1. In 1781, the Battle of Cowpens took place in northern South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. This pivotal battle was a major victory for American forces, and is considered a turning point in the war in the southern colonies.

2. In 1861, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union, sparking the Civil War. The state's secession convention had convened six days earlier, on January 3, and adopted an ordinance of secession on January 9.

3. In 1964, South Carolina Governor Donald Russell signed the South Carolina Equalization Plan, which marked a major step forward for desegregation in the state's public schools. The plan was developed in response to a federal court ruling that South Carolina's previous school segregation policies were unconstitutional.

4. In 1970, a devastating fire destroyed much of the Marshall University football team's chartered plane, killing all 75 passengers, including 37 players and several coaches. Among those killed were six members of the school's 1966 national championship team, who were returning from a fundraiser in Huntington, West Virginia.

5. In 2018, Clemson University won its second national championship in football, defeating the University of Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. This victory capped off a perfect 15-0 season for the Tigers, and marked the third time that a team from South Carolina had won a national championship in football (the first two being Clemson in 1981 and the University of South Carolina in 2010).