Land Disputes: Hilton Head Island/Mitchelville is Spared

Following Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson repealed a special order which distributed abandoned land to the formerly enslaved. This caused a great upheaval in areas surrounding Hilton Head, as planters came back to reclaim their property and labor contracts were now necessary for freedmen to continue farming on the once-abandoned property.
This was not the case on Hilton Head Island, as the US government retained ownership of the land there until it was certain war would not reignite. Former plantation owners could not return and freedmen were able to continue renting from the government without interference from the previous owners.

What had begun as only a military mission grew into something more than that. Mitchelville became a vibrant, self-governed community, both defined and accentuated by the customs and cultures.