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A South Carolina history lesson
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A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 7:20 PM

This is an old post of mine that I thought I would dig up in response to the palmetto tree statue trophy idea.

I recently read a proposal (listed here) by a Gamecock fan who wishes to revamp the USC-Clemson rivalry by replacing the current Hardee's Trophy with a bronze 'moon' that would be awarded annually to the winner. Each team's stadium would have a bronze palmetto tree in a prominent area, and the device would be placed on that tree.

In a futile effort to redirect common notions of South Carolina's history, I wanted to correct some misconceptions regarding our state flag.

In 1775, William Moultrie, the famous colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment during the Battle of Sullivan's Island in June of 1776, was asked to design a flag intended for signalling ships coming into port in Charleston. At the time, the 2nd South Carolinians wore indigo uniforms with a grey hat that included a symbol with the word "Liberty" etched onto it:



Colonel Moultrie used his regiment's indigo and crescent as the inspiration for the flag requested of him, which gave birth to South Carolina's first state flag, two versions of which are shown here:





Colonel Moultrie's original flag, however, did not include a tilted crescent, and the word "liberty" was inside the crescent the same way it is on the symbol on the hats. Some flags included a tilted crescent, but the crescent was intended to be oriented the same way it is seen on the hats of the 2nd South Carolina.

Historically, the origins of the actual symbol on the 2nd South Carolina Regiment's cover are unknown, but the most likely possibility is that the metal symbol is a gorget, or a steel collar that was used by knights to protect the neck in battle in medieval Europe:



As time aged their practical use, gorgets developed into status symbols on the battle field. Gorgets were elaborately designed with coats of arms and were worn around the neck by wealthy military leaders, such as George Washington:



A second possibility of what the symbol represents is a crescent moon, but this notion is often refuted for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the symbol's striking resemblance, both physically and symbolically, to a gorget, as previously mentioned. The second is that the directional orientation of the object on the hats is not consistent with crescent moons. Moons are rarely "increscent," or with tips pointing up. And when they are, they are mere slivers of moon with a larger shadow. The symbol on the hats contains a larger object with a significantly smaller 'shadow.' If the object were a moon, the type of eclipse requiring it to appear as it does is impossible.



Simply put, we don't know what the crescent is, but it is unlikely a moon, and most clues point to a gorget. The details on how the palmetto tree arrived and how our current flag appears, however, are a little more clear.

The state flag remained similar to Moultrie's design until the eve of the Civil War, in January of 1861, when a legislative panel proposed that "the National Flag or Ensign of South Carolina shall be white, with a green palmetto tree upright thereon; and the union blue, with a white increscent," seen here with a titled crescent instead of the increscent:



Another proposal, with a golden tree and, again, without the increscent:



The panel's flag was called the 2-day flag, literally because it was the state flag for two days. Robert Barnwell Rhett, editor of the Charleston Mercury, however, charged that the flag be "blue, with a white palmetto tree upright thereon, and a white crescent in the upper corner," and used his influence with the secessionist paper to create a flag almost identical to the one we use today. On January 28, 1861, the General Assembly officially adopted Rhett's idea, and with the adoption came a description that the symbol on the flag be increscent, or, again, with tips facing up.

The official South Carolina state flag remained as Rhett specified until Alexander Samuel Salley, the secretary of South Carolina's Historical Commission, altered the design in the early 20th century by turning the increscent on its side, expanding the leaves of the palmetto tree, and adding grass at the base of it.

Salley's final alterations are what we currently use for the official state flag today:



An additional note: there are several variations of the state flag, like the one shown below. Generally the differences can be seen in the details of the palmetto tree. But the officially adopted flag and that flown on the state house is the one shown above.



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Excellent info***


Nov 8, 2012, 7:45 PM



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Thanks


Nov 8, 2012, 7:54 PM

I studied history in college, with an emphasis in Southern Studies. I try to distribute stuff like this whenever appropriate.

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Re: Thanks


Nov 9, 2012, 1:53 PM

Good stuff. When I was a tour guide in Charleston, the in-state folks always wanted to know about the origin of the flag.

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 7:55 PM

I was expecting "THIS IS SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL!"

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 8:01 PM

Wow. That's awesome.

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 8:03 PM

I might add the victory at Fort Mountie was one of he first major victories we had over England and gave the rest of the colonies confidence that we could win our independence.

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 8:04 PM

Also Osceola is buried in front of the fort.

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Ecellent


Nov 8, 2012, 8:08 PM

many thanks

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Now time for a spelling lesson!!!


Nov 9, 2012, 2:11 PM

Thanks.

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 8:18 PM

well done

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 8:51 PM

Excellent article! Now I know.

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Some more SC history for you...


Nov 8, 2012, 9:20 PM

Thomas Sumter (August 14, 1734 – June 1, 1832) was a soldier in the Virginia militia, planter, hero of the American Revolution as a brigadier general in the South Carolina militia, and politician. He was later repeatedly elected to the United States House of Representatives and to the United States Senate, where he served from 1801-1810, when he retired. He was nicknamed the "Carolina Gamecock" for his attack on British soldiers after they burned down his house during the American Revolutionary War and his fierce fighting style.

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Shame that such an awful athletics program was named


Nov 8, 2012, 9:22 PM

in honor of a great ambassador of our state.

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 9:32 PM

Colonel William Moultrie also invinted the oculus.

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A moon trophy would be cool***


Nov 8, 2012, 9:42 PM



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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 9:47 PM

Will there be a quiz tomorrow?

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Re: A South Carolina history lesson


Nov 8, 2012, 9:48 PM

Seriously, a great post with great information. Thanks.

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While I agree that this is the most likely explanation


Nov 9, 2012, 12:31 PM

of the crescent's origins. Is it not obvious that the location of the gorget's crescent shape relative to the palmetto tree was intentionally also supposed to allow it to serve as a "moon"? I find it highly unlikely that the panel didn't realize that what they proposed looked like a moon over the palmetto tree.

I hope that something like this does not cause us to lose what little roots we have to the history of the flag, but I think that it is still somewhat safe to refer to it as a moon.

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It's doubtful.


Nov 9, 2012, 12:35 PM

I explained that in the post, and included pictures. The palmetto didn't arrive on the flag until almost 100 years later, so there was no concept of making anything relative to the palmetto. Even then, the crescent wasn't officially tilted on the flag until about 50 years after the tree was added, 150 years after the original flag was designed. It was increscent in shape, meaning the tips were pointed directly up, not at an angle.

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I might and probably did originally come from the gorget,


Nov 9, 2012, 1:35 PM

but there is no question that the symbol on the flag is a crescent. That's what is stated. It may have originated from the gorget; but the gorget is never seen tilted; it is always horizontally oriented.

The truth is, we will probably never know the exact origin because it probably has a primary more secretive meaning. For example, the 'G' in the freemasonry symbol stands for MANY different things depending on who is asking, and who is telling (http://www.clansinclairsc.org/masonicwalknarrative.htm;) and the star symbol on the American flag has a myriad of meanings. Likewise, the crescent also has many different meanings.

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What's known is that the symbol on the flag


Nov 9, 2012, 1:42 PM

is the exact symbol worn on the covers of Moultrie's men, meaning no tilt, a larger object with a smaller 'shadow,' and the word "liberty" etched in the crescent. Aside from that, there are no guarantees. The gorget is just the strongest candidate, by far.

But as I addressed, the tilt we see on today's flag is irrelevant to the lengthy history as the state didn't adopt the tilted crescent as we know it today as the official design until the early 20th century.

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???? The crescent's been tilted since 1860 as shown by


Nov 9, 2012, 3:36 PM

your 'two day flag' and the South Carolina flag. And don't forget the Secession and Sovereignty Flags of the same era which actually had the crescent tilted 'upside down' which are all mid-19th century, not early 20th.

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And I failed to cite 'Big Red' shown which fired on the ####


Nov 9, 2012, 3:37 PM

yanks.

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Re: What's known is that the symbol on the flag


Nov 9, 2012, 4:36 PM [ in reply to What's known is that the symbol on the flag ]

I think the tilt we see today is highly relevant to the flag's history, as it is part of the flag's history.

The shape on the current flag it is clearly a crescent moon. Whether this moon is derived from something else does not turn it into something other than a moon. It's a moon because it looks like a moon in shape, it looks like a moon in orientation, it looks like a moon relative to the palmetto, and it looks like a moon in the context of a blue background, which suggests a night sky. Furthermore, that the object was changed from it's original orientation to the tilted orientation we see today shows that at some point someone wanted to make it look like a moon.

The point is that symbols are just that. They have meanings that people attach to them and those meanings can change over time. Just because they have changed does not mean that the new version is wrong.

You may look at the symbol and think about the military history of the shape up there next to the palmetto. It seems like you have a good basis for making that association. But plenty of other people have a good basis for believing that it is a moon.

Would it make you feel better if we called the trophy a crescent, which implies a shape and not an object?

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