Spring comes early to the Lowcountry, which was fortunate for hungry coastal residents scraping by in temporary shelters and in hastily refurbished clothing. As the year turned from 1893 to 1894, Barton shifted the Red Cross’s attention to methods for rebuilding infrastructure. This entailed organizing local Black Sea Islanders into work crews and supplying them with tools and equipment that would allow them to not only repair homes, roofs, and fences of their families and neighbors but also clear out critical agricultural drainage ditches around farm fields that were designed to prevent common coastal flooding. The drainage ditches, prolific and essential elements on sea islands’ agricultural land, were decimated by the storm surge—and enormous labor would be required to re-dig them. 

The system of labor and distribution for these work crews was like that of the sewing societies. At the Red Cross headquarters in Beaufort, Barton and her volunteers collected and stored lumber and tools in a central storage facility. The Red Cross paid for these goods with donations, and Barton prided herself on adhering to “strict business principles” in the process. By January, the Red Cross had readied sufficient supplies for African Americans to begin rebuilding their residences. She reported that, between their arrival in South Carolina on October 2nd, 1893, and January 7th, 1894, the Red Cross had received $23,926.36 from donors and spent $5,688.97 of that on “lumber (300,000 feet), tools, freight, hauling, rent, and other necessary expenses.” That 300,000 feet was only the beginning. In the nine months the Red Cross was in the Lowcountry, Barton recorded that the organization had purchased and distributed one million feet of lumber, all of it floated down the Combahee River into Beaufort.

Committeemen traveled to Beaufort by boat and cart to collect their supplies and the allocated rations for their work crews. Each committeeman was an elected representative from their respective community. These communities were self-determined, but their geographic bounds were often drawn from antebellum-era plantations. As physician Julian Hubbell, a Red Cross field agent, wrote:

A man grinding corn, "The Sea Island Hurricane: The Devastation, 1894" from Scribner Magazine, sketch by Daniel Smith, Sea Islands, South Carolina, 1894, courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Food scarcity after the hurricane meant that Sea Island residents were forced to rely on the Red Cross' rations. The Red Cross provided rations to residents who worked for the recovery efforts.

"While the people of these islands, in great measure, own their little tracts of land, they retain the old plantation name for their home. These plantations usually contain from twenty to forty families. The inhabitants of each plantation were directed to select a representative from their own number who should be the representative and committeeman for that plantation, whose duty it should be to communicate with the Red Cross, receive and distribute supplies for his people, and be the director of the various kinds of work that should be carried on among his people."

A wide variety of goods were available to the committeemen beyond the food that they and their workmen received in exchange for their labor. They borrowed axes, spades, shovels, shingles, lumber, nails, all marked with the Red Cross insignia, for fixing roofs, houses, and fences. They obtained seeds to grow lettuce, garden peas, and onions, and eyes for Early Rose potatoes. The Red Cross had, since its arrival, distributed seeds for winter crops like turnips, but the quick approach of spring necessitated a great deal more work and more seeds than a few hardy winter vegetables. The committeemen with their crews thus began to rebuild homes and prepare farm fields all throughout the Lowcountry.

The Red Cross also sent the committeemen home with preprinted labor report forms. As the crews worked, the committeemen recorded their accomplishments in these forms. They cataloged the location of the work, how many men participated, what tools they used, how long a project took, how many feet or miles of ditches were cleared, and what was built and for whom, as well as any miscellaneous notes or requests. The reports also record the names of hundreds of African Americans who made the recovery effort possible and who benefited from it, along with other important details of their lives in the wake of the hurricane.