SC seeks money to mark Civil War anniversary

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SC seeks money to mark Civil War anniversary
August 30, 2010
The Sun News

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The 150th anniversary of South Carolina's secession from the union later this year will be a low-key affair, consisting mostly of lectures.

But The Post and Courier of Charleston reports the anniversary next spring of the firing on Fort Sumter that plunged the nation into the Civil War will be a bigger event with concerts, exhibits, a star shell fired over Charleston Harbor and more lectures.

Organizers are still looking for money to pay for the observances.

John Tucker, the former superintendent of Fort Sumter, works with the Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Trust, one of the local organizations making plans for the 150th anniversary.

The Ordinance of Secession was approved in Charleston in December, 1860. The firing on Union troops in Sumter followed the next April.

"I think this is going to be a really exciting time for us," Tucker said. "The Civil War was much more than a defining moment. It may be the most defining moment in American history, along with the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution."

He added that when the Constitution was signed, only 6 percent of the population had full liberties.

"Today we have liberties for 100 percent of the population. A lot of that came as a result of the war and what came after the war," he said.

The Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Trust has raised about $55,000 for the events and is seeking $25,000 more.

The city of Charleston hopes to raise $100,000 from private sources and a member of the trust will ask state lawmakers for $75,000.

"We're doing everything on a shoe string," said Blake Hallman, a Charleston city councilman.

The $68,000 for the December lectures has been raised but organizers hope to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the April events.

Local groups have also discussed plans to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1863 attack by the North's first black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, on Battery Wagner on Morris Island on Charleston Harbor. The attack was commemorated in the movie "Glory."

Plans are also being discussed for a commemoration of the freeing of slaves and of slave Robert Smalls' commandeering of the Confederate ship Planter, which he turned over to federal forces.

Smalls later served in Congress. Three years ago a U.S. Army Reserve logistics vessel was named in his honor.
Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com