---
title: "Special Field Orders No. 15 — AP African American Studies"
description: "Sherman's 1865 order promised 400,000 acres to freed Black families in 40-acre plots. Johnson revoked it, pushing families into sharecropping. Key for Unit 3."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/special-field-orders-no-15"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP African American Studies"
unit: "Unit 3"
---

# Special Field Orders No. 15 — AP African American Studies

## Definition

Special Field Orders No. 15 was an 1865 order by Union General William T. Sherman that aimed to redistribute about 400,000 acres of land between South Carolina and Florida to newly freed African American families in 40-acre segments, before President Andrew Johnson revoked it.

## What It Is

Special Field Orders No. 15 was issued in January 1865 by Union General [William T. Sherman](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/william-t-sherman "fv-autolink") near the end of the Civil War. It set aside roughly 400,000 acres of confiscated plantation land along the coast between South Carolina and Florida and aimed to redistribute it to newly freed [African American](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/10-black-pride-identity-and-the-question-of-naming/study-guide/sCMCOOHW7DRtM6jH "fv-autolink") families in 40-acre segments. This is the origin of the famous phrase "forty acres and a mule." For a few months, it looked like emancipation might come with land, the single most important asset for economic independence in an agricultural South.

Then President Andrew Johnson revoked the order. Confiscated [plantations](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-1/11-global-africans/study-guide/bxWXAA77AgTI5GyG "fv-autolink") went back to their former owners or were bought up by northern investors. The families who had settled the land were evicted, and most were pushed into sharecropping contracts on land they would never own. That reversal is the real point of this term in the AP course. It explains why freedom in 1865 did not come with the economic foundation to make it stick.

## Why It Matters

This term lives in Topic 3.3 (Black Codes, Land, and Labor) in [Unit 3](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3 "fv-autolink"): The Practice of Freedom. It directly supports learning objective 3.3.B, which asks you to explain how new labor practices impeded African Americans' economic advancement after slavery. The CED spells out the sequence in EK 3.3.B.1 and 3.3.B.2: Sherman's order promised land, Johnson revoked it, and African Americans were evicted or shifted into [sharecropping](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/sharecropping "fv-autolink"). Think of Special Field Orders No. 15 as the road not taken. It's the proof that land redistribution was a real, official policy that actually existed, which makes its revocation a deliberate choice, not an accident of history. That framing powers arguments about why the racial wealth gap traces back to Reconstruction.

## Connections

### [Sharecropping (Unit 3)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/sharecropping)

Sharecropping is the direct consequence of the order's revocation. Once freed families lost the 40-acre plots, they had no land of their own, so they worked planters' land for a share of the crop. The two terms are cause and effect, and the exam loves testing that chain.

### [Andrew Johnson (Unit 3)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/andrew-johnson)

Johnson is the person who undid the order during [Presidential Reconstruction](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3/3-black-codes-land-and-labor/study-guide/jq8Dw200FCZIDdZg "fv-autolink"), returning confiscated plantations to former Confederate owners. If a question asks why land redistribution failed, Johnson's revocation is the answer.

### Black Codes (Unit 3)

[Black Codes](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3/1-the-reconstruction-amendments/study-guide/xCbCharSeaexxarp "fv-autolink") (LO 3.3.A) and the revoked land order worked as a one-two punch. The codes limited property ownership and forced African Americans into exploitative labor contracts, so even families who escaped eviction had legal walls blocking the independence the 40 acres would have provided.

### [Crop lien (Unit 3)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/crop-lien)

The [crop lien](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/crop-lien "fv-autolink") system is what landlessness looked like year to year. Without land as collateral, farmers borrowed food and supplies against future harvests, and a bad harvest meant debt that rolled over. It completes the picture of economic entrapment that began when the land promise was broken.

## On the AP Exam

Expect multiple-choice questions on two angles: what the order aimed to do (redistribute about 400,000 acres in 40-acre segments to freed families) and what happened when Johnson revoked it (eviction and the shift into sharecropping). Practice questions pair it with scenario-based stems where a farmer gives a planter most of the harvest (sharecropping) or owes more than the crop sells for (crop lien), so you need the whole chain, not just the order itself. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's strong evidence for short-answer or argument essays about why emancipation without land left African Americans economically vulnerable. The move the exam rewards is connecting the broken promise of land to the labor systems that replaced slavery.

## Special Field Orders No. 15 vs Forty acres and a mule (the phrase)

"Forty acres and a mule" is the popular shorthand, but Special Field Orders No. 15 is the actual military order behind it. The order specified 40-acre segments of about 400,000 acres between South Carolina and Florida; the mule was not part of the written order. On the exam, use the official name and the concrete numbers, since that's how the CED frames it.

## Key Takeaways

- Special Field Orders No. 15 was issued by Union General William T. Sherman in 1865 and aimed to redistribute about 400,000 acres between South Carolina and Florida to freed Black families in 40-acre segments.
- President Andrew Johnson revoked the order, and confiscated plantations were returned to former owners or purchased by northern investors.
- After the revocation, African American families were evicted from the land or pushed into sharecropping contracts, which kept them economically dependent.
- The order matters because it proves land redistribution was a real policy that was deliberately reversed, not just an unfulfilled idea.
- On the exam, this term supports LO 3.3.B: explaining how new labor practices like sharecropping impeded African Americans' economic advancement after abolition.

## FAQs

### What was Special Field Orders No. 15?

It was an 1865 order by Union General William T. Sherman that set aside about 400,000 acres of land between South Carolina and Florida for newly freed African American families, distributed in 40-acre segments. It's the source of the phrase "forty acres and a mule."

### Did freed families actually get to keep the 40 acres?

No. President Andrew Johnson revoked the order, and the confiscated plantations went back to their former owners or were bought by northern investors. Families who had settled the land were evicted or moved into sharecropping contracts.

### How is Special Field Orders No. 15 different from sharecropping?

The order was a plan for freed people to own land outright; sharecropping was the labor system that replaced it after the order was revoked. Under sharecropping, formerly enslaved people worked a landowner's land for a share of the crop, often staying trapped in debt instead of building wealth.

### Why did Andrew Johnson revoke Special Field Orders No. 15?

During Presidential Reconstruction, Johnson favored restoring property to former Confederate landowners, so confiscated plantations were returned to their previous owners. The AP exam focuses on the consequence: African Americans lost the land and were evicted or shifted into sharecropping.

### Is Special Field Orders No. 15 on the AP African American Studies exam?

Yes. It appears in the CED as essential knowledge under Topic 3.3 (EK 3.3.B.1 and 3.3.B.2) in Unit 3, and multiple-choice questions test both its goal and the fallout from its revocation.

## Related Study Guides

- [3.3 Black Codes, Land, and Labor](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3/3-black-codes-land-and-labor/study-guide/jq8Dw200FCZIDdZg)

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