 | |
| Liberty flag | |
| Proportion | 10:19 |
|---|---|
| Adopted | During the American Revolution |
| Design | White crescent, and the word liberty, in dark blue |
The Moultrie Flag, also known as the Liberty Flag, was a flag flown in the American Revolutionary War.
| | |
| Liberty flag | |
| Proportion | 10:19 |
|---|---|
| Adopted | During the American Revolution |
| Design | White crescent, and the word liberty, in dark blue |
The Moultrie Flag, also known as the Liberty Flag, was a flag flown in the American Revolutionary War.
The Liberty flag was designed, by commission, in 1775 by Colonel William Moultrie, to prepare for war with Great Britain.
It was flown by his troops in the successful defense of Sullivan's Island against the British fleet in June 1776.
Fighting back during a ten-hour bombardment and siege, Moultrie's forces (primarily the 2nd South Carolina Regiment) eventually led the British to withdraw, saving Charleston for the Patriot cause.
During the battle, the flag was shot away, but Sergeant William Jasper ran out in the open and hoisted it again, rallying the troops until a new stand could be provided. The story of this event, along with the pivotal role of the battle itself, earned the flag the affection of the Patriot faction in South Carolina, [1] as well as cementing it as a symbol of liberty in the South, and the new confederacy in general.
It therefore became the standard of the South Carolina Patriot militia, and when the war ended with the liberation of Charleston, on December 14, 1782, it was presented by General Nathanael Greene's "Southern Continental & Militia Army," as the first American flag to be displayed in the South. [2]
The symbol in the top left corner of the flag is a gorget. Traditionally a component of a suit of armor, the gorget served as a protective plate over the seam between the combatant’s helmet and breastplate. As full body armor became less useful over time, gorgets shrank in size and eventually became a communicative symbol of rank. Eventually the term gorget was rarely used and the accessory was simply referred to by its shape, crescent During the American Revolution, both British and Patriot forces employed gorgets in their uniforms. The gorget shape was used on the military caps of the 1st and 2nd South Carolina Regiments during the Revolutionary War. In 1775, Colonel William Moultrie was put in charge of these troops. He was assigned the task of developing a flag for the state while stationed at Fort Sullivan. The flag would be used to signal the city when friendly ships were entering the Charleston harbor. According to some, he used a gorget in the corner of an indigo blue field for this flag. The indigo matched the color of his troop’s uniforms, and the gorget was taken from the cap. Some profess that the word liberty was also written on the flag. The palm tree would later be added to the flag and placed in the center. William Moultrie states in his memoirs: "A little time after we were in possession of Fort Johnson, it was thought necessary to have a flag for the purpose of signals: (as there was no national or state flag at that time) I was desired by the council of safety to have one made, upon which, as the state troops were clothed in blue, and the fort was garrisoned by the first and second regiments, who wore a silver crescent on the front of their caps; I had a large blue flag made with a crescent in the dexter corner, to be in uniform with the troops ..."[10] Moultrie's original design placed the crescent vertically, with the opening directing upward. The 1860s flag also shows the crescent with upward pointing cusps. However, in 1910—for reasons that he did not document—Alexander Samuel Salley Jr., secretary of the state's Historical Commission, angled the crescent to its current orientation. [3]
Iconic to the state of South Carolina as a symbol of freedom and the Revolution, eventually this was used as the foundation for the state's own flag. The fort was renamed Fort Moultrie, [4] and the flag is sometimes referred to as the Fort Moultrie Flag. It is occasionally rendered with the word liberty separately in white, along the lower center of the flag.
In addition to being the basis for South Carolina's flag, it is the flag of Moultrie County, Illinois. [5]
The flag was featured on a 1968 US stamp. The reraising of the flag was commemorated on the South Carolina quarter of the America the Beautiful quarters.
The flag is flown by the USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) to honor the ship's namesake Paul Hamilton, a South Carolinian who was a Revolutionary War soldier, the United States’ third Secretary of the Navy, and the 42nd governor of South Carolina. [6]
Brigadier General Francis Marion, also known as the "Swamp Fox", was an American military officer, planter, and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the American Revolution, Marion supported the Patriot cause and enlisted in the Continental Army, fighting against British forces in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War from 1780 to 1781.
Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island near Charleston, South Carolina to defend the region from a naval invasion. It was built after British forces captured and occupied Washington during the War of 1812 via a naval attack. The fort was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle of Fort Sumter occurred from April 12 to 13, sparking the American Civil War. It was severely damaged during the battle and left in ruins. Although there were some efforts at reconstruction after the war, the fort as conceived was never completed. Since the middle of the 20th century, Fort Sumter has been open to the public as part of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, operated by the National Park Service.
William Moultrie was an American slaveowning planter and politician who became a general in the American Revolutionary War. As colonel leading a state militia, in 1776 he prevented the British from taking Charleston, and Fort Moultrie was named in his honor.
Christopher Gadsden was an American politician who was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement during the American Revolution. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, a merchant, and the designer of the Gadsden flag. He is a signatory to the Continental Association.
The flag of South Carolina is a symbol of the U.S. state of South Carolina consisting of a blue field with a white palmetto tree and white gorget. Roots of this design have existed in some form since 1775, being based on one of the first American Revolutionary War flags. While keeping most of its design intact since its adoption, it has varied over the years.
The Siege of Charleston was a major engagement and major British victory in the American Revolutionary War, fought in the environs of Charles Town, the capital of South Carolina, between March 29 and May 12, 1780. The British, following the collapse of their northern strategy in late 1777 and their withdrawal from Philadelphia in 1778, shifted their focus to the North American Southern Colonies. After approximately six weeks of siege, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commanding the Charleston garrison, surrendered his forces to the British. It was one of the worst American defeats of the war.
Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and nickname of South Carolina, as "The Palmetto State". The fort was renamed for the U.S. patriot commander in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, General William Moultrie. During British occupation, in 1780–1782, the fort was known as Fort Arbuthnot.
A gorget, from the French gorge meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the throat, a set of pieces of plate armour, or a single piece of plate armour hanging from the neck and covering the throat and chest. Later, particularly from the 18th century, the gorget became primarily ornamental, serving as a symbolic accessory on military uniforms, a use which has survived in some armies.
William Jasper was a noted American soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a sergeant in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment.
The 1st South Carolina Regiment (Infantry) was authorized on June 6, 1775, at Charleston, South Carolina, for service with the South Carolina State Troops. On November 4, 1775, the unit was adopted into the Continental Army and on February 27, 1776 was assigned to the Southern Department. The regiment saw action at the Siege of Savannah and the Siege of Charleston. The British Army captured the regiment at Charleston on May 12, 1780, together with the rest of the Southern Department.
The 2nd South Carolina Regiment was raised on June 6, 1775, at Charleston, South Carolina, for service with the Continental Army.
The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutionaries. The 84th Regiment was also involved in offensive action in the Thirteen Colonies; including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and what is now Maine, as well as raids upon Lake Champlain and the Mohawk Valley. The regiment consisted of 2,000 men in twenty companies. The 84th Regiment was raised from Scottish soldiers who had served in the Seven Years' War and stayed in North America. As a result, the 84th Regiment had one of the oldest and most experienced officer corps of any regiment in North America. The Scottish Highland regiments were a key element of the British Army in the American Revolution. The 84th Regiment was clothed, armed and accoutred the same as the Black Watch, with Lieutenant Colonel Allan Maclean commanding the first battalion and Major General John Small of Strathardle commanding the second. The two Battalions operated independently of each other and saw little action together.
The southern theater of the American Revolutionary War was the central theater of military operations in the second half of the American Revolutionary War, 1778–1781. It encompassed engagements primarily in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Tactics consisted of both strategic battles and guerrilla warfare.
The Battle of Sullivan's Island or the Battle of Fort Sullivan was fought on June 28, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. It took place near Charleston, South Carolina, during the first British attempt to capture the city from American forces. It is also sometimes referred to as the first siege of Charleston, owing to a more successful British siege in 1780.
Events from the year 1777 in the United States.
The following are minor or locally celebrated holidays related to the American Revolution.
The history of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the longest and most diverse of any community in the United States, spanning hundreds of years of physical settlement beginning in 1670. Charleston was one of leading cities in the South from the colonial era to the Civil War in the 1860s. The city grew wealthy through the export of rice and, later, sea island cotton and it was the base for many wealthy merchants and landowners. Charleston was the capital of American slavery.
Rebecca Brewton Motte (1737–1815) was a plantation owner in South Carolina and townhouse owner in its chief city of Charleston. She was known as a patriot in the American Revolution, supplying continental forces with food and supplies for five years. By the end of the war, she had become one of the wealthiest individuals in the state, having inherited property from both her older brother Miles Brewton, who was lost at sea in 1775, and her husband Jacob Motte, who died in 1780.
William Thomson (1727–1796) was a South Carolina patriot in the American Revolution. He was Colonel of the Orangeburgh District Regiment of Militia and commander of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment of Rangers.
Media related to Moultrie Flag at Wikimedia Commons