<P> South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union ( Dec. 1860 ) , and was one of the founder members of the Confederacy ( Feb. 1861 ) . The bombardment of the beleaguered U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12 , 1861 is normally reckoned as the first military engagement of the war . </P>
what was the first state to secede from the union leading to the civil war
South Carolina