On September 13, 1775, Colonel William Moultrie raised a blue flag with a crescent over Fort Johnson on James Island in South Carolina. He had received an order to take the Fort and procure a flag. The blue color was similar to the garrison uniforms and the crescent was on their caps with the words “Liberty or Death.”
On June 28, 1776 during construction of a defensive log barrier on Sullivan Island in Charleston Harbor, they were attacked by a British fleet under Commodore Sir Peter Parker. During the 10 hour artillery attack, the flag fell outside upon the beach. Sgt. William Jasper walked out and reattached the flat to its staff. 1
The British fleet withdrew and the fort was renamed Fort Moultrie. The emblem that Sgt. Jasper raised had the word LIBERTY added to it. Some flags today have the word in white across the bottom of the field and some have it on the crescent. LIBERTY in blue is on the crescent of the flag Troop 7 has.
The Fort today is a National Historical Park. www.nps.gov/fosu/learn/historyculture/fort_moultrie.htm
The South Carolina State Flag is blue with the Sabal palmetto (state tree of South Carolina and Florida) in the center and a white crescent in the upper left corner.
- Hooper, Van B. Flags of America. ideals. 1961.
