On the shores of the Beaufort River near the ruins of an old British fort, the nation was transformed. In what had been a cotton plantation where generations of Black Americans had toiled in bondage and enslavement, was suddenly a place where men, women, and children claimed the United States as their own.
Beginning in the Fall of 1862, the United States Army established Camp Saxton, the first recruit depot for Black soldiers in the Civil War. Over the next three years this was a place where people made their mark and became soldiers in the United States Army and celebrated freedom. Over the years of war and Reconstruction, the site was a refugee camp, school, and community. Today, the site and story of Camp Saxton is part of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. Explore to learn more about the people, pleases, and stories of those who journeyed through the process of Reconstruction here around Camp Saxton.
