Botume solicited the necessary apparatus from her northern friends and began work on some old contraband goods stored in an arsenal. She reported that sewing was a fascination to all and that ''they learned readily and soon developed much skill and ingenuity."" This school has come down today as the Old Fort Plantation School.

One of the Beaufort students who had earlier been in school in Port Royal wrote a letter to the AMA. (See Letter)

General Saxton's First Report on Schools"Experienced teachers report that the progress of the pupils does not compare unfavorably with that of children in the common schools North. They all manifest an intense desire to learn to read and seem to have the intuition that it is by means of education they are to risein the scale of citizenship. During the planting and harvesting seasons it is a common sight to see groups of children going to school after having completed their tasks in the field. The Northern associations have sent down large numbers of experienced teachers and schoolbooks and thousands of dollars in valuable articles of clothing to be distributed."

Edward Pierce Returns to Port RoyalIn the spring of 1863 Edward Pierce returned to Port Royal. He used his time to visit the islands, the teachers and the people he had come to know. He saw the new U.S.C.T. regiments. He wrote about his impressions for the Atlantic Monthly in "Freedmen of Port Royal."

List of Superintendents and Teachers Under Brig General Rufus Saxton June 1863This list was found in the Freedmen Bureau