Cooperating on Civil War site

The Civil War lasted four years.

In another civil war of sorts, the town of James Island and the city of Charleston have been battling in the courts for 16 years over an island steeped in Civil War history.

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These items, thought to be Civil War-era artifacts, were found in 2006 at the Grimball Farm development site and attest to James Island's links to the encampments, battles and burials.
The fort's walls and cannons are long gone, but as this monument states, the first shot of the Civil War was fired from near this spot at James Island's Fort Johnson. That first cannon shell exploded above Fort Sumter, launching the bloody War Between the
In this view from Five Oaks Court, a two-sided historical marker stands beside what remains of a Confederate-built earthen barrier, called Redoubt No. 3, on James Island. The town of James Island wants to purchase the tract adjacent to this Civil War remn
A long earthen mound, paralleled on one side by a deep trench, is all that remains of a Confederate-built earthen barrier called Redoubt No. 3 on James Island. This view is from inside the densely wooded lot now owned by the S.C. Battleground Trust, on wh

And ironically, it appears the combatants might soon be cooperating over, of all things, the Civil War.

The town is negotiating the purchase of a roughly triangle-shaped lot on Fort Johnson Road adjacent to Patriot's Plantation subdivision for an interpretive park to include markers, maps and monuments illuminating the area's Civil War ties.

The tract, which until recently was being grazed on by goats, is adjacent to a small, densely wooded spot that holds the remains of Redoubt No. 3, an earthen wall and gorge built by Confederate forces in an effort to defend Charleston from Union invasion.

What's unusual about the plan is that the tract that James Island wants to buy is in the city of Charleston on a part of the island that was annexed by the city. The town's vision for the park hinges on cooperation with the city, something unexpected, considering the town and city are engaged in a series of fiercely fought courtroom battles in which the very existence of the town is at stake.

Both James Island Mayor Mary Clark and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley say they can work together on the park project, even while their lawyers prepare for what's expected to be a decisive showdown in the S.C. Supreme Court.

Clark said preserving the rich history of James Island and illuminating the public about it is one area in which the two municipalities should cooperate. She said she's met with city officials "to work out the details" for the park and last week met with the developers' group that owns the tract.

The small, densely wooded site on which the remains of the redoubt stand will stay in the hands of its owners, the S.C. Battleground Trust, but will be adjacent to and viewed from the acreage the town wants to buy, Clark said.

Riley said the city will do all it can to see that the park materializes. "As soon as we heard about it, we were very supportive," Riley said. "It will be a great thing for the neighborhood."

The park will be instrumental in town plans for the Civil War sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary observance, which Clark said will include battle reenactments, ceremonies, forums and other events.

She said sesquicentennial events on James Island are in the formative stages, but the island plans to commemorate in 2010 the Dec. 20, 1860, signing of the Articles of Secession, which declared South Carolina no longer part of the Union.

Many other events will be remembered, including the firing of the first shot of the war on April 12, 1861, when guns at Fort Johnson on James Island blasted away at Fort Sumter.

"James Island is right in the middle of Civil War history. This whole island was a battlefield," said Clark, herself "a great-granddaughter-in-law of an Articles of Secession signer." Her late husband's great-grandfather, Ephraim Mikell Clark, was a signer to the articles, she said.

Clark said a price hasn't been agreed to for the land the town wants to purchase using a portion of the $1.5 million it has remaining for green space development.

Beth Hill, whose Five Oaks Court home is near Redoubt No. 3, said she hopes the town's plan will preserve the historic artifact for future generations. "It needs to be protected. It's part of our history," she said.

Currently, the redoubt is separated from the neighborhood by a wooden fence, but bottles and cans among the thick foliage beside and atop the redoubt attest to the fact that it has visitors.

The town and the city each control parts of James Island. There are about 22,000 James Islanders in the town, slightly fewer in the city's part of the island. Part of the island is in neither municipality.

Clark has accused Riley of "invading" the island via annexations and has compared the town's efforts to survive his legal challenges to those of patriots who chased King George from the newly formed nation. "We don't want to be a colony of the city of Charleston, pure and simple," she has been quoted as saying.

Riley has contended that the city's challenge of the town's existence is based upon government efficiency, and he maintains that dividing the island between a town and a city divides its citizens and dilutes their resources and efforts at self-determination.

Voters on part of James Island in 1992 approved forming a town, which incorporated in 1993. Charleston sued, claiming state law was not followed. The court eventually ruled in Charleston's favor. The town was abolished, but a second incorporation vote gave birth to a new town. Charleston again challenged and in 2004 again won in the state Supreme Court.

Voters a third time approved a town, incorporated it in 2006, and Charleston's third suit followed. The state Circuit Court this year ruled in the town's favor, and the city has appealed to the Supreme Court.

Reach Edward C. Fennell at efennell@postandcourier.com or 937-5560.