The New South. Vol. I, No. 9. Port Royal, SC: 18 October 1862. 4pp., 9 1/4 x 13 1/8 in.

This newspaper was printed by Union occupation forces on brownish-orange “necessity paper,” utilized due to the shortage of white rag paper in the South resulting from the coastal blockade by Union naval forces.

This issue contains news coverage of the beginning of the Port Royal Experiment, in which formerly enslaved people successfully worked on the land abandoned by planters. This issue also contains extensive local news coverage of the dedication of a new African American church built by the order of General Ormsby Mitchel, who was in charge of the Union forces as they occupied Port Royal, SC. 

The Port Royal Experiment was a program by which formerly enslaved people in the Sea Islands ad Port Royal worked the land abandoned by white planters when the Union captured the area. With some aid from northern charitable groups, the population of formerly enslaved people were able to provide for themselves and even acquire some modest property by selling off surplus crops. Port Royal is largely viewed as a positive experiment that could have been a model for Reconstruction, but the program was ended in 1865 by Andrew Johnson, and the land was returned to its previous white owners.