American Civil War South Carolina Declaration of Secession 1860
by Peter Ogden
Title
American Civil War South Carolina Declaration of Secession 1860
Artist
Peter Ogden
Medium
Drawing - Lithograph
Description
This is a restored copy of the 1860 South Carolina American civil war Ordinance of Secession.
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union in December 1860, and was one of the founding member states of the Confederacy in February 1861. The bombardment of the beleaguered U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861 is generally recognized as the first military engagement of the war.
South Carolina was a source of troops for the Confederate army, and as the war progressed, also for the Union, as thousands of ex-slaves flocked to join the Union (the state had more slaves than freemen at the war's outset). The state also provided uniforms, textiles, food, and war material, as well as trained soldiers and leaders from The Citadel and other military schools. In contrast to most other Confederate states, South Carolina had a well-developed rail network linking all of its major cities without a break of gauge.
Relatively free from Union occupation until the very end of the war, South Carolina hosted a number of prisoner of war camps. South Carolina also was the only Confederate state not to harbor pockets of anti-secessionist fervor strong enough to send large numbers of white men to fight for the Union, as every other state in the Confederacy did.
Among the leading generals from the Palmetto State were Wade Hampton III, one of the Confederacy's foremost cavalry commanders, Maxcy Gregg, killed in action at Fredericksburg, Joseph B. Kershaw, whose South Carolina infantry brigade saw some of the hardest fighting of the Army of Northern Virginia and James Longstreet, the senior lieutenant general in the army, and Stephen D. Lee, the youngest lieutenant general.
Uploaded
May 2nd, 2020
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