If Confederates left the United States to protect their way of life, including the institution of slavery, events during the war caused some white Southerners to doubt even as early as 1861 that independence would ensure its preservation. The proprietor of Greenwood Plantation in South Carolina noted in his journal that the Union presence at Port Royal had so disrupted slavery there, that he feared further conflict would permanently cripple the institution, regardless of the outcome of the war.