Citizenship Through Service
US Officer Buttons
Personal Items
Confederate Buttons
US Insignia
Food Containers
Soda Water Bottles
Tablewares
Toiletry Items
Combs and Mirrors
Pipe Bowls
Ink Bottles
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters US, let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States."
Frederick Douglass, 1863
The Confiscation Acts gave military commanders the authority to recruit slaves liberated in rebel territory. The Union Army welcomed their labor and set them to non-combat fatigue duty. Former slaves served as cooks and servants, helped dig ditches, wrangled horses and cattle, and built camps and fortifications.
On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation opened the door to combat service. Freedmen served in segregated regiments led by white officers. At the beginning, not all Union officers and soldiers welcomed the addition of African American soldiers.
In time, their bravery and professionalism overcame this prejudice. African American soldiers proved their special zeal for victory over an old oppressor and for a new life as citizens. By the end of the war, nearly 200,000 African Americans, many former slaves, served in over 100 regiments. Nearly 40,000 men died; twenty-five men received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their heroic actions during the war.
South Carolina's Colored Troops
General David Hunter arrived on Hilton Head Island to assume command in March 1862. Hunter believed strongly that the Union Army should enlist contrabands as soldiers. He took action into his own hands by proclaiming that, as a military necessity, all persons in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida held as slaves were free. His directive ordered all able-bodied men to go to Hilton Head for military service. President Lincoln reversed Hunter's order two weeks later, squashing his efforts to raise an African American regiment.
“The experiment of arming blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvelous success…They are now eager beyond all things to take the field and be led into action, and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had the charge of them, that in the peculiarities of this climate and country they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British authorities in the West India Islands."
General D. Hunter, Major-General Commanding
1st SC Volunteer Infantry
In August of 1862, General Rufus Saxton, with proper authority, recruited Freedmen for the 1st South Carolina Volunteers (SCVI). Colonel Thomas Higginson arrived on Hilton Head Island in February 1863, to serve as the regiment's commander. The regiment was re-designated the 33rd United States Colored Infantry in 1864.
2nd SC Volunteer Infantry
On May 22, 1863, Colonel James Montgomery mustered Freedmen from Hilton Head Island and Beaufort into the 2nd SCVI (later 34th USCT). Ten days later, during a raid on Combahee River plantations led by Montgomery and Harriet Tubman, they freed over 700 slaves in a single night.
3rd SC Volunteer Infantry
After the Combahee River raid, Harriet Tubman took 100 freed slaves to the recruiting office on Hilton Head Island where they enlisted in the 3rd SCVI. The regiment moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1864 and joined the 4th SCVI to form the 21st USCT.
Fort Howell and the 32nd USCT
By August 1864, military commanders on Hilton Head Island were concerned their forces and Mitchelville were vulnerable to Confederate attack. The 32nd USCT, free-born men recruited in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, arrived on the island on August 18, 1864. They established Camp Baird at a point just beyond Mitchelville. For five weeks, 500 to 600 men lived at Camp Baird and worked to build Fort Howell under the direction of the 1st New York Engineers.
Archaeology at Camp Baird
In 1989, archaeologists found the remnants of Camp Baird adjacent to Fort Howell. Although the site showed evidence of looting, researchers identified soil features and recovered over 15,000 artifacts that helped them learn about how the camp was laid out and what daily life for the soldiers was like.
Archaeologists found soil stains left by wooden tent posts, a line of latrines, and nine wells. Four large garbage pits containing buttons, shoe parts, hair oil bottles, jewelry, coins, marbles, carved bullets, bone, food cans, glass jars, bottle glass, pipe fragments, pocket knives, medicine bottles, ink wells, buckles, stove parts, pots and pans, canteens, and an assortment of other camp refuse gave researches a glimpse into the kinds of foods soldiers ate and how well they were provisioned. In general, this portion of the camp conformed to regulation plans, and the soldiers seem to have been reasonably well-fed, housed, and equipped.