SOUTH CAROLINA’S CONFEDERATE RELIC ROOM AND MILITARY MUSEUM IN DANGER OF CLOSING

By David Pearson

Earlier this year, Governor Sanford vetoed the $675,000 annual budget of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum along with 106 other items. The South Carolina legislature failed to overturn the veto for the Relic Room along with 50 other items Sanford hit with a line item veto. The Relic Room has been maintained at the South Carolina State House since 1896 and maintains significant artifacts from South Carolina’s involvement in all wars since the American Revolution. It has been a favorite site for people visiting the capitol building, and people have visited the capitol just to see the items there. Although the museum has survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, the state has chosen now, just six months before the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, to close the site.

The 150th Anniversary of The War Between the States seems to be a foolish time to close a site of interest and importance to American History. Many states, including South Carolina, have appointed boards and financed activities to capitalize on the interest that will be generated by the Sesquicentennial. Most of the states (again including South Carolina) have made very nominal investments in celebrating the Sesquicentennial but stand to gain financially from the events involved in the celebration. The investments by other states do not compare to that of Virginia, who resolved to spend the largest amount through their Tourist Board and Parks Commission. South Carolina has a large number of historic sites significant to the war and several major events critical to the history of the period.

Several years ago South Carolina cut the budget for River’s Bridge State Park, the park which is dedicated as a memorial to Confederate Veterans. Where the park once had a small museum, public swimming, recreation, and camping facilities, it now has only the remaining fortifications preserved and a few picnic tables.

The Sanford veto this year also threatened the State Archives and the State Museum though those vetoes were overturned.

There are now ideas in their infancy to save the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum being considered by the government, the executives of the museum, and local groups interested in preserving history and heritage. The resources of the special interest groups considering helping to keep the museum open are all ready stretched and devoted to worthy causes. The $675,000 needed to meet the budget will take away from funds used by these groups to historic preservation never associated with, on the property of, or belonging to the State of South Carolina.

By this veto and the failure to overturn it, South Carolina is very shortsighted; this is on the eve of renewed interest in the War Between the States.