The Moultrie Flag , also known as the Liberty Flag , was a flag flown in the American Revolutionary War .
47-480: The Liberty flag was designed, by commission, in 1775 by Colonel William Moultrie , to prepare for war with Great Britain. It was flown by his troops in the successful defense of Sullivan's Island against the British fleet on June 28, 1776. Fighting back during a ten-hour bombardment and siege, Moultrie's forces (primarily the 2nd South Carolina Regiment ) eventually led the British to withdraw, saving Charleston for
94-740: A South Carolina officer of the Revolutionary War. Battery Logan was named for Captain William Logan, killed fighting the Nez Perce in 1877. Battery Bingham was named for 2nd Lieutenant Horatio Bingham, killed fighting the Sioux in 1866. Battery McCorkle was named for 1st Lieutenant Henry McCorkle of the 25th US Infantry Regiment , killed in the Battle of El Caney in the Spanish–American War. Battery Lord
141-410: A forcewide partial disarmament of the coast defense system. Battery Bingham's two 4.7-inch Armstrong guns and Battery McCorkle's three 3-inch M1898 guns were removed in 1919–20 as part of a general removal from service of some gun types. Eight of Battery Capron-Butler's mortars were removed and the remaining eight replaced with M1890 mortars on M1896 carriages in 1920. The removal of half the mortars
188-614: A pair of 12-inch guns at Fort Sumter. Forts Moultrie and Sumter constituted the Coast Defenses of Charleston , as the Charleston Coast Artillery District was designated in 1913. Battery Capron was named for Captain Allyn K. Capron of the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry, the famous " Rough Riders ", who was the first US Army officer killed in the Spanish–American War. Battery Butler was named for Colonel Pierce M. Butler of
235-551: A pivotal defense point until supplanted by Fort Sumter . Fort Moultrie was used as an active post of the United States Army from 1798 until the end of World War Two. Moultrie County, Illinois is also named in his honor. Ochlockoney, Georgia was renamed in 1859 as Moultrie when it was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly. During his notable defense of the fort in 1776, a flag of Moultrie's own design
282-615: A resolution thanking Moultrie. He was promoted to brigadier general and his regiment was taken into the Continental Army . Moultrie successfully led a repulse of the British at Port Royal in February 1779. That spring when Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln took the bulk of the American force towards Augusta, Georgia, Moultrie was stationed at Black Swamp with a small contingent to watch the British on
329-478: A rubble pile and pounded Fort Moultrie below a sand hill, which protected it against further bombardment. The rifled cannon proved its superiority to brickwork fortifications but not to the endurance of the Confederate artillerymen who continued to man Fort Moultrie. In February 1865, as General Sherman marched through South Carolina, the Confederate soldiers finally abandoned the rubble of Fort Moultrie and evacuated
376-442: Is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina , built to protect the city of Charleston , South Carolina . The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan , built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and nickname of South Carolina , as "The Palmetto State". The fort was renamed for the U.S. patriot commander in the Battle of Sullivan's Island , General William Moultrie . During British occupation, in 1780–1782,
423-703: The America the Beautiful quarter for South Carolina featured Fort Moultrie. In 1999, the construction of a 38-foot (12 m) tall private home next to the fort that blocked the sightline to Fort Sumter led to a successful campaign to eliminate the problem. The American Battlefield Trust , then known as the Civil War Preservation Trust, was assisted by the National Park Service, the Trust for Public Land, and
470-486: The American Revolution , he was elected to the colonial assembly representing St. Helena Parish. In 1775, Moultrie was commissioned as colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment of provincial troops. In 1776, Moultrie's defense of a small fort on Sullivan's Island (later named Fort Moultrie in his honor) prevented Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker from taking Charleston. The Continental Congress passed
517-541: The Palmetto Regiment , killed in the Battle of Churubusco in the 1847 Mexican–American War . Battery Jasper was named for Sergeant William Jasper of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, a hero of the 1776 attack on the fort. Battery Thomson was named for Colonel William Thomson of the 3rd South Carolina Regiment, commended for defending Charleston in June 1776. Battery Gadsden was named for Brigadier General Christopher Gadsden ,
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#1732858544113564-469: The state's own flag . The fort was renamed Fort Moultrie , and the flag is sometimes referred to as the Fort Moultrie Flag . It is occasionally rendered with the word liberty separately in white, along the lower center of the flag. In addition to being the basis for South Carolina's flag , it is the flag of Moultrie County, Illinois . The flag was featured on a 1968 US stamp . The reraising of
611-509: The 263rd Coast Artillery Regiment of the South Carolina National Guard . The Marshall Military Reservation, a sub-post of Fort Moultrie, was established in the northeast part of Sullivan's Island to accommodate the new batteries. The batteries built during World War II at and near Fort Moultrie were: Additionally, a battery of two 16-inch guns designated BCN 125 was proposed for James Island , south of Charleston Harbor, but
658-559: The Patriot cause. During the battle, the flag was shot away, but Sergeant William Jasper ran out in the open and hoisted it again, rallying the troops until a new stand could be provided. The story of this event, along with the pivotal role of the battle itself, earned the flag the affection of the Patriot faction in South Carolina, as well as cementing it as a symbol of liberty in the South, and
705-582: The Patriots won the war, and British troops departed in 1782, at which time the flag was presented in Charleston, by General Nathanael Greene , commander of the southern Regulars. Great Britain and France began another war in 1793, heightening tensions. The United States of America thence embarked on a significant fortification program for important harbors, later called the First System of fortifications . Atop
752-587: The Second System fort was demolished to make room for batteries Bingham, McCorkle, and Lord. The fort also had a mine casemate to control a naval minefield. In 1901 Coast Artillery units were designated from heavy artillery units, and in 1907 the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps was formed to garrison the new coast defenses. The Endicott Program batteries at Fort Moultrie were: Battery Capron, with sixteen 12-inch mortars,
799-586: The beginning of the American Revolutionary War . The soft palmetto logs did not crack under bombardment but rather absorbed the shot; cannonballs reportedly even bounced off the walls of the structure. William Moultrie , commander of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, and his four hundred men fought a day-long battle that ended with Parker's heavily damaged fleet being driven from the area. The fort hence took its name, as Fort Moultrie, in his honor. Charleston locals celebrate " Carolina Day " to commemorate
846-551: The bravery of the defenders of the fort. During this battle, Moultrie flew a flag of his own design, authorized by the colonial government. It was later called the Moultrie flag , or Liberty flag, and became iconic to the Revolution in the South. The British eventually captured Fort Moultrie, as part of the Siege of Charleston in spring 1780, and renamed it as Fort Arbuthnot. Nevertheless,
893-497: The city of Charleston. The U.S. Army modernized Fort Moultrie in the 1870s with new weapons and deep concrete bunkers. Weapons of this period included 15-inch and 10-inch Rodman guns (380 and 250 mm), which were smoothbores , and 8-inch converted rifles , lined down from 10-inch Rodmans. Beginning in 1897, Fort Moultrie's armament was modernized under the large-scale Endicott Program of coast defenses. Eight new reinforced-concrete batteries were completed by 1906, and part of
940-404: The crescent a " gorget " (or officer's symbol worn about the neck), there is no primary evidence to support the notion that Moultrie designed the flag with a gorget in mind. Moultrie's own writings and those of his contemporaries always refer to the symbol as a "crescent." Iconic to the state of South Carolina as a symbol of freedom and the Revolution, eventually this was used as the foundation for
987-713: The decayed original Fort Moultrie, the Army completed a new fort in 1798; the Army also built nineteen other new forts along the Atlantic coast. The fort was garrisoned by Captain Jonathan Robeson's company of the Regiment of Artillerists in 1802. However, after years of neglect, the Antigua–Charleston hurricane destroyed Fort Moultrie in 1804. Fort Moultrie was rebuilt as part of the Second System of fortifications in 1808–09, under
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#17328585441131034-737: The direction of Army engineer Alexander Macomb . A report by the Secretary of War , on fortifications in December 1811, describes Fort Moultrie as: Fort Moultrie's main design did not change much over the next five decades. The Army altered the parapet and modernized the armament, but defense of Charleston centered increasingly around newly created Fort Sumter . By the time of the American Civil War , Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, Fort Johnson, and Castle Pinckney surrounded and defended Charleston. Fort Moultrie began to record meteorological observations in
1081-519: The early 1820s. For fifty years the Army detained Native American prisoners at Fort Moultrie. Seminole Indian fighter Osceola and some fellow Seminoles were captured in late 1837 and transferred to the fort. Osceola died of malaria in January 1838; the Army buried his corpse at the front gate of Fort Moultrie and thereafter maintained his grave. In the months leading up to the Civil War, John L. Gardner
1128-452: The first election of President Abraham Lincoln. Around this time a Federal garrison from the 1st US Artillery was sent to Fort Moultrie. Unlike the state militia at the other forts, the U.S. Regular Army defenders of Fort Moultrie chose not to surrender to the South Carolina forces. On December 26, 1860, Union Major Robert Anderson moved his garrison from Fort Moultrie to the stronger Fort Sumter . On February 8, 1861, South Carolina joined
1175-468: The five other seceded Deep Southern states to form the Confederate States of America . In April 1861, Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter into submission, and the American Civil War began. In April 1863, Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a bombardment of Fort Moultrie and the other forts around Charleston harbor. Over the ensuing twenty months, Union bombardment reduced Fort Sumter to
1222-634: The flag was commemorated on the South Carolina quarter of the America the Beautiful quarters . The flag is flown by the USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) to honor the ship's namesake Paul Hamilton , a South Carolinian who was a Revolutionary War soldier, the United States’ third Secretary of the Navy, and the 42nd governor of South Carolina. William Moultrie William Moultrie ( / ˈ m uː l t r iː / ; November 23, 1730 – September 27, 1805)
1269-475: The fort as a tour backward in time from its defenses from World War II to the original palmetto log fort constructed by William Moultrie. The preserved Harbor Entrance Control Post and BCN 520 (now a private residence) are the main relics of the World War II era. The National Register of Historic Places listed Fort Moultrie Quartermaster and Support Facilities Historic District on September 6, 2007. In 2016,
1316-416: The fort was known as Fort Arbuthnot . Col. Moultrie took command of Sullivan's Island on March 2, 1776, which included a garrison of 413 men of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment of Infantry and 22 men of the 4th South Carolina Regiment, artillery. The island included a fort, still under construction at the southern tip, which was being supervised by Capt. De Brahm. The square design, with corner bastions ,
1363-461: The fort, mostly equipped with weapons purchased from the United Kingdom. In 1901 Battery McCorkle was added to defend the minefield against minesweepers with three 3-inch guns on retractable masking parapet carriages. In 1905 Battery Lord was added with two 3-inch guns, and in 1906 Battery Gadsden provided four 6-inch rapid-fire disappearing guns. These batteries were supplemented in 1899 by
1410-738: The fort. Records show the guns arrived in France, but a history of the Coast Artillery in World War I states that none of the regiments in France equipped with 6-inch guns completed training in time to see action before the Armistice . Two of Battery Jasper's four 10-inch guns were similarly removed in 1918 for potential use as railway guns ; they were never returned to the fort but were replaced with guns from Fort Washington in 1919. Following World War I there were several changes at Fort Moultrie as part of
1457-623: The hands of the legislature and prohibited governors from serving two terms in succession.) William Moultrie was born in Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina . His parents were the Scottish physician Dr. John Moultrie and Lucretia Cooper, and he acquired a slave plantation , enslaving over 200 African Americans . Moultrie fought in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1761). Before the advent of
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1504-601: The last time and ended 171 years of service. After the war, due to changes in military technology, including submarines and nuclear weapons, seacoast defense of the United States ceased to be a viable strategy. In 1960, the Department of Defense transferred Fort Moultrie to the National Park Service . NPS manages the historic fort as a unit of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park . NPS has interpreted
1551-512: The new confederacy in general. It therefore became the standard of the South Carolina Patriot militia, and when the war ended with the liberation of Charleston, on December 14, 1782, it was presented by General Nathanael Greene 's "Southern Continental & Militia Army," as the first American flag to be displayed in the South. The symbol in the top left corner of the flag is a crescent. While some popular legends have emerged that call
1598-751: The other side of the Savannah River. When the British suddenly crossed the Savannah en masse and tried to move on Charleston, Moultrie managed a skillful tactical retreat across the Coosawhatchie and the Tullifiny Rivers and all the way back to Charleston where he held off a short siege. He refused to surrender at a time when the civilian authorities in Charleston felt somewhat abandoned by the Continental Congress and were almost ready to give up. Moultrie
1645-506: The word "Liberty" on it. A total of 31 guns commanded the approach from Five Fathom Hole offshore, past the island and the Middle Ground shoal , before ships could enter the harbor. South Carolina patriots began to build a fort to guard Charleston, South Carolina , harbor in 1776. Royal Navy Admiral Sir Peter Parker led a fleet of nine warships in an attack against the fort —known as Fort Sullivan and incomplete—on June 28, 1776, near
1692-565: Was a forcewide measure to increase the rate of fire by reducing overcrowding of mortar pits during reloading. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the Fall of France in 1940, a comprehensive upgrade of US coastal fortifications was implemented. In the early part of the war the Harbor Defenses of Charleston were garrisoned by the 13th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Regular Army and
1739-473: Was an American slaveowning planter and politician who became a general in the American Revolutionary War . As colonel leading a state militia, in 1776 he prevented the British from taking Charleston , and Fort Moultrie was named in his honor. After independence, Moultrie advanced as a politician; he was elected by the legislature twice within a decade as Governor of South Carolina (1785–1787, 1792–1794), serving two terms. (The state constitution kept power in
1786-466: Was captured when Charleston surrendered to the British in 1780. He was left in command of the American POWs which required all of the patience and skill of a diplomat when advocating for his men against the harsh British commandant, Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour . The British also attempted to lure him to their side, and he was absolutely indignant when he was approached by Charles Greville Montague . Moultrie
1833-408: Was exchanged for British prisoners in 1782. The same year, he was promoted to major general , the last man appointed by Congress to that rank. After the war he was elected by the new state legislature as 35th Governor of South Carolina (1785–1787). The state constitution prohibited men from serving two successive terms as governor, an effort to keep power in the hands of the legislature. Moultrie
1880-498: Was flown: a field of blue bearing a white crescent with the word LIBERTY on it. The flag was shot down during the fight. Sergeant William Jasper held it up to rally the troops, and the story became widely known. The flag became an icon of the Revolution in the South. It was called the Moultrie , or the Liberty Flag. The new state of South Carolina incorporated its design into its state flag . Fort Moultrie Fort Moultrie
1927-589: Was in command at Fort Moultrie. With secession growing more imminent, Gardner had made several requests to Secretary of War John B. Floyd for more troops to garrison and defend the undermanned fortress. Each time his requests were ignored, as Floyd (who joined the Confederacy) was planning to hand the forts in Charleston Harbor over to the secessionists. South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860, after
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1974-630: Was named for Assistant Surgeon George Edwin Lord , killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn , also called "Custer's Last Stand", in 1876. In 1904 Battery Logan's 6-inch Armstrong gun was removed and most likely transferred to Fort Adams . After the US entered World War I , Battery Gadsden's four 6-inch guns were removed for service on field carriages on the Western Front in 1917 and were never returned to
2021-451: Was never built. The unnamed battery of four 155 mm M1918 towed guns on concrete Panama mounts was established in 1941 to quickly augment Charleston's harbor defenses. The construction of the long-range BCN 520 with 12-inch guns rendered all previous gun defenses in the Charleston area obsolete. BCN 520 was armed with guns removed from Battery Kimble at Fort Travis , Galveston, Texas . Almost all of Fort Moultrie's previous armament
2068-634: Was re-elected by the legislature in 1792, serving into 1794. William Moultrie was the first president of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina and served in that capacity until his death. In 1802 he published his Memoirs of the Revolution as far as it Related to the States of North and South Carolina. After the war, the fort he had defended was renamed Fort Moultrie in his honor. It operated as
2115-414: Was scrapped in 1942, except Battery Thomson's pair of 10-inch guns and Battery Lord's pair of 3-inch guns. The two fixed emplacements of AMTB 2A were built on the former 10-inch Battery Jasper. A Harbor Entrance Control Post (HECP) to coordinate Army and Navy harbor defenses was established at the old fort and has been refurbished as an exhibit. On August 15, 1947, the Army lowered Fort Moultrie's flag for
2162-420: Was supposed to have parallel rows of palmetto logs 10 feet high (3.0 m), filled in with 16 feet of sand (4.9 m). However, by June 28, only the front (the southeast and southeast curtain walls and bastions) was complete. The northern portion of the fort was unfinished, standing at only 7 ft (2.1 m). Cavaliers were constructed along the rear walls. The blue flag on the southeast bastion had
2209-498: Was the largest component of the new defenses. In 1906 it was organizationally split into two batteries, Capron and Butler, each with eight mortars. Batteries Jasper and Thomson provided longer-range weapons with a total of six 10-inch disappearing guns . In April 1898 the Spanish–American War broke out, with Fort Moultrie's smaller, rapid-fire batteries still years from completion. Batteries Logan and Bingham were added to
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