Charleston summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Charleston.

Charleston, Seaport city (pop., 2020: 150,227), southeastern South Carolina, U.S. Originally called Charles Towne, it was founded by English colonists in 1670. During the American Revolution it was held by the British (1780–82). Known as Charleston from 1783, it was the chief U.S. winter port until the War of 1812. In 1861 the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor precipitated the American Civil War. Blockaded by Union forces, it was under siege (1863–65), then evacuated by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s forces. It was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1886 and a hurricane in 1989. It is the site of the College of Charleston (1770), The Citadel (1842), and the Charleston Museum (1773), the oldest museum in the U.S.

Fort Sumter National Monument Summary

Fort Sumter National Monument, historic site preserving Fort Sumter, location of the first engagement of the American Civil War (April 12, 1861). Fort Sumter was designed as part of the defensive system protecting Charleston, South Carolina. Its origin stemmed partly from the 1812 war with Great

South Carolina Summary

South Carolina, constituent state of the United States of America, one of the 13 original colonies. It lies on the southern Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Shaped like an inverted triangle with an east-west base of 285 miles (459 km) and a north-south extent of about 225 miles (360 km), the

United States Summary

United States, country in North America, a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the