The reverse depicts a palmetto tree, the emblem of South Carolina. Arrows are tied to its base in a saltire pattern by a broad ribbon, signifying the tree's military connotation. On June 28, 1776, a British naval squadron tried to seize Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor. Though many shots were fired by the British ships during the Battle of Sullivan's Island, those that hit the fortifications were absorbed by the soft palmetto logs that formed it; the American death toll was 12 against hundreds of British killed by the fort's gunfire. The lopped oak branch at the palmetto's base symbolizes the oaken British vessels. As Arlie Slabaugh Jr. put it in his volume on commemorative coins, "the South Carolinians had proven in 1776 that the palmetto was superior to the oak of Old England, and so it appears above the oak on this coin". The 13 stars surrounding the tree ostensibly symbolize the original American states, but may also have been intended to evoke the Confederate States of America. The name of the country, the coin's face value, and the mottos required by law appear on the reverse. Davidson's initials do not appear on the coin.