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The Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island, also known as the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, or "Freedman's Colony", was founded in 1863 during the Civil War after Union Major General John G. Foster, Commander of the 18th Army Corps, captured the Confederate fortifications on Roanoke Island off North Carolina in 1862. He classified the slaves living there as "contraband", following the precedent of General Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe in 1861, and did not return them to Confederate slaveholders. In 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation, all slaves in Union-occupied territories were freed. The island colony started as one of what were 100 contraband camps by the war's end, but it became something more. The African Americans lived as freedmen and civilians. They were joined by former slaves from the mainland, seeking refuge and freedom with the Union forces. They were paid for their work and sought education, along with their children. As commanding officer of the Department of North Carolina, in 1863 Foster appointed Horace James, a Congregational chaplain, as the "Superintendent of Negro Affairs in the North Carolina District", to supervise the contraband camps and administer to freedmen. James was based at New Bern, where he managed the Trent River contraband camp. James believed the Roanoke Island Colony was an important experiment in black freedom and a potential model for other freedmen communities. Freedmen built churches and set up the first free school for black children here; and they were soon joined by Northern missionary teachers who came to the South to help the effort. There was a core group of about six teachers, but a total of 27 teachers served at the island.〔(Click, Patricia C. "The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony" ), The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony Website, 2001, accessed 9 Nov. 2010〕 As the war went on, conditions became more difficult at the crowded colony, whose residents suffered infectious diseases. In 1865 President Andrew Johnson ordered the return of all property under his "Amnesty Proclamation", and the lands cultivated and occupied by contraband camps were returned to owners. The freedmen were not given rights to their holdings in the Colony, and most left the island. Its soil had proved too poor to support many subsistence farmers. In later 1865, the US Army directed the dismantling of the three forts on the island. By 1867, the colony was abandoned, but about 300 freedmen still lived there independently in 1870. Some of their descendants live there today. ==History == (詳細はindigenous peoples, Roanoke Island was first colonized by an English explorer in 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh tried to settle people there, to found a colony on what is now American soil.〔("History of Roanoke Island" ), Manteo History, Roanoke Island, 11 Nov. 2010〕 Raleigh sent 100 men to Roanoke Island. The settlement was unsuccessful and abandoned within a year.〔Stick, David. ''Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America'', University of North Carolina Press, 1983〕 In 1587, another 110 colonists were planted on the island. Captain John White, named governor by Raleigh, returned to England in August that year for more supplies. Delayed by warfare, when he returned three years later, he found the island utterly abandoned. A popular regional myth tells that the colonists were absorbed by an Algonquian-speaking tribe, but historians say there is no evidence for it.〔 They believe the colonists died by starvation and Powhatan Indian attack.〔Miller, Lee. ''Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony'', New York: Arcade Pub., 2001〕 By the mid-1600s, English settlers colonized the island and established a permanent settlement. They gradually tried to develop plantations, using imported African slaves as labor, but the soil was rather poor.〔 The island produced some commodity crops. When North Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861, the Confederacy made plans to fortify Roanoke Island to protect the bay and inland waterways. By that winter, the army had built three forts, although they were relatively weak and too small for the number of occupying troops. On February 8, 1862, the Union general Ambrose E. Burnside easily captured Roanoke Island from Confederate general Henry A. Wise (former governor of the state of Virginia (1856–1860)). The Union maintained control of the island through the end of the war.〔 As slaves learned of the Union victory, they migrated to the island for freedom with Union forces and protection from the Confederacy. They quickly began to form refugee camps. General Burnside declared the refugees “contraband” of war, in a policy initiated by General Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe in 1861, and granted the slaves freedom.〔 The number of freedmen living on the island increased from 250 in the first few months, to more than 1,000 by the end of 1862. They formed a community, organizing the first free school for black children in North Carolina, and churches. The majority converted old Confederate barracks into their new homes, which became known as “Camp Foster” after one of the generals who had defeated the Confederates.〔 Able-bodied freedmen worked for the Union, especially in construction, such as rebuilding the forts and adding to docks. The Army paid them for their work.〔 In 1862 General John G. Foster became commander of the Department of North Carolina. After the Emancipation Proclamation, he appointed Horace James, a Congregational chaplain, as ”Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the North Carolina District.” James was to develop a self-sustaining colony on the island and manage other contraband camps in the state, such as one earlier established at his base of New Bern, called the Trent River contraband camp. James was to settle the people, give them farming tools, and teach them to prepare for a free community.〔 Based at New Bern, James took a special interest in the Roanoke Freedmen's Colony.〔 He believed it could be an important model for resettlement of other freedmen after the war. President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves in Confederate areas occupied by Union troops. Many of them moved to Union camps for protection. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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