Savannah Bound-- Part 18: Beaufort and Beaufort National Cemetery

APRIL 4

Next we went to Beaufort, S.C., which is pronounced differently than Beaufort, N.C., though spelled the same way.  South Carolina's  Beaufort is pronounced Bewfort and N.C.'s Bofort.  

One thing I can say is that they have some really narrow streets in the residential.  We drove by the huge house where the movie "The Big Chill"was filmed.  This movie had one of the all-time great soundtracks for folks my age.

Last stop in Beaufort was at the Beaufort National Cemetery.  It has over 24,000 interments.  A large number of them are from the Civil War.  Some 9,000 are Union soldiers (3,607 unknown, 2,800 POWs from the camp at Millen and 1,700 black soldiers).

We visited the Confederate section where 102 are buried.  

There is also a section for members of the USCT including 19 members of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry regiment, the lesser-known sister  regiment of the famed 54th Massachusetts that made the attack on Fort Wagner as shown in the movie "Glory."

--RoadDog

Savannah Bound-- Part 15: Parris Island Museum and Traditions

We parked and went into the Parris Island Museum.  Of course, there was a lot of Marine4 Corps stuff in there as well as the making of the Parris Island Recruit Training facility.  I especially enjoyed the rooms and exhibits on the site's past and particularly the Civil War, of course.

The Battle of Port Royal took place there.  It was one of the United States' first amphibious operations, involving the U.S. Navy and Army and happened on November 7, 1861.  The entrance to the sound was guarded by two Confederate forts, Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island and Fort Beauregard on Phillips Island.

The fall of the forts led to the Union occupation of Beaufort, South Carolina, which became a major base for the U.S. Navy for operations in the area between Charleston and Savannah for the duration of the war.

We stopped and had the buffet lunch at the former officers club, now a restaurant called Traditions.  The place was full of families and the new Marines.  Quite a few had tee shirts with the picture of their son or daughter on them.

A Proud Day, No Doubt.  ----RoadMarine