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Hilton Head Island Over The Years

With a history stretching back over 500 years, Hilton Head has seen a lot of changes. More battles were fought in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War than any other state. As the first state to secede from the union, South Carolina was a hotbed of activity during the Civil War and into the Reconstruction era.

Colonial Era
Civil War Era
Reconstruction Era

The Colonial Era

In 1698, Hilton Head Island was included in a 48,000-acre barony granted to John Bayley of Ballinclough in the County of Tipperary, Ireland. There was no settlement on the island, but a small, 500-acre plot in the northwest corner was claimed by Col. John Barnwell (Tuscarora Jack) in 1717. There is no proof that he ever settled on the land.

By 1766, there were 25 families living on Hilton Head according to marginal notes on a map drawn by James Cook in that year. Hilton Head Island became an island of plantations and remained so until the Civil War.

Fort Mitchel, Hilton Head Plantation

The History Division supports historic research and studies to enrich the knowledge of Island’s past and that of the surrounding Lowcountry and Sea Islands of the Southeastern Atlantic coastline.

The shelves of The Heritage Library contain a wide ranging collection of historical works of all types including bound volumes, periodicals, CDs, microfilm unpublished manuscripts. Visitors to the library are encouraged to browse the collections for items of interest and to check the on-line catalog using the keyword search.

Throughout the year special programs are held on topics of historical interest. Interested parties are encouraged to watch the Events section and check the local newspapers for dates, times, and subject matter.

Additional Reading

Slave Narratives

Read first-hand accounts of those who were enslaved in the years just prior to the Civil War

Plantations

For a part of history, Hilton Head Island was home to agricultural plantations owned by planter families and worked by slaves

Lowcountry Slaves

These files have been accumulated from various sources and put in a collection that provides a name and story to those that helped build our Island

The Civil War Era

On November 7, 1861, a Union naval squadron under the command of Flag Officer Samuel F. Dupont, with General Thomas W. Sherman in charge of the troops, sailed into Port Royal Sound and captured Hilton Head Island on the west and Ft. Beauregard on the east side of the sound. The Battle of Port Royal was the largest naval engagement ever fought in American waters. The battle lasted 5 hours before the planters and the Confederate soldiers fled. Hilton Head was named the Headquarters of the Department of the South, Ft. Walker was renamed Ft. Welles, and the town was called Port Royal.
Fort Mitchel, Hilton Head Plantation

The soldiers were faced with housing and feeding a large number of slaves, called “Contraband” who lived on the plantations of the island and who came to Port Royal from the mainland for protection. They set the men to work building barracks for the families, but the lack of privacy proved to be problem for the women and children. In 1862 General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel was named to command the fort, and he pushed for better conditions for the contraband slaves. While he only lived on the island for six weeks before perishing of yellow fever, a town that was erected near the fort by the slaves was named Mitchelville.

Mitchelville was the first self-governed freed-slave village where education was compulsory.

Our files list residents of Mitchelville, the pension records of the 21st Regiment of the United States Colored Troops that was formed on Hilton Head, a register of civilian patients who were treated at the military hospital at Ft. Welles, and a listing of military personnel who died on Hilton Head, were buried in the Government Cemetery on Union Cemetery Road, and subsequently moved to Beaufort National Cemetery after the war.

Additional Reading

Union Regiments

A listing of Union Regiments stationed on Hilton Head between 1861 and 1865

US Colored Troops

US Colored Troop soldiers provided the Union Army with much needed manpower

Mitchelville

When southern planters fled Hilton Head subsequently provided a haven to slaves from the surrounding area

Civil War Burials

Comprehensive listing of military personnel who died on Hilton Head

Quartermaster

Original records of taken by the Quatermaster Corps during the Civil War

The Reconstruction Era

The Heritage Library has undertaken the task of documenting Hilton Head Island during the reconstruction period, described here as 1861 through 1890. We have chosen that period because it has been accepted that reconstruction began in the Sea Islands as soon as the Union forces invaded on November 7, 1861. That is when the confederate forces, landowners, and overseers fled the island, leaving many of the plantation slaves to fend for themselves. Shortly after that, many mainland slaves flooded the Sea Islands looking for protection by Mr. Lincoln’s soldiers, and it was apparent that the Union was going to have to somehow house and care for the people. On Hilton Head Island, we have extended the period of reconstruction to 1890, which was when much of the islands were purchased by wealthy northerners who built their hunting camps on the land.

Additional Reading

Timeline

Laws and events that occurred during the Reconstruction Era

Land Sales

Land transitions to the formerly enslaved peopleof the island

Education

The first known school for former slaves on Hilton Head Island

People

The people of Hilton Head Island and their occupations

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