John C. Calhoun (see John C. Calhoun and John C. Calhoun), newly elected to the House of Representatives in 1811, was an eager supporter of avenging American honor by going to war against England. South Carolina in general favored the War of 1812. Except for a few British raids on the coastal islands, South Carolina did not figure in a major way in the military action of the "Second War for American Independence." Charleston fortified itself heavily; Fort Moultrie was strengthened, and encampments of militia units such as this one at Hadril's Point near Charleston, drawn by the artist Charles Fraser, constituted the state's defense.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
