(April 2006)CHARLESTON, S.C. - After years of attempts to save Morris Island - and its many hair-breadth escapes from development - a multi-million-dollar deal struck in February will preserve the island in perpetuity.

Morris Island, near Fort Sumter, was the scene of the famous assault on Confederate Fort Wagner July 18, 1863, by the black 54th Massachusetts Infantry. The attack failed and the regiment's colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, was killed, but the incident proved to the divided nation that African-Americans would fight.

Blake Hallman, spokesman for the pro-preservation Morris Island Coalition, stated in a press release announcing the purchase, "It should be safe to say that those American soldiers of the Civil War whose remains rest on Morris Island, both from the North and South, black and white, can rest easy tonight, rest for all eternity, knowing that their sacrifice has been acknowledged by their descendants. We should all be proud."

Three-quarters of Morris Island had already been preserved. But a 126-acre peninsula closest to Fort Sumter has been tempting developers for years. Since 1855, half-a-dozen developers offered proposals, Hallman said, only to see them dashed in the face of public opposition.

The threat ended when the nonprofit Trust for Public Land (TPL) purchased a one-year option on the tract from the seventh prospective developer, Bobby Ginn of the Ginn Company.

"I don't know if he had intended to develop it," said Slade Gleaton, director of TPL's South Carolina office. Ultimately, he said, Ginn, a native of South Carolina who had made boyhood trips to the island, "saw a way to help the Charleston community."

Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), wasn't so sure about Ginn's intentions. "We clearly boxed the Ginn Company in," he said. "They were never going to get the zoning changed. They were never going to be able to do what they wanted."

Ginn bought the property for $6.5 million from the Yaschik Trust. He negotiated to sell it to TPL for $4.5 million, giving the nonprofit until February 2007 to come up with the funds. Ginn also pledged to kick in another $500,000 to help with the costs of planning and transition, and possibly a boat dock for public access.

Campi said the CWPT and TPL have been working for more than a year to identify possible funding sources. He said "a fair amount" of the $4.5 million would come from the nonprofit sector, but most of the money would come from federal or state sources.

One "unusual" source, Campi said, would be the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which offers grants for the protection of coastal areas.

TPL and the Trust spearheaded the preservation effort, with TPL getting involved in 2001 and the Trust two years later. The Trust has placed Morris Island on its "top 10" list of most endangered sites two years in a row. Two years ago the Trust was instrumental in forming the Morris Island Coalition, and has provided the group with financial support.

Hallman told a board meeting of the Trust in Charleston in late January that the coalition "would not have succeeded in helping to preserve the island had it not been for the role played by the Civil War Preservation Trust. Their star glows brightest of all."

The coalition is a grassroots group with board members representing, among others, the Civil War Preservation Trust; the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust; the Coastal Conservation League; the Sierra Club; the 54th Massachusetts, 37th Texas Cavalry and 27th South Carolina reenactor units; and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Also crucial to the preservation effort was Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, who successfully approached Ginn to let preservationists buy the island. Also, the Charleston City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing development on Morris Island.

Hallman, of the Morris Island Coalition, noted that National Park Service rangers "could not take an advocacy position," but they "promptly supplied any historical information requested." He said recently retired superintendent John Tucker from Fort Sumter National Monument and Sumter park rangers Michael Allen, Rick Hatcher and Carlin Timmons had proved themselves "outstanding stewards of part of our nation's history."

The island has never seen development, and state agencies and scenic easements had protected nearly all but the Yaschik Trust property. The purchase has ensured that all but 2.5 acres of the island are now protected from development. TPL's Gleaton indicated that efforts were under way to acquire that remaining plot as well.

Gleaton said the "best-case scenario" for Morris Island in the future is to have "a public entity" assume ownership of the recently preserved 126-acre tract. He said TPL would mount a year-long "public process" to come to a determination as to ownership, public access, and preservation and promotion of the island's historical and natural resources.

Campi said TPL may eventually transfer ownership to the National Park Service, which owns Fort Sumter, or to the state.

According to Campi, much of the Civil War earthworks on the island have been washed away. A "small part" of Fort Wagner remains, he said, plus part of Confederate Fort Gregg and part of a mortar battery emplacement. He noted that the Union's famous "Swamp Angel," an 8-inch (200 pounder) Army Parrott Rifle with 11 lands and grooves and weighing 16,300 pounds, was sited in a salt marsh between Morris and James islands, from which it shelled Charleston in August 1863.

The Swamp Angel blew itself up on its 36th firing. In 1987 artillery historian Wayne Stark helped identify the damaged 8-inch Parrott Rifle displayed in Trenton, N.J., as the Swamp Angel.

Campi said, "One of the first things these groups want to do is get archaeological work done and identify precisely" the location of Civil War assets. "We're pretty confident we'll find a lot. Walking on the beach you find shell fragments."

Trust board members visited Morris Island in late January to highlight the preservation effort. Trust President Jim Lighthizer said it was "refreshing" to find a local government more interested in preservation than development. At presstime Lighthizer was meeting with Alan Front, Senior Vice President of TPL, to determine CWPT's contribution and coordinate efforts to secure funds.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources indicated that it wants to raise an additional $2 million "to do an extensive archeological study, to make sure Civil War artifacts and resources are identified and protected - which is a CWPT priority as well," said Campi.

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