Reconstruction Era National Historical Park

Wartime tax auctions on the Sea Islands put land into Black families' hands — Robert Smalls bought the house he was born enslaved in. Most land promised elsewhere was taken back; around Beaufort, much stayed.

The 1st South Carolina paved the way for others, like the 1st Louisiana Guards and 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, and eventually 180,000 Black men in the US Army during Civil War. Black people have continuously served in the United States Army for over 160 years in the