On the very same day--Friday, February 17, 1865—that Columbia, South Carolina was surrendered to Sherman’s attacking Federals, Charlestown was evacuated by her Confederate defenders. William Hardee’s Confederates abandoned the birthplace of secession in 1861 and what some saw as the spiritual capital of the entire Confederacy. The following day Northern troops under General Alexander Schimmelfennig accepted the formal surrender of Charlestown from its mayor. A Federal band played “Hail Columbia,” awakening wild enthusiasm, as one observer described, in the hearts of the city’s black population. Union troops also rowed out to occupy Fort Sumter, whose walls were now battered into rubble, to triumphantly raise the American flag over that fortification. On this day in 1865 the very soul of the Confederacy seemed about to be extinguished.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.