Carolina Day: South Carolina's Fourth of July
By P.C. Graham
Society is an open-ended partnership between generations. The dead and the unborn are as much members of society as the living… —Edmond Burke
"Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island Near Charleston, June 28, 1776"
Color lithograph by Heppenmeimer & Maurer, NYC, 1875.
Shows Sergeant Jasper replacing the fallen 2nd South Carolina flag.
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Did you know that June 28th is an official holiday in the state of South Carolina? According to South Carolina's Code of Laws, 53-3-149,
June twenty-eighth of each year, the anniversary of the Battle of Fort Sullivan in 1776, is declared to be "Carolina Day" in South Carolina.
Formerly known as Palmetto Day or Sergeant Jasper's Day previous to 1875, this day marks one of the defining moments of our State and sets the tone for the major role South Carolina would play in the Colonial Rebellion against and subsequent secession from, the British government, although the holiday is largely unknown and rarely acknowledged outside of Charleston where it has been observed with some regularity since 1777, although its popularity waned during the mid-20th century.
Of course, South Carolina's role in the first American War for Independence has been downplayed, if not entirely effaced from so-called American History by New England, New York, and New South text books. It was not always so.
For over 100 years, South Carolina schools used William Gilmore Simms's The History of South Carolina as its text for teaching our children the history of their homeland.
The following passage is taken from the 1918 edition of the Simms's history, which was edited, revised and expanded by Mary Chevillette Simms Oliphant, Simms's Granddaughter. It recounts the story that gave rise to Carolina Day:
Arrival of the British Fleet. In May, 1776, expresses reached President Rutledge bringing the news that a British fleet under Sir Peter Parker, with a large land force under Sir Henry Clinton on board, was off Dewees Island, about twenty miles north of Charles Town bar. It was now known that the first attack upon the English provinces in America was to be against the newly made State of South Carolina. There was great excitement in Charles Town at the prospect of the attack. General Charles Lee, third in rank of the general officers of the American forces, arrived to take charge of the Southern department. President Rutledge ordered out the militia of the State, an alarm was fired and the fortifications of the city were strengthened. All the citizens went to work with enthusiasm. Works were thrown up, traverses erected across the streets, weights were taken from the windows of the houses to be cast into musket balls and the public records and the printing presses were moved out of town.
Fort on Sullivan's Island. In January, 1776, work had been commenced upon a fort on Sullivan's Island. This fort was not completed at the arrival of the British fleet. It was placed under the command of Colonel William Moultrie, commanding the 2nd South Carolina regiment. The fort was a square large enough to hold, when finished, 1,000 men. It was built of palmetto logs laid one upon the other. There were two parallel rows of these logs and the space between was filled with sand. The rear of the fort and the eastern side were unfinished. General Lee disapproved of any attempt to defend this island and wanted to withdraw the troops for the defense of the city. President Rutledge indignantly refused to consent to the abandonment of the island. General Lee, however, withdrew a number of the troops from this fort and also removed a quantity of powder. Defenses of the Inlet Between the Islands. Sullivan's Island and Long Island (now called Isle of Palms) are separated by an inlet called Breach Inlet. The fleet landed Sir Henry Clinton and his land force on Long Island with the purpose of crossing the inlet and attacking the fort on Sullivan's Island by land at the same time of the attack by the fleet from the sea. Sir Henry Clinton landed on Long Island on June 8th, and threw up works on the Long Island side of the inlet. The South Carolinians threw up works on the Sullivan's Island side, which were manned by a force of 780 troops under the command of Colonel William Thomson. These were to resist the land force of 2,200 men. The fleet consisted of eleven ships.
The Attack on the Fort. On the 28th of June, 1776, the British ships bore down upon Sullivan's Island and the Thunder, bombship of the British, began to throw shells upon the fort. When the fleet arrived within easy range of the fort the garrison opened fire. The leading ship, the Active, came on, however, regardless of the fire. The other ships followed and anchored in two parallel lines and a heavy bombardment of the fort was commenced. Several shells from the Thunder fell inside the fort but were buried in the sand.
As soon as the fleet commenced the bombardment of the fort Sir Henry Clinton made an attempt to cross Breach Inlet to aid in the attack. He had an armed schooner and a sloop and a flotilla of armed boats to support the troops while crossing. The flotilla advanced, but Colonel Thomson's little force, with but two cannon, manned by men who had never fired a gun larger than a rifle, opened up a fire that raked the decks so that the men could not be kept at their posts and the flotilla turned back. The troops who were to wade the inlet at low tide were likewise driven back and subsequently offered the excuse that the tide had risen too high for them to cross.
Victory for the South Carolinians. About midday, the boats of the second line of the British fleet were ordered to pass the fort and commence an attack upon the rear side of the fort. This would have meant disaster, for, it will be remembered, this side had not been completed. Fortunately, the ships stuck upon a shoal in carrying out this manouvre. Two of the ships got off the shoal and withdrew, but the third stuck fast. The garrison of the fort directed their fire against the two largest ships of the fleet. On one of these ships was Lord William Campbell, the late royal governor of South Carolina, and Sir Peter Parker. Twice the quarter-deck was cleared of every person except Sir Peter Parker. Lord William Campbell was wounded. So great was the slaughter from the unerring fire of the garrison that at one time it was thought that the two ships would be entirely destroyed and they had decided to abandon these ships when the fire from the fort ceased.
The fire ceased because of the lack of powder. General Lee had withdrawn a part of the ammunition from the fort and it was thought that in the face of victory the defense would have to be abandoned. President Rutledge, however, succeeded in getting the necessary powder to the garrison and the defense was resumed.
Colonel William Moultrie, the Brave Defender of the Port on Sullivan's Island, Which Was Named in His Honor.
Some time thereafter, the flagstaff of the fort was shot away, the flag falling outside the fort. Upon this Sergeant William Jasper, of the Second regiment, leaped over the ramparts amidst heavy firing from the fleet, and, tearing the flag from the staff, returned with it. He fastened it upon a sponge staff, amidst a storm of shot and shell, and fixed it over the fort. After giving three cheers he returned to his gun unharmed.
The day ended with victory for the South Carolinians. About nine o'clock, the fire from the fleet ceased and a little later the ships slipped their cables and retired.
The total number killed in the fort was twelve and the wounded twenty-five. In the fleet we find that the two captains of the fifty-gun ships were mortally wounded, and nearly a hundred men on each ship killed. The loss of the fleet was slightly less than six to one over that of the fort. The fort, it is interesting to note, had used only 4,766 pounds of powder, while the fleet had used about 34,000 pounds.
Two days after the battle, General Lee visited the fort and thanked the garrison for their heroic defense. President Rutledge visited the garrison, also, and, taking his own sword from his side, presented it to Sergeant Jasper for his bravery in planting the flag. In honor of Colonel Moultrie, the brave defender of the fort, that structure was named Fort Moultrie.
The battle of Fort Moultrie ranks with the most decisive victories of the Revolution. The fact that the invincible British fleet had been defeated by untrained men in a little fort built of sand and palmetto logs gave a great moral impetus to the cause. Many who before had been lukewarm in their enthusiasm for independence, were now encouraged to enter whole-heartedly into preparation for the defense of the State. John Rut- ledge, as President of the State, had approved of manning the fort in spite of the objections of the experienced general of the American forces, Charles Lee, and Carolinians had by themselves fought the battle and won the victory. The glory of Fort Moultrie is due entirely to the valor of her own sons. By this victory the Southern expedition of the British fleet was brought to naught and war was kept from South Carolina for nearly three years. (Simms's original, unedited account can be found HERE on page 201)
Reclaiming this holiday and the history it celebrates brings us one step closer to reclaiming our history as South Carolinians by reclaiming our unique contributions to the one American conflict against a tyranny that remains, for the most part, untainted by political correctness and social Marxism.
More than any other event in her history, it was this conflict that provided the historical context and moral justification for the people of South Carolina's bid for independence from the American Union on December 20, 1860. The War for Southern Independence (1861-1865) is incomprehensible if we do not understand our Confederate ancestors understanding of themselves and their links to the war of secession from Great Britain.
Until we reclaim the first American Revolution, our people will never embrace our Second American Revolution. This is especially true given the purposefully inflicted falsehoods hoisted upon our children which cause them to wince and drop their heads in shame by teaching them that their Confederate ancestors were racist traitors who tried to break up the most magnificent country in the history of the world. This absurdity would not be possible if the conflict was viewed in the larger context of South Carolina history.
When our people begin to take pride in themselves by reclaiming the history of 1776, it is only a short walk until they find that their bid for independence in 1860 was an honorable cause as well and that the war against the Southern cause—its history and its symbols—is a direct assault on our ancient liberties.
Celebrating Carolina Day is a good, positive move in creating a sense of cultural pride for all South Carolinians and we need it! The League and other liberty loving organization should find ways to celebrate and promote this state holiday and use it as a vehicle to encourage families to teach their children the true history of their native land and inculcate a love of liberty, a necessary precondition for the reclamation and preservation of a free society.
After so many years of subjugation and humiliation, we need to learn to love ourselves again, hold our heads high, and claim our rightful place of leadership among the several states of the union and the world at large. Celebrating Carolina Day and recounting the heroic deeds of South Carolina patriots in their bid for independence is one of many ways we can begin to start the healing so desperately needed in our homeland if we are to remain a sovereign and free people.
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