South Carolina
South Carolina was one of the thirteen colonies that first formed the United States. European exploration of the area began in April 1540 with the Hernando de Soto expedition, which unwittingly introduced diseases that decimated the local Native American population. In 1663, the English Crown granted land to eight proprietors of what became the colony. The first settlers came to the Province of Carolina at the port of Charleston in 1670. They were mostly wealthy planters and their slaves coming from the English Caribbean colony of Barbados. They started to develop their commodity crops of sugar and cotton. The Province of Carolina was split into North and South Carolina in 1712. Pushing back the Native Americans in the Yamasee War (1715–17), colonists next overthrew the proprietors' rule in the Revolution of 1719, seeking more direct representation. In 1719, South Carolina became a crown colony.
In the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765, South Carolina banded together with the other colonies to oppose British taxation and played a major role in resisting Great Britain. In March 1776, South Carolina statesmen adopted a temporary system of provincial government, a precursor to the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. During the American Revolutionary War, South Carolina was the site of major activity amongst the American colonies, with more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought within the state. South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788.
In the early-to-mid 19th century, the state vied with Virginia as the dominant political and social force in the South. It fought federal tariffs in the 1830s and demanded that its rights to practice slavery be recognized in newly established territories. With the 1860 election of Republicans under Abraham Lincoln, who vowed to prevent slavery's expansion, many voters demanded secession. In December 1860, the state was the first to secede from the Union, and in February 1861, it joined the new Confederate States of America.
The American Civil War began in April 1861, when Confederate forces attacked the American fort at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. After the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865, South Carolina underwent Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877. The Civil War would ruin the states economy, and continued reliance on agriculture cultivation as its main economic base, made South Carolina one of the poorer states economically in the country. During Reconstruction, Congress shut down the civilian government in 1867, put the army in charge, gave Freedmen (freed slaves) the opportunity to vote, and prevented former Confederates from holding office. A Republican legislature supported by Freedmen, northern carpetbaggers and local white Southern scalawags, created and funded a public school system, and created social welfare institutions. The constitution they passed was kept nearly unaltered for 27 years, and most legislation passed during the Reconstruction years lasted longer than that.
During the late 19th century, conservative Southern Democrats calling themselves "Redeemers", had regained political power. In the 1880s, Jim Crow laws were passed that were especially severe in the state, to create public segregation and control movement of African American laborers. After 1890, almost all blacks had lost their political voice due to disfranchisement. State educational levels were low, as public schools were underfunded, especially for African Americans. Most people lived on small farms and grew crops such as cotton. The more affluent landowners subdivided their land into farms operated by tenant farmers or sharecroppers, along with land operated by the owner using hired labor. Gradually more industry moved into the Piedmont area, with textile factories that processed the state's raw cotton into yarn and cloth for sale on the international market.
During the mid-to-late 20th century, South Carolina started to grow more economically. The main economic driver of cotton production started to fade during the mid-20th century, due to mechanization. As more factories were built across the state, the great majority of farmers left agriculture occupations for jobs in other economic sectors. Service industries such as tourism, education, and medical care would grow rapidly within the state. Textile factories started to fade after the 1970s, with offshore movement of those jobs to other countries. By the late 20th century, South Carolina voted solidly Republican in presidential elections, although state and local government elections would be contested by both parties.
In the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765, South Carolina banded together with the other colonies to oppose British taxation and played a major role in resisting Great Britain. In March 1776, South Carolina statesmen adopted a temporary system of provincial government, a precursor to the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. During the American Revolutionary War, South Carolina was the site of major activity amongst the American colonies, with more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought within the state. South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788.
In the early-to-mid 19th century, the state vied with Virginia as the dominant political and social force in the South. It fought federal tariffs in the 1830s and demanded that its rights to practice slavery be recognized in newly established territories. With the 1860 election of Republicans under Abraham Lincoln, who vowed to prevent slavery's expansion, many voters demanded secession. In December 1860, the state was the first to secede from the Union, and in February 1861, it joined the new Confederate States of America.
The American Civil War began in April 1861, when Confederate forces attacked the American fort at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. After the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865, South Carolina underwent Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877. The Civil War would ruin the states economy, and continued reliance on agriculture cultivation as its main economic base, made South Carolina one of the poorer states economically in the country. During Reconstruction, Congress shut down the civilian government in 1867, put the army in charge, gave Freedmen (freed slaves) the opportunity to vote, and prevented former Confederates from holding office. A Republican legislature supported by Freedmen, northern carpetbaggers and local white Southern scalawags, created and funded a public school system, and created social welfare institutions. The constitution they passed was kept nearly unaltered for 27 years, and most legislation passed during the Reconstruction years lasted longer than that.
During the late 19th century, conservative Southern Democrats calling themselves "Redeemers", had regained political power. In the 1880s, Jim Crow laws were passed that were especially severe in the state, to create public segregation and control movement of African American laborers. After 1890, almost all blacks had lost their political voice due to disfranchisement. State educational levels were low, as public schools were underfunded, especially for African Americans. Most people lived on small farms and grew crops such as cotton. The more affluent landowners subdivided their land into farms operated by tenant farmers or sharecroppers, along with land operated by the owner using hired labor. Gradually more industry moved into the Piedmont area, with textile factories that processed the state's raw cotton into yarn and cloth for sale on the international market.
During the mid-to-late 20th century, South Carolina started to grow more economically. The main economic driver of cotton production started to fade during the mid-20th century, due to mechanization. As more factories were built across the state, the great majority of farmers left agriculture occupations for jobs in other economic sectors. Service industries such as tourism, education, and medical care would grow rapidly within the state. Textile factories started to fade after the 1970s, with offshore movement of those jobs to other countries. By the late 20th century, South Carolina voted solidly Republican in presidential elections, although state and local government elections would be contested by both parties.
Beaufort
Beaufort was chartered on January 17, 1711. It is the second-oldest town in South Carolina and was named for Henry Somerset, the second duke of Beaufort, a proprietor of Carolina from 1700 to 1714. The town was laid out around a fort and blockhouse that had been built in 1706 to guard against Spanish invasion. For thirty years Beaufort was a military outpost of the Carolina colony and the southern frontier of British North America. The Yamassee Indians destroyed the town in 1715, but Beaufort recovered quickly. Beaufort became the center of the Sea Islands and the seat of Beaufort District in 1769. The regional economy based on rice plantations on the mainland and indigo plantations on the Sea Islands brought an economic boom to Beaufort in the years prior to the Revolutionary War. Beaufort also became a shipbuilding center, utilizing local live oak trees for ship timbers.
During the political disputes leading to the Revolutionary War, the royal governor Lord Montagu called the Commons House of Assembly to meet in Beaufort, not Charleston, in October 1772. For four days Beaufort was the colonial seat of government before the angry legislators forced Montagu to move the assembly back to Charleston. The “Beaufort Assembly” helped inspire the fourth clause of the Declaration of Independence, which included Beaufort resident Thomas Heyward, Jr., among its signers. During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied Beaufort almost continuously from June 1779 to December 1781. Much of the colonial economy was destroyed by warfare and damaged by a population sharply divided between patriots and Loyalists. Beaufort’s leading Loyalist was Major Andrew DeVeaux, who fled Beaufort for Florida, outfitted a small private army, and recaptured the Bahama Islands in 1783 for the British. Loyalists who fled to the Bahamas successfully planted cotton seeds and then shipped seeds back to relatives in South Carolina. This precipitated the state’s first cotton boom and brought fabulous prosperity to Beaufort.
In the antebellum era, Beaufort became a summer retreat for rich Sea Island cotton planters and even richer mainland rice planters, who maintained a wealthy and cultivated society in the town. By 1860 Beaufort was one of the wealthiest towns in America and a center of the secession movement, led by Beaufort native Robert Barnwell Rhett, the “Father of Secession” in South Carolina. During the Civil War, Beaufort was the first southern city conquered by Union forces after the U.S. Navy victory in Port Royal Sound on November 7, 1861. Beaufort became the headquarters of the U.S. Army, Department of the South, and most of the buildings were converted into hospitals for Union army wounded.
Beaufort became a leading center of the Reconstruction regime in South Carolina. Beaufort’s military governor, Major General Rufus Saxton, directed the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in South Carolina, and Beaufort was the site of the first Freedmen’s Bank in the state. From 1870 to 1893 Beaufort prospered as a commercial and industrial center led by transplanted northern or immigrant merchants and capitalists. Cotton, timber, phosphate mining, and shipping all transformed Beaufort from a model of the Old South before the war to a model of the New South after the war. However, a series of natural disasters and economic changes caused a rapid reversal of fortunes. In 1893 a hurricane demolished the town and flooded neighboring Sea Islands. The phosphate industry migrated to Florida shortly thereafter. The last commercial rice crop was produced on the Combahee River in 1914, and the world decline in cotton prices ended Beaufort’s historic crop by 1919. In 1907 an accidental fire burned down much of the central business district. These events signaled for Beaufort a long economic decline that hit bottom during the Depression of the 1930s.
During the political disputes leading to the Revolutionary War, the royal governor Lord Montagu called the Commons House of Assembly to meet in Beaufort, not Charleston, in October 1772. For four days Beaufort was the colonial seat of government before the angry legislators forced Montagu to move the assembly back to Charleston. The “Beaufort Assembly” helped inspire the fourth clause of the Declaration of Independence, which included Beaufort resident Thomas Heyward, Jr., among its signers. During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied Beaufort almost continuously from June 1779 to December 1781. Much of the colonial economy was destroyed by warfare and damaged by a population sharply divided between patriots and Loyalists. Beaufort’s leading Loyalist was Major Andrew DeVeaux, who fled Beaufort for Florida, outfitted a small private army, and recaptured the Bahama Islands in 1783 for the British. Loyalists who fled to the Bahamas successfully planted cotton seeds and then shipped seeds back to relatives in South Carolina. This precipitated the state’s first cotton boom and brought fabulous prosperity to Beaufort.
In the antebellum era, Beaufort became a summer retreat for rich Sea Island cotton planters and even richer mainland rice planters, who maintained a wealthy and cultivated society in the town. By 1860 Beaufort was one of the wealthiest towns in America and a center of the secession movement, led by Beaufort native Robert Barnwell Rhett, the “Father of Secession” in South Carolina. During the Civil War, Beaufort was the first southern city conquered by Union forces after the U.S. Navy victory in Port Royal Sound on November 7, 1861. Beaufort became the headquarters of the U.S. Army, Department of the South, and most of the buildings were converted into hospitals for Union army wounded.
Beaufort became a leading center of the Reconstruction regime in South Carolina. Beaufort’s military governor, Major General Rufus Saxton, directed the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in South Carolina, and Beaufort was the site of the first Freedmen’s Bank in the state. From 1870 to 1893 Beaufort prospered as a commercial and industrial center led by transplanted northern or immigrant merchants and capitalists. Cotton, timber, phosphate mining, and shipping all transformed Beaufort from a model of the Old South before the war to a model of the New South after the war. However, a series of natural disasters and economic changes caused a rapid reversal of fortunes. In 1893 a hurricane demolished the town and flooded neighboring Sea Islands. The phosphate industry migrated to Florida shortly thereafter. The last commercial rice crop was produced on the Combahee River in 1914, and the world decline in cotton prices ended Beaufort’s historic crop by 1919. In 1907 an accidental fire burned down much of the central business district. These events signaled for Beaufort a long economic decline that hit bottom during the Depression of the 1930s.
Reconstruction Era National Memorial
The Reconstruction era (1861 to 1900), the historic period in which the United States grappled with the question of how to integrate millions of newly freed African Americans into social, political, and labor systems, was a time of significant transformation within the United States. Reconstruction began when the first United States soldiers arrived in slaveholding territories and enslaved people escaped from plantations and farms; some of them fled into free states, and others found safety with U.S. forces. During the period, Congress passed three constitutional amendments that permanently abolished slavery, defined birthright citizenship and guaranteed due process and equal protection under the law, and granted all males the ability to vote by prohibiting voter discrimination based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments). Congress also passed a series of Reconstruction Acts that divided the former Confederacy into five military districts and laid out requirements for re-admittance to the Union (except Tennessee). The experience of Reconstruction, and the rebuilding of the Union following the Civil War, played out across America and resulted in changes that fundamentally altered the meaning of citizenship and the relationship between Federal and state governments. African Americans - across America - faced steep obstacles as they attempted to claim their newly won rights. Ultimately, the unmet promises of Reconstruction led to the modern civil rights movement 100 years later. In the Beaufort region, including the City of Beaufort, the town of Port Royal, and Saint Helena Island, many existing historic sites demonstrate the transformative effect of emancipation and Reconstruction. |
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Charleston
In the spring of 1670, more than 150 English colonists, their servants, and slaves disembarked onto what we today know as Charleston harbor. The first name, Charles Town, was given to it in honor of King Charles II. The settlement was in an excellent strategic location, so it had more than 1,000 residents in just ten years. However, that doesn't mean that life here was easy. On the contrary, the city port became popular, and people used it to trade. That brought disease and violence to an otherwise calm city, but it also had some benefits. Charleston became the primary hub of commerce in the southern American colonies. Since it was so popular and developed, the city was attractive to pirates, as well. And in 1718, the notorious pirate Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard, blockaded the place. He took a few prominent citizens and asked for medical supplies as ransom. Of course, his wishes were fulfilled, and the city was free once again. Charleston's Golden Age, however, was brought to a close with the start of the Revolutionary War. The British were attacking from 1776 up until 1780 when they finally captured the city. It was under their control for two straight years, and in the December of 1782., they were forced to withdraw. Next year, the name of the city was officially changed to Charleston. The years leading to the year 1800 are remembered as the time of tremendous growth. By 1860, the city lay divided concerning States Rights, and in the spring of the following year, first shots of the Civil War were fired upon Fort Sumter. So, this is the place where it all started. There were many battles during this time, but it wasn't taken until the end of the war in 1865. By the beginning of the 1900s, Charleston was once again a cultural center.
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Fort Sumter National Monument
At the fort named for South Carolina Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Sumter, the opening shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. The fort was begun in 1829, one of a series of coastal fortifications built by the United States after the War of 1812. The fort was still unfinished when Maj. Robert Anderson moved his 85-man garrison into it the day after Christmas 1860, setting in motion events that would tear the nation asunder four months later. Six days after South Carolina seceded, Anderson concluded that Moultrie was indefensible and secretly transferred his command to Fort Sumter a mile away. The state regarded Anderson's move as a breach of faith and demanded that the U.S. Government evacuate Charleston Harbor. President James Buchanan refused and in January attempted a relief expedition. Brig. Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard commanded Confederate forces at Charleston, S.C., in March and April 1861 and again from August 1862 to May 1864. He had been one of Anderson's artillery students at West Point in 1837 and, while determined to evict the Federal troops from Fort Sumter, did not welcome the prospect of firing on his old friend and former instructor. On April 11 Beauregard demanded that Anderson surrender Sumter. Anderson refused. At 3:20 a.m., April 12, the Confederates informed Anderson that their batteries would open fire in one hour. At ten minutes past the allotted hour, Capt. George S. James, commanding Fort Johnson's east mortar battery, ordered the firing of a signal shell. After Anderson surrendered on April 14, 1861, Pvt. John S. Bird Jr. of the Palmetto Guards raised the unit's six- by nine-foot flag over the captured fort and the Civil War began. |
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
Magnolia Plantation was founded in 1676, making it the oldest plantation in South Carolina and the oldest estate garden in the country. A manor house was constructed on the property by 1680 by the first owner, Thomas Drayton, Junior, who also organized a French garden around the structure. By 1760, Thomas Drayton III had accumulated more than 3,000 acres of land and 5 rice plantations. Magnolia served as the administrative center, so the inland rice fields were converted into ornamental lakes in the early 19th century. The original manor house burned in 1811 and a new house was constructed shortly thereafter, while the gardens were consistently modified and advanced throughout the 19th century. The main house on the site was constructed in Summerville and moved to Magnolia after the Civil War. In 1869 or 1870, a large portion of the plantation was sold to the Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company. The remainder of the plantation continues to be held by direct descendants of the Drayton family to the present day. Magnolia Plantation and Gardens was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. |
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Old Charleston Jail
The Old Charleston Jail was originally located on a four-acre parcel set aside for public use in 1680, at the time of Charleston's earliest settlement. Operating as the Charleston County Jail from 1802 until 1939, it housed Charleston's most infamous criminals, and Federal prisoners of war during the Civil War. When the Jail was constructed in 1802 it consisted of four stories, topped with a two-story octagonal tower. The Old Jail housed a great variety of inmates. John and Lavinia Fisher, and other members of their gang, convicted of highway robbery in the Charleston Neck region were imprisoned here in 1819 to 1820. Some of the last 19th-century high-seas pirates were jailed here in 1822 while they awaited hanging. William Moultrie, General during the American Revolution and later Governor of South Carolina, allegedly spent a short time in debtor's prison at the Jail. During the Civil War, Confederate and Federal prisoners of war were incarcerated here. Most notably were numerous African American soldiers from the 54th Massachusetts Regiment captured after their assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863. |
Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon
The Exchange was built from 1767–1771 by South Carolina's provincial government, and was used during the 18th century for a variety of civic functions, including as a custom house, public market, public meeting place, and jail. During the American Revolution, confiscated tea was stored here in 1774, and it is where South Carolina's revolutionary leadership councils were held. After the British captured the city in 1780, it was used as a barracks, and its basement was used as a military prison. Soon after taking control of Charleston in 1780, the British started housing prisoners in the Exchange, but not exclusively in the "dungeon". The facility was not exclusively used for Colonial prisoners, and at least some British soldiers were held there too. The building housed the South Carolina convention to ratify the United States Constitution in 1788, and was the site of many of the events in George Washington's week-long stay in Charleston. He was greeted by a crowd on the balcony. The building continued as an Exchange until the 19th century, when it also became a post office. During the 19th century, the postmaster defended the Exchange's shipment of abolitionist pamphlets from angry Charlestonian rioters. In the American Civil War, the building remained a Confederate post office, but was hit by several shells during the war, and thus abandoned. |
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Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
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. |
Mount Pleasant
The site of Mount Pleasant was originally occupied by the Sewee people, an Algonquian language-speaking tribe. The first European settlers arrived from England on July 6, 1680, under the leadership of Captain Florentia O'Sullivan. Captain O'Sullivan had been granted 2,340 acres (950 ha), which included not only the island later named for him, but also the future site of Mount Pleasant. In 1696, 51 new settlers arrived. Each family was allotted several hundred acres in the area that became known as Christ Church parish. In 1706 the Province of Carolina withstood several attacks by the Spanish and the French from their settlements to the south and were victorious in defeating French invaders in an area known as "Abcaw". In 1754, Charles Pinckney acquired a 715-acre plantation, cultivating the commodity crops of rice and indigo. It became known as Snee Farm near here. His son Charles retained the plantation until 1817. It was operated as a plantation through the 19th century. On September 24, 1860, a public meeting was held in Mount Pleasant; it resulted in the first secession resolution passed in the state. The secession convention met in Charleston on December 20, 1860. With the advent of the Civil War, Battery Guerry and an adjacent floating battery between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island were instrumental in defense of the city.
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, located outside Charleston in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is a 28-acre remnant of Charles Pinckney's original 18th-century 715-acre plantation known as Snee Farm. Purchased by his father Colonel Charles Pinckney in 1754 (three years before the younger Pinckney's birth), Pinckney spent his childhood splitting time between the Snee Farm "country home" and the family's downtown Charleston residence. Pinckney inherited Snee Farm in 1782 and continued to grow rice and indigo on the plantation using an enslaved workforce. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, Pinckney became immersed in American political endeavors that would occupy the next 40 years of his life. His most famous accomplishment was the inclusion of more than 25 clauses in the final draft of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, Pinckney served four terms as governor of South Carolina and as President Thomas Jefferson’s Minister to Spain (1801-1805). While his political and social life was based out of his Charleston home, Pinckney used Snee Farm as an accessible country retreat and source of agricultural income. |
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Sullivan's Island
The island was known as O'Sullivan's Island, named for Captain Florence O'Sullivan, who was stationed here as a lookout in the late 17th century. O'Sullivan was captain of one of the ships in the first fleet to establish the colonial settlement of Charles Town. In 1671, he became surveyor general. Sullivan's Island was used as a quarantine station for enslaved Africans, who were housed in various "pest houses" on the island and checked for communicable diseases before they were transported to Charleston for sale at public auction. Sullivan's Island was the port of entry for over 40% of the estimated 400,000 enslaved Africans transported to Colonial America, making it the largest slave port in North America. It is estimated that more than half, if not all, of all African Americans have ancestors who passed through Sullivan's Island.
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Fort Moultrie National Monument
The first fort on Sullivans Island was still incomplete when Adm. Sir Peter Parker and nine warships attacked it on June 28, 1776. Charleston was saved from British occupation, and the fort was named in honor of its commander, William Moultrie. In 1780 the British finally captured Charleston, abandoning it only with the advent of peace. After the Revolution Fort Moultrie was neglected, and by 1791 little of it remained. Then, in 1793, war broke out between England and France. The next year Congress, seeking to safeguard American shores, authorized the First American System of nationwide coastal fortifications. A second Fort Moultrie, one of 20 new forts along the Atlantic Coast, was completed in 1798. It too suffered from neglect and was finally destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. By 1807 many of the other First System fortifications were in need of extensive repair. Congress responded by authorizing funds for a Second American System, which included a third Fort Moultrie. By 1809 a new brick fort stood on Sullivans Island. In December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the Federal garrison abandoned Fort Moultrie for the stronger Sumter. Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Sumter into submission, plunging the nation into civil war. In April 1863 Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a 20-month bombardment of Sumter and Moultrie, yet Charleston's defenses held. When the Confederate army evacuated the city in February 1865, Fort Sumter was little more than a pile of rubble and Fort Moultrie lay hidden under the bank of sand that protected its walls from Federal shells. Fort Moultrie was modernized in the 1870s, employing concepts developed during the war. |