Camp Saxton was established in 1862 near the Smith Plantation on Port Royal Island, SC. It was home to the 1st South Carolina Infantry (later renamed the 33rd United States Colored Troops). On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the men of the 1st SC, along with hundreds of other formerly enslaved people at here in a stand of live oak trees. The 1st SC then received their national and regimental colors. Since the former slaves, both in and out of uniform, were in a part of the country in rebellion against the government, they were now free. A Naval Hospital now sits on part of Camp Saxton and is inaccessible to the public, the grounds of the adjacent Beaufort County Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve (601 Old Fort Road) also lie on part of Camp Saxton and are open to the public. 

Fort Frederick was a small fortification built by the British in the 1730s. During the Civil War, the tabby ruins you see in some of the pictures were the foundation for the dock at Camp Saxton. Many of the participants in the Emancipation Day celebration came ashore at the ruins and noted it as a landmark near Camp Saxton. 

The location of the Emancipation Oak and the historical marker are within the boundaries of the Naval Hospital Beaufort.