 | |
| Liberty flag | |
| Proportion | 10:19 |
|---|---|
| Adopted | During theAmerican Revolution |
| Design | White crescent in top left, and the wordliberty, in dark blue |
TheMoultrie Flag, also known as theLiberty Flag, was a flag flown in theAmerican Revolutionary War. It features a blue field, a white crescent in the upper left hand side of the flag, and the word "Liberty" inscribed on the crescent.
The Liberty flag was designed, by commission, in 1775 by ColonelWilliam Moultrie, to prepare for war with Great Britain.
It was flown by his troops in the successfuldefense 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 the2nd South Carolina Regiment) eventually led the British to withdraw, savingCharleston for the Patriot cause.
During the battle, the flag was shot away, but SergeantWilliam 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,[1] as well as cementing it as a symbol of liberty in the South, and 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 GeneralNathanael Greene's "Southern Continental & Militia Army," as the first American flag to be displayed in the South.[2]
The symbol in the top left corner of the flag is a crescent. While some popular legends have emerged that call 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 thestate's own flag. The fort was renamedFort Moultrie,[3] and the flag is sometimes referred to as theFort Moultrie Flag. It is occasionally rendered with the wordliberty separately in white, along the lower center of the flag, while some paintings exclude the wording entirely.
In addition to being the basis forSouth Carolina's flag, it is the flag ofMoultrie County, Illinois.[4]
The flag was featured on a 1968US stamp. The reraising of the flag was commemorated on the South Carolina quarter of theAmerica the Beautiful quarters.
The flag is flown by theUSSPaul 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.[5]
![First flag raised over Fort Johnson, 1775[6]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aFirst_flag_of_Fort_Johnson%2c_South_Carolina_(1775).png)
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Media related toMoultrie Flag at Wikimedia Commons