Civil War  |  Historic Site

South Carolina State House

South Carolina

1100 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
United States

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The South Carolina State House, begun in 1855 and unfinished until after the Civil War, witnessed the Federal occupation of Columbia February 17-18, 1865. Union artillery batteries seeking to find their range fired on this building from across the Congaree River. Bronze stars mark the sites where these shells hit the state house. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Federals also raised the United States flag over the unfinished building, looted the existing state house, and repealed the Ordinance of Secession. Several Civil War-related monuments are on the state house grounds.