Editing Columbia, South Carolina (section)

====Civil War====
{{Main|Capture of Columbia|Columbia, South Carolina, in the American Civil War}}
Columbia was of considerable importance to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Columbia was the site of the first Southern secession convention, which assembled in the [[First Baptist Church (Columbia, South Carolina)|First Baptist Church]] on December 17, 1860. Secession may have been declared in Columbia, were it not for a smallpox outbreak that moved the convention to Charleston, where South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20.{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=23}} A considerable military infrastructure sprung up in Columbia. The state arsenal was located in Columbia, along with the state military academy. The University of South Carolina grounds were converted into a military hospital since its role as an educational institution had been made moot after its entire student body volunteered for the Confederate Army.{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=24}} Numerous industrial facilities produced war materiel. By 1865, it was also the Confederacy's last breadbasket. All of these factors combined to make it the obvious next target for General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William T. Sherman]] after his successful [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]] captured [[Savannah, Georgia]].{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=30}}

The Union Army, under Gen. Sherman, captured the city on February 17, 1865.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherman |first1=William Tecumseh |title=Burning of Columbia, South Carolina |date=2009 |publisher=Great Neck Publishing |page=384}}</ref> Much of the city was destroyed by fire between the 17th and 18th. The idea that General Sherman ordered the burning of Columbia has persisted as part of the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]] narrative. However modern historians have concluded that no one cause led to the burning of Columbia and that Sherman did not order the burning. Rather, the chaotic atmosphere in the city on the occasion of its fall led to the ideal conditions for a fire to start and spread. As a newspaper columnist noted in 1874, "the war burned Columbia."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Marion Brunson |title=Sherman and the burning of Columbia |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-64336-246-5 |edition=2nd |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |location=Columbia, South Carolina |pages=11–13 |oclc=1261302122}}</ref>

[[File:Wade Hampton equestrian statue, Columbia, SC IMG 4747.JPG|thumb|right|Equestrian statue of General and later [[governor of South Carolina|Governor]] [[Wade Hampton III|Wade Hampton, III]], known for his opposition to [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]]]]