S.C. hopes to buy Revolutionary War flags

Associated Press ^ | Mar. 13, 2006 | anon

[Pharmboy]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The heirs of the British general known for brutal attacks in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War are auctioning flags won in key battles.

South Carolina is mounting an effort to bring home flags British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton took from a bloody battlefield five miles south of the state line in South Carolina. It's a place that some say became an emotional turning point that fixed American hearts against the British enemy.

Accounts of what happened on May 29, 1780, vary, but the commonly held view is that American Col. Abraham Buford thought his 350 Virginia Continentals was outnumbered by Tarleton's force and ordered a flag of truce raised. But when Tarleton approached, his horse was shot and fell on him.

His men, thinking their commander was killed under flag of truce, attacked, inflicting an average of 16 saber and bayonet wounds on each of the 113 dead and 150 wounded. Tarleton's men suffered five dead and 14 wounded.

The brutality of what South Carolinians call Buford's Massacre or Buford's Defeat brought calls for revenge and has left scholars calling it one of the war's most important events.

"Any relic associated with that dark experience in Lancaster County has great symbolic value for South Carolina and the nation," said Alexia Jones Helsley, a consultant for the S.C. Department of Archives and History. "The flags captured by Tarleton are testaments to the anger that would turn a black day into one of eventual victory. As such, the flags encapsulate the essence of the War for Independence in the South."

With 109 of the Waxhaws battle dead in two mass graves in the Palmetto State, South Carolina wants Tarleton's war prize back.

Fritz Hamer, chief curator of cultural history at the S.C. State Museum, is part of a group of state officials and scholars working to raise the money to return flags he insists belong in his museum. Virginians also want the flags. But they won't come cheap.

The banners are expected to cost $3 million to $6 million at a Sotheby's auction on June 14, Flag Day. The beneficiary: a Tarleton heir in the long line of families that have hung the trophies in their homes for most of the past 226 years.

Lately they've hung on the walls of Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan's home. He is Tarleton's great-great-great-great-nephew. His ancestor "has been given a much worse name than he should have," Fagan said in a November interview in The New York Times.

"His troops thought he'd been killed," Fagan said, and they "went to town and butchered people, which was monstrous, and Tarleton got the blame for it." Tarleton returned to England a war hero and later won election to Parliament.

David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby's, says it's unclear why Fagan is putting them on the market. "The family recognizes that the flags have great monetary value and that actually makes it harder for them to continue to hold onto them," Redden says. The three flags include one of gold silk, with 12 inches cut from it, that is decorated with a beaver gnawing a palmetto tree and the motto "Perseverando" under a blue canton of 13 stars. A second is a blue silk flag with heavy stains thought to be blood and the third is gold silk. Both of those have the word "Regiment" on them.

The regimental flags were important at a time when there was no national flag. Men, Redden says, swore loyalty to them. "These represented the soul, spirit and emotions of the regiment. If one object captured the cause for which these men were fighting, it would be the battle flags."

David Redden | vice chairman of Sotheby's

[Pharmboy]

Admin Moderator: Please allow this to stay in Extended News since this story is important to the Patriots of the Great State of South Carolina and will allow closure on this imprtant event in South Carolina's and the United States' history.

[Pharmboy]

The Gadsden Flag

From here:

Colonel Christopher Gadsden and Commodore Esek Hopkins

Although Benjamin Franklin helped create the American rattlesnake symbol, his name isn't generally attached to the rattlesnake flag. The yellow "don't tread on me" standard is usually called a Gadsden flag, or less commonly, a Hopkins flag.

These two individuals were mulling about Philadelphia at the same time, making their own important contributions to American history and the history of the rattlesnake flag.

Christopher Gadsden was an American patriot if ever there was one. He led Sons of Liberty in South Carolina starting in 1765, and was later made a colonel in the Continental Army. In 1775 he was in Philadelphia representing his home state in the Continental Congress. He was also one of three members of the Marine Committee who decided to outfit and man the Alfred and its sister ships.

Gadsden and Congress chose a Rhode Island man, Esek Hopkins, as the commander-in-chief of the Navy. The flag that Hopkins used as his personal standard on the Alfred is the one we would now recognize. It's likely that John Paul Jones, as the first lieutenant on the Alfred, ran it up the gaff.

It's generally accepted that Hopkins' flag was presented to him by Christopher Gadsden, who felt it was especially important for the commodore to have a distinctive personal standard. Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to his state legislature in Charleston. This is recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals:

"Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the American navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattle-snake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike, and these words underneath, "Don't Tread on Me!"

The Revolutionary standard
The Gadsden flag and other rattlesnake flags were widely used during the American Revolution. There was no standard American flag at the time. People were free to choose their own banners.

RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list (FreepMail me if you want to be placed on the list).

[CPOmark]

Until these regimental flags are repatriated, South Carolinians can console themselves by visiting the outstanding and very extensive collection of British naval ensigns captured during the War of 1812 currently on display in Dahlgren Hall at the US Naval Academy. You know what they say about paybacks!

[MissEdie]

CAROLINA PING!! Thanks for a very interesting read- please keep us posted with regards to what happens to those flags!

[Pharmboy]

Thank you for this excellent information.

And, while any Freepers visit the the display at the USNA, I would respectfully recommend an easy side trip to the Maryland State Capitol so you can stand in the room where The General gave up his sword to the Congress on his way back to Martha and the farm in 1783.

[Professional Engineer]

Dead Old Guy ping

[Clemenza]

Great recommendation! Haven't been to Annapolis since I was 11, but remember taking a tour of the capital and having that fact pointed out to me.

[hoosierham]

It isn't surprising if the men under a popular commander reacted with rage to what they thought was the killing of their leader while a truce was in effect. We have read accounts of how all the WWII German prisoners in a particular group were (wink) "accidentally" shot after ONE of their number tossed a hidden grenade . Once rage takes hold,and especially in a mob,reason has little room. Only afterwards ...."one tin soldier rides away..."

[Pharmboy]

Agreed...Tarleton may not have been quite as bad as he was portrayed during the RevWar when emotions were (understandibly) at a fever pitch.

[Pharmboy]

My pleasure...and I will certainly stay on this story.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I second what Miss Edie said in #4.

[Pharmboy]

The Great State of Maryland has done a terrific job with the statehouse...definitely worth a trip. I went there a few years ago when I picked up my daughter at lacrosse camp at Salisbury University and headed to VA to visit family. The side trip to Annapolis was excellent.

[Tench_Coxe]

" Accounts of what happened on May 29, 1780, vary, but the commonly held view is that American Col. Abraham Buford thought his 350 Virginia Continentals was outnumbered by Tarleton's force and ordered a flag of truce raised. But when Tarleton approached, his horse was shot and fell on him.

His men, thinking their commander was killed under flag of truce, attacked, inflicting an average of 16 saber and bayonet wounds on each of the 113 dead and 150 wounded. Tarleton's men suffered five dead and 14 wounded."

What came to be known as 'Tarleton's Quarter'.

[Pharmboy]

Yes indeed...that became an important battle cry for the rest of the war and, it is thought, helped stir the Patriots to fight harder.

[Pelham]

bump

[longtermmemmory]

I don't think we as americans appreciate how "fresh" our history is in this world.

We have to work very had to keep and preserve our history in a way no other country or people have been able to accomplish. (and then erase all the looney left manure)

[Tennessee_Bob]

They may have the flags - but we have our country.

[Pharmboy]

Excellent comment, Tenn Bob.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks!

[submarinerswife]

Please put me on your Carolina ping list.

We just got orders in hand for Charleston. My Husband was stationed there for 8 yrs. These are orders that we never thought we could get, but guess what??

I'm looking for a real good history book of Charleston from settlement to the 1900's or present. Can anyone recommend something with out the revisionist PC tripe?

Much appreciated.