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April 21, 2009
40 Acres and a Mule
Historical Documents IN THE FIELD, SAVANNAH, GA., SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 15. January 16th, 1865.
Abandoned plantations and the promise of freedom draw former slaves to plant crops and create their own communities. Northern activists like Tunis Campbell arrive to offer help and a vision of black liberty. Emancipation is finally real -- until white planters return to claim their lands.
As Union soldiers advanced through the South, tens of thousands of freed slaves left their plantations to follow Union general William Tecumseh Sherman's army.
To solve problems caused by the mass of refugees, Sherman issued Special Field Orders, No. 15, a temporary plan granting each freed family forty acres of tillable land on islands and the coast of Georgia. The army had a number of unneeded mules, which were also granted to settlers.
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Posted by News at April 21, 2009 06:45 PM