Inspired by my recent trip to Charleston for the Wofford College retreat, and by my trip out to Fort Sumter on Saturday, I want to highlight a few things from the Littlejohn Collection concerned with Fort Sumter and the Civil War in Charleston and South Carolina.
South Carolina played a pivotal role in the American Civil War. While it was not the site of very many battles and as a result has far fewer sites of physical interest than, say, Virginia, those that it does have and the actions taken by South Carolina are absolutely critical to the narrative of the conflict. For instance, the state was the first to secede from the Union, doing so in late 1860, just after the election of Abraham Lincoln as President. In addition, the first shots of the conflict were fired in Charleston, S.C., during the siege of Fort Sumter.
For a brief history of the state, including its role in secession and the Civil War, click here.
I went through the existing collection yesterday and found a few interesting items.
Here is a copy of the declaration of causes of secession by the South Carolina convention:
This document, published in pamphlet form was "printed by order of the convention" in order (I imagine) to apprise the public of the developments towards secession and to provide reasons for the declaration of secession. This pamphlet contains the Constitutional argument which served as the convention's justification for secession. The bullet points of the argument are that South Carolina, along with every other state, was independent and endowed with particular rights by virtue of the Declaration of Independence of 1776. The Convention argues that South Carolina, as an independent state, entered into the Constitutional compact (an agreement between parties, i.e. the several states and the federal government), which inherently requires all parties abide by the conditions of the compact. The convention argues that several 'non-slaveholding' states have failed to abide by the Constitution in their failure to execute those actions required by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
"Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation."
The full title of the pamphlet is "Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union; and the Ordinance of Secession." To read the full text, click here.
To read the Ordinance of Secession, the legal instrument by which South Carolina seceded, click here.
The Ordinance was passed by the Convention on December 20, 1860. By the 1st of January, 1861, the state had passed "An Act to Authorize the Issue of Certificates or Stock to provide for the Military Defence (sic) of the State." Here is a photo of one of such certificates issued by the state for $100.
On December 26, 1860, a few days after the Ordinance of Secession was passed in Charleston, Major Robert Anderson, in command of the 85 Union troops at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island (overlooking the harbor), moved his units to Fort Sumter, the as yet uncompleted fort on a man-made island in the middle of the mouth of the harbor. By early January, South Carolina troops moved into former Federal positions, including Fort Moultrie, and began to fortify their positions for an assault on Fort Sumter, the last federal post in Charleston.
On January 9, "lame duck" President Buchanan's attempt to resupply Sumter was rebuffed when the merchant ship Star of the West was fired on and subsequently retreated as it entered the harbor.
Here is a requisition, or demand, for ordinance for the South Carolina batteries at Fort Moultrie:
My transcription:
Requistion for Ordinance Stores for the
Service of the battery at Fort Moultrie __12 Bundles of 3/8 inch Hemp Line ___
I certify that the above requisition is necessary
(wanted for grommets for 8 inch shells)
Jany 31st 1861 R.S. Ripley
Lt Col Comdg Arly'"
Tension regarding Fort Sumter continued to rise in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Anderson wrote this letter describing the position of Sumter in regard to the Confederate guns:
My transcription:
"No. 80
Fort Sumter, S.C.
To March 22nd 1861
Colonel L. Thomas }
Adjt. Gen'l U.S. Army }
Colonel
I have the honor to
report that a few men are working this morning at the
large battery near Fort Johnson, and also, on Canning's
Point, behind battery "No. 2."
I have examined the point alluded to by Mr
Fox last night. A vessel, lying near there will be under the
fire of thirteen guns from Fort Moultrie. And Capt.
Foster says that, at the pan-coupe, or, immediately on
its right, the best place for her to land, she would require
even at high tide, if drawing ten 10' feet, a staying of
forty 40' feet. The Department can decide what the
chances will be of a safe debarkation and unloading,
at that point, under these circumstances.
I am, Colonel, very respectfully
Your Obedient servant
Robert Anderson
Maj 2nd Artillery
Commanding."
The "Mr. Fox" that Anderson alludes to was the emissary that Lincoln (having been inaugurated March 4) sent to Charleston to assess the situation.
Here is an autograph and portrait of Anderson.
Following a sustained bombardment of Sumter beginning on April 12, the Federal troops surrendered on April 13, 1861. The fort was subsequently occupied by Confederate troops who remained there until the end of the war in 1865. The Confederate hold on the fort allowed the South to protect its ships and thus utilize the Charleston port, as is evidenced by the record below, an invoice for materiel shipped from Charleston to Beaufort, South Carolina in May of 1861.
Here is an image of a letter on very nice South Carolina stationery. It is from a South Carolina rifleman, "George," to his sister (unnamed), dated June 13th 1861, Roxbury. He writes to notify his sister that he and his unit have will "leave here Tuesday for North Edisto to take charge for next six months[.] [I]mmagin (sic) white sand & hot sun for the rest of the Summer [.]"
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