“Charleston County and the city of Charleston, its county seat, are the most historic locations in the state.” Situated in the Lowcountry, the county serves as a popular vacation destination but also relies on the business that results from its port. The area in general serves as a large cultural and economic hub for the state.
Charleston County was founded as Charleston District in 1769, and the district became smaller after some of its lands were used to create Colleton and Berkeley counties. The county and its seat were named after King Charles II.
The city and county are saturated with Revolutionary War and Civil War history. Three signers of the United States Constitution and two famous abolitionists resided in Charleston County, and the Civil War began when soldiers fired shots from the county’s Fort Sumter.
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Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825) in his 6th year. Charles and Eliza Lucas Pinckney took their 3 children with them to London when Charles Pinckney was appointed a special agent in 1753...
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Born in Charleston, Charles Pinckney (1757-1824) studied law under his father, Colonel Charles Pinckney, and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced law. During the Revolutionary War, he was...
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When Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825) returned to Charleston in 1769 to practice law, he was also elected to the Provincial Assembly. (For more on Pinckney's life before 1769, see Charles...
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Born on his family's plantation on the Tuggaloo River in St. Paul's Parish, Francis W. Pickens (1805-1869) attended Franklin College (now University of Georgia) at Athens, Georgia, and South Carolina...
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Born in Edgefield, Governor Andrew Pickens (1779-1838) studied at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). During the War of 1812, he served as a colonel in the U.S. Army and in later stages of the...
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Sir Peter Parker (1721-1811) was the naval commander who directed the British fleet in the abortive attack against Fort Sullivan in the summer of 1776. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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Osceola ( -1838), the celebrated Seminole Chief, died in captivity at Fort Moultrie on January 30th, 1838. Osceola's death marked the end of a long and determined resistance by his people to the...
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Born in Charleston, William Moultrie (1730-1805) served in the South Carolina House of Commons, and in 1761, became involved in the Cherokee War. In 1775, he was elected to the first South Carolina...
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Dr. John Moultrie, a physician, illustrates the sometimes painful divisions within families that civil war and revolution can cause. The older brother of General William Moultrie (see William Moultrie...
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Benjamin Mordecai, a Jewish merchant in Charleston, made the first and largest contribution to the war-chest of South Carolina, and was thanked by the Secession Convention (still in session) for his...
