Charleston in the American Civil War

Charleston, South Carolina, was a hotbed of secession at the start of the American Civil War and an important Atlantic Ocean port city for the fledgling Confederate States of America. The first shots against the Federal government were those fired there by cadets of the Citadel to stop a ship from resupplying the Federally held Ft. Sumter. Three months later, the bombardment of Fort Sumter triggered a massive call for Federal troops to put down the rebellion. Although the city and its surrounding fortifications were repeatedly targeted by the Union Army and Navy, Charleston did not fall to Federal forces until the last months of the war.

Charleston ranked as the 22nd largest city in the United States according to the 1860 Census, with a population of 40,522. As the 1814 burning of Washington had shown, America's coastal cities were vulnerable to a hostile fleet. Along the Atlantic seaboard the young Republic began building a series of substantial forts. Ft. Sumter is the most famous of these sited on a shoal in Charleston harbor. There were also a series of smaller and older forts and bastions to protect it from any enemy ships.

Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina convoked a special convention in Charleston to debate her long dissatisfaction with the Federal government and many Northern citizens views on slavery. They believed that the avowed views of the new President-elect made abolition a likely goal of his administration. On December 20, 1860, the Secession Convention voted for South Carolina to secede from the Union. As the first state to do so, they also issued a Declaration of the Immediate Causes which explained her decision to part company from her erstwhile sister states. Beginning with the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the defense of slavery, more than tariffs or states' rights, was the main factor contributing to sectionalism in South Carolina. The Secession Convention declared:

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