Published anonymously in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861, “South Carolina: A Patriotic Ode” appropriates the tune “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” to create a Confederate patriotic song, just as the colonists had done with “God Save the Queen”. Whereas “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” celebrates its history by referencing the land as the “pilgrim’s pride”, the speaker substitutes “Land of Old Sumter’s Pride”. The speaker alludes to the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in April 1861, which was the first hostile action of the Civil War, in order to date the state’s conception at that moment. Although the poem’s state rather than Confederate allegiance parallels “Louisiana: A Patriotic Ode”, the speaker of this poem emphasizes the beauty of South Carolina’s “rocks and rills” and “woods and templed hills”. Instead of calls to protect slavery or the South as a whole, this poem calls for the men of South Carolina to defend their home state against Yankee invaders. (Library of Congress American Memory: Index of Sites)