South Carolina State Museum

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. Beginning with an original signed copy of the Ordinance of Secession, the Civil War exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum focuses on the war as it affected South Carolina. Holdings include period weapons from both sides of the conflict, including the Morse Carbine, one of the few weapons produced in Greenville, South Carolina. A circa-1960 reproduction of the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley is also on display, supplemented by panels that incorporate new evidence from the 1995 discovery of the original off Charleston Harbor.