Columbia, SC

Headnote

Columbia, S. C. City, capital of the state, and seat of justice of Richland co. 73 miles N. E. from Augusta, and 120 miles N. N. W. from Charleston.  Situated on the E. side of the Congaree River, immediately below the confluence of the Broad and Saluda Rivers, which unite to form the Congaree.  The city stands upon an elevated plain, about a mile back from the river, from which there is a handsome and extensive prospect in all directions. (Gazetteer of the United States of America, 1854)

COLUMBIA, p. v., seat of justice of Richland district, and capital of S. C, a pleasant village, situated on the east side of Congaree nver, below the confluence of its constituents, the Broad and the Saluda, 120 miles northwest of Charleston, and 506 miles from Washington. The bunk of the river gradually ascends to an elevation of about 200 feet, from which the town overlooks an extensive and interesting prospect. The streets are remarkable for breadth and regularity, and the houses for their neat and tasteful appearance. Here is located the College of South Carolina, a flourishing institution, which is liberally supported by the state. A substantial and well-built bridge extends on eight stone piers across the Congaree, and the Saluda canal, making a circuit of six and a quarter miles around the fulls, passes through the town. The river affords steamboat communication with the ocean and with Charleston. The Columbia branch railroad meets the South Carolina railroad from Charleston, at Branchville.Water from springs 1 mile from the town, is forcedby steam to an elevated point, whence it is conveyed to all sections of the village. (Fanning's, 1853)​

Place Unit Type
City or Town
Containing Unit
Richland District, SC

Columbia, South Carolina (Hayward)

Gazetteer/Almanac
Columbia, S. C. City, capital of the state, and seat of justice of Richland co. 73 miles N. E. from Augusta, and 120 miles N. N. W. from Charleston.  Situated on the E. side of the Congaree River, immediately below the confluence of the Broad and Saluda Rivers, which unite to form the Congaree.  The city stands upon an elevated plain, about a mile back from the river, from which there is a handsome and extensive prospect in all directions.  It is laid out with regularity, the streets crossing each other at right angles, 100 or 150 feet in width, and many of them ornamented with trees.  The state house, near the centre of the city, is a plain edifice of wood, 170 feet long, 60 feet wide, and two stories high.  The other public buildings are a court house and jail, a town hall, a market house, an academy, and a female seminary, a large lunatic hospital, and churches of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, and Roman Catholic denominations.  The edifice of the Presbyterian Church is an elegant building, with two lofty spires.  The buildings of the South Carolina College, which is situated here, are handsomely located upon a lot of 25 acres, enclosed by a wall of brick. The buildings, which are of brick, consist of two for students, 200 feet long, 25 feet wide, and three stories high, a building for the library and other rooms for the use of the college, upon the top of which is an astronomical observatory.  The president's house is situated at the head of the opening between the two college buildings, which are placed opposite to each other. There is also a theological seminary at Columbia, founded in 1831. Columbia is a place of considerable business.  A railroad extends to Branchville, 60 miles, where it connects with the Charleston and Augusta Railroad.  A steamboat also plies between Columbia and Charleston. The Saluda Canal, about six miles long, built for the purpose of avoiding the falls in the Congaree, passes through the city, and boats of large draught ascend to this place.
John Hayward, Gazetteer of the United States of America… (Philadelphia: James L. Gihon, 1854), 335.
Date Type
Commissioners from Mississippi and Alabama speak to the South Carolina Secession Convention Lawmaking/Litigating
Ethel Beers publishes her poem "The Picket Guard" with its famous lines "All Quiet Along the Potomac" Education/Culture
Former South Carolina senator and state's rights advocate William Campbell Preston dies in Columbia Personal
Francis Pickens is elected as the new governor of the state of South Carolina Campaigns/Elections
Governor Orr of South Carolina calls for South Carolina's rejection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Lawmaking/Litigating
In Columbia, South Carolina's Convention on secession opens with a morning session Lawmaking/Litigating
In Columbia, the Governor of South Carolina delivers his annual message to the state legislature Lawmaking/Litigating
In Columbia, the South Carolina legislature overwhelmingly rejects the Fourteenth Amendment. Lawmaking/Litigating
President Buchanan sends Caleb Cushing to ask South Carolina to postpone its Secession Convention Lawmaking/Litigating
South Carolina statehouse raises the idea of a "Southern Confederacy" Legal/Political
South Carolina's Convention on secession moves to Charleston to avoid smallpox outbreak Lawmaking/Litigating
- The coldest night of the year does not cool secessionist fervor in the South Carolina state capital Science/Technology
Burial Place of
Name Type
Trinity Espiscopal Churchyard, Columbia, SC Location or Site
Date Title
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Slaver’s Crew,” December 13, 1858
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The South Carolina Legislature,” December 30, 1858
Charleston (SC) Mercury, "Correspondence of the Mercury," April 15, 1859
How to Cite This Page: "Columbia, SC," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/15389.