Posted on 06/28/2021 10:52:12 PM PDT by ammodotcom
The Moultrie Flag, also known as the Liberty Flag, is a strong symbol of the Southern role in the American Revolution. It’s also a handsome flag with a simple design on a beautiful blue color. The flag was developed specifically for the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, a short but important engagement in the Southern theater of battle during the American Revolutionary War.
In 1775, in the lead up to the American Revolution, Colonel William Moultrie wanted a flag that represented the new American nation. Moultrie was the commander of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. He commissioned a design based on the uniform of his soldiers. This was the distinctive deep blue you see on the flag today. The crescent moon might come from the caps of the soldiers, which initially bore the legend “Liberty or Death.” Some historians believe that it’s instead a form of neck armor. Whatever the symbol’s original, its message was eventually simplified to “liberty,” which is either written within the crescent or in the center at the bottom of the flag.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
heard a statement today
“Equality used to mean everyone was treated the same, but Some people are so used to special treatment now, that thy call equal treatment discrimination”
Interesting article. I forgot about that flag...
Interesting links to other flags at the bottom of the article.
Ft. Moultrie lies on the far side of the harbor from Charleston. Ft. Sumter is in the middle of the harbor and the Charleston battery is on the near side.
Those 3 forts make up the defense of Charleston, which is a city that suffered greatly under British rule during the Revolution.
When South Carolina succeeded from the Union, they sent a negotiating team to Washington DC to provide for the peaceful transition of these forts to the State. A verbal agreement was reached that nothing would happen to these forts while payment terms were being decided.
Then, Union officers violated this agreement by spiking and destroying cannon at Ft. Moultrie and then occupying Ft. Sumter with the intention of destroying the cannon there as well and leaving 2/3rds of Charleston Harbor unprotected.
One interesting tidbit is that among those Union Officers that precipitated the Civil War was Abner Doubleday, the inventor of Baseball.
Easy to see the carry-forward to South Carolina's current State Flag.
As I recall, the design of the half-moon has been criticized for being invalid 'astronomically'. For those so inclined, I fart in your general direction but gently!
A small sidenote:
The canons used to defend Fort Sullivan from the British fleet in 1775 came from Colonel Moultrie’s barn. IOW, the canons were part of Moultrie’s personal arsenal.
One other side note on the palmetto logs. Unlike hardwoods that can splinter, palmetto trunks are made of a dense, flexible fibre. They don’t break or splinter at the impact of the cannon ball. Works sort of like modern Kevlar as I understand it.
One of my favorite details of the assault, actually, and all the more appropriate that the tree should be on SC’s flag today.
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