Buchanan to SC: No troop withdrawal

President James Buchanan

• President Buchanan refuses the request of South Carolina commissioners in Washington to withdraw Federal troops from Charleston and says that it is the duty of Congress to define the relationship between the United States and the Commonwealth of South Carolina/1860

• The US Senate Committee of Thirteen announces to the US Senate that they cannot agree on a report, ending efforts at Compromise in the Senate. Senator John J. Crittenden (D-KY) has one last hope which he will pitch -- a national public referendum/1860 

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention adopts an act to form two regiments of infantry for the State of South Carolina/1860 

Charleston: SC troops seize Federal Arsenal

• South Carolina troops seize the Federal Arsenal at Charleston and Fort Johnson in the Harbour completing the takeover of federal property in the Harbour except Fort Sumter/1860

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention in Charleston passes a resolution to tell the Governor that the convention feels as though the vigor of military defense should not be lifted/1860

Secession meeting near Wilmington, NC

NC Secession Flag

In Smithville (now Southport), NC, just to the south of Wilmington, NC, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, citizens "irrespective of party" affiliation hold a "large and enthusiastic meeting," just 9 days after the secession of South Carolina. A strong speech in favor of self-determination is presented by Col. George Wortham of Granville County, NC, and records of the proceedings are sent "to each of our representatives in the General Assembly and.to the Wilmington Journal and the Raleigh State Journal with a request to publish - and.to be copied by all papers friendly to Southern independence."  The meeting adjourns "with three cheers for Secession, and three cheers, long and loud, for the Old North State."

SC Secession Flag

Early in January 1861, Wilmington's Vigilance Committee would lead programs of speakers, cheering and cannon-firing as they sensed a final separation with the North---raising a "lone-star flag" [white star on field of red] as well. The model for this "North Carolina Secession flag" quite likely was the red flag hoisted the previous month by Charlestonians, and emblazoned with a star and crescent. Wilmingtonians wanted their own symbol of political independence."

Source: Bernhard Thuersam, Director, Cape Fear Historical Institute, www.cfhi.net

SC works on its new government

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention in Charleston considers a Constitution of a Southern Confederacy. They debate more on an Ordinance for a Provisional Government of South Carolina to end July 1, 1863, when a permanent South Carolina government should be elected/1860

Seward moves to sink Crittenden Compromise

Sen. William Seward

• Upon hearing that President-elect Lincoln is immovably against the renewal and extension of the Missouri Compromise line, Senator William Seward, the Republican leader in the Committee of Thirteen and his fellow Republicans vote against the adoption of the Crittenden Compromise. Southerners vote likewise because the Republicans rejected it, although they are willing to accept the Compromise. Seward will be rewarded with a Cabinet post in the Lincoln Administration./1860  

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] In secret session, the Convention discusses a resolution regarding the transfer of the US garrison from Forts Moultrie to Sumter. Also they consider an ordinance recommending a Convention of Slaveholding States for a Constitution of a Southern Confederacy/1860

Fort Moultrie abandoned

• Early this morning, Anderson's rear guard at Fort Moultrie sets fire to the gun carriages and sends supplies to Fort Sumter until the middle of the afternoon when ordered to Sumter by Anderson. South Carolina troops find Fort Moultrie vacated by Major Anderson and take it along with Castle Pinckney and a federal revenue cutter, the WILLIAM AIKEN/1860 

• [SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention takes out the State Constitution and amends it in order to remove certain references to the United States of America/1860

Anderson's covert act of War

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention passes an Ordinance on customs with an amendment providing for South Carolina citizens owning up to 1/3 of a vessel to register it a South Carolina ship/1860

• The South Carolina commissioners arrive in Washington, D.C., to arrange for the transfer of federal property inside South Carolina borders to the Palmetto Commonwealth/1860

• ANDERSON MOVES COVERTLY TO FORT SUMTER

Fearing an attack on Fort Moultrie's indefensible rear, which is only a sandy cow pasture, US Major Robert Anderson uses the Christmas holiday and the attention on the Secession Convention meeting in Charleston to make a covert move to protect himself. 

During the day, US Major Robert Anderson, in Charleston, orders three schooners loaded with belongings of the families of the men of Anderson's Fort Moultrie garrison along with stores to prepare for a move to Fort Sumter, along with their women and children. (Officially these schooners were chartered to take the women and children to Fort Johnson to be out of harm in case of an attack on Fort Moultrie, but Anderson was planning a covert move to Fort Sumter.) 

Late in the afternoon, the schooners set sail to lie off Fort Johnson until a gun could be heard signaling the successful garrison transfer of the garrison to Fort Sumter. Simultaneously, Anderson orders Captain Abner Doubleday, one of Anderson's two battery commanders, to have the garrison formed and ready to move in 20 minutes. Twenty minutes later, the whole command (with the exception of a small rear guard to man the Fort Moultrie cannon to fire on the SC guard boat if it attempted to hinder Anderson's crossing the harbour) marches quietly through the streets of Moultrieville about 1/4 mile to boats which have been concealed behind a seawall. 

Anderson and one company shoves off while Doubleday's men load their boats. It is twilight, and Doubleday sees a South Carolina guard boat bearing down on them which had been cruising between Sumter and Moultrie to prevent a crossing. Realizing retreat is impossible, he orders his men to take off their coats and put them over their rifles in the bottom of the boat. Doubleday opens his own coat to conceal his rank buttons, hoping they can pass for a party of laborers returning to the fort. 

The ruse works. Towing a barge, the guard boat stops for a quick look, then steams on into the twilight. Doubleday arrives at Sumter before Anderson and is greeted by the workmen there, many of whom wear Secession cockades. The surprised workmen are driven into the fort at bayonet point and held until Anderson gets there. He had hugged the shoreline in order to miss the SC guard boat and consequently arrives later. The schooners are then brought in from Fort Johnson and the women and children and family belongings unloaded. The SC workmen are sent to Fort Johnson on the schooners, then head back to Fort Moultrie for more supplies. 

Anderson arrives at Fort Sumter

Meanwhile at Moultrie, the rear guard spikes the cannon, chops down the flagpole, sends all remaining supplies, and prepares many of the gun carriages for burning in the morning. Thus, Anderson has run in the night to Fort Sumter, where he strengthens the facilities and mounts guns.  

Anderson's move to Fort Sumter under the cover of darkness is considered by Southerners a blatant act of war since now a US military force has guns pointing at the city of Charleston. 

Until Anderson’s covert actions on this day, most Southerners still considered this political situation capable of being settled diplomatically around the table rather than by gunfire. /1860

SC leads other states to leave

[SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention resolves to send copies of the Ordinance of Secession, the Declaration of the Immediate Clauses, and the Address of the People of South Carolina to the Governor of South Carolina and the Governors of other Southern States/1860

SC Governor proclaims independence

• In accordance with President-elect Lincoln's influence, United States Senate Committee of Thirteen rejects the Crittenden Compromise/1860 

• South Carolina commissioners leave for Washington to arrange for the transfer of US property to the Palmetto Republic/1860 

• Alabama elects delegates to a state convention to consider secession to convene January 7, 1861./1860

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention in Charleston adopts the Declaration of the Immediate Causes, a justification for Secession based in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the compact theory of federalism. SC Governor Francis W. Pickens proclaims independence, freedom, and sovereignty for South Carolina/1860 

Christopher G. Memminger

In his “Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina,” Christopher Memminger revisits the original American concept of self-government and restated that whenever any “form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government.”  Note that though reference is made below to “anti-slavery” feeling in the North,  it must be remembered that radical Republican doctrine held that African slavery must be kept within the borders of the South, not that the slaves must be freed. Republicans were a white supremacy party and the territories were for white settlers alone. ---Bernhard Thuersam, Director, Cape Fear Historical Institute

“Dr. James Henley Thornwell…[stated] immediately after secession…”The real cause of the intense excitement of the South, is not in vain dreams of national glory in a separate confederacy…; it is in the profound conviction that the Constitution…has been virtually repealed; that the new Government has assumed a new and dangerous attitude…”

In South Carolina [this] idea was repeatedly expressed in the secession period. For example, [Robert Barnwell] Rhett in a speech of November 20 said: We are two peoples, essentially different in all that makes a people.” [D.F.] Jamison in his opening speech to the [secession] convention said there was “no common bond of sympathy or interest between the North and South.”

The “Declaration of Immediate Causes,” after defending the right of secession under the compact theory of the Union, justified the exercise of that right almost entirely on the point that Northern States had infringed and abrogated that compact by refusal to abide by their constitutional obligations…When [the Northern sectional] President should gain control of the government, constitutional guarantees would no longer exist, equal rights would have been lost, the power of self-government and self-protection would have disappeared, and the government would have become the enemy. Moreover, all hope of remedy was rendered in vain by the fact that the North had “invested a great political error with the sanctions of a more erroneous religious belief.”

Rhett…held that the one great evil from which all others had flowed was the overthrow of the Constitution of the United States. The tariff, unequal distributions of appropriations, and attacks on slavery, were only manifestations of a broken faith and a constitution destroyed through construction for Northern aggrandizement at the expense of a weaker South. The sections had grown apart; all identity of feeling, interest, and institutions were gone; they were divided between slaveholding and non-slaveholding, between agricultural and manufacturing and commercial States; their institutions and industrial pursuits had made them totally different peoples. The South was unsafe under a government controlled by a sectional anti-slavery party…”

The well-nigh complete unity after secession is no more striking than the universal belief that the cause was just…[and belief] that the future of republican government was involved in the struggle…Secession was endorsed by the synod of the Presbyterian church and by the annual conference of the Methodists. One need not question the sincerity of the legislature for appointing on the eve of secession a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.”

Source: Charles Edward Cauthen, South Carolina Goes to War, 1860-1865 (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1950), 72-78.

FROM THE DECLARATION OF THE IMMEDIATE CAUSES:

"In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration, by the Colonies, "that they are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do."
"They further solemnly declared that whenever any "form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." Deeming the Government of Great Britain to have become destructive of these ends, they declared that the Colonies "are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."…
"Thus were established the two great principles asserted by the Colonies, namely: the right of a State to govern itself; and the right of a people to abolish a Government when it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted. And concurrent with the establishment of these principles, was the fact, that each Colony became and was recognized by the mother Country a FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT STATE. "In 1787, Deputies were appointed by the States to revise the Articles of Confederation, and on 17th September, 1787, these Deputies recommended for the adoption of the States, the Articles of Union, known as the Constitution of the United States….
"We hold that the Government thus established is subject to the two great principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence; and we hold further, that the mode of its formation subjects it to a third fundamental principle, namely: the law of compact. We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all its consequences.
"We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do."

Source: J.A. May & J.R. Faunt, South Carolina Secedes (University of South Carolina Press, 1960), 76-81.

Lincoln's opposition to compromise made public

President-elect Lincoln's opposition to the Crittenden proposal (the last chance in the US Congress to avert war) is made public/1860

SC plans to take over all Federal property in state

[SC SECESSION CONVENTION] The Convention in Charleston resolves to take over the federal properties in South Carolina and calls on the federal government to restore Forts Moultrie and Sumter, the Charleston Arsenal, and Castle Pinckney to the authority of the State of South Carolina, while paying whatever expenses to the federal government which are fair and reasonable/1860

Wilmington, NC, salutes SC's secession

Wilmington, NC (by William G. Muller)

Upon the secession of South Carolina, the Cape Fear Minute Men fired a one-hundred gun salute in Wilmington, NC, as the streets became crowded with anxious citizens. The schooner "Marine" at rest in the Cape Fear River let loose an equal salute, and Wilmington shipbuilder Benjamin Beery "added another salvo."

The issue of Lincoln's election and State secession had been discussed at a November 19, 1860, meeting in the New Hanover County (NC) courthouse, and newspaper opinion was divided along political party lines. The Democratic "Daily Journal" was an advocate of departure from union with the North; the Whig "Daily Herald" thought it better to hold a moderate course and remain within the federal union. The Unionist elements in the city saw serious economic problems with secession as much of Wilmington's trade was with the North, especially New York.

Although many conservative North Carolinians denounced their neighbor's precipitous action, Tarheels were united in opposing any use of force to coerce South Carolina back into the voluntary union. One conservative citizen stated, "I am a Union man, but when they send men South it will change my notions. I can do nothing against my own people."

 

Mrs. Parsley, postwar President of the Daughters of the Confederacy recalled: "In 1860, when, amid great popular excitement and enthusiasm, South Carolina seceded from the Union of States, the people of Wilmington were deeply stirred by conflicting emotions. Meetings were held at various local points, and speakers for and against secession swayed the multitudes which attended them. At a town meeting, an address by Dr. James H. Dickson, urging moderation and advising against hasty action as to secession.His speech was followed by one from Mr. O.P. Meares, afterwards a colonel in the Confederate Army and later a judge"

Source:  Bernhard Thuersam, Director, Cape Fear Historical Institute, www.cfhi.net 

US Sen. Jefferson Davis unwittingly tanks Compromise

• In Washington, DC, US Senator Jefferson Davis (D-Mississippi), a member of the appointed Senate Committee of Thirteen, in an effort at fair-minded bi-partisanship and unaware that President-elect Abraham Lincoln was opposed to any efforts at compromise, proposes an unwise resolution that no report should be adopted that did not have the support of a majority of the Republican members and a majority of the other members/1860

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] At the Convention in Charleston, several proposals are adopted--one providing that People resigning from the United States Military would receive the same rank in the Commonwealth of South Carolina/1860 
  

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SC Ordinance of Secession signed

• [SC SECESSION CONVENTION] At the Convention, several committees are organized. The Ordinance of Secession is adopted unanimously 169-0 on roll call. At 7pm, Institute Hall, Charleston, SC, the delegates sign the Ordinance of Secession./1860 

• "AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America."
  
  "We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained,
  
  "That the ordinance adopted by us in convention on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the "United States of America," is hereby dissolved.
  
  "Done at Charleston the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty."

Only known image of SC Signing

• The Louisiana legislature discusses the question of secession/1860

• In Washington, lame duck Vice-President John C. Breckinridge appoints a Senate Committee of Thirteen to make a compromise and curtail secession/1860

SC Secession Convention reconvenes in Charleston

[SC SECESSION CONVENTION] Delegates assemble at St. Andrew's Hall, Charleston, proposing to send copies of the Ordinance of Secession to the slave-holding States and to the President of the United States/1860

Crittenden Compromise

United States Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky introduces a resolution before a special Congressional committee to conciliate Southerners by restoring the Missouri Compromise line, extending the 36 degree 30 minute line to separate slave and non-slave soil to the California border, to protect slavery where it is established, and to compensate owners whose fugitive slaves are not recovered/1860

SC Secession Convention moves to Charleston

[SC SECESSION CONVENTION] Because of an epidemic of smallpox in Columbia, the delegates assemble instead at the Institute Hall in Charleston. Several committees are proposed including a committee to draft an Ordinance of Secession/1860

US Congressmen from the South publish an address to the people of the South in newspapers today saying, “The argument is exhausted. All hope of relief in the Union through the agency of committees, Congressional legislation, or constitutional amendment, is extinguished, and we trust the South will not be deceived by appearances or the pretense of new guarantees. In our judgment the Republicans are resolute in the purpose to grant nothing that will or ought to satisfy the South. We are satisfied the honor, safety and independence of the Southern People require the organization of a Southern Confederacy – a result to be obtained only by separate State secession.”

SC Votes 169-0 to Secede

[SECESSION CONVENTION] Delegates to the Secession Convention assemble at the Baptist Church in Columbia, and pass a unanimous resolution to secede 169-0. Since there is an epidemic of smallpox in Columbia, the Convention adjourns to Charleston/1860

View of Baptist Church, Columbia, SC, December 17, 1860

150 years ago today, the South Carolina Secession Convention convened at First Baptist Church, Columbia. The vote was 169-0 to exercise their 10th Amendment right to secession and resumption of their sovereignty as an independent republic.

“When the [secession] convention met December 17, South Carolina was confident that her action would soon be followed by other States. Governor Gist in his message to the legislature at the end of November, had stated that there was not the least doubt that Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Arkansas would immediately follow, and eventually all the South.  No longer, he said, was there any jealousy of South Carolina in the resistance States; rather they were urging her to take the lead.

 

Soon thereafter [published in South Carolina December 18] the very encouraging address of Southern congressmen to their constituents appeared. “The argument is exhausted. All hope of relief in the Union through the agency of committees, Congressional legislation, or constitutional amendment, is extinguished, and we trust the South will not be deceived by appearances or the pretense of new guarantees. In our judgment the Republicans are resolute in the purpose to grant nothing that will or ought to satisfy the South. We are satisfied the honor, safety and independence of the Southern People require the organization of a Southern Confederacy – a result to be obtained only by separate State secession.”

 

View inside Baptist Church, Columbia, Dec 17, 1860

Joseph LeConte thought the secession convention was the “gravest, ablest, and most dignified body of men” he had ever seen together. Of it Dr. James H. Thornwell wrote:

“It was a body of sober, grave and venerable men, selected from every pursuit in life, and distinguished, most of them, in their respective spheres, by every quality which can command confidence and respect. It embraced the wisdom, moderation and integrity of the bench, the learning and prudence of the bar, and the eloquence and piety of the pulpit.

 

It contained retired planters, scholars and gentlemen, who had stood aloof from the turmoil and ambition of public life, and were devoting an eloquent leisure…to the culture of their minds, and to quiet and unobtrusive schemes of Christian philanthropy… It was a noble body, and all their proceedings were in harmony with their high character. In the midst of intense agitation and excitement, they were calm, cool, collected and self-possessed. They deliberated without passion, and concluded without rashness.”

 

View inside, Baptist Church, Columbia, Dec 17, 1860

To speak for her in her most critical hour the State had chosen the best of her talent and character. No constitutional guarantees could now protect the South; the Constitution having failed in the past to prevent aggression by the North, the South should no longer be duped by paper securities.”

Source: Charles E. Cauthen, South Carolina Goes to War (Columbia: USC Press, 2005), 67-69.