HISTORY - ANTEBELLUM & CIVIL WAR
Mount Pleasant was incorporated in 1837. By the mid-1800s, the town was a summer resort for Charleston residents and a commercial and residential hub for plantation families. (Mt. Pleasant Plantations) Some historians believe Mount Pleasant produced the state’s first secession resolution.
During the Civil War, the town was protected by batteries and a line of
fortifications from Boone Hall Plantation to Copahee Sound. Fort Palmetto (located in what is now the Oyster Point community) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town was the secret training ground for the nine-man crew of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley. In 1864, this small vessel was launched from Breach Inlet and completed its mission to sink the USS Housatonic, a 12-cannon steam-powered war sloop on Union blockade duty. Shortly after, the Hunley and its crew sunk and remained undiscovered for over 100 years until it was raised in 2000.
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