Reparations · Federal
Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15 set aside coastal land for freedmen
- Direction
- +2 — major benefit to Freedmen
- Force
- 1.00 — enacted, vetoed, or final
- Status
- Decided
- Date
- 1865-01-16
Why this rating
General Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15 confiscated roughly 400,000 acres of coastal land in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and redistributed it in 40-acre plots to freed families — the original, concrete instance of land reparations to formerly enslaved people. Roughly 40,000 freedmen were settled before the order was reversed. Rated +2: a direct, material, lineage-specific transfer of land, fully issued and partially implemented (force 1.00).
Summary
General Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15 confiscated roughly 400,000 acres of coastal land in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and redistributed it in 40-acre plots to freed families — the original, concrete instance of land reparations to formerly enslaved people. Roughly 40,000 freedmen were settled before the order was reversed. Rated +2: a direct, material, lineage-specific transfer of land, fully issued and partially implemented (force 1.00).
Sources
- Sherman's Field Order No. 15 — New Georgia Encyclopedia — official record · primary · historical
Rated under the published impact rubric. Direction records what a measure would do if fully effective; force records how far it has actually travelled. Neither is inferred — both trace to the sources above. Think something here is wrong? Tell us and we will log the correction.