Editing Edisto Island (section)

===Civil war===
{{main|Edisto Island during the Civil War}}
Edisto Island was largely abandoned by planters in November and December 1861, and escaped slaves began setting up their own refugee camps there. In January 1862, armed settlers from the island and Confederate forces clashed, and a Confederate raid in reprisal killed unarmed settlers. In February, Union forces were stationed on the island to develop it as a staging area for future campaigns against Charleston, twenty-five miles away, as well as to protect the colony, which would eventually number thousands of settlers. As Union forces took control of the island, a number of skirmishes occurred, and Confederates withdrew. Pineberry Battery was further up the [[Edisto River]] from the island, which was one likely path for a land campaign against Charleston. In June, most of the Union troops left the island in a campaign, which culminated in the [[Battle of Secessionville]]. In July, the remaining troops withdrew, and the colony was removed to [[St. Helena Island, South Carolina|St. Helena Island]]. For the rest of the war, a small number of escaped slaves and plantation owners remained and farmed the island, but it was largely abandoned. Near the end of the war, the island was again used as a location of colonies of freed slaves.<ref>Tomblin 2009, p65-73, 85-86, 95</ref>