upon the benevolent and philanthropic of the land for aid. The President would be Francis George Shaw, Corresponding Secretary Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Recording Secretary George Cabot Ward, Treasurer Joseph B. Collins, the Executive Committee consisted of C. C. Leigh, Chas. Collins, Rev. Henry J. Fox and William Geo Hawkins. The advisory committee was S. H. Tyng, D. D. and Wm C. Bryant. The founding committee was appointed to organize an Association, to make a special appeal to the public, to appoint suitable teachers to instruct the Freedmen in industrial and mechanical arts, in the rudiments of education, the principles of Christianity, their accountability to the laws of God and man, their relation to each other as social beings, and all that might be necessary to render them competent to sustain themselves as members of a civilized society. To attain the end proposed, so far as might be within the reach of the Association, the following plan, with regard to the treatment of the blacks, was adopted: I. They must be treated as Freemen. II. As such they must earn their livelihood as we do, and not be dependent on charity. III. Their labor must be performed under a well-organized superintendence. IV. They will receive compensation for their labor, in the shape of daily wages, reserving there out a sufficient percentage to defray the cost of superintendence. V. As soon as their labor shall be organized, they will be required to provide their own support. VI. In the meanwhile, and until their earnings shall provide the means of their support, they will be aided with food, clothing, and shelter, but such supplies shall be charged to them as advances, to be paid by the receiver, without interest. VII. They may erect tenements on the land, and occupy them, free of charge, but when they occupy tenements erected or supplied by the Association, they shall pay rent. VIII. Schools and churches shall be established among them, and the sick be cared for. IX. No idlers will be allowed among them, but all must work who can. X. Each one will be encouraged to raise on his own ground such articles of food as his family may require, and be so taught gardening as to raise quantities for the army and navy and other markets. XI. To guard against imposition upon their ignorance and inexperience, no stores will be allowed among them except those licensed by the Association. At this meeting William Cullen Bryant proposed that the ex-slaves be known as freedmen as opposed to contrabands. The Gideonites March 2, 1862 the steamship Atlantic left New York City with 53 missionaries including 12 women, paid salary of $50 per month--"Gideonites" they were labeled--destined to be teachers, plantation superintendents, and missionaries among the contrabands sailed from New York for Beaufort. The Gideonites worked and taught on the islands surrounding Port Royal under Treasury control for the next several months. Edward L Pierce Appointed by Secretary of Treasury Chase March 9 - Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase appointed abolitionist Boston attorney Edward L. Pierce to begin the "Port Royal Experiment" of schools and hospitals, and allowed plantations to be run by the former slaves and paid blacks $1 per 400 lbs. cotton. Dubois: "He was a firm friend of Secretary Chase; and when, in 1861, the care of slaves and abandoned lands devolved upon the Treasury officials, Pierce was specially detailed from the ranks to study the conditions. First, he cared for the refugees at Fortress Monroe; and then, after Sherman had captured Hilton Head, Pierce was sent there to found his Port Royal experiment of making free workingmen out of slaves. Before his experiment was barely started, however, the problem of the fugitives had assumed such proportions that it was taken from the hands of the over-burdened Treasury Department and given to the army officials." (See Pierce's Report to Secretary Chase) The Military Rules for Freedmen In the beginning of the Port Royal experiment confusion reigns. (Actually this will become a familiar pattern.) However they were all in uncharted territory. Notice in this document how you may confuse the treatment of the freedmen with that of free persons of color before the Civil War. However this is a military district where passes were a common feature. The wage and labor controls were not. Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade of the South Carolina Expeditionary force to the Superintendent of Contrabands. Port Royal Relief Committee Apr. 15 - The Port Royal Relief Committee of Philadelphia sent funds in the care of Miss Laura Matilda Towne. The Penn School was founded on St. Helena Island, the oldest missionary school of the Port Royal Experiment. The Penn Center is the site of one of the country's first schools for freed slaves. Begun in 1862 as Penn School, an experimental program to educate Sea Island slaves freed at the beginning of the Civil War, it is the oldest and most persistent survivor of the Port Royal Experiment. The first teachers were Northern missionaries Laura Towne and Ellen Murray. Both spent the next forty years of their lives living among and educating former Sea Island slaves, the Gullah people of the South Carolina Low Country. See The People's Of Philadelphia Response Letter from J M M'Kim to Stephen Colwell This committee would later become the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association. The American Missionary Association The American Missionary Association had already worked with E. L. Pierce and General Butler at Fortress Monroe. They would establish schools at Port Royal, Beaufort, Hilton Head and St. Helena. General David Hunter Chosen to head the new Dept of the South General David Hunter, who had befriended himself to Abraham Lincoln was chosen as the first commander of the Department of the South. It encompassed operations in South Carolina, Georgia and the Florida east coast. Hunter was an abolitionist. In a few months he had issued a proclamation freeing the slaves in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida (overturned by President Lincoln) See General Hunter's General Order 11 and he created the first African-American regiment (the first South Carolina - which was also not accepted by the War Department but one company survived to be part of Rufus Saxton's newly created 1st South Carolina) He defended his proclamation and arming the freedmen with a letter to the National Freedmen's Relief Association on July 17, 1862. They Smelled a Big Rat - The Formation of Hunter's Regiment See Military treatment of captured and fugitive slaves 1861-1862 See General Hunter Creates first Africian-American Regiment General Hunter simply impressed the workers on the plantations creating ill-feelings and mistrust (especially since he used the plantation supervisors to assist in this impressment. He would do this again to fill the ranks of the 2nd South Carolina when he returned to the Department the following year. In the meantime during his absence the 1st Regiment was re-formed by volunteers. See Chase to Stanton, May 21, 1862 See Also Pierce to Chase, May 12, 1862 See Also Documents relating to Impressment of Freedmen for Hunter's Regiment May 12, 1862 See Also Pierce to General Hunter No. 6, May 13, 1862 See Also G. M. Wells to Pierce, May 13, 1862 See Also L. D Wells to Pierce, May 13, 1862 Rufus Saxton Appointed Military Governor May 30 - Rufus Saxton replaced Edward Pierce at Port Royal in response to Congressional action, control passed to the War Department. . His duties were to supervise the growth and sale of cotton, to regulate labor, to direct the activities of new comers and settle them at suitable points over the several islands. (This is part of his orders.) In 1863 the American Freedmen's inquiry commission was interviewing people in the Port Royal area. Here is the testimony of General Saxton and Harry Mcmillan a freedman. In 1864 Eubon Thomlinson, General Saxton's aide was appointed to be agent for the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Aid Society. He gave a testimony on conditions in the Sea Islands to the Society. 1866 Semi Annual Report on Freedmen's Schools - Alvord - Sea Island Section Rufus Saxton's Oath for Superintendents "I, believing that negro slavery is a great enemy to humanity, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully perform to the best of my ability my duty as superintendent of plantations in this department, and, as such, will use all the means in my power so to educate and elevate the people under my control as to fit them to enjoy the blessings of freedom; that to the best of my knowledge I will deal fairly and honestly with them, and respect, and cause all others under my jurisdiction to respect their rights; that I will not engage in trade with them for my own profit or appropriate any of the proceeds of their labor to my own personal advantage. So help me God." For service in this laborious, most disheartening and often dangerous field of labor, the division superintendents received $l.OOO, and the district agents $100 per annum. Paris Island John C. Zachos was assigned to serve as superintendent on Paris Island, a position he held until November or December 1862 as one of the first Gideonites.. Among the best early sources relating to wartime Paris Island is a report written by Zachos at the end of 1862. He reported that there were 330 persons living on the island, including 130 children, 150 available to work the fields (half of those were women), 12 old people, 4 or 5 invalids, six carpenters, and an unspecified number of house servants. During the previous growing season, they had harvested ô220 acres of cotton, 300 acres of corn, 46 of sweet potatoes, 20 of rice and garden products, for a total of 590 acres under cultivation. Total income as a result of this effort came to only $3.00 per person, with which, as Zachos notes, they were to clothe and support themselves for a year. Mr. Zachos had a role to play in the 1st Emancipation Proclamation celebration on January 1, 1863. He read and the audience sang a poem he had written. Zachos was replaced as Paris Island Superintendent by Frances Dana Gage, a well-known Ohio abolitionist and temperance advocate who traveled to Beaufort in October, 1862 to assist the former slaves. In January, 1863, she was appointed Superintendent of the six Paris Island Plantations. Frances Gage's daughter Mary, was assigned to Paris Island and for about six months in the fall of 1863 and into early 1864, Clara Barton assisted the Gage's on Paris Island. These superintendents and teachers reported directly to General Rufus Saxton. St. Helena Island Mr. Allen, Superintendent, Mr Hill, carpenter, Mr. Phillips commissary agent, Mr. Bundy (and family), E. S. Williams, One teacher of the Port Royal group, herself of African descent, was Charlotte S. Forten of Philadelphia. She was a graduate of the State Normal School, Salem, Massachusetts, and had taught in the same city. Refusing a residence in Europe, she joined one of the parties for Port Royal to teach among her people. This woman enjoyed the friendship of Whittier and, as a beautiful singer herself, the poet sent her directly his Hymn written for the scholars of St. Helena Island which she taught them to sing for the Emancipation Proclamation exercises of January 1, 1863." Song By. J. G. Whittier Oh none in all the world before Were ever glad as we. We're free on Carolina's shore, We're all at home and free. thou friend and helper of the poor, Who suffered for our sake. To open every prison door, And every yoke to break. Look down, oh, Saviour sweet, and smile, And help us sing and pray; The hands that blessed the little child, upon our foreheads lay. Today in all our fields of corn, No driver's whip we hear. The holy day that saw thee born, Was never half so dear. The very oaks are greener clad, The waters brighter smile, Oh never shone a day so glad, On sweet St. Helena's Isle. For none in all the world before Were ever glad as we. We're free on Carolina's shore, We're all at home and free! Higginson's Story about Laura Towne (Letters and Journal) An old Aunt Phillis, the plantation patriarch, was here this morning, sighing over an impracticable little boy she has the care of. "Mus' take 'um to de wood for whip 'um," she averred. "Why so?" I asked. "No use for whip 'um in de house, massa. Miss Laury [Towne] hear de very first slap come flyin', say, ' Stop! Stop! No for whip!' So everybody take he child to de wood, far place, for whip 'um! Can't fotch up boy widout whip!" This picture of the whole maternal population of the place scudding for the woods, with children under their arms, to enjoy a season of undisturbed chastisement, beyond reach of Miss Laury, was too much for me. Beaufort To supply this need (Sewing) Miss Botume solicited the necessary apparatus from her northern friends and began work on some old contraband goods stored in an arsenal. She reported that sewing was a fascination to all and that ''they learned readily and soon developed much skill and ingenuity."" This school has come down today as the Old Fort Plantation School. General Saxton's First Report on Schools "Experienced teachers report that the progress of the pupils does not compare unfavorably with that of children in the common schools North. They all manifest an intense desire to learn to read and seem to have the intuition that it is by means of education they are to rise in the scale of citizenship. During the planting and harvesting seasons it is a common sight to see groups of children going to school after having completed their tasks in the field. The Northern associations have sent down large numbers of experienced teachers and schoolbooks and thousands of dollars in valuable articles of clothing to be distributed." The First Boston Rev. Mr. William E. Peck (already at Port Royal) Mr. Rich (already at Port Royal) Mr. Boyton (already at Port Royal) Fred A. Eustis (heir to plantation on Ladies Island) Harriet Ware E. W. Hooper E. S. Philbrick Wm. C. Gannett Geo. H. Blake Dr. A. J. Wakefield Jas. F. Sisson Issac W. Cole J. W. R. Hill Jas. H. Palmer D. F. Thorpe David Mack T. Edwin Ruggies J. M. F. Howard F. E. Barnard Dr. Jas. Waldock Richard Soule, Jr. Leonard Wesson Dr. C. H. Brown James E. Taylor Daniel Bowe Wm. S. Clarke Samuel D. Phillips Jules L. DeCroix Geo. M. Wells Mrs. Elizabeth B. Hale Miss Mena Hale Miss E. H. Winsor Miss M. A. Waldeck Washington and Philadelphia: Miss Susan Walker Mrs. Walter R Johnson Miss Mary Donaldson New York: N. R. Johnson Geo B. Peck Harvey Hyde John L. Lathrop Robert N. Smith F. H. Cowdeny Albert Norton Geo. C. Fox Jas. D. Strong John H Brown Albert Belamy Mrs. M. O. Quolff Mrs. Nicholson Miss Doxy J. W. Brinkerhoff Theodore Holt Edmund Price D. F. Cooper J. W. Macomber J. P. Greves J. T. Ashley Jas Hoy Jas. D. Strong David Fitch John H. Brown Lyman Knowlton Miss Hannah Curtis Miss M. Albright Mrs. Jane Harlan Miss R. Patton Plantation Heads R. Oswald Ed Rhett R. Harrisham Colin Campbell Tayler Danner Wm. Fripp Wm. Barnwell Dr. Frank Capers Dr. Rose Mills Thos. Stewart Mrs. Talbots Wm Perryclear Mrs. Rose Mrs. Ann Perryclear John J. Smith John Chaplin Schools and Locations Each society listed its own recruits and teacher and superintendents it supported in its own literature. This means that a comprehensive picture of all the missionaries, teachers, superintendents is hard to create. Other 1862 Charles P Ware from Milton Mass. Port Royal Society The Port Royal Society would support Laura M. Towne. Her school would be called Penn School. She would start on Pope's Plantation on St. Helena in 1862. 1862-63 Laura M. Towne Charlotte Forten Grimke Ellen Murray 1865 - 1866 Laura M. Towne Miss Harriet Murray Miss Kitredge American Missionary Association Lawton Place Hilton Head St. Helena Village Miss A. A. Carter spring 1863 Miss E. S Williams spring 1863 Miss Martha L. Kellogg - spring 1863 Hilton Head Miss M. L. Kellogg - spring 1863 Beaufort James A McCrea - spring 1863 Mr McClue - spring 1863 Rev. A. Root - spring 1863 Mrs. Mary F. Root - spring 1863 General Superintendents Appointed On July 18, 1862 General Saxton appointed his General Superintendents: First Division: Mr. H. G. Judd (Port Royal, Paris, Barnwell, Cat and Cane Islands with 29 teachers Second Division: Mr. Richard Soule Jr (St. Helena, Ladies, Wassa, Coosaw, Dathaw, and Morgan Islands) with 23 teachers and Third Division: Rev. Thomas D. Howard (Hilton Head and Pinckney Islands) with 3 teachers. Mr. Helper would be the superintendent for Fernandina with four teachers. Rev. Brinkerhoff would be the superintendent for St. Augustine with 2 teachers. National Freedmen's Association Locations of Schools, Personnel and Teachers National Freedmen's Association - Spring and Fall 1863 Rev. M. French - Superintendent Rev. L. D. Barrows, Superintendent (f) Thomas Crother, Assistant Superintendent (s) Henry G. Judd, Distributing Agent Tackberry, Storekeeper Kellogg, Assistant (f) Sterns, Assistant (f) Peck, Assistant (f) John T. Chapins' Plantation, Port Royal Bythewood, Ladies Island Martha A. Wight Ella Ripley Emily Shultz Ash Dale Place, Ladies Island and Sewing School, Beaufort School on Dathan Island Louise Kellogg Sarah Parker Mira M. Fowler School in the Billiard Room, Beaufort Elizabeth H. Peck Praise House, Beaufort Sarah E. Peck Louise C Judd Paul Johnson Harriet M. Buss Tabernacle, Beaufort Ladies Island Miss Childs (s) Julia C. Rice Mary A. Kennedy (s) Ella Ripley (f) Eliza J. Wells (f) St. Helena Island, S. C. Hester N. Philips (f) Ned Loyd White (f) Miss. L. E. Lovell (f) Rev. Jas. Lynch (f) Emily L. Stuart (f) Jane M. Lynch (f) Annie G. Goodhue (f) Elizabeth Howard (f) Myra A. Fowler (f) St. Helensville Mission House, Beaufort Ned Loyd White Mrs. Eaton (s) Mr. Williams Perryclear Plantation, Port Royal Red House, Port Royal Martha Johnson (s) Henry Wight M. E. Church, Beaufort Paris Island Mary S. Wakeman (s) Miss Francis Gage (s) Kate Harvey (s) Mrs. Hammond (f) two miles from Beaufort Port Royal Island Edward Dickinson Ellen A Dyer (s) A. P. Brown (s) Battery Plantation - Port Royal Julia Green (s) Old Fort Harriet M. Dowd (f) Elizabeth Hyde Botume (1864) Mrs. Fox (f) Sarah Danby (f) Martha Johnson (f) Mrs. S. W. Sandford (f) Mary E. Pierce (f) Jenkins' Neck 1st South Carolina Eliza J. Wells Harriet Dewhurst Esther H. Hawks Baynard Plantation Prince Lamkin (s) Mary E. Pierce (s) Rev. M. Moore, Chaplain (s) Julia Grayham Emeline Allen (f) Harriet Buss (f) Edgerly Plantation St. Augustine J. N. Stranger Julia M. Bartlett (s) Emily Schultz (f) Kate D. Connant Martha A. Wight (f) Kate Foote (f) Eliza J. Smith (f) Fernandina, Fl Marry M. Harris (f) Fanny J. Botts (f) Cornelia S. Smith (f) Mary E Burch (f) Emily M. Wood (f) Abbie Burch (f) Sarah Slocum (f) Chloe Merrick (by fall Sup't of Asylum and Assist. Super of S) Unassigned Cornelia N. Smith (s) Elizabeth Howard Mary M. Harris (s) E. G. Conkling Eliza J. Smith (s) Rev. James Lynch Rev. James D. S. Hall Beaufort (all Fall) Amoretta Bingham Sarah C. Peck Amoretta Bingham Hilton Head (all fall) Helen Dyer Mary E. Gage Mary A. Kennedy Ada Williams Mary S. Wakeman A. R. Allston Rev. J. D. S. Hall Mrs. S. W. Sandford Paul Johnson Charlotte Child Kate Harvey William Francis Allen (November 1863) Tax Commissioner Schools St. Helena Island 1865-66 Mrs. Adelaide Strong Mrs. E. N. Gladding Assorted Teachers in Various Schools Later Dates by New England Branch Freedmen's Union Commission Maryland Muirkirk, Md 1866 - Charlotte A. Crafts 1867 - P P Whitehouse paid by Milton Society Nottingham 1869 - Jane Knight Woodville 1869 - Delie Gordon, unknown Charlotte York New Bedford Mass. Robytown 1869 - Martha J. Smith Upper Marlboro 1869 - John b. Douglass Pisccataway 1869 - L N Gaines Forrestville 1869 - P C Groves Patuxent Forks 1869 - A M Powell Horsehead 1869 - Aaron Wemyss Broadcreek Neck 1869 - Alice M. Smith Florida Jacksonville 1866 N C Dennett Agnes Gorman Miss M E Stratton - supported by New Haven CT from New Haven CT 1867 - Carrie Greely S. A. Knapp - from Tarrytown, New York F. A. Morgan L. E. Osgood - Supported by Portland Maine M. E. Stratton 1868 - Miss E E Richmond - supported by English Fund 1869 - Miss E.E. Richmond A. Lynch I.V. Richmond Unknown dates: Ellen Abbott and Mrs. Melinda Abbott from Bangor Maine, Harriet Barnes, Norwich Conn, Anna M. Bartemus from Groton Junction Mass, Mary A Benson from Potsdam New York. Maria Campbell from Portsmouth NH, Laura Ford from Parishville New York, Mary T. Wildes from Portsmouth, NH Port Orange, Fl 1867 through 1870 - Esther Hawkes paid by Second Church Boston from Manchester N. H. Lake City, Fl 1868-69 - Lucy and Sarah Chase paid by Lincoln Mayhem Scoeity St. Augustine 1866 Cornelia J. Smith - North Pitcher, New York supported by Chenango, N. Y Eliza J. Smith Fannie J. Botts from Syracuse NY Mary M Harris 1867 - M. M. Williams 1871 - Carrie M. Semple from Cincinnati Ohio and Lightfoot Watkins 1872 - Miss Sarah A Mather, Mrs. S. W. Russell 1873 - Miss Sarah Mather, Mrs L. W. Russell from St. Augustine, Mrs. Isadore Hamlin (through 1875) from Anna Arbor Michigan Unknown - Lydia P. Auld from East Boston Mass, Abbie A. Bowker from Brunswick Me, Mary N Gillespie, Vincennes Indiana Palatka 1866-67 Charlotte J. Henry - Brooklyn, NY.from Cohoes New York Knapps Plantation (near Micanopy) 1866 - Miss A. Reford Fernandina 1867 - Rosetta Coit supported by Greenfield, NY. Juliet B. Smith Unknown - Sarah Brown from Waterford NY, Abbie W. Johnson from North Brookfield Mass, Mrs. A. E. Kinne Syracuse NY, Chloe Merrick from Syracuse N Y. Gainesville 1867 - Catherine Bent - supported by Newburyport Mass Mrs. M. M. Williams Ocala 1868-69 - Catherine Bent - Newburyport Mass Kings Ferry 1869 - J. B. Smith Letters, Bulletins and Diaries General Good Times A Coming - French to Whipple - March 18, 1862 St. Helena's Island including Penn Center Diary of Laura M. Towne April 17, 1862 Diary of Laura M. Towne April 18, 1862 Letter by Laura M. Towne April 21, 1862 Diary of Laura M. Towne April 24, 1862 Diary of Charlotte Forten Grimke - Commission and Journey - Fall 1862 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - Laura M Towne - December 11, 1864 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - Laura M. Towne (1865-66 Report) - October, 1866 Article for the New York Tribune Other Islands Letter from Rev. Mr. Fitch, Pinckney Island May 8, 1862 Letter from Jas A. McCrea, May 12, 1862 Letter from William McClue to Rev. Jocelyn November 18, 1862 Letter from E. S. Williams to Mr. Jocelyn St. Helens Island, December 18, 1862 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - Annie Heacock - July 18, 1866 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - School 4 Fernandina Schools, July 1863 The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Aid Association - Eenben Tomlinson - 1864 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin Letter of Ellen Murray - Feb 16, 1865 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - Instructions to Teachers - October, 1866 Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin - Fundraising Letter - January 15, 1869 American Missionary Miss A. A. Carter, Lawton Place, Hilton Head, May 20, 1863 James A McCrea, Beaufort, March 16, 1863 Miss M. L. Kellogg, Hilton Head, April 16, 1863 Miss E. S. Williams, St. Helena Village, April 26, 1863 |
| General Rufus Saxton |
| Chloe Merrick |
| Laura Towne |
| Smith Plantation |
| Port Royal Smith Plantation Church |
| Map of Port Royal, South Carolina |
| Charlotte Forten Grimke Teacher St. Helena |