Never Been a Better Find If I Lived a Hundred Lifetimes...

[SeaIslandRelicBoy]

My discovery and excavation of Nineteen Civil War Soldiers from the all African-American 55th Massachusetts Volunteers on Folly Beach, South Carolina. This is the only time in American History, Black Civil War Soldiers have been discovered and excavated.Their sister Regiment, 54th Massachusetts, portrayed in the Academy Award Winnig Movie "Glory".

 

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[LuckyThirteen08]

I remember this being found a few years back,what happened to the original post? Or did you get a new username? Either way,This is one of my fav all time tnet discoveries.

 

[SeaIslandRelicBoy]

I remember this being found a few years back,what happened to the original post? Or did you get a new username? Either way,This is one of my fav all time tnet discoveries.

Thanks!

Then a few months ago, I found a video my Father shot at the soldiers re-burial on Memorial Day, 1989...which includes Morgan Freeman, and the cast of the movie "Glory."




On Memorial Day, 1989, the 19 African-American Soldiers that I discovered on Folly Beach, S.C. two years earlier, were laid to rest at the Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort S.C. It is a miracle that this tape exists, and that I do as well. In 1989, I was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. I had just endured three major surgeries in the two months before the re-burial. On the day of the re-burial, I checked myself out of the Duke Medical University, and attended this event with my family. My parents drove me to Beaufort, and to experience the event of a lifetime. My father had borrowed a VHS Video Camera, and he with no previous experience in using one, recorded this rare recording of one of the most historic moments in the history of our Country.
Thousands attended this, including then Governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis, and the cast from the movie "Glory." The movie was just wrapping up filming in the area, and cast member Morgan Freeman, Producer Freddie Fields, along with the rest of the cast were in attendance.
Personally, for me, it was like living a dream. The absolute brilliance of the Military bearing of this event was awe inspiring. I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people, who wanted to thank me and shake my hand, and I even received my fare share of hugs and kisses of gratitude that day. All for doing what I love and still love to this day, history.
Now, here in the summer of 2012, you can see what took place those twenty-three years ago. A glimpse into a day, that was as historic, as it was beautiful. The pageantry along with the muffled drum beats, the fife playing, the twenty-one gun salute, and the playing of Taps for men who so long ago gave the last full measure.
For me, that day is a part of me that will never die. And in the time since this day of days, my Mother and Father who were with me on this special day, are too buried in this same Cemetery near where the 55Th Massachusetts were lain to rest.
They are in excellent company there. Under the Spanish moss, oaks and palmettos. Where heroes spend eternity.

I dedicate this film to my new Grand Child, Mora. May she one day see this, and be reminded of not only what he grandfather contributed to history, but to also understand the richness of the history of her Country, that is also a part of her.

 

[Dihren]

My discovery and excavation of Nineteen Civil War Soldiers from the all African-American 55th Massachusetts Volunteers on Folly Beach, South Carolina. This is the only time in American History, Black Civil War Soldiers have been discovered and excavated.Their sister Regiment, 54th Massachusetts, portrayed in the Academy Award Winnig Movie "Glory".

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7xKHTb-vho&feature=plcp

How did you find them?

 

[SeaIslandRelicBoy]

Here you go..the whole story.

19 C.W. African-American Soldiers from 55th Mass. Found and Excavated! NEW PICS!
Folly’s forgotten sons of the Union

By Robert Bohrn

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.

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.

 

[Dihren]

Truly touching and inspirational. Thank you.

 

[kam50]

Wow all i can say is that was a Moving experience. I lived on Folly Beach at the Front beach inn back in 2004. I never heard about the remains being found nor saw the markers on the island. Must have been a experience.