Civil War in South Carolina

The Civil War began in South Carolina. As the first state to vote to secede from the Union, South Carolina in effect set off the chain of events that led to the Civil War. It was only fitting then, that the first and last major actions of the Civil War would happen in South Carolina.

Tensions that led to the secession of South Carolina from the Union had begun long before 1860. Dependent upon slave labor to work the huge cotton and rice plantations that were the backbone of the state, South Carolina had long opposed any legislation - or threat of - that would emancipate slaves and thereby cripple the plantation culture of the state.

It didn’t take long after leaving the Union for South Carolina to become the site of the first salvo of the Civil War - Fort Sumter. Many saw the quick abandonment of Fort Sumter by the U.S. Navy as a sign that the war would be won as quickly, the outcome as favorable for the South, a sign misread.

Although the Confederacy took Fort Sumter early in the war, it was turned out to be a small victory. Federal ships soon blockaded South Carolina ports, including the vital Charleston port. Federal troops occupied the Sea Islands off the South Carolina coast, fortifying their blockades in Charleston and Savannah while creating a community of freedmen that was among the first in the nation.

For the rest of South Carolina, the war was a distant, though visceral experience. Few skirmishes took place on the soil of South Carolina, no major battles were fought there after Fort Sumter. Most of the military action in South Carolina was on the water, Federal and Confederate troops fought for control of the Atlantic Ocean around the South Carolina shore. However, the city of Charleston remained unoccupied, despite numerous attempts by Federal soldiers to take it, until the end of the war.

Unfortunately, South Carolina would not escape the war with so little destruction. Sherman concluded his infamous March to the Sea in the state capitol of Columbia, burning most of the city to the ground. He left a wide path of scorched towns and cities on either side of Columbia, as well. By the end of the war, much of the state lay in ruins, the prosperous plantations and small towns decimated either by Sherman or by being abandoned as the war dragged on.

While the destruction of Columbia and other towns was tragic, more tragic was the death toll that the war took on South Carolina. South Carolina counted among its dead 12,922 Confederate soldiers, or 23% of its male white population of fighting age. This was the highest percentage of any state in the nation.

South Carolina’s part in the history of the Civil War is major, although only one major battle took place in the state. Rather, South Carolina’s part lies in the genesis of the war, a state so powerful that it could compel the rest of the South to join in a destructive and horrific war.