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Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

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Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park National Park Service Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie U.S. Department of the Interior National Historical Park Beatrice Burton ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY Megan Taylor Shockley Orville Vernon Burton November 2020 This page intentionally left blank. Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park Charleston, SC Administrative History 8/21/20 Chief, Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science Division, Interior Region 2 - South Atlantic Gulf Date Digitally signed by LANCE LANCE HATTEN Date: 2020.10.19 Recommended by: HATTEN 15:11:32 -04'00' Deputy Regional Director, Interior Region 2 - South Atlantic Gulf Date Digitally signed by KAREN KAREN CUCURULLO CUCURULLO Date: 2020.10.23 Approved by: 14:24:22 -04'00' For Regional Director, Interior Region 2 - South Atlantic Gulf Date This page intentionally left blank. SUPERINTENDENT INTRODUCTION The administrative history of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park is far more complex than anyone realized when work began on this project several years ago. It documents how management has evolved and changed over the years to address infrastructure additions, increases in visitation, and a changing and evolving society. Since the site was established as a national park system unit in 1948, the park expanded from Fort Sumter proper to a much larger footprint across the Charleston area, including two forts, two visitor centers, a lighthouse, a US Life Saving station, and a jointly managed city park site. Today, visitation to the park generally runs over 800,000 people from all over the country and world, as Charleston continues to top the list for domestic travel destinations and is near the top with international visitors as well. With limited funding and resources, the park relies heavily on park partners to meet the mission of the National Park Service to preserve significant resources and share park stories with all visitors and supporters. As you read this document, you will notice similarities in the challenges park management has met in the past and those we continue to tackle today. We work to protect park resources while confronting a harsh coastal climate, hurricanes, and the effects of sea level rise. There are logistical challenges with getting visitors, staff, contractors, and supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor; visitors still complain about not having enough time at the site, and there are many relevant stories to tell with not enough time or resources to do it. At Fort Moultrie, we continue never-ending maintenance of the facilities while at the same time searching for meaningful ways to engage visitors with that site’s complex and extensive history—from the African American experience on Sullivan’s Island, to American Indian stories related to Osceola, to the significant military history of the fort from the American Revolution through World War II, and beyond. There are gaps in this administrative history where the records are not clear or do not exist at all. The park’s law enforcement program area is one of these areas. Over the last 30 years, there have been several attempts to have an NPS law enforcement ranger in the park, but it has not always been sustainable for a variety of reasons. Currently, the park has a law enforcement program that started in 2016, which I hope will continue for decades to come. Another area with limited information is the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Program (formerly the Fee Demonstration Program). I trust narratives on both of these programs will be included when the time comes to add another chapter to the administrative history. In the area of interpretation, there has been some of the greatest growth at the park. The narrative has evolved giving voices to people who were often silenced by enslavement and the later “Lost Cause” ideology. The roots of the past are deep here. However, slowly and steadily, the park is creating a safe place to tell the broader story, reflect on the meaning of the past, illuminate how the past engages with the present, and ask all our visitors to grapple with how both will influence the future. Often, these stories go well beyond the physical boundaries of the park. Since the completion of this document, the Calhoun Monument, referenced on page 8, which towered over Marion Square is no more. The City of Charleston removed the statue in June 2020 after local demonstrations focusing on social inequity and racial injustices forced acknowledgement of inequities and facilitated change. This action is a direct reflection of how we as a society choose to remember the past while moving toward a more inclusive future. We must each search our souls as we reflect the often horrific and unjust reality of our country’s history with enslavement and oppression, themes that are particularly relevant to our park sites. How do we move the narrative forward? We do it from the front, leading the way, asking the hard questions, examining a more complete history, and working with the public and our partners to help us move toward a more just and equitable society that reflects the ideals of our founding fathers and has a place for everyone. Looking ahead, the park will continue to face challenges, but there will be great opportunities as well. The park is already looking toward 2026 and the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. This has the potential to rival the bicentennial and place renewed emphasis on the Fort Moultrie story. To move forward in a successful manner, we must consciously examine how we got to where we are now. This administrative history helps us in that effort, preparing current and future park staff to move the park into a brighter future. J. Tracy Stakely Superintendent Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park Charles Pinckney National Historic Site ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was made possible through a Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit agreement between the National Parks Service and Clemson University. Writing involves a community of people supportive of the project and willing to help, and we have benefited from that community. We owe debts of gratitude to staff members of the National Park Service, at both the park level at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park and the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, as well as at the Southeast Regional Office (SERO) in Atlanta. In 2014, Superintendent Tim Stone and SERO Historian Turkiya Lowe got the Administrative History off the ground, and they have both moved on from those positions. Ranger Dawn Davis, the Management Assistant/Public Affairs Officer at Fort Sumter Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, and Angela Sirna, a historian with the Cultural Resources Division at SERO, saw the project through to the end. We would not have been able to write this without them. Others at the National Park Service also supported the writing of this Administrative History. Thank you to Michelle Haas, Shannon Woolfolk, and Kate Funk for assisting us with access to park archives. Superintendent Tracy Stakely generously allowed us access to park resources, including personnel. National Park Service Washington Office Historian Lu Ann Jones led a wonderful two-day workshop on conducting oral histories that Beatrice attended at SERO. And in addition to Dawn and Angie, Kate Everitt carefully read an early draft and gave judicious comments to guide the writing. We would like to thank the interviewees. Their gifts of time and of honesty provided us with valuable information: Michael Allen, Ann Childress, W. P. “Ping” Crawford, Rick Hatcher, George Hawk, Jim Leard, David Richardson, Joe Riley, Carlin Timmons, and John Tucker. No scholarly achievement is possible without the support of archives and libraries. That support came from John White, Dean of College of Charleston Library; Anne Grant, the History Librarian at Clemson University; and Chris Cox, the Dean of the Library at Clemson Library. Archival work included the National Archives at College Park, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park archives at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, and the South Carolina Historical Society. To the staff at those archives, thank you for your time and talents and encouragement. We also had the help of research assistants Levi Van Sant, who sifted through documents in the park archives, and Cynthia Ford, who made a preliminary trip to the National Archives and Records Administration on our behalf. Clemson administered the grant for this administrative history. We offer our thanks to Chris Vinson, who runs the National Parks Grid, and to Gina Cofield in the Grants and Contract Department. In the History Department, Department Chair James Burns and Fiscal Technician Jeannette Carter provided necessary administrative support. Even with the best efforts of these best people, there may be areas of contention and even some errors; those are our responsibility alone. i This page intentionally left blank. ii CONTENTS Acronyms and Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... vii Illustrations ..................................................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1: Development of Fort Sumter National Monument – Origins, 1948–1955 ....................................
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