Joseph McGill, a program officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is a man with a mission. McGill says there is an “untold story” African-American Union soldiers that “deserves to be told”. After befriending several Confederate civil war reenactors as a park ranger at Fort Sumter National Monument, and watching the movie “Glory,” McGill became a reenactor himself. “We are constantly recruiting men and women to help us tell the story of the 180,000 African-American men that served the Union in the Civil War,” McGill said. The movie “Glory” centers on the 54th Massachusetts “colored” troops historic battle at Battery Wagner, Morris Island, SC on July 18th, 1863.

According to James W. Hagy in To Take Charleston- The Civil War on Folly Island, proximity to Morris Island and the Charleston ship channel prompted Folly’s use as a staging point, starting in February of 1863. Later that year as many as 10,000 Union troops, garrisoned on Folly Island, stood poised for battle. Steven Smith, of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, claims that Folly Island was literally deforested by the Union troops who needed firewood and building wood. On July 10, 1863, after a two-hour barrage of cannon fire from Folly, Union troops launched an amphibious assault across Lighthouse Inlet for an attempt to take Battery Wagner from the Confederates. The troops were driven back by a barrage of musket fire as they reached the walls of the fort. On July 18, Union assault forces from the 6th and 7th Connecticut, and the 54th Massachusetts staged another attempt on Fort Wagner. Union artillery support from gunboats, ironclads, and land batteries landed an estimated 9,000 rounds onto Fort Wagner. Confederate forces answered with batteries from Battery Greg on Cummings Point, Fort Sumter, James Island, and Sullivan’s Island. The Union troops were repelled once more after sustaining heavy casualties, with the 54th Massachusetts suffering the greatest losses.

Civil War re-enactors will commemorate the 147th anniversary of the assault on Battery Wagner on July 16. Volunteer re-enactors from Company I, 54th Massachusetts Re-enactment Regiment, will honor the men who participated in the historic battle on July 18, 1863. The event will occur on Morris Island, and the public is invited and encouraged to attend. The boat for the one-hour event will leave from the Charleston Maritime Center (10 Wharfside St., downtown Charleston) at 3:00 p.m. and return at 5:00 p.m. Make reservations by calling Joseph McGill at 408-7727. Participants should arrive 30 minutes before their reserved time. The cost of the boat ride and visit to the island is $25. Tideline Tours also offers Ferry service from James Island to Cummings Point, leaving at 1:30 p.m. and returning at approximately 6:00 p.m. The cost is $25 per person with a $5 per car parking fee. Make reservations by contacting Tideline Tours at 843-813-2497. The event is sponsored by Company I, 54th Massachusetts Re-enactment Regiment.

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This skeleton was among 19 discovered thanks to Robert Bohrn in 1987. The bodies belonged to African-American Union soldiers who were stationed on Folly Beach in 1863.

I love Folly Beach. Being born and raised on James Island, Folly Beach is a part of my soul that I have always cherished and loved. As an infant in the 1950s, I cut my teeth on the surf and sands of her beach. As a child I learned to swim, body surf, and collect shells on her shoreline. And as a teenager I began to walk in the footsteps of Union Army soldiers whose footprints were washed away by time and tide.

During my Fort Johnson High School years (1972-76), I began to relic hunt Folly Beach with a passion. Research and legwork led me to find many artifacts left by the Union Armies’ occupation during the Civil War.

Folly Beach became the staging area for the Union Army in 1863. Its proximity to Morris Island made it a perfect location for the placement of troops, as well as all of the equipment necessary for the capture of Charleston.  It was at this point that Folly Island became a sea island city. With bakeries, lumberyards, newly made roads and large camps of Union soldiers, the island’s population swelled to well over 10,000 inhabitants. Each camp was the pride of their respective regiment. Soldiers from states such as New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Indiana, and Illinois were present. Each of these soldiers, experiencing the southern climate for the first time, learned of its difficult and deadly nature. Many soldiers succumbed to diseases that occurred because of poor food quality, unsanitary conditions, and the island’s bad water supply.

Then in July and August of 1863, the 54th and 55th Massachusetts, the first African-American soldiers in the United States Army, arrived on Folly Island. Little did the soldiers know that their presence would change history.

Sgt. Andrew Jackson Smith of the 55th Massachusetts was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Honey Hill, SC, on November 30, 1864. He was stationed on Folly Beach during their stay.

The 54th Massachusetts would be the first to arrive on Folly Beach. This regiment changed the way America would think about African-Americans as soldiers. These soldiers’ sacrifices during the Battle of Battery Wagner on Morris Island were a true test of their bravery and skills. Leading the charge towards Battery Wagner, they earned their place in the annals of American history.
The 55th Massachusetts was the sister regiment of the 54th. When the call went out in Massachusetts that an African-American Regiment was being raised, the response was so overwhelming that it became possible to raise two regiments. The 55th arrived on Folly in August of 1863. The troops’ first order of duty was to prepare a campsite on the island. Tents were raised, the jungle was cleared, and roads were made. The camp was to be one of the best on the island, complete with a hospital, a sutlers and an ordnance store. Wells and latrines were dug and stables for the horses were built. From this camp, soldiers would leave daily to perform arduous fatigue labor on Folly and Morris Islands. Building fortifications on Morris Island, these soldiers were under constant artillery fire from the Confederates.  They sustained many casualties during their fatigue duty, but they would have to fight an even more deadly foe: disease.
In 1972, when I first began to search for relics on Folly, I was lucky to be granted permission to metal detect around some good spots on the island. I found bullets and buttons lost by the soldiers, and for years I would search this sea island for artifacts. On the beach, in the jungles, and in home owners’ yards, my search for the Union Armies’ leftovers would continue.
Then in 1987 my life would change forever. A new housing development was being built where I knew I had found Union relics before. As they began to clear a road through the palms, I was right there behind the bulldozers. Relics were to be found just about everywhere. Uniform buttons, bullets and other artifacts were being brought to light because of the bulldozing and land clearing.
Then, they started to bulldoze a small sand dune where I had never found artifacts before. But as they cleared the dune down about four feet, we began to find uniform buttons. The buttons were very corroded, which was unusual because normally the buttons were not corroded at all. As I was digging one of those buttons, my hunting partner found a human femur. We immediately stopped digging, left the site and went to my home to figure out what we had discovered. Our game plan was to return the next day and walk the site without metal detectors to see if we could see any more bones. If we found more, we were going to contact the University of South Carolina Archeology and Anthropology department.
The night before our return it rained all evening. This would uncover any more bones that the bulldozer had uncovered. As we arrived at the site we began to find small bones scattered about that the rain had exposed. Only small bones were found, so we assumed that just one soldier uncovered. I gathered up the bones in a small towel, walked about ten yards and started to dig a hole to place the bones in. As the shovel entered the sand it struck an object about a foot down. On the end of the shovel were three human vertebrae held together by a root. I looked into the hole and saw three Union buttons. Overwhelmed by what was being uncovered around me, I simply sat there in the sand. Relic hunting, in an instant, had become something sacred. I was actually touching a Union soldier from the Civil War.
I filled in the hole, placing the bones carefully back into it. I then contacted the University of South Carolina and told them about what I had discovered. We met at the site, and showed them where the remains were found.
For two weeks we excavated a total of 19 Union soldiers. Research would show that the soldiers were from the 55th Massachusetts. The discovery would be the first of its kind ever made. It was determined from military records that these soldiers died of disease while on Folly Beach. The soldiers were reburied on Memorial Day 1989, with full military honors in the Beaufort National Cemetery. Thousands attended this event, and relatives of the soldiers and the Governor of Massachusetts were in attendance.
And all of this happened because of a shovel full of sand from Folly Beach.
Now, twenty years after their reburial, we are on a mission to recognize these 19 soldiers who gave the last full measure of a soldier for their country. As a small gesture of thanks for their sacrifice, we are working with the State of South Carolina to have a State Historical Marker placed here on Folly Beach. A piece of cast aluminum to honor those of flesh and blood who fought, lived and died here on Folly Beach.
It is an honor and a privilege to recognize their sacrifice, and future generations will benefit from the memory of what they did during the Civil War here on Folly Beach.

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