Port Royal in Beaufort County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Emancipation Day / Camp Saxton Site

Emancipation Day Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 2008

1. Emancipation Day Marker

Inscription. On New Years Day 1863 this plantation owned by John Joyner Smith was the scene of elaborate ceremonies celebrating the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. Hundreds of freedman and woman came from Port Royal, Beaufort and the sea islands to join Federal military and civil authorities and others in marking the event. After the proclamation was read, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Colored), the first Black regiment formed, Camp Saxton Site for regular service in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, received its national and regimental colors. Col.Thomas W. Higginson of the regiment wrote, " Just think of it! - the first day they had ever had a country, the first flag they had seen which promised anything to their people." This plantation was also the site of Camp Saxton, where the regiment (later the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops) organized and trained from late 1862 to early 1863.

Erected 1996 by Penn Center and The Michigan Support Group. (Marker Number 7-24.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Notable Events • War, US Civil. A significant historical year for this entry is 1863.

Location. 32° 23.393′ N, 80° 40.863′ W. Marker is in Port Royal, South Carolina

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, in Beaufort County. Marker is on Pinckney Boulevard. Marker located at U.S. Naval Hospital Port Royal (A Secured Military Installation). Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Port Royal SC 29935, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. The Historic Union Church (approx. 1.1 miles away); Blue Channel Corporation (approx. 1.3 miles away); Mather School (approx. 2.1 miles away); To Purple Heart Recipients (approx. 2.7 miles away); Peatross Parade Deck (approx. 2.7 miles away); Uncommon Valor (approx. 2.7 miles away); Plane Crash Memorial (approx. 2.8 miles away); Capt. Brodstrom Marker U.S.M.C. (approx. 2.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Port Royal.

Regarding Emancipation Day / Camp Saxton Site. Union occupation during the Civil War spared the Town of Port Royal from destruction. Gen. Thomas Sherman was quite content to ride out the war comfortably on Hilton Head Island. Consequently, except for a few unsuccessful forays a few miles north of Beaufort to attempt to sever the vital Confederate railway from Savannah to Charleston, the Greater Port Royal area remained a pleasant beachhead for the Union. Officers' families moved down form the North. The only evidence of war was the wounded who were collected and treated in the City of Beaufort. When the other - the fighting Sherman- came through some

Camp Saxton Site Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 2008

2. Camp Saxton Site Marker

three years later burning and pillaging, he therefore spared the little historic town, destroying instead neighboring Hardeeville and
McPhersonville just to the north on his way to Columbia.( The Town of Port Royal )

Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. To better understand the relationship, study marker shown:1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Also see . . .
1. Camp Saxton. The Camp Saxton Site is an approximately six-acre wooded and greenspaced site (Submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)

2. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (Submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)

3. United States Colored Troops Infantry. (Submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
4. Rufus Saxton. Medal of Honor recipient (Harper's Ferry, 1862); Military Governor, Department of the South. (Submitted on June 27, 2009, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland.)

Additional keywords. U.S. Colored Infantry; USCT.;1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Emancipation Day •Camp Saxton Site Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, 2008

3. Emancipation Day •Camp Saxton Site Marker

Rufus Saxton image. Click for full size.

National Archives

4. Rufus Saxton

Brevet Major General, U.S. Volunteers; Brigadier General, U.S. Army.

Col.Thomas W. Higginson image. Click for full size.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

5. Col.Thomas W. Higginson

Ft Frederick Monument image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 27, 2008

6. Ft Frederick Monument

Also at Camp Saxton site, this was a Revolutionary War Fort ruins along the Beaufort River, Located at U.S. Naval Hospital Port Royal, Beaufort, SC and remote...no available access to Monument

Credits. This page was last revised on March 20, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 4,160 times since then and 62 times this year. Last updated on March 19, 2023, by Mark St. Martin of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 4. submitted on June 27, 2009, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland. 5, 6. submitted on March 27, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.