The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-08
ITS HISTORY TRACED.
ALL ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE
COAT-OF-ARMS.

d. Jervey--Exceedingly Interesting
Reading for South Carolinians.
COLUMBIA, S. c., Nov. 1.-GoVer'
nor Tillman has been trying for months
to get an accurate history of the coat Of
arms of South Carolina. A few days
ago SGovernor TDlman heardthat Mr..
Theodore D. JerveY could give him q
great deal of The Information he was In
search of, anil he accordingly wrote to
him requesting hin to send him what.
ever data be had secured. Yesterday
the Governor received the following re.
ply.
CHARLESTON, s. c., Oct. %, 1893.
His Excellency. B. R. Tillnan, Gov
ernor South Carolina. Columbia,
S. T.:
Dear Sir-Your letter of 9th was re.
ceived by me today, and I answer at
once.
In volume 2, Drayton's Memoirs,
page 372, appears the following account,
which quote:
$50 soon as the government under
the constitution Of March, 1776, was
organized. the necessity of having a
public seal became evident and on mo.
lion in the General Assembly it was
resolved THAT His Excellency the
President and commander in chief, by
and with the advice and consent Of
the privy council may, and he Is here.
bv authorized to design and caune to
be made a great seal of South Carroll
ma, and until such an one can be made
to fix upon a temporary pubic seal.
In pursuance of this ~esolution Will
liam Henry Drayton and some OF the
privy council were Charged with de-.
signing the great seal and causing 1t
to be made; aud IN the meantime q
temporary public seal was adopted by
the President and prlvy council tor
purposes OF the State. :.
THE first use OF this temporary seal
(Which appears to have been the seal
at arms of the President) was for
commissioning the civil officers OF gov
ernmeat and for a pardon Issued by
President Rutledge, dated 1st OF May,
1776, in favor of a person who had
been convicted of manslaughter before
Chief Justice William Henry Dryton,
and his associated Justices at a court
commenced in Charleston Of the 23d
of April, 1776. In these commissions 1t
was called his (the President's) seal, but
in pardone and other instruments it was
afterwards called tho temporary seal OF
the said colony or the temporary public
seal; and it was used through that time
Of the year 1776 until about the 22nd OF
NAV, 1877, and on that President But
ledge issued pardon under '..seal of the
said State,' emitting the word tempo
rary,' whence there is reason for believ.
ing the great seal was then made; and
/ from that time the temporary seal does
not appear to have been used. (GoVer-
nor John Drayton remembers seeing tho
die brought to his father in Charleston
'The device tor the armorial achieve.
ment and reverse to the great seal of the
State of South Carolina is as follows:
Arms, a,palmetto tree growing on the sea
shore street; atits base torn.up oak tree,
it's branches Topped off, prostrate; both
proper. Just below the branches ofthe
palmetto two shields pendent, one OF
them on the dexter side is inscribed
March 26,' the other on the sinister
side July 4th.' Thirteen spears proper
are bound crosswlse to the stem OF the
palmetto. their points raised; the band
knotting them together bearing the in
scription Quis Separabit.' Under the
PROSTATE oak is insribed 'Meliorem
Lapsa l ocavit,' below which appears in
large figures, 'l776.' At the summit of
the exerge are the words South Caro-.
iina.' and at the botto n of the same
'Auiluis Opibusque Parati.'
Reverse: A woman walking on tho
seashore over swords and daggers;
she holds in her dexter hand q laurel
branch and in her sinister hand the folds
of her robe; she looks towards the sun
lust rising above the sea; all proper. On
the upper part is the sky, azure. At the
summit OF the exergue are the words
Dunn Spiro Spero' and within the field
below the figure is inscribed the word
'Spes.' The seal is in tho form of CIR.
Gle, 4 inches in diameter and four.tenths
of an inch thick. II was not designed
until after the fort al Sullivan's Island
had defeated the British fleet, as all Of
it's devices will prove. The fort was
constructed of the stems of the palmet.
to tree which grow abundantly on our
sea islands, which grew OIL Sullivan's
Island at the time the fort was made,
grow there this day.
1.-THE arms were designed by VIII
liam Henry Drayton, and the original.
when the battle, was fought, and which
executed by him with pen. bearing
q great sirnilltude to what is represented
on tile seal, is IN the possession OF bis
son. 1t however, contains more de-
vices, but this is easily reconclled BY
supposiny all he designed was not
deemed by the President and the privy
council necessary for the great seal.
THE explanation of this side of the
seal Is the following. The palmetto
Il ee on the sea shore represents the
fort on Sullivan's Island, The shields
bearing March 26sh and July 45h al.
lude to the Cons stitution of South Car
oliua which was ratified on the first
of those days, and to the Declaration OF
Independence, which was made by the
Continental Congress on the second
date. The thirteen spears represent
the thirteen States which acceeded to
the Union. The dead oak tree alludes
10 tie British feet as being constructed
of oak timbers, and it is PROSTATE un-
der the palmetto tree because the tort
constructed of that tree defeated tie
British feet; hence the inscription OF