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Born in Charleston in 1806, William Aiken (1806-1887) attended Hurlburt School and the South Carolina College. After receiving an inheritance from his father, he became a successful rice planter on...
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"South Carolina's Ultimatum," engraved by Currier and Ives, portrays South Carolina as destroying herself in her threats to destroy the Union. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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Secession was only a first step in South Carolina's actions to separate from the United States. Other states followed South Carolina. By February of 1861, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi...
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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 transformation of Fort Sumter is discussed, contrasting its condition in 1863 and now. The Fort that can be seen now is only about 10 percent of what it consisted of then. Fort Moultrie's history...
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The story of the three forts continues with this segment on Fort Johnson and Fort Sumter.
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Q & A on the three forts being featured in this episode of Project Discovery. .
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The story begins in 1858 in South Carolina. William Taylor's cousin Allen is visiting from Connecticut. Secession "fever" is rapidly engulfing the state. The scene shifts to West Point where the...