Descendants of African-American Civil War volunteers of the 54th and 55th Infantry Regiments and the 5th Cavalry Regiment of Massachusetts, Governor Michael S. Dukakis, and other distinguished citizens of Massachusetts came to Beaufort National Veterans Cemetery to honor members of the Black 55th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteer Infantry whose remains were found on Folly Island, South Carolina, in 1987 and reinterred there with full military honors. These grounds hold the remains of at least nineteen Black Union soldiers of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment who died on Folly Island during the siege of Charleston in the winter encampment from Nov 1863 to Feb 1864. Their remains had lain long forgotten until their rediscovery in May 1987, and they were reburied at this site by the Community of Beaufort on May 29, 1989.