In 1860 all this emphasis on racial control was especially necessary, most white Carolinians believed, because of the prospect of the Republican Abraham Lincoln’s election. Charleston’s newspapers reported preposterous tales of abolitionists sneaking about the South, stirring up slaves. In October the Courier reported that citizens of Greenville, South Carolina, “have had reason to believe that their slaves were being tampered with by Abolition emissaries. A Vigilance Committee was formed, but owing to the cunning and dexterity of the incendiaries, it was found impossible to catch them.”
Source:
Detzer, David. “Asunder.” Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. New York: Harcourt, 2002. 9. Print.
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