Editing Forty acres and a mule (section)

====Sherman's Special Field Orders, No. 15====
{{wikisource|Sherman's Special Field Orders, No. 15}}

[[Sherman's Special Field Orders, No. 15]], issued on January 16, 1865, instructed officers to settle these refugees on the Sea Islands and inland: 400,000 total acres divided into 40-acre plots.<ref name=Gates>{{cite web|first=Henry Louis Jr.|last=Gates|author-link=Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |url=http://www.theroot.com/the-truth-behind-40-acres-and-a-mule-1790894780|title=The Truth Behind '40 Acres and a Mule'|website=The Root|date=7 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/sfo15.htm|title=Order by the Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi|access-date=26 April 2010|archive-date=20 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220070031/http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/sfo15.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Though [[mule]]s (beasts of burden used for plowing) were not mentioned,<ref name=Gates /> some of its beneficiaries did receive them from the army.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/ps_so15.html|title=Reconstruction ... Forty Acres and a Mule|website=American Experience}}</ref> Such plots were colloquially known as "Blackacres".

Sherman's orders specifically allocated "the islands from [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], south, the abandoned rice fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the [[St. Johns River]], [[Florida]]." The order specifically prohibits whites from settling in this area. Saxton, who, with Stanton, helped to craft the document, was promoted to major general and charged with oversight of the new settlement.<ref>{{cite web|last=Buescher|first=John|url=http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24170|title=Forty Acres and a Mule|website=Teachinghistory.org|access-date=July 13, 2011}}</ref> On February 3, Saxton addressed a large freedpeople's meeting at Second African Baptist, announcing the order and outlining preparations for new settlement.<ref>{{cite book|author=James|title=Sherman at Savannah|year=1954|page=135}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|pp=111–112}}</ref> By June 1865, about 40,000 freedpeople were settled on {{convert|435000|acre|ha|sigfig=2}} in the Sea Islands.<ref>{{harvnb|Rose|1964|p=330}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|pp=112–113}}</ref>

The Special Field Orders were issued by Sherman, not the federal government with regards to all former slaves, and he issued similar ones "throughout the campaign to assure the harmony of action in the area of operations."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA252324.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118190642/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA252324&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=18 January 2012|title='Harmony of Action" '&nbsp;– Sherman as an army group commander}}</ref> It was claimed by some that these settlements were never intended to last. However, this was never the understanding of the settlers—nor of General Saxton, who said he asked Sherman to cancel the order unless it was meant to be permanent.<ref>{{harvnb|Cox|1958|p=429}}. "But the freedmen quite naturally anticipated permanent possession; and Saxton later testified that he had begged not to be charged with carrying out Sherman's order if the freedmen's expectations were once again to be broken, and that he had received assurances from Secretary Stanton that the Negroes would retain possession of the land."</ref>

In practice, the areas of land settled were quite variable. James Chaplin Beecher observed that the "so called 40 acre tract[s] vary in size from eight acres to (450) four hundred and fifty."<ref>{{harvnb|Saville|1994|pp=19–20}}</ref> Some areas were settled by groups: [[Skidaway Island, Georgia|Skidaway Island]] was colonized by a group of over 1000 people, including Reverend [[Ulysses L. Houston]].<ref>{{harvnb|Byrne|1995|p=113}}</ref>