South Carolina Flag

One of America's Oldest Flags

The South Carolina colors were born on a battlefield and baptized under fire with three shouted "huzzas" more than 225 years ago.

The flag's battle blue and shining white crescent is one of the nation's oldest flags. It's undergone numerous incarnations, some accurate, some not, but its original rendition came from hand of one of South Carolina's first sons - Major General William Moultrie.

On September 15, 1775, the local Revolutionary Council of Safety in Charleston drafted then Colonel Moultrie to prepare a flag to display at Fort Johnson on Sullivan's Island, outside of Charleston, South Carolina. British war ships prowled outside of the port of Charleston, preparing to attack the city.

Inside the fort, the First and Second South Carolina Regiments marshaled forces to prepare for the bombardment and turn back the British invasion.

The Troops Were Clothed in Blue

According to Moultrie's memoirs, a flag was needed for the purpose of "signals" to direct American forces during the imminent siege. No national or state flag existed at that time.

Moultrie looked out on his troops and saw they were “clothed in blue" and "wore a silver crescent on the front of their caps.

"I had a large flag made with a crescent on the dexter corner, to be in uniform with the troops," Moultrie wrote. "This was the first American flag, which was displayed in South Carolina."

The colonel ordered the flag hoisted on the parapet of Fort Johnson, where it "gave some uneasiness to our timid friends...They said it had the appearance of a declaration of war.”

Charleston - A Hotbed of Revolutionary Sympathy

Moultrie wrote: "Captain Thornborough, in the Tamar sloop of war, lying in Rebellion Road, would look upon it as an insult and a flag of defiance, and he would certainly attack the fort; but he know his own force, and knew the weight of our metal; he therefore kept his station and contented himself with spying on us."

Two months previous, a patriot named William Jasper, born in South Carolina in 1750, who lived in the swampy low country area of Georgia and South Carolina, found himself recruited by Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion into the 2nd South Carolina Continental Regiment. Soon, Sergeant Jasper, Colonel Moultrie and the South Carolina colors he designed would meet destiny and create a legend.

In that hot and sultry summer of 1775, Charleston was a hotbed of revolutionary sympathy. British Royal Governor Lord William Campbell felt the South Carolinian heat and removed himself from Charleston and to a British sloop of war for protection. After his ignoble exit, Continental forces under General Charles Lee moved in to occupy the city and strengthen its fortifications, including Fort Johnson where Jasper found himself.

Palmetto Logs Form Battlements

Moultrie's South Carolina Regiments and local partisans worked throughout the remainder of 1775 and into a good part of 1776 building up the fort's defenses on Sullivan's Island.

Lacking native stone to build breastworks and defenses, Colonel Moultrie ordered his engineers to build walls with palmetto logs placed 16 feet apart, and they back-filled those gaps with sand. A ten foot tall walkway ringed the fort's interior.

Next, the colonel rolled 31 nine and twelve pound cannons into position to challenge the British fleet approaching the harbor.

Gen. Lee inspected the defenses at the fort on Sullivan's Island and thought them lacking. The general recommended that the fort be abandoned. Colonel Moultrie thought otherwise and appealed to John Rutledge, president of the South Carolina Asembly, to maintain the defensive position. Rutledge acquiesced. Now the Colonel had his command and Sergeant Jasper had his date with destiny.

British Commander Begins Bombardment

Late morning on June 28, 1776, British Commander Sir Peter Parker sailed into the harbor with a fleet of 8 British warships, assumed battle formation and began the bombardment of Fort Sullivan with 271 guns.

The fort's defenders answered back, pounding the fleet with their nine and twelve pound cannons. Three British vessels attempted to sail into position to attack the fort's lightly constructed side walls but were snared by sandbanks in the shallow harbor waters.

The fort's gunners pounded these sitting ducks, and the attacking British squadron soon found itself in trouble. Moultrie's defenses proved worthy to the task. Even though British gunners pounded the fort, the cannonballs struck the spongy palmetto logs, which absorbed the blows and inflicted little damage.

British Cannonball Strikes Flag


As fortunes of war go, a British cannonball found the staff from where Colonel Moultrie's flag proudly waved throughout the battle. The missile broke the staff in two and tumbled the blue and crescent flag into the hot sand below.

For the citizens of Charleston watching the battle, the flag stood as a sign of defiance. They saw that as long as the flag flew, the defenders held the British invaders at bay.

At that point, Sergeant Jasper ran up to the Colonel and shouted: "Colonel, don't let us fight without our flag."

"How can you help it?" asked the colonel. "The staff is gone."

Sergeant Jasper Rallies Patriots

Without a word, Sergeant Jasper leaped over the wall, ran the entire length of the wall under heavy enemy fire and retrieved the flag. He untied the flag from the broken staff, called to Captain Peter Horry for a cannon sponge staff, tied the flag to that and planted it at the rampart of the fort.

One account reports that Sergeant Jasper shouted three huzzahs. Another account writes that he shouted: "God Save Liberty and my Country forever!" Then he returned to his gun position and continued the fight.

Late that night the British fleet limped away defeated, suffering 64 dead and more than 100 wounded. The Continental soldiers defended the city with small casualties.

The Moultrie Flag Established

President Rutledge presented the sergeant with a ceremonial dress sword at a review after the battle.

Barnard Elliott, captain of the Grenadiers of the Second Regiment, wrote that "The President, John Rutledge, this day returning his thanks to the Sullivan's Island Garrison for their gallant conduct, and behavior in defense of the fortress, and taking his own sword from his side, presented it to Sergeant Jasper..."

The colors Sergeant Jasper rescued at the Sullivan's Island battle are now called the "Moultrie Flag." This flag features the metal crescent worn on the hats of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, with the word "Liberty" written across the crescent and the blue field representing the color of the regiment's uniforms.

Meanings of the Flag

Some people make the error of referring to the crescent as a "moon." In fact, it's symbolic of the crescent worn by volunteers in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. Historians speculate that the crescent represents the ancient chain-mail worn by warriors centuries ago.

Sergeant Jasper grew to legendary status, with accounts of the sergeant infiltrating British enemy camps, capturing officers, gathering intelligence and freeing prisoners destined for the British hangman's rope.

Jasper died in the battle for Savannah.

Jasper Killed on Spring Hill

On October 9, 1779, Sergeant Jasper's 2nd South Carolina Regiment was ordered to take a position on Spring Hill. The regiment charge was met by British regulars, and brutal hand to hand fighting commenced.

Lieutenant Bush carried Colonel Moultier's South Carolina regimental colors to the hill but was wounded. He transferred the flag to Sergeant Jasper. As Jasper neared the top to plant the flag, a British ball found its mark and Jasper fell fatally wounded. The Lieutenant witnessed Jasper fall and made another attempt to plant the flag. He, too, fell fatally wounded with the blood-soaked flag wrapped around him.

Regiment members carried the wounded sergeant to safety. A few painful hours later he passed into legend.

The regiment buried Sergeant Jasper in a mass grave along with his fallen comrades somewhere near the battlefield. He remains there today.

Moultrie Pens Revolutionary War Memoirs

British forces recovered that flag, and placed in the trophy room of the King's Royal Rifles. A second regiment flag was safely removed after the battle.

After Colonel Moultrie's successful defense of Fort Sullivan, he was commissioned a Brigadier General in the Continental Army on Sept 16, 1776.

In 1780 British forces captured Moultrie and he was later exchanged for British Major General John Burgoyne in 1782. Later that year, the Continental Congress promoted Moultrie to major general.

In 1785, The citizens of South Carolina elected him governor of South Carolina, and in 1792 he won a second term. In 1794 he retired from public office and published "Memoirs of the American Revolution" in 1802.

On September 27, 1805, Major General William Moultrie, commander of Fort Sullivan and designer of South Carolina's first flag, passed into history at his home in Charleston, the city he defended.