Online Exhibits > Civil War Photographs by George Barnard

ST. ANDREW'S HALL
Charleston SC
1865

Erected in 1815, The Hall of St. Andrew's Society was a common site of political meetings. On December 20, 1860, a state convention met here and passed the ordinance of secession, declaring that South Carolina was no longer a part of the United States. A photograph of this building in ruins becomes a potent symbol of the failure of the rebellion.