During the American Civil War, African Americans were promised 40 acres and a mule as a part of “Special Field Orders, No. 15”, issued on January 16, 1865, by General William T. Sherman.

This field order set aside a large swath of land along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (400,000 acres of Prime Real-Estate) for the exclusive settlement of approximately 18,000 formerly enslaved Black families, and other Blacks living in the area. The orders were intended to address the problem of dealing with the tens of thousands of Black refugees and Black soldiers who had joined and assisted the Union Army