article for the Atlantic Monthly telling of transformation from slavery to a free labor work force. For his future in the Port Royal Experiment it helped that he had been the personal secretary of Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase.

The elements of the mission at Fort Monroe were the same as Port Royal: 1. immediate aid. 2. education and 3. how to transition individuals from slavery to free labor. The mission at Fortress Monroe sat the stage for a much more massive mission in Port Royal. The playbook for freedom would be written in these places, the Mississippi river valley and whereever the power and authority of the U.S. Army and Navy reached. It was not consistent but a learning process. The world was changing but no oneknew what it was changing to.

In Port Royal another element was added to the mix: Would the newly freed slaves fight for their freedom? This question would be a larger national question that would be answered yes in spite of the difficulties that it caused with the rest of the Port Royal Experiment.

Arrival at Port RoyalOn November 7, 1861 the U. S. Navy under the command of Commodore Samuel F. Du Pont and the Army under the command of General T. W. Sherman arrived in Port Royal and fired on the Forts Beauregard and Walker at the entrance of Port Royal Sound. As soon as the Union navy and troops arrived in Hilton Head, Port Royal, and St. Helena,South Carolina they spread throughout the islands of Georgia and