February



Feb. 1

1761 -- St. Michael's Church held its first service.

Feb. 2

1734 -- The South Carolina Gazette resumes publication under its new editor, Lewis Timothy.

1801-- Joseph Alston, who would become South Carolina's governor, married Theodosia Burr, daughter of the nation's third Vice President, Aaron Burr.

1861 -- The Illustrated London News ran an illustration of the lobby of the Charleston Hotel as part of its coverage of the impending Civil War.



Feb. 5

1775 -- Local Dissenters gathered at the meetinghouse, noting in that day's church records that the congregation “suffered itself to be called either Presbyterian, Congregational, or Independent: sometimes by one of the names, sometimes by two of them, and at other times by all the three. We do not find that this church is either Presbyterian, Congregational, or Independent, but somewhat distinct and singular from them all.”



Feb. 6

1861 -- Joseph Holt, U.S.President James Buchanan's Secretary of War, wrote to Isaac W. Hayne, who was S.C. Gov. Francis W. Pickens' attorney general and envoy to Washington, that Fort Sumter's purpose was the defense of Charleston Harbor and that if some "public enemy" menaced the city or the harbor, the fort's batteries would "be at once exerted for their protection." (Source: Confederate South Carolina, p. 20)



Feb. 7

1861 -- S.C. Attorney General and Gov. Pickens' Washington envoy, Isaac W. Hayne, replied to U.S. Secretary of War Joseph Holt's letter received the day before, saying: "Are you not aware, that to hold in the territory of a foreign power a fortress against her will, avowedly for the purpose of protecting her citizens, is perhaps the highest insult which one government can offer to another? (Source: Confederate South Carolina), p. 20-21)

Feb. 8

1735 -- The first documented opera (firsts.html) to be performed in America, Flora, or Hob in the Well, opened in the "long room" of Shepheard's Tavern on the northeast corner of Broad and Church streets.



Feb. 9

1840 -- Henry Michael Lofton was born.



Feb. 10

1794 -- Planter, botanist, and Revolutionary War Patriot Aaron Loocock died.



Feb. 11

1971 -- The Wagner House at 6 Green Street on the College of Charleston campus was scheduled to be torn down to make way for the new library. Upon hearing the news, preservationists Elizabeth Jenkins Young and Jane Thornhill ran to the site and single-handedly stopped the proceedings and saved the house. (Source: Broad Street and Beyond, p. 42-43)



Feb. 12

1736 -- The Dock Street Theatre presented its first performance, a comedy titled The Recruiting Officer.

Feb. 13

1777 -- The South Carolina legislature declared that every male citizen must denounce the King and pledge loyalty to the state.

Feb. 15

1768 -- Harriott Pinckney, daughter of Chief Justice Charles Pinckney and Eliza Lucas, married Daniel Horry.

1792 -- The first race at the new Washington Race Course (now Hampton Park) took place.

Feb. 16

1819 -- A group of vigilantes rode out to the Five and Six Mile taverns, operated by John and Lavinia Fisher, looking for a gang of suspected robbers. When they found a group they suspected were at Five Mile House, they ordered the suspects out of the building before setting fire to it. As Five Mile House burned to the ground, its smoke could be seen by those at Six Mile House, who escaped into the woods before the cavalcade’s arrival.



Feb. 17

1752 -- Royal Gov. James Glen laid the cornerstone of St. Michael's Church at the intersection of Broad and Meeting streets "with great ceremony, an official dinner, and toasts to King George II." (Source: A Short History of Charleston, p. 40) 1864 -- The HL Hunley became the first submarine to successfully sink its target, the Housatonic. Though successfully completing their mission, the sub. with its crew, never returned to shore and remained on the bottom of the ocean for the next 136 years.

1865 -- Gen. P.G.T, Beauregard calls for all Confederate troops to evacuate the city, loading any useful things aboard the last trainout of town and destroying anything left that the enemy could use. As fires blaze across the peninsula, the city falls to Union troops.

Feb. 18

1820 -- John and Lavinia Fisher were hanged for highway robbery.

1865 -- As the last train transporting Confederate soldiers and supplies, a horrible explosion at the Northeastern Railroad Depot killed about 250 desperate men, women and children scavenging whatever left-overs they could find.



Feb. 19

1820 -- The Friday morning's issue of the Charleston Courier reported the final moments of John and Livinia Fisher's lives as they were executed for highway robbery.

Feb. 20

1711 -- The Rev. Francis LeJau wrote a letter to his sponsors at the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, warning them of trouble with the Indigenous tribes in the St. James, Goose Creek Parish. This enslavement and sale of Indigenous People to the Carribean island would lead to the Yemassee War of 1715, as LeJau predicted. (Source: Goose Greek: A Definitive History, Vol. 1, p. 52)

1819 -- Based on statements and identifications provided by David Ross and John Peeples, officials again headed out to Six Mile House, arresting John and Lavinia Fisher and their business partner, William Hayward, along with several others.

1820 -- The Charleston Courier ran the story recounting the execution of John and Lavinia Fisher the previous day.

Feb. 22

1819 -- The Charleston Courier related details about John and Lavinia Fisher's arrests at Six Mile House.

1868 -- John G. Grant of Marlboro District filed a petition of bankruptcy in the District Court of the United States, District of South Carolina, in Charleston. His creditors were advised to meet at 59 Broad St., on April 1.

Feb. 24

1698 -- A fire broke out and spread so quickly thoughout town that over 48 hours that more than 50 families were left homeless.

Feb. 28

1758 -- Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet, a "brash thirty-eight-year-old British soldier-of-fortune" demanded that the colonial Assembly pay for his officers' rents. The Assembly refused his request. (Source: Charleston! Charleston!)

2020 -- At a rally at the North Charleston Coliseum, President Donald Trump asserted that Democratic complaints about his handling of the corona virus threat were "their new hoax."

St. Michael's Church, c. 1752-61, at the historic Four Corners of Law. We visit this site on our Charleston Overview tour.

The Circular Church as experienced some of the worst moments of Charleston history. We visit it on our Charleston Overview and Lost Charleston tours.

S.C. Gov. Francis W. Pickens on the eve of the Civil War (Photo credit: The Horse Trader)

We share the tragic story of the Lofton family on our French Santee tour. (Credit: Leigh Handal)

The footprint of the Washington Race Course is seen clearly in this aerial view of Hampton Park today. (Photo credit: Library of Congress, within the public domain)

The HL Hunley submarine

Remains of the Northeastern Wilmington Railroad Depot after the explosion (Photo credit: Library of Congress, within the public domain)

This map of the Carolina frontier in the early 1700s shows the location of George Chicken's camp, where hundreds of captured Indigenous People spent their last night on their home soil before being exported to Carribean sugar plantations where they were sold into slavery.

The fire of 1698 burned nearly one-third of all the residences, buildings, churches, and civic spaces that existed within the walled city, shown on this map outlined in white.

S.C. Royal Gov. James Glen (Image credit: Courtesy of the Earl of Dalhousie, The Dalhouie Estates)