This day in Charleston
2 entries · 1860–1861
Charleston went into the first week of November 1860 expecting Lincoln to win and having already decided what it would do about it. The Mercury had been arguing for separate state action for a decade; the militia companies were drilling; and the machinery for a secession convention was ready to be set in motion the moment the returns came in.
Contemporary press accounts, November 1860
The largest fleet the United States had ever put to sea ran into a gale off Cape Hatteras. Transports were lost, vessels scattered over a hundred miles of ocean, and the sealed orders — thrown overboard weighted in some ships — nearly went with them. Enough of it reformed off Port Royal to do the job.
Official Records of the Navies, Series I, Vol. 12
Entries are dated from the War of the Rebellion official records, the naval official records and contemporary Charleston sources. Browse the whole year.