Salutations, and welcome, everyone, to another
edition of History in a Nutshell.
Today we're going to do something a little
different in this edition: we are going to take a
look into an exclusive holiday for South
Carolina born from an early victory in the
American Revolution have you ever wondered
why South Carolina is known as "The Palmetto"
"State," or why there is a crescent symbol on the
state flag? If you answered yes to
either of those questions, then join me as we
explore the South Carolina holiday known as
Carolina Day.
(gunshots)
Every year on June the 28th,
tourists and South Carolinians
alike gather in Charleston, South Carolina
to celebrate Carolina Day. But what exactly is
Carolina Day?
Ever since the Patriots
here on June 20th, 1776
were victorious over the British Royal Navy, the
victory was celebrated it took many years though
for the name Carolina Day to come about as a
the victory was commemorated as Palmetto
Day. The first instance of seeing it called Carolina
Day occurs in the 1890s.
It's been Carolina Day ever since. You have the annual
parade down Meeting Street with speeches at
White Point Garden. Carolina Day is what we
know the victory as South Carolinians have
commemorated the anniversary of the
victorious Battle of Sullivan’s Island with
traditions dating back to 1777.
One could argue that Carolina Day is South
Carolina's version of the fourth of July.
So for South Carolinians looking for another
reason to fire up the grill and celebrate, then
this is for you! It really is a shame that
more people outside of South Carolina don't know
more about the background of this historic battle:
how, despite the insurmountable odds, a
small band of Patriots fended off a massive
enemy force. Who doesn't love a good
underdog story. The battle of Sullivan’s Island
during the American Revolutionary
War is a treasured event in South Carolina's
history; taking place mere days before the
Declaration of Independence was signed
in Philadelphia in 1776.
The fort on Sullivan's Island was built from
palmetto tree logs for they were in abundance on
the island. As far as we know, Fort
Sullivan as it was called then was the first fort
in history constructed out of palmetto tree logs.
The president of South Carolina John Rutledge
tasked Colonel William Moultrie with the
construction of the fort. Its purpose was to
complement its neighbor, Fort Johnson, over on
James Island. Fort Sullivan was built in response to
perpetual rumors of an impending British attack
on Charleston. These two forts would
create a gauntlet, making it more difficult for
British ships to enter Charleston Harbor.
At the time of the battle on June 28th
1776 Fort Sullivan was only
about half finished. And just over 400
raw and untested Patriots stood between the British
fleet and Charleston. The defenders were
comprised mainly of soldiers from the first
and second South Carolina regiments with an
unfinished fort and low supplies, the Patriots had
to defend Charleston Harbor at all costs
against Peter Parker's British warships.
No, not that Peter Parker , Commodore Sir
Peter Parker, who commanded eleven heavily
armed warships to attack Ford Sullivan.
Parker's plan was for a two pronged attack.
The warships would attack Fort Sullivan head on,
while British General Henry Clinton's army
would lead an amphibious attack from the rear.
The British warships lobbed volley after volley of
cannon fire at Fort Sullivan, but, to everyone's
surprise, the cannonballs either harmlessly bounced
off or became embedded in the palmetto fort's walls -
an unexpected advantage afforded by the palmetto
logs' spongy composition! This advantage enabled
the artillerymen inside the fort to take more
time to precisely aim their cannons, dealing
devastating damage to the enemy warships.
In the height of the battle, a cannonball
knocked the fort's regimental colors down
onto the beach below. Not caring for his own
safety, Sergeant William Jasper boldly jumped down
onto the beach and retrieved the flag,
Jasper improvising a makeshift flag staff using
a canon sponger, hoisted the Moultrie flag back up
onto the fort. Sergeant Jasper's
courageous act rallied the Patriots together and
forever cemented him as a hero in South Carolina's
history. As the sun set that June
the 28th, the British were forced to
retreat away from Fort Sullivan.
Overconfidence, poor intelligence of the
island's geography and heavy casualties spelled
doom for this attempt to take Charleston.
The battle was a miraculous and decisive victory for
the Patriots in the early years of the
American Revolution.
This win spurned a major
morale boost for patriot rebels all over; for it
showed that putting up a fight against Great
Britain was indeed possible. Both Colonel
Moultrie and Sergeant Jasper received
commendations for their actions during the battle.
Shortly after the battle, Colonel Moultrie was
promoted to Brigadier General. And in his honor
Fort Sullivan was renamed Fort Moultrie.
News of the patriot victory at the Battle of
Sullivan’s Island soon spread throughout the
colonies. In the following months after the battle,
most of the fighting in the Revolution shifted
north. Between 1776 and 1780
times in Charleston were
relatively peaceful. During this period,
Charlestonians had time to reflect on the
victory, and decided that it should not be forgotten.
The following year in May
1777, the Palmetto Society was
founded, which sought to honor the signal and
providential victory obtained by our gallant
troops over the formidable Fleet and Army
of Great Britain, at Sullivan's island.
The Palmetto Society announced its intention
to host a civic feast on June the 28th
1777, anyone who wanted to
celebrate this anniversary was welcome to attend.
And what a celebration it was, in
Charleston there were cannons firing, parades,
flags waving and copious amounts of feasting and
drinking. People all across South
Carolina raised their glasses to Sergeant
Jasper and to General Moultrie.
These festivities set the standard for how Carolina
Day would be celebrated today. However, in those
days the South Carolina holiday did not yet have
a name. It was simply known as the 28th
of June. Some people refer to this
day as Palmetto Day, but this was an unofficial
name more in reference to the Palmetto Society itself.
The earliest known record
of a newspaper referencing Palmetto Day
is from June 1847.
Now, let's fast forward to the 1860s.
The country was at the height of the Civil War
and South Carolinians were not in a festive
mood. However, it was during this period in
which the South Carolina state flag as we know it
today came to be. The earliest version of
the flag which flew over Fort Moultrie during the
battle was simply a white crescent on an indigo
background. Contrary to popular belief,
the crescent symbol is not actually a
moon. Rather, the crescent represents the silver
crescents worn on the caps of the First and
Second South Carolina regiments. And the blue is
in reference to the blue uniforms worn by the
Patriots. The Palmetto tree was
officially added in 1861 to
represent the Palmetto trees used in the fort's
original construction. There were other
variations of the South Carolina flag during the
Civil War, but none of them were ever officially recognized.
Following the Civil War,
the 28th of June celebrations slowly
returned into the mainstream.
In 1871, the Palmetto Guard Rifle Club and the
Sumter Rifle Club held a parade, and a shooting
competition at Mount Pleasant.
The African American Carolina Light Infantry
held similar events of their own.
1872 saw modest celebrations like
the year before, but in 1873,
Charlestonians celebrated a more robust
version of the holiday. For the first time in
history, newspapers coined the name Carolina Day, but
that name was not adopted right away. Throughout the
rest of the 19th century Palmetto Day and
Carolina Day were used interchangeably.
This goes on until about 1912 when
Palmetto Day for some mysterious reason, kind of
disappears, and the holiday has consistently
been referred to as Carolina Day ever since.
From the early 20th century to present day,
Carolina Day is commemorated with a
church service at St Michael's Church at the
corner of Broad and Meeting Streets in
Downtown Charleston. Following the service, the
Palmetto Society leads a parade.
(band music)
(music)
Wreaths are laid at the 1876
Defenders of Fort Moultrie monument, and the
remainder of the events include speeches, firing
cannons and band performances.
And the home of the brave.
The National Park Service hosts several days of
celebratory Carolina Day events of its own at
Fort Moultrie National Park, where visitors and
tourists gather to watch re-enactors recreate parts
of the historic battle.
South Carolina ETV had
the privilege of going down to Charleston to
witness some of these events, and to allow
people to reflect on what Carolina Day means to them.
Part of it's just the experience of being here
because it's a cool place.
And I come here two or times a year, just walking
around, seeing the Fort. But there's a special
day as you said. And I always find it amazing, years ago
before I ever got to South Carolina you see the Carolina
flag and the crescent moon and the palm.
I had no idea. It just seemed like a really
cool thing. And when you're up north,
you don't think of that as part of South Carolina,
when you find out the history about it.
So, it just kind of ties it together.
It's always good listening to these things.
I'm one of these guys that reads every historic marker.
So, I just can't pass one up.
So, just listening to this is always good.
This fort was an important turning point
within the Revolutionary War where they were able
to overcome the British. And if it turned out
differently, the entire extent of the war could
have had a different ending. So, it's a pretty major
turning point as far as overcoming the British
and what we thought at the time, they were
superior to soldiers here at Fort Moultrie.
You have to understand the world looked at the
Royal Navy as the most powerful military in the
world. And it wasn't as much as the British Army
wasn't bad, but the Royal Navy and these large warships
blows everything away. So, the fact that a very
small half completed fort, made out of palmetto, made
out of sand, being manned by only
300 men was able to repulse a full fleet of
warships. When you look at the ratio, there's only two or
three guns in the wall facing complete broad
side of a ship of the line, which had 25
to possibly 30, 24 pound guns,
like the ones you see behind me. So, the fact
that we could actually stop them and not just
stop them, cause a lot of damage.
One of the warships actually got.
Where Fort Sumter currently is other ships were so severely
damaged to include as the flagship was turning.
We got one last shot off and the ball actually went
to the rear of the commander's cabin and Admiral
Parker was wounded as all the wooden fragments and
splinters went by that literally as he said tore
his britches off. So, not only did he got a parting shot,
he got a real bad shot as he left. But the fact,
that a simple South Carolinian force could stand up to
the might to the royal Navy and win was impressive.
It gave a lot of hope to the county. So, if
they can do it, South Carolina could. Cause back then, we've
only had a few victories. We had Moor's Creek and of course
we had Bunker Hill. Yes, we held them but they drove
us off. This was a true, no kidding victory. We stood
up to the Royal Navy toe to toe, gun to gun. They were
forced to withdraw. It stopped the invasion and
bought us time here in South Carolina at least till
1780 where we tried again for round two.