Time Full of Trial: The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony, 1862-1867

by Patricia C. Click

Overview

In February 1862, General Ambrose E. Burnside led Union forces to victory at the Battle of Roanoke Island. As word spread that the Union army had established a foothold in eastern North Carolina, slaves from the surrounding area streamed across Federal lines seeking freedom. By early 1863, nearly 1,000 refugees had gathered on Roanoke Island, working together to create a thriving community that included a school and several churches. As the settlement expanded, the Reverend Horace James, an army chaplain from Massachusetts, was appointed to oversee the establishment of a freedmen's colony there. James and his missionary assistants sought to instill evangelical fervor and northern republican values in the colonists, who numbered nearly 3,500 by 1865, through a plan that included education, small-scale land ownership, and a system of wage labor.

Time Full of Trial tells the story of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony from its contraband-camp beginnings to the conflict over land ownership that led to its demise in 1867. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Patricia Click traces the struggles and successes of this long-overlooked yet significant attempt at building what the Reverend James hoped would be the model for "a new social order" in the postwar South.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807849187
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/14/2001
Edition description:	1
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	529,376
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Patricia C. Click is associate professor in the Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication at the University of Virginia. She is author of The Spirit of the Times: Amusements in Nineteenth-Century Baltimore, Norfolk, and Richmond.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. This Important Victory: Battle and Aftermath
2. An African Village of Grand Proportions: The Birth of the Colony
3. A New Social Order: Horace James's Ideas for the Colony
4. Tossed upon a Sea of Troubles: Missionary Work in the Colony
5. Letting In the Light: Education in the Colony
6. Stamp Down or Troden under Feet: The Military's Treatment of the Roanoke Island Colonists
7. No Foot of Land Do They Possess: The Decline of the Freedmen's Colony
8. And the Partings Are Sad: The Final Days of the Freedmen's Colony
9. Epilogue
Appendix A. Constitution of the American Missionary Association
Appendix B. Beliefs of the National Freedman's Relief Association
Appendix C. Horace James's Letter to the Public, 27 June 1863
Appendix D. Missionaries Who Served on Roanoke Island
Appendix E. Extant Lists of Freedmen Who Lived in the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony
Appendix F: Petitions from Freedmen Wishing to Stay on Roanoke Island, December 1866 and December 1867
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Elucidat[es] the conflicting goals of social reformers and the military and how military exigencies and Presidential Reconstruction ultimately sealed the Roanoke freedmen's fate.—North Carolina Historical Review



Click has made this small story of the Civil War in to a book rewarding to students of the period and especially to anyone interested in the history of eastern North Carolina.—Virginia Magazine of History and Biography



Reconstruction scholars and those interested in the growing debate over the federal government's responsibility to the descendants of slaves will benefit from the poignant story of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony, told engagingly by Patricia C. Click.—Journal of American History



Click has performed an outstanding service in rescuing the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony from historical oblivion. . . . Her account of the colony's history will prove definitive.—American Historical Review



Click's fine study of the refugee camp at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, offers valuable insight. . . . Time Full of Trial makes a signal contribution to understanding the experience of African American refugees during the Civil War.—Maryland Historical Magazine



Click's well-researched book documents the history of the emancipation process in eastern North Carolina.—Civil War Book Review



This inspiring story of the 'rehearsal for Reconstruction' is a first-rate chronicle of the struggle for personal freedom during a tumultuous period of American history. Patricia Click's thorough scholarship vividly reveals the harsh, devastating failure of a noble experiment to heal the divisiveness of the Civil War. Time Full of Trial merits a place in our family library.—William C. Friday



This thoroughly researched, clearly written study of the hardships, failures, and successes of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony is a welcome addition to the literature on African American, post-Civil War, and North Carolina history.—Joe M. Richardson, Florida State University

Editorial Reviews

Click's well-researched book documents the history of the emancipation process in eastern North Carolina. ("Civil War Book Review")

Her account of the colony's history will prove definitive. ("American Historical Review")

Makes a signal contribution to understanding the experience of African American refugees during the Civil War. ("Maryland Historical Magazine")

Reconstruction scholars and those interested in the growing debate over the federal government's responsibility to the descendants of slaves will benefit from the poignant story of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony, told engagingly by Patricia C. Click. ("Journal of American History")

From the Publisher

Click's well-researched book documents the history of the emancipation process in eastern North Carolina.

Civil War Book Review

Patricia Click's thorough scholarship vividly reveals the harsh, devastating failure of a noble experiment to heal the divisiveness of the Civil War. Time Full of Trial merits a place in our family library.

William C. Friday

This thoroughly researched, clearly written study of the hardships, failures, and successes of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony is a welcome addition to the literature on African American, post-Civil War, and North Carolina history.

Joe M. Richardson

Reconstruction scholars and those interested in the growing debate over the federal government's responsibility to the descendants of slaves will benefit from the poignant story of the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony, told engagingly by Patricia C. Click.

Journal of American History

Click has performed an outstanding service in rescuing the Roanoke Island freedmen's colony from historical oblivion. . . . Her account of the colony's history will prove definitive.

American Historical Review