Louis Coste, Hal's third great-grandfather, arrived as a Huguenot immigrant from Montpelier, France, in the late 18th century and became a naturalized citizen in 1808. He and his wife, Lucinda Mackey, had three sons, among them Napoleon L. Coste, who went on to have a long and adventurous career in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. That included expeditions with naturalist James Audubon, and the placement of many of the lighthouses and other aids to navigation along the east coast. His most famous deed was at the outbreak of the Civil War when Coste commandeered the revenue cutter, William Aiken, and turned it over to the state of South Carolina. Hal recounts other significant events in the life of N.L. Coste, as well as his son, Napoleon Edward, who also served the Confederacy and later the Revenue Cutter Service. Hal next recounts his memories of his grandfather, Vincent O. Coste, who served in the U.S. Lifesaving Service, which joined with the Revenue Cutter Service in 1915 to form the U.S. Coast Guard. Vincent later commanded the Coast Guard station on Sullivan's Island. Hal next speaks of the lives of his mother and father, before detailing his own time on the island. These include his mayonnaise meal in kindergarten, his learning to swim in the creek behind the island, and especially his passion for surfing. Before ending with his general feelings regarding changes that have occurred on Sullivan's Island, Hal explains and displays the two silver life-saving medals from the Coast Guard that hang on his walls, one for Hal's own actions and one for the incredible story of his great-uncle, James Coste, who in 1898 saved a young man who would turn out to be the grandfather of Charleston's long time mayor, Joe Riley.
Interview with Marcellus Forrest by Lee Drago, Eugene Hunt, and Margareta Childs, February 21, 1981, AMN 500.001.002, in Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project, of the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston.
Interview with Peter Poinsette by Edmund L. Drago and Eugene C. Hunt, March 31, 1981, AMN 500.001.007, in the Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project, of the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston
Letter from Sue M. Monroe to Nellie [B. Clarksall?] concerning the body of Nathaniel Heyward (II), who was killed in the Second Battle of Bull Run, August 1862. Monroe apparently tried to catalog and care for the graves of those buried on the battlefield at Manassas. 4p. October 12, 1898.
Letter from Nellie B. Clarksall to Miss Heyward enclosing the previous letter of Sue Monroe. The letter concerns Miss Heyward's attempt to locate the remains of her uncle Nathaniel Heyward (II) who had died at the Second Battle of Bull Run. 3p. October 20, 1898.
Black-and-white offset print reproduction of the first Cabinet of the Confederate States, including Judah P. Benjamin serving as Attorney General. From Harper's pictorial history of the Civil War.
Exterior of Fort Sumter; men in boat near shore across from fort. Handwritten on reverse: 'Fort Sumter exterior.' This is a carte-de-visite measuring 2 1/2" X 4".
Letter from W. A. Browning, private secretary of President Andrew Johnson, to Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore, informing him of the pardon of Bishop P. N. Lynch of Charleston.
Caption: 'War Views. No.600--Fort Sumpter (sic), Charleston Harbor.' Date is assumed to be 1865. This is a stereograph image which measures 3 1/2" X 7".
Caption: 'The Old Flag again on Sumter--raised (on a temporary staff formed of an oar and boathook) by Captain H.M. Bragg, of General Gillmore's staff, February 18th, 1865.'
Caption: 'No.49. Fort Sumter immediately after the evacuation, April 1865.' Handwritten on reverse: 'Fort Sumter 1865.' This is a stereograph image which measures 3 1/2" X 7".
[Color image.] Caption: 'Unloading a transport with ambulances for the Army, at Wilmington, N.C.--View looking up Water Street.--sketched by our Special Artist.' [full date April 15, 1865.]
Caption: 'No.41. A view of the sally-port of Fort Moultrie, Charleston, S.C. This picture presents a view of the sally-port of Fort Moultrie after the war. The sally-port is situated on the land side of the Fort, and was well protected from within' Date is assumed to be 1865. This is a stereograph image which measures 3 1/2" X 7".
Caption: 'Sherman's march through South Carolina--advance from McPhersonville, February 1, 1865.--sketched by William Waud.--[see page 133.]' [full date March 4, 1865.]
Caption: 'Sherman's march through South Carolina--burning of McPhersonville, February 1, 1865.--sketched by William Waud.--[see page 133.]' [full date March 4, 1865.]
Caption: 'Eastport, Mississippi, General Thomas's head-quarters, January, 1865.--sketched by Adam Rohe.--[see page 110.] [full date February 18. 1865.]
![354. Sue M. Monroe to Nellie [B. Clarksall?] -- October 12, 1898](https://rspace.library.cofc.edu/iiif/image/26587/full/200,/0/default.jpg)
