The "governor" of South Carolina when it became the first state to secede from the Union, occupied Fort Moultrie and "refused to surrender it" (11), and began the Civil War by attacking Fort Sumter, was Frances Pickens; descended from a famous Carolina family, he strongly supported the creation and the cause of the Confederacy.
Fort Moultrie was built on Sullivan's Island as part of the coastal defenses for Charleston, South Carolina. It "fell" (11) when Confederate militia occupied it after its small Federal garrison evacuated on 26 December 1860 - about three months before the Confederates attacked the nearby Fort Sumter, which is usually cited as the beginning of the Civil War.
The "archaeologists" who try to explore the "Indian and even aboriginal relics" that are preserved in the clay-pit on Pritchel's land are "from the State University" (119). It seems likely that Faulkner is referring to the University of Mississippi, located in his own home town of Oxford.
