The Camp Saxton Site is a 6-acre (24,000 m2) property located in Port Royal, South Carolina.[2] It was listed in the National Register Historic Places on February 2, 1995.[2]
Camp Saxton Site | |
_-_the_new_headquarters_of_the_1st_S.C._Vol._(Colored),_Col._Higginson_LCCN2014647460_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Nearest city | Port Royal, South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Area | 6 acres (2.4 ha) |
| Built | 1862 |
| NRHP reference No. | 94001581[1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 2, 1995 |
Location and History edit
Camp Saxton was previously the plantation of a slaveholder named John Joyner Smith. After the Battle of Port Royal on November 7, 1861, many of the white residents and plantation owners including Smith and his family fled the Sea Islands after the arrival of the Union Navy and Army. Union soldiers set up camp at the Smith plantation and renamed it Camp Saxton after Union General Rufus Saxton who was in charge of the military district in the area.[3][4] Camp Saxton is situated along the Beaufort River, it is bounded on the east by the river, on the west by the United States Naval Hospital Beaufort complex, on the north by the boat basin off the Beaufort River and on the south by the ruins of the Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve.[2][5]
The site contains an intact portion of the U.S. Union Army camp occupied from early November 1862 to late January 1863 by the 1st South Carolina Volunteers.[2] The camp was the site of the Emancipation Proclamation ceremonies on January 1, 1863.[2]
In January 2017, the Camp Saxton Site became part of the newly created Reconstruction Era National Monument, established by President Barack Obama.[6][7]
References edit
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Camp Saxton Site, Beaufort County (United States Naval Hospital Beaufort, Port Royal)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
- ^ Pinsker, Matthew. "Emancipation Among Black Troops in South Carolina". Dickinson College. Dickinson College. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ "Camp Saxton". The National Park Service. Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Power, J. Tracy; Charles M. Wright (November 1, 1994). "Camp Saxton Site" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
- ^ Emma Dumain, Just under the wire, Obama establishes national monument to Reconstruction era in Beaufort County, The Post & Courier (January 12, 2017).
- ^ Jessicah Lawrence, Beaufort designated as Reconstruction era national monument[permanent dead link], Beauford Today (January 16, 2017).
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