| This is one of the oldest flag
designs still in use. Its basic design goes back to 1765 when
three white crescents were used on a blue flag by protesters against
the Stamp Act. Ten years later a flag with a single crescent,
or new moon, was hoisted in the Revolutionary war. Colonel William
Moultrie designed a flag for the South Carolina soldiers using
the blue color of their uniforms as the field and a silver crescent,
which the soldiers wore on the front of their caps. The Palmetto
tree was added to the flag later. When the people of Charleston
heard that the British planned to capture Sullivan's Island, Colonel
Moultrie and others, built a fort of Palmetto logs on the island.
When the warships came, the captain and his soldiers defeated
them, partly because the cannonballs that the ships fired could
not destroy the fort. Instead, they sank into the soft, tough
logs. This was the Battle of Fort Moultrie, fought on June 28,
1776. |
