South Carolina was the first state to formally secede from the United States, spurred on by several native fire-eating Beaufortonians. The 150th Anniversary of the signing of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession on December 20th of this year officially starts the four year long Sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War.
Here are two facts of local history relating to the Ordinance of Secession:
1) The first "true copy" of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession to fall into Union hands was actually captured in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Port Royal.
2) Signers of the Ordinance of Secession representing the parishes that became Beaufort District were: Robert Woodward Barnwell; Langdon Cheves; Richard James Davant; John Edward Frampton; William Ferguson Hutson; Joseph Daniel Pope; George Rhodes; and Ephraim Mikell Seabrook.
The "Teaching American History in South Carolina: a state-wide approach to teaching professional development" website has a page about the Ordinance of Secession.
It's sort of amazing that such a short document ended up causing such substantive changes to the subsequent history of our nation. Over the next 4 years as we celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression, or the "Late Unpleasantness", or the War of Southern Independence, or the War of the Rebellion) we are sure to hear often about the changes this document caused by its enactment.
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