Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-12-15
flag OF The STATE
Origin and History Of Famous Bar
ner.
how The COLOR CANE TO be GLUE
Sergeant Jasper Won Glory BY Re-
placing II on Fort Moultrie-lt was
Famous in the War With Mexico,
and in the Civil War No Other Flag
Inspired More Martial Spirit.
BY James Derieux

BY James Derieux
At the OF set of the war between
the American colonies and Great
Britain, two regiments of South Caro-
lima troops were holding a fort on an
island protecting Charleston. This
was in 1775. 1t so happened these SOL
diers wore blue uniforms, and on their
caps was silver crescent, They had
no flag at that time, as the fight with
Great Britain had just begun. William
Moultrie, who commanded the fort,
was requested by the council Of safety,
an organization of leading citizens. to
fashion a flag. In those days flags
were much more used In war than
now, because fighting was more in the
open, and in other ways very different
from modern war. So they had to
have a flag, and General Moultrie de-
cided that it should be like the uni
forms and cap insignia of his men.
This explains why our state flag Is
blue, and why that little crescent.
looking like a new moon, is found in
one of It's corners.
There's palmetto tree in the flag,
too, but that did not come until later.
In the summer of 1875, British feet
attacked a fort on Sullivnn's Island,
near Charleston, and the result was
disaster for the feet. That fort,
later named Fort Moultrie, was built
of Palmetto logs, and those logs stop.
ped the shot from British cannon. The
result of the fight was soon known
all over the state and everywhere peo-
pie told the story of how the Palmetto
logs withstood the fire Of the enemy.
And that's the reason the figure of the
Palmetto tree was put in the center Of
the flag.
All of this was before we had a ma
tional emblem: The colonial troops
of the thirteen states in the. Re-ol,i-
ton used their respective state BAN
ners for quite time. In those days
our forefathers were fighting for ib-'
erty more than for union, so the var
ious states were more important poli-
tical units than they are now Not
until the Civil War, or the War OF y
Secession, or the War Between tie
States--just as you prefer to call it,
was the question OF union finally de
cided. Since that war the state hasiJs
have not had their old-time prestfGe;
though, Of course, they viii never be
dispensed with. 90. y
This flag Of ours, with It's fine col
ors and pretty design, has had ca
reer that is not surpassed by any other
state banner. 1t waved in triumph
over forts and over field troops in the
Revolution. 1t waved again in victory
in the war of 1912. The Seminole In
dians learned to fear it in the Semi
mole war. And in our war with Aexi.
co in 1S4S, the Palmetto flag was the
first to be planted inside the fortress
of Mexico City. That was a bloody
fight, and one Of the greatest honors
our flag ever won was to be first In
side the Mexican's stronghold. It was
carried there by the Palmetto regi-
ment, made up of South Carolina
troops.
The curious and interesting feature
of the history of our flag is that 1t
was once national banner, for South
Carolina was once an independent re-
public. That was between the time we
seeded from the union and entered
the Confederate States of America, a
matter of a few months, beginning
late in 1850 and ending early in 1851.
After much discussion back and forth Z
between the house and senate, 1t was
finally agreed on January 2S, 1851, that Z
the flag of South Carolina, an inde-
pendent commonwealth then, should
be the blue field, with white crescent
and w;.ite Palmetto tree. Soon after
wards we entered the Confederate
states, and once more the banner so
familiar to us all, became state flag.
And after the war was over the Con-
federacy defeated and the union re-
established, the same flag remained as
the distinctive insignia Of this state.
So many are the stories OF fights for
this flag, fights around 1t, and other
events in which it participated, that
one could not attempt to tell them all \
in anything short OF a book. So. we
shall take only few Of the stories
more or less commonly heard about
the Palmetto state banner.
In the fight between the British feet
and Fort Moultrie, the flag was shot
down and fell outside the enclosure. A
sergeant, William Jasper by name,
leaped over the walls of the fort, pick
ed up the flag and under heavy fire
coolly replaced it on the fort. South
Carolina did not have a governor then'
but a president, and this president,
John Rutledge, presented his own
sword to Jasper in appreciation of the
heroic deed. There is now county
in the state named Jasper in commem-
grafton of this Revolutionary fighter.
In the revolution South Carolina had
navy and, of course, the Palmetto
flag was it's emblem. In this navy was
a ship, known as the Frigate South
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