Three weeks before the election that Abraham Lincoln seemed certain to win, Charleston's elite militia, the Washington Light Infantry, held an evening meeting on the "threatening aspect of affairs" in the sectional crisis.  Their commander, Captain Charles H. Simonton, recommended a heightened preparedness and an offer to the state governor of their services. This unit was later used to take over the U.S. Arsenal in the city. Simonton became a U.S. District Court judge in his later years after the war.  (By John Osborne)

Two weeks before the election that Abraham Lincoln seemed certain to win, U.S. Senator James H. Hammond of South Carolina hosted a high level meeting of political leaders of his state at his home near Augusta.  Present were the sitting governor, the former governor, and all of the U.S. Congressional delegation but one, excused for illness.  They determined that South Carolina secede from the Union in the event of Republican victory.  (By John Osborne)

The day after the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Grand Jury sitting in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina at Charleston refused to serve.  The District Court Judge Andrew G. Magrath resigned immediately and dissolved the court saying that it had been closed for the last time as a United States Court and before it could be "desecrated with sacrifices to tyranny." U.S. District Attorney James Connor resigned that afternoon.  (By John Osborne)

Congressman William W. Boyce had earlier pressed co-operation in the sectional crisis but at a mass election meeting in Winsboro, South Carolina he spoke in favor of secession if needed.  He concluded that "if Lincoln be elected, I think that the Southern States should withdraw from the Union. All, but if not all, as many as will, and if no other, South Carolina alone, in the promptest manner and by the most direct means." (By John Osborne)

Congress had appropriated funds in the 1860 budget for the reconstruction of the defenses around Charleston, South Carolina.  Work finally began under the direction of Captain J. G. Foster, first on Fort Moultrie, for which $8,600 had been specifically alloted, and then on Fort Sumter the following day. (By John Osborne)