Morris Island is an 840-acre (3.4 km²) uninhabited

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

in Charleston Harbor in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, accessible only by boat. The island lies in the outer reaches of the harbor and was thus a strategic location in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. The island is part of the cities of Charleston and Folly Beach, in

Charleston County Charleston County is located in the U.S. state of South Carolina along the Atlantic coast. As of the 2020 census, its population was 408,235, making it the third most populous county in South Carolina (behind Greenville and Richland counties). ...

History

Morris Island was heavily fortified to defend Charleston Harbor, with the

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...

s centered on Fort Wagner. On January 9, 1861, the first shots of the

were fired from cannons by cadets of The Citadel at the '' Star of the West'' as the ship tried to resupply Fort Sumter. It was the scene of heavy fighting during the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

's campaign to capture Charleston, and is perhaps best known today as the scene of the ill-fated assault by the

54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...

, an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

regiment. The regiment and this assault, where it suffered over 50% casualties, was immortalized in the film '' Glory''. After the Confederates abandoned Morris Island in 1863 the Union occupied it. In the next year they transferred 600 Confederate officers from Fort Delaware to Morris Island, 50 of whom were quickly exchanged. The others were utilized as

human shield A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popula ...

s in an attempt to silence the Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter; in reaction to what the Confederacy did with POWs in Charleston to deter Union ships from firing on the city. None of these men were killed by artillery fire though several died of sickness. They soon became known in the South as the

Immortal Six Hundred The Immortal Six Hundred were 600 Confederate officers who were held prisoner by the Union Army in 1864–65. In the summer of 1863, the Confederacy passed a resolution stating all captured African-American soldiers and the officers of colored tr ...

Beach erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

has destroyed any trace of the original fortifications on the island, including Fort Wagner. Morris Island Union battery Charleston

Morris Island Light

Morris Island is also the site of the Morris Island Light, a lighthouse that stands on the southern side of the entrance to Charleston Harbor, north of the town of Folly Beach.

Ownership and preservation

Plans to commercially develop the 125 acres (506,000 m²) of high ground on the northern tip of Morris Island as a luxury residential area resulted in several groups fighting to have the island declared a national historical park or added to the Fort Sumter park. In January 2005, Charleston developer Harry Huffman, listed the for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

for $12.5 million. Huffman was in negotiations to sell the island to a consortium of preservation groups, but claimed to have listed the island to see if there was any other interest. Huffman had waged a number of battles with the local development agencies to increase the zoning, which limited construction to five homes, but claimed to have grown tired of fighting and just wanted to sell. On February 2, 2006, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a non-profit private land conservation organization, announced the purchase of Morris Island for $4.5 million. Ginn Resorts had previously purchased the island for a reported $6.5 million. In May 2008, TPL and partners, including the South Carolina Conservation Bank, the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the Civil War Trust, (a division of the

American Battlefield Trust The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization (501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 through acquisition of battlefield land. T ...

) and many private donors, purchased the island on behalf of the City of Charleston from Ginn Resorts for $3 million.
Trust for Public Lands announcement, May 30, 2008, "Historic Morris Island Preserved." Accessed May 30, 2018. In 2003, when a builder announced his plans to build houses on the tract, for which he had an option to buy, the Trust, local preservationist Blake Hallman and others formed the Morris Island Coalition, generated media attention and support for preservation and defeated the effort. Ginn Resorts was interested in developing the property, too, but ultimately decided to purchase it and then immediately sell it to the preservationists. According to TPL, the city and county are working "to complete a management plan to protect the island's nationally significant historical and natural resources."Morris Island Now Protected

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References

Citations Bibliography * Zeller, Bob ''Fighting the Second Civil War: A History of Battlefield Preservation and the Emergence of the Civil War Trust'' Knox Press (2017).

External links

Morris Lighthouse

{{authority control Islands of Charleston County, South Carolina Islands of South Carolina Uninhabited islands of South Carolina South Carolina Sea Islands