Secession Day

[Image: Bottom, Front Page of Charleston Mercury from Dec. 20, 1860]

"On Thursday afternoon, December 20, 1860, delegates to the Convention of the People of South Carolina took their seats in the hall of the St. Andrew's Society on Broad Street in Charleston, ready at last to take the action for which they had been elected.

"The Ionic-columned structure was old but handsome. To it's right towered the Catholic cathedral and on the left stood the century-old home of John Rutledge, leader of the state during Revolutionary War days. The business at hand was simple enough. On the table lay a document rescinding South Carolina's ratification of the United States Constitution seventy-two years earlier. This Ordinance of Secession declared 'that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name the United States of America is hereby dissolved.' One by one, in alphabetical order, the vote was recorded. From James Hopkins Adams to Henry Clinton Young, all 169 delegates voted 'aye.'

"Shops and businesses had closed their doors and a multitude stood in Broad Street, awaiting the announcement of the outcome. At 1:15 p.m. came the shouted report, and the news spread like a roaring wave through the crowd and across the city, to be taken up by telegraph operators and flashed throughout the land. 'THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!' screamed an extra edition of the Charleston Mercury. Celebrations continued all afternoon. Near dusk, delegates formed in procession, marched east down Broad, and turned left onto Meeting Street beneath the steeple of St. Michael's Church. Windows and balconies along the route were festooned with a colorful profusion of flags and banners. The parade passed the fireproof Records Building, Hibernian Hall, and the five-story Mills House Hotel with it's dozens of glowing windows. At South Carolina Institute Hall delegates paused, then filed through the front doors of the great building.

"Charleston's largest meeting place, described as 'Venetian' in architectural style, this venue had been chosen for the ceremonial signing of the Ordinance. Newly-elected governor Francis Pickens, the General Assembly, and some three-thousand others witnessed as delegates came forward to affix their signatures. That done, Convention president David F. Jamison stood to speak. 'The Ordinance of Secession has been signed and ratified,' he solemnly announced, 'and I proclaim the State of South Carolina an Independent Commonwealth.' Thunderous applause rocked the hall. Outside, the December night was illuminated with bonfires, Roman candles, and bursting rockets. To the thud of exploding fireworks was added a cacophony of pealing church bells, cannon salutes, martial music, and shouting crowds. All night long the demonstration went on."

[Cisco, Walter Brian. "'For Southern Rights, Hurrah!' The March to Secession." To Live and Die in Dixie: The Struggle Continues... 1st ed. Columbia, TN: Sons of Confederate Veterans, 2014. 75. Print.]

As southerners and descendants of Confederate veterans, we know that secession was not the cause of the War Between the States (northern invasion was), but it certainly was a precursory event. Just like the original thirteen American colonies would secede from the tyranny of British monarchy, so too would thirteen States declare their independence from a tyrannical federal government and it's soon-to-be inaugurated despotic leader. 

While the original 13 colonies all seceded in one fell-swoop through the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen states of what would become the Confederacy all left the Union in their own time & fashion. The secession of South Carolina sparked a freedom movement all across the south, and thus is celebrated by many of us as a second Independence Day.

So to all of my fellow compatriots in the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and to all the many friends in the Confederate-Heritage Defense movement, I say to you: HAPPY SECESSION DAY!

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms, SCV Camp #1321