1. The Battle of Bull Run began on July 21, 1861, signaling the start of the Civil War. South Carolina, as one of the first states to secede from the Union, played a significant role in the war.
2. On July 21, 1831, Nat Turner's slave rebellion started in Virginia. Although the rebellion did not reach South Carolina, it led to stricter slave laws and increased tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the state.
3. In 1983, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was raised from the ocean floor off the coast of Charleston. The submarine, built in Mobile, AL, had sunk in 1864 after completing a successful attack on the Union ship Housatonic. It was the first successful submarine attack in history.
4. On July 21, 1954, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama was dedicated. The bridge, named after a former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader, became a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement after peaceful marchers were attacked by police on the bridge in 1965.
5. The town of Cheraw, SC, was founded on July 21, 1820. Located in the northeastern part of the state, Cheraw played an important role in the Revolutionary War and was home to many prominent figures in South Carolina's history.