SOUTH CAROLINA

Palmetto State

Origin of state's name: Named in honor of England's King Charles I

Asked by the Revolutionary Council of Safety in the fall of 1775 to design a flag for the use of South Carolina troops, Col. William Moultrie chose a blue which matched the color of their uniforms and a crescent which reproduced the silver emblem worn on the front of their caps. The palmetto tree was added later to represent Moultrie's heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island against the attack of the British fleet on June 28, 1776.

Entered Union: Eighth of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution, May 23, 1788
Capital: Columbia
Motto: Dum Spiro Spero (While I breathe, I hope)
Flower: Yellow jessamine
Bird: Carolina wren
Tree: Palmetto
Song: Carolina

A LITTLE HISTORY
The first English colonists settled in 1670 on the Ashley River; moved to the site of Charleston in 1680. The colonists seized the government in 1775 and the royal governor fled. The British took Charleston in 1780, but were defeated at Kings Mountain that year, and at Cowpens and Eutaw Springs in 1781. In the 1830's, South Carolinians, angered by federal protective tariffs, adopted the Nullification Doctrine, holding that a state can void an act of Congress. The state was the first to secede in 1861, and Confederate troops fired on and forced the surrender of U.S troops at Ft. Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, launching the Civil War.

FACTS AND TRIVIA ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina grows more peaches than any other state except California.

The state was the first to secede from the Union before the Civil War.

There is a place called Table Rock State Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains. According to Indian legend, a gigantic chieftain dined at the "table" high above ordinary mortals.

In 1830, the first U.S. Steam locomotive built for railroad use was put into service in the state.

SC was first settled by the Spanish in 1566 and later became an English colony.

The first American library house in a separate building was constructed in 1840 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

The oldest formal gardens in the U.S., Middleton Place, was founded in 1740 and took 100 people more than 10 years to complete.

First independent government formed among American colonies, March 1776

First state to secede from the Union, December 20, 1860

First shot fired in Civil War on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, April 12, 1861

First municipal college - College of Charleston, opened April 1, 1838

First free library established - Charleston, 1698

First public museum - Charleston Museum, organized January 12, 1773

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First building to be used solely as a theater - Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, constructed in 1736

First opera performed in America - Charleston, February 18, 1735

First fireproof building built - Charleston, 1822

First ship built in America to cross the Atlantic Ocean - Port Royal, 1562

First steam locomotive built in the United States to be used for regular railroad service - "Best Friend of Charleston", 1830

First cotton exported to England, 1764

First tea planted - Middleton Barony, 1802. First commercial tea farm - Summerville, 1890

First indigo planted, 1671

First cotton mill built - James Island, 1789

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First slave insurrection - Stono area near Charleston, 1739

First Black Baptist Church established - Silver Bluff, 1773

First Medal of Honor awarded to a Black recipient- W. H.Carney (Army), July 18, 1863

First Black Associate Justice of a state supreme court - J. J. Wright, February 2, 1870

First mutual fire insurance company - Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses Against Fire, 1735

First business publication - South Carolina Price Current in Charleston, 1774

First textile school established in a college - Clemson, 1899

First U.S. Senator elected by a write-in vote - Strom Thurmond, November 2, 1954

The first submarine to sink a ship in combat was the Hunley in 1862. It sailed for the Confederate States of America (the south in the Civil War) and was made from an old steam engine boiler. It sank one of the ships blockading Charleston, SC harbor. The Hunley also sank and is currently being raised by a historical group with the help of the U.S. Navy.

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