Near Charlotte in Dickson County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
Fighting for Freedom
Promise Land Civil War Heroes
At the end of the war, the Nesbitt brothers joined other newly freed black men, women and children in this community know as Promise Land, close to the farms where they had once labored as slaves. Suffering from service-related injuries, John Nesbitt tried for years to secure disability compensation from the War Department. In 1880, he received a pension retroactively, and he used some of the money to buy the land here, including the site on which Promise Land School was erected early in the 1880s. The community supported the school
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters U.S., let him get an eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.” — Frederick Douglass
Tennessee Colored Battery camp, Johnsonville, Tenn., 1864 - Courtesy Library of Congress
Cabin Kids Choral Group, Promise Land School (1938-39). Seated left to right: Oris Lee Bowen, Cindy Jones, Aline Edmondson, Thomas Nesbitt, Beulah Edmonson. Back row standing; Charles Edmonson, Norma Nesbitt, Betty Ruth Collier, Alma Lee Edmondson, Prof. J.O. Dixon, teacher. Courtesy William Bowen, Sr.
U.S. Colored Troops being mustered out at Little Rock, Ark., 1866 — Courtesy Library of Congress
Erected by Tennessee Civil War Trails.
Marker series. This marker is included in the Tennessee Civil War Trails marker series.
Location. 36° 12.616′ N, 87° 19.886′ W. Marker is near Charlotte, Tennessee Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 707 Promise Land Road, Charlotte TN 37036, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 12 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Promise Land (within shouting distance of this marker); Civil War In Charlotte (approx. 2.3 miles away); To All Who Served (approx. 2.3 miles away); First National Bank (approx. 9.8 miles away); Civil War Railroad (approx. 9.9 miles away); Mile Post 42 (approx. 9.9 miles away); Frank Goad Clement (approx. 9.9 miles away); Harpeth Shoals (approx. 11.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Charlotte.
Categories. • African Americans • Education • War, US Civil •
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on October 2, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Md 21234. This page has been viewed 379 times since then and 45 times this year. Last updated on March 14, 2015, by J. Makali Bruton of Querétaro, Mexico. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 2, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Md 21234. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.