South Carolina in the American Civil War South Carolina in the American Civil War South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union in December 1860, and was one of the founding member states of the Confederacy in February 1861. The bombardment of the beleaguered U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861 is generally recognized as the first military engagement of the war. South Carolina was a source of troops for the Confederate army, and as the war progressed, also for the Union, as thousands of ex-slaves flocked to join the Union. The state also provided uniforms, textiles, food, and
Siege artillery in the American Civil War siege artillery. The advent of rifled artillery made them obsolete. The Civil War was the first major war to see the use of rifled artillery. Rifling gave the guns greater velocity, range, accuracy, and penetrating power, making smoothbore siege guns obsolete. The ranges of these guns is somewhat problematic. The 6.4 inch (100-pounder) Parrott rifle had a maximum range of . However, the absence of suitable sights . and a good system of directing fire on targets that could not be seen from the gun, limited the effective range of the rifled guns. The bombardment of Fort Pulaski demonstrated that