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History of Emancipation: Gen. David Hunter and General Orders No. 7

History of Emancipation: Gen. David Hunter and General Orders No. 7 is a Georgia historical marker in Chatham County, dedicated 2008.

At Fort Pulaski National Monument, Visitors Center off of US Highway 80 East in Savannah.

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On April 13, 1862, following the U.S. capture of Ft. Pulaski during the Civil War, Maj. Gen. David Hunter issued General Orders No. 7 freeing those enslaved at the fort and on Cockspur Island. Hunter later issued General Orders No. 11 freeing those in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida on May 9, 1862. Hunter, an abolitionist advocating the enlistment of black soldiers in the U.S. Army, ordered freedmen subject to military service. Not yet committed to a comprehensive plan of emancipation, President Abraham Lincoln overturned the orders. However, Hunter's orders were a precursor to Lincoln's own Emancipation Proclamation, formally issued January 1, 1863, and to the establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1863. Local African-American units included the 103rd Regiment USCT, which served at Ft. Pulaski 1865-1866.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1852 · Georgia, Florida. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1863 · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1864 · Colton's Georgia (1864) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1874 · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
[Savannah River and Savannah Sound]. (University of Michigan Library)

Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud), 1874, covering the location of History of Emancipation: Gen. David Hunter and General Orders No. 7, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud), 1874, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

History of Emancipation: Gen. David Hunter and General Orders No. 7

Historical maps covering this location

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