The Freedmen’s Bureau application for William Hewlin. The application provides specific information from his time in the military, including enlistment date and location and muster in and muster out dates. The notes at the bottom of the document indicate that he was a slave upon enlistment and joined the original organization of the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. The names of fellow African American Civil War veterans Thomas Hanandos and Martin Nateel appear on the application as well. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the War Department by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865. The Bureau was responsible for the supervision and management of all matters relating to refugees and freedmen, and of lands abandoned or seized during the Civil War.
William Hewlin was a runaway slave from Saint Augustine, Florida. On January 12, 1863, Hewlin enlisted into the Company B, First Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, serving as a Private during the American Civil War. During his time in the military, he was granted an official absence on furlough to marry his wife, Victoria, on February 7, 1864. After the war, he and his wife settled in Saint Augustine, where they had four children: George, John, Cato, and Julia. Hewlin passed away sometime before or during the year 1890, and later was buried in the Saint Augustine National Cemetery in Saint Augustine, Florida, in Section A, Plot 185.
In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s
Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for K-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.