The Whilden House served as Union headquarters after the fall of Mount Pleasant in February 1865. Among the occupying troops was the first black volunteer 54th Mass. regiment. Under the command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, this unit was made famous by its assault on Battery Wagner in February 1865. The regiment mustered out in Mount Pleasant in August 1865
]]>On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. One of the first units to be mustered into the service was the Third Regiment of South Carolina Militia, which was stationed at Haddrell’s Point, west of here, to aid in the defense of Charleston harbor. Their barracks stood within the present town limits of Mount Pleasant, and they were equipped with state funds. The 1812 monument in this cemetery originally marked a burial plot of the Third Regiment of State troops. The soldiers who were buried there apparently died from disease while stationed at Haddrell’s Point, nearby. Before the Civil War, the monument is said to have stood at the corner of Pitt and King Streets. It was moved to this Confederate cemetery for protection from vandalism.
]]>The keel for the aircraft carrier BonHomme Richard was laid down December 1, 1941, six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The vessel was renamed USS Yorktown (CV-10) in honor of the original carrier Yorktown (CV-5), the only U.S. carrier lost at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The CV-10 conducted numerous air strikes including the Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Formosa, and on the Japanese mainland. The ship’s crew numbered 380 officers, 3,088 enlisted personnel and 90 planes. Nicknamed “The Fighting Lady”, she received the Presidential Unit Citation and earned eleven battle stars for World War II service. She was placed in reserve from January 1947, until December 1952. Her deck was cantilevered in 1955 in order to accommodate newer aircraft. In 1957, the vessel was again overhauled and reclassified as an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) carrier and designated CVS-10. During deployment in the Pacific, she qualified for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal on three occasions for her responses to the Communist Chinese shellings of Formosa, Quemoy, and Matsu. From 1965 until 1967, Yorktown’s main activity was in combat operations in Vietnam where she earned an additional five battle stars. In 1968, she recovered NASA’s Apollo 8 capsule from the Pacific Ocean. In the late 1960s, she conducted exercises in the Atlantic Ocean participating in the major fleet exercise Operation Peacekeeper. The carrier was featured in the 1970 Japanese-American produced film, Tora, Tora, Tora. Decommissioned that same year, she is now the honored main feature of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
]]>The Medal of Honor is the highest award bestowed upon an individual for acts of valor in the armed services of the United States. It is generally presented by the President of the United States in the name of Congress. The Medal of Honor Museum located in the hangar bay of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) includes medals, citations, and artifacts donated by war veterans and their families.
]]>The South Carolina General Assembly passed legislation in 1973 enabling the establishment of the Patriots Point Authority to develop a portion of Hog Island as a national naval museum. The museum opened on October 13, 1975, the 200th birthday of the United States Navy. Displayed are ships and aircraft honoring the crews who valiantly served in the defense of our country.
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