1. In 1779, the Siege of Savannah during the American Revolutionary War ended in defeat for the Continental Army, which included troops from South Carolina. The British victory was a significant setback for the American forces in the South.

2. On January 22, 1861, South Carolina seceded from the United States, becoming the first state to do so. This act precipitated the Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865.

3. In 1868, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted citizenship to former slaves and equal protection of the law to all citizens.

4. On this day in 1895, Booker T. Washington gave a speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. In the speech, Washington called for African Americans to focus on economic and educational advancement rather than political rights, a strategy that became known as the Atlanta Compromise.

5. In 1956, South Carolina Governor George Bell Timmerman Jr. signed a law establishing the South Carolina State College System, which later became the South Carolina Technical College System. The system was created to provide vocational and technical education to the state's residents. Today, it includes 16 technical colleges and serves more than 100,000 students each year.