Short Takes by Skip Johnson: Inside: Charleston the Brief History of a Remarkable City

About Charleston the Brief History of a Remarkable City

When most people think of the American Revolutionary War, they think of such names as Boston, Lexington, Concord, Valley Forge, Yorktown -- all in the Northeast. Very few people think of Charleston or South Carolina first -- if at all. And yet...

America's first major military victory of the war came when a vastly outnumbered, hurriedly trained and ill-equipped South Carolina militia defeated the British Armada when the armada tried to invade Charleston.
The battle that essentially won the war for America was fought at Cowpens, in South Carolina’s Upcountry.
More battles were fought in South Carolina than in any other state.
South Carolina lost more men per capita to the war than any other state.
And after the war ended, South Carolina was saddled with more war debt than any other state.

Charleston’s history during the Civil War is much better known, but often in a distorted version. There’s no doubt Charleston was the hotbed of slavery and led the way into the Civil War, but all white Charlestonians were not slave-whuppin’, black-hatin' bigots. Fewer than three percent of the people owned slaves, and a number of the slaveowners were black freedmen. Most Charlestonians were like people everywhere. Some supported slavery, some opposed it but felt powerless to do anything about it, some didn't care one way o the other, and some opposed to the point of rioting in the streets.

So this little book (68 pages) is not a Rebel vs. Yankee, South vs. North, or any of that. It is simply intended to give those not familiar with this city’s incredible history a chance to learn it in one or two sittings. My purpose from the beginning was to compress the story into a short, accurate, readable and inexpensive narrative that will reach as many people as possible.

-Skip Johnson