Francis Wilkinson Pickens Francis Wilkinson Pickens ( April 7 , 1805January 25 , 1869 ) was Governor of South Carolina when that state became the first to secede from the U . S . A . , provoking the American Civil War . A cousin of Senator John C . Calhoun , Pickens was born into the culture of States Rights , and became an ardent supporter of nullification ( refusal to pay federal import tariffs ) when he served in the South Carolina house of representatives , before being elected to Congress and then the state senate . As state governor during the Fort Sumter crisis , he sanctioned the firing on the ship bringing supplies to the beleaguered Union garrison , and to the bombardment of the fort . After the war , it was Pickens who introduced the motion to repeal South Carolina ’ s Ordinance of Secession , a short speech received in silence , in notable contrast with the rejoicing that had first greeted the Ordinance . Early life and career . Pickens was born in Togadoo , St Paul ' s Parish , in Colleton County , South Carolina . He was the son of former Gov . Andrew Pickens and a grandson of Gen . Andrew Pickens , an American Revolution ary soldier at the Battle of Cowpens and former U . S . Congressman . A cousin of his grandmother was South Carolina Senator John C . Calhoun . He was also a cousin of Floride Calhoun , Calhoun ' s wife and a niece of his grandfather . His son - in - law was Confederate General and U . S . Senator Matthew C . Butler , a son of congressman William Butler ( 1790 - 1850 ) ; grandson of congressman William Butler and a nephew of Senator Andrew Butler . Pickens was educated at Franklin College ( now a part of the University of Georgia ) in Athens , Georgia , and at South Carolina College in Columbia . He was admitted to the bar in 1829 , the same year that he constructed " Edgewood , " a mansion in Edgefield . He joined the Democratic Party and served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1832 – 34 , where he was an ardent supporter of nullification . As chairman of a sub - committee , he submitted a report denying the right of Congress to exercise any control over the states . Pickens served in Congress as a representative from South Carolina from 1834 until 1843 . He was a member of the South Carolina state senate from 1844 until 1846 . He was offered the position of Minister to England by President James K . Polk , and the Minister to France by President John Tyler , but declined these diplomatic posts . He served as a delegate to the Nashville Convention in 1850 . Twice a widower , he married Lucy Petway Holcombe ( 1832 – 1899 ) on April 26 , 1856 , and in 1859 she gave birth to Douschka Pickens . Under President James Buchanan , Pickens was Minister to Russia from 1858 – 1860 , where he and his wife were befriended by Czar Alexander II . American Civil War . Under his administration as Governor of South Carolina ( 1860 – 1862 ) , the state seceded and demanded the surrender of the Federal forts in Charleston harbor . He strongly advocated the secession of the Southern states but he did not sign the South Carolina ordinance of secession , as is commonly reported . He protested against Major Robert Anderson ' s removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter , and offered to acquire the fort from the United States as part of an equitable settlement of the assets and debts of what Pickens considered to be now - dissolved federal union . On January 9 , 1861 , Governor Pickens sanctioned the firing upon the relief steamship " Star of the West , " which was bringing supplies to Anderson ' s beleaguered garrison . He also approved of the subsequent bombardment of Fort Sumter . He remained a fervent supporter of states rights . Later life . Pickens was a member of the South Carolina constitutional convention called in September 1865 shortly after the end of the Civil War . He was one of more than 100 representatives from around the state , many of them drawn from the cream of South Carolina society . During the convention , Pickens introduced a motion to repeal the Ordinance of Secession . It was almost breathtakingly brief , according to proceedings recorded by the " Charleston Courier " : " We , the Delegates of the People of the State of South Carolina , in General Convention met , do Ordain : That the ordinance passed in convention , 20th of December , 1860 , withdrawing this State from the Federal Union , be and the same is hereby repealed . " According to the " New York Times " : “ The passage was received in silence – strikingly suggestive when one remembered with what dramatic applause the ordinance of secession was proclaimed passed . ” The motion passed by a vote of 105 - 3 with the only dissenting votes coming from three delegates from the Barnwell District : A . P . Aldrich , J . J . Brabham and J . M . Whetstone . Pickens counseled against inaction , according to historian Francis Butler Simkins . “ It doesn ’ t become South Carolina to vapor or swell or strut or brag or bluster or threat or swagger , ” Pickens said . ” . . . She bids us bind up her wounds and pour on the oil of peace . ” Pickens died in Edgefield , South Carolina , and was buried at Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield . External links .