Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15

Sherman’s Special Field Orders No. 15, issued in 1865 during the Civil War, was a military directive that set aside coastal areas along Georgia and South Carolina for the settlement of formerly enslaved African Americans. It allocated approximately 40,000 acres of land, divided into 40-acre plots, with the intent of providing freedpeople with land to establish communities and gain independence. This order was a significant, though temporary, effort to support Black landownership and self-sufficiency in the immediate aftermath of slavery. However, much of this land was later returned to its previous owners, and the order’s promises were not fully upheld.