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When General William Tecumseh Sherman invaded South Carolina, he surprised those who expected him to strike first at Charleston. Instead, he marched the main body of his army northward toward Columbia...
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A sketch, signed by J.E. Taylor, of a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. "Distribution of old clothing sent from the North--1864." Courtesy of the Lackawanna Historical Society.
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When the war ended, one of the pressing problems was the status of those who had been slaves. African-Americans had provided the essential labor, without which the agricultural economy of the region...
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"The Seceeding South Carolina Delegation" of the United States Congress, pictured in the December 22, 1860, issue of "Harper's Weekly." Courtesy of the Library of Congress
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The Ordinance of Secession, 1860. This document marked the conclusion of a movement to declare Southern independence from a national government increasingly controlled by Northerners. It was the...
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South Carolinians met here at the First Baptist Church in Columbia on December 17, 1860, determined to end their membership in the United States in protest against the election of Abraham Lincoln, a...
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The National Democratic nominating convention in session at Institute Hall in Charleston on April 28, 1860. The convention was unable to bridge the differences between northern and southern wings of...
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"The Impending Crisis at Charleston," published in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly," February 11, 1860, is a reference to the widely read book, "The Impending Crisis," by Hinton Helper. In the...
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The gunboat "Planter," seized by an African-American crew and the daring African-American harbor pilot Robert Smalls, did manage to break the federal blockade of the city in May of 1862. Smalls...
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This view of the Battery in Charleston, circa 1865, gives a good view of how that city appeared during the Civil War, and how it had prepared for its defense. The area is still known as the Battery...