SOUTH CAROLINA

With a white population of fewer than 300,000 and a slave population of more than 400,000, South Carolina led the way out of the Union for the rest of the Southern states. The Palmetto state seceded on December 20, 1860, and started hostilities in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861, by firing on Fort Sumter, then held by Union forces under the command of Robert Anderson.

The state raised about 30 infantry regiments for service in the Confederate Army, 3 artillery regiments, a couple of dozen artillery batteries and battalions, and 8 cavalry regiments.

The state remained relatively untouched by the war for the first few years except for the Union blockade that prevented friendly ships from entering Charleston Harbor. Then she paid for everything; South Carolina was ravaged during Sherman's Carolinas Campaign, as troops took out their frustrations on the people many blamed for starting the war.

South Carolina was readmitted to the Union in 1868.

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