One of the first organized mass meetings to launch South Carolina's secession from the Union was held here on November 22, 1860. Judge A.G. Magrath of Charleston urged immediate action on the part of South Carolina at any and every hazard, followed by Gen. M.L. Bonham, Cong. McGowan, Major Armistead Burt, and others. Resolutions favoring the secession of the state were unanimously adopted. A committee of twenty appointed nominees Edward Noble, John A. Calhoun, Thomas Thompson, John H. Wilson, and D.L. Wardlaw to attend the December 17, 1860 convention. One month later, South Carolina became the first state to secede.