A set of annual reports of the the Fire Department from 1859-1872. Reports missing for years 1862-1865. The annual reports open with a statement from the Fire Chief and include multiple lists of department expenses, financial cost of fires, the cause of the fires, and locations of city property pertaining to the fire department.
Caption: 'The Battery or Park Promenade at Charleston, South Carolina, during the bombardment of Fort Sumter--Sketched by our Special Artist--[see next page].' [full date May 18, 1861.]
Caption: 'Caption: 'The rifled cannon which did so much execution on Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina'--[From a Sketch by our Special Artist.]' [full date May 18,1861.]
Caption: 'The Battery or Park Promenade at Charleston, South Carolina, during the bombardment of Fort Sumter--Sketched by our Special Artist--[see next page].' [full date May 18, 1861.]
Caption: 'Scene on the arrival of Lieutenant Hall, U.S.A., with despatches (sic) from Major Anderson for Governor Pickens, at the Executive Mansion, Charleston, S.C., immediately after the firing on the Star of the West.--from a sketch by our Special Artist.--see page 151.' [full date January 26, 1861.]
Caption: 'Bombardment of Fort Sumter, as sketched from Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C.' Identified in image: Mortar Battery, Fort Johnson; James Island; City; Castle Pinckney; Fort Sumter; Mount Pleasant; Floating Battery; Mortar Battery; Fort Moultrie; Enfilading Battery; Iron Battery; Sand-bag cover for reserve; Traverse behind Trapier Battery and Magazine covered with sand bags.
Caption: 'General McGowan addressing the Abbeville Volunteers in front of the Charleston Hotel--from a sketch by our Special Artist now in Charleston.' [full date February 23, 1861.]
[Color image.] Caption: 'Negroes hunting the moccasin snake on the Ashley River, near Charleston, S.C.--from an original sketch by Granville Perkins, Esq.' [full date April 13, 1861.]
Caption: 'The city of Charleston, South Carolina.--[see page 62.]' Also identified in image: Broad Street, "Mercury" office, Custom-house, Castle Pinckney, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter and Morris Island. [full date January 26, 1861.]
Caption: 'The city of Charleston, South Carolina, looking seaward, and showing the burned district.--[see next page.]' Identified in image are: Broad Street, "Mercury" office, Custom-house, Castle Pinckney, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter and Morris Island. [full date December 28, 1861.]
A handwritten, four-page letter from William Alston Hayne to his uncle, Charles Alston, in which he requests Peruvian Guano or Rhodes Supplemental Phosphate of Lime to use as fertilizer. He also mentions the possibility of the Civil War dragging on for years and suggests that the Alston family build a cottage near his home in case of a sea invasion.