South Carolina’s decision to secede from the federal union in December, 1860 was not an easy decision nor was it made without thought of the repercussions.  In the Beaufort district, it had been simmering for 32 years.
    “Many of the Beaufort planters still lived on the very land that had been carved from the wilderness by their ancestors. They were established, powerful, rich and proud; perhaps more so than any group in any community in America at that moment.  They surely feared the consequences of their radical act, but they feared the consequences of not acting even more.”