In 1860, Williams Middleton signed the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession, in which the state declared it was no longer part of the United States. South Carolina's actions led to the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, sparking the U.S. Civil War. In February 1865, near the end of the war, Union troops captured Middleton Place and burned the main house and north flanker, and part of the south flanker. The soldiers also killed and ate five of the water buffalo and stole six. These six later showed up in Central Park Zoo.