17th Century Colonial Period:

1670-1774, Colonial Period of South Carolina, the history of the colonial period of South Carolina focuses on the English colonization that created one of the original Thirteen Colonies. Major settlement began after 1651 as the northern half of the British colony of Carolina attracted frontiersmen from Pennsylvania and Virginia, while the southern parts were populated by wealthy English planters who set up large slave plantations. Therefore the Province of South Carolina was separated from the Province of North Carolina in 1729. With its capital city of Charleston becoming a major port for traffic on the Atlantic Ocean, South Carolina produced a large export surplus in the colonial era, making it one of the most prosperous of the colonies. A strong colonial government fought wars with the local Indians, and with Spanish imperial outposts in Florida, while fending off the threat of pirates. Birth rates were high, food conditions were abundant, and offset the diseased environment of malaria to produce rapid population growth. The colony developed a system of laws and self-government and a growing commitment to Republicanism that patriots feared was threatened by the British Empire after 1765. South Carolina joined the American Revolution in 1775, but was bitterly divided between Patriots and Loyalists. The British invaded in 1780 and captured most of the state, but were finally driven out.

SCIway Links

18th Century Wars:

1759–1761, Cherokee War, consisted of three campaigns from South Carolina against the Cherokees Indian nations. Colonial ambitions, backcountry misunderstandings that caused killings on both sides, and the undertow of French and Indian War hostilities to the north, all tangled, leading South Carolina to act against its neighbor and trading partner in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The first campaign saw colonial regiments march resistantly under an arrogant royal governor, only to be turned back by an outbreak of smallpox. The second and third, in 1760 and 1761, saw British regulars lead resentful militiamen. The Cherokees successfully rebuffed attack in 1760; this was followed by an equivocal concession in 1761. Meanwhile, the Cherokees fought sporadic engagements against other native peoples on their western and northern mountain flanks. The campaigns left deep scars and provoked anxieties with the young generation of both colonists and Cherokees alike.
 

The Cherokees of South Carolina

Cherokee Indians

1775-1783, American Revolutionary War, (War of Independence), an armed struggle for secession from the British Empire by the Thirteen Colonies that would subsequently become the United States.  South Carolina was a site of major political and military importance for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The white population of the state strongly supported the institution of slavery long before the war. Political leaders such as John C. Calhoun and Preston Brooks had inflamed regional (and national) passions, and for years before the eventual start of the Civil War in 1861, voices cried for secession. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first Southern state to declare its secession and later formed the Confederacy. The first shots of the Civil War were fired in Charleston by its Citadel cadets upon a civilian merchant ship Star of the West bringing supplies to the beleaguered Federal garrison at Fort Sumter January 9, 1861. The April 1861 Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter ignited what became a four-year struggle that divided the nation.

19th Century Wars:

1812-1815, War of 1812, on June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against the United Kingdom. Among the issues leading to the war were British impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, interception of neutral ships and blockades of the United States during British hostilities with France.

1814-1819, 1st Seminole War, the Seminole Indians, whose area was a haven for escaped slaves and border ruffians, were attacked by troops under General Jackson and General Edmund P. Gaines and pursued into northern Florida. Spanish posts were attacked and occupied, British citizens executed. In 1819 the Floridas were ceded to the U.S..  1835-1842, 2nd Seminole War, U.S. Navy supports the Army's efforts at quelling uprisings and attacks on civilians by Seminole Indians. Government's efforts to relocate the Seminoles to west of the Mississippi are hindered by 7 years of war.  1855-1857, 3rd Seminole War.

1846-1814, Mexican-American War, on May 13, 1846, the U.S. recognized the existence of a state of war with Mexico. After the annexation of Texas in 1845, the U.S. and Mexico failed to resolve a boundary dispute and President Polk said that it was necessary to deploy forces in Mexico to meet a threatened invasion.

A Guide to the Mexican War

The Mexican-American War

Mexican WarMexican War Dead or Veterans

U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848)

U.S.-Mexican War
 

1861-1865, American Civil War, a major war between the U.S. (the Union) and eleven Southern states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America.  South Carolina did more to advance nullification and secession than any other Southern state. South Carolina adopted the "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union" on December 24, 1860. It argued for states' rights for slave owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North in the form of opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution.

• Confederate Soldiers

• Units of the War

• Battles of the War

• Letters

• Photographs

• Tombstones

• Union Soldiers

• Units of the War

• Battles of the War

• Letters

• Photographs

• Tombstones

1890 Civil War Veterans & Widows Census Schedules

1898-1898, Spanish-American War, on April 25, 1898, the U.S. declared war with Spain. The war followed a Cuban insurrection, the Cuban War of Independence against Spanish rule and the sinking of the USS Maine in the harbor at Havana.  This war lasted only 109 days and began soon after the USS Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor.  The US sent this warship after riots by Spanish loyalists broke out in Havana.  Cuba had been in a struggle for independence from Spain for over thirty years prior.  This riot was also thought to be anti-American and support for the Cuban independence was growing in the US during this time.  The desire for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban fight for independence and strong expansionist ideals motivated US action.  The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict and gave the US ownership of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. 

1899-1902, Philippine-American War, U.S. forces protected American interests following the war with Spain, defeating Filipino revolutionaries seeking immediate national independence. The U.S. government declared the "insurgency" officially over in 1902, when the Filipino leadership generally accepted American rule. Skirmishes between government troops and armed groups lasted until 1913, and some historians consider these unofficial extensions of the war

20th Century Wars:

1917-1918, World War I, (The Great Wall), on April 6, 1917, the United States declared war with Germany and on December 7, 1917, with Austria-Hungary. Entrance of the United States into the war was precipitated by Germany's submarine warfare against neutral shipping and the Zimmermann Telegram.  South Carolinians fought in the massive “Hundred Days Offensive” that ultimately ended the war.  Over thirty million people had died worldwide by the time the Armistice was signed in November 1918.  The war had a profound effect on twentieth-century history, from the collapse of European empires and resulting political and social turmoil, to the introduction of new tactics and technologies which would see further development as the century progressed.
 

1941-1945, World War II, on December 7, 1941, the U.S. declared war against Japan in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On that same day, Germany declared war against the U.S..

1950-1953, Korean War, (Korean Conflict), the U.S. responded to North Korean invasion of South Korea by going to its assistance, pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolutions. US forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last year of the active conflict (1953). Over 36,600 U.S. military were killed in action.

1953-1975, North Vietnam War, (Indochina War) U.S. military advisers had been in South Vietnam for a decade, and their numbers had been increased as the military position of the Saigon government became weaker. After citing what he falsely termed were attacks on U.S. destroyers, in what came to be known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, President Johnson asked in August 1964 for a resolution expressing U.S. determination to support "freedom and protect peace in Southeast Asia." Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia.

21st Century Wars:

2001-20??, Afghanistan War, (Persian Gulf War), on October 7, 2001, U.S. Armed Forces invade Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks and "begin combat action in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda terrorists and their Taliban supporters.

2003-2011, Iraq War, (Persian Gulf War), March 20, 2003, The U.S. leads a coalition that includes the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland to invade Iraq with the stated goal being "to disarm Iraq in pursuit of peace, stability, and security both in the Gulf region and in the U.S..