Which statement best describes the lasting reform aspect of Field Orders No. 15?

• A. It became permanent national policy
• B. It provided a model for long-term land reform across the South
• C. It led to large-scale industrial development on former plantations
• D. It was reversed and did not create lasting reform

Answer: (D)

Field Orders No. 15 was a wartime measure that aimed to give confiscated land to freedpeople in the Sea Islands, offering a chance at land ownership and temporary economic security during emancipation. But its lasting reform potential didn’t endure. After the war, President Andrew Johnson and white Southern leaders moved to restore land to former enslavers, and the land redistribution was rolled back. Congress and the Freedmen’s Bureau faced political pushback, and the practice did not become a durable, widespread policy across the South. So, the lasting reform aspect is that it was reversed and did not create lasting reform.