Palmetto Imagery in the New Confederacy

ECW welcomes back guest author Walt Young.

South Carolina’s state flag is one of the most recognizable in our country. Its crescent, palmetto tree, and dark blue field suggest a moonlit night, but has roots going back to the founding of our country. A knowledgeable reader may know the significance of the palmetto tree: how a fort made of palmetto tree logs defended Charleston from British attack in 1776. But many readers may not know of the flag’s Civil War creation – and how the Confederacy’s failure influences today’s view of the flag.

The palmetto tree earned its place as a symbol during a Revolutionary War battle. At the beginning of 1776, militiamen under Col. William Moultrie began constructing a palmetto log fort on Sullivan’s Island, near the mouth of Charleston Harbor (overlapping the current site of Fort Moultrie). Their goal was to defend the patriot-controlled city from British Royal Navy warships.^[1]

Despite its unfinished state, the fort was put to the test on June 28, 1776, when nine Royal Navy vessels attacked to retake Charleston. The British entered the battle with a 9-to-1 artillery advantage, but failed to get past the fort. Three ships ran aground, and the fort held against intense fire. Palmetto wood was more durable than British oak-hulled vessels and absorbed the incoming fire unexpectedly well.^[2]

In the years after this victory, South Carolinians turned the palmetto tree into a symbol of resilience and victory. From the first anniversary of the battle onward, many Charlestonians celebrated. It remains a state holiday known as Carolina Day. The holiday was referred to as “Palmetto Day” in Charleston’s newspapers on the eve of the Civil War. In addition to the holiday, charitable societies, fire companies, and a militia group (the Palmetto Guard) all bore the name of the famous tree.^[3]

By the time South Carolina seceded from the United States in December 1860, the palmetto was a ready symbol for the state. For many white South Carolinians, the Palmetto symbol replaced the U.S. flag as the object of their allegiance. Variations of the tree appear repeatedly in pro-secession materials. In a banner flown during the secession convention, a palmetto tree appears surrounded by an arch of pro-slavery states and the crushed ruins of anti-slavery ones. On Morris Island, near the mouth of Charleston Harbor, militiamen under palmetto flags pointed cannons at U.S. soldiers under the Stars and Stripes.^[4]

In January 1861, the state’s legislature enacted into a law the state’s first official flag, bearing the same symbols we still see today. On top of a dark blue field, viewers see a crescent in the top left corner, a symbol used by Moultrie’s 2nd South Carolina Militia during the Revolution. The palmetto tree in the center represents the resilient logs of their fort.^[5]

When Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the Palmetto Guard, stationed on Morris Island, was an enthusiastic participant. When U.S. troops were forced to evacuate Fort Sumter on April 14, the Palmetto Guard’s flag, consisting of a green/brown tree and a red star, was raised above Fort Sumter. The Palmetto symbol had been fully integrated into the new Confederacy.^[6]

So why is the flag’s Confederate history not so remembered today? South Carolinians’ attempts to follow in the example of Moultrie’s militiamen ran into a hiccup several months later on the shores of Hilton Head Island.

In the aftermath of the firing on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln ordered a blockade of Confederate ports – part of the famous Anaconda Plan. To make this plan a reality, the U.S. required supply centers up and down the coast. An early target was Port Royal Sound, located between Charleston and Savannah and home to the town of Beaufort.^[7]

To defend this harbor, the Confederates needed fortifications. At the mouth of Port Royal Sound, two barrier islands – St. Helena and Hilton Head – form the first line of defense for any force looking to block entry. During the summer and fall, the Confederates ordered the building of Fort Beauregard on St. Helena and Fort Walker on Hilton Head. This work was mostly done by enslaved laborers.^[8]

Most accounts of Fort Walker describe it as a mostly earthen fort, a description corroborated by a photograph taken after the battle. However, one element of the fort had a local twist. Confederate Maj. Francis D. Lee, in charge of the design of Fort Walker, wrote the following: “The ditches on the water front not being protected by bastions, I arranged caponieres, constructed of palmetto logs, pierced for two tiers of musketry, approached by galleries leading under the parapets from the interior of the fort.”^[9]

The Confederates had to defend a hastily built fort, constructed at least partially of palmetto logs, to defend a strategically important South Carolina harbor. The palmetto symbol originated with a surprise victory in similar circumstances. On the eve of the battle, the fort would even bear a palmetto flag of its own, of a different design than the state flag. The “Fort Walker Flag,” flown in Charleston Harbor during the Fort Sumter standoff, bears a resemblance to the Stars and Stripes, but reverses the colors and replaces the stars of the anti-slavery states with two palmetto trees and a crescent.^[10]

With twenty cannon and 1,800 men defending Fort Walker, could the Confederacy replicate the palmetto logs’ victory? The answer was a resounding “no.” On November 7, 1861, seventeen warships under the command of Capt. Samuel Francis Du Pont sailed into Port Royal Sound. Focusing on Fort Walker as the primary target, the warships sailed in oval loops in front of the fort, allowing constant fire on the land position. Within five hours, the fort had been “severely crippled,” according to Brig. Gen. Thomas Sherman.^[11]

A three-volume history of Beaufort County specifically contrasts this battle with the Patriot victory at Sullivan’s Island, the origin of the palmetto symbol. In that battle, land cannon had been significantly more effective than naval weapons, and the stationary British ships under sail were “easy targets for land-based gunners.” However, the authors write, “with the advent of steam power, naval vessels were no longer at the mercy of wind and tide.” The U.S. ships’ maneuverability allowed them to use their superior firepower to its greatest extent, overpowering the fort. The local symbol had met its match.^[12]

Fort Walker’s flag was captured by the United States and would be stored in the U.S. Capitol building the following year. Its palmettos were replaced over the fort with a United States flag, one that now promised freedom to the African American residents of Hilton Head Island.^[13]

The palmetto tree adorns the flag of South Carolina to this day. As a symbol, it is still well-remembered, primarily for its Revolutionary significance. However, had its creators gotten their wish, it could have meant resistance to the United States — and resistance to Black freedom — as well. Within a year of the state flag’s creation, the battle of Port Royal Sound provides an excellent example of why that didn’t happen.

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Walt Young has loved learning about the Civil War since visiting Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on a childhood trip.  When not studying history, he enjoys hikes, mysteries, and Baltimore sports.

Endnotes:

[1] C.L. Bragg, Crescent Moon over Carolina. (University of South Carolina Press, 2013), 46-47; William Moultrie. Memoirs of the American Revolution: So Far as it Related to the States of North and South Carolina, and Georgia. (New York, 1802), 117-120.

[2] “Sullivan’s Island,” American Battlefield Trust, 2024.

[3] Nic Butler, “The Story of Carolina Day,” Charleston County Public Library, June 22, 2018; “Reported for the Mercury: 28th June 28, 1860,” Charleston Mercury, June 30, 1860; “A Card…” Charleston Mercury, Jan. 1, 1861.

[4] “History Unfurled,” Charleston Magazine, December 2010; “An Expressive Banner,” Charleston Daily Courier, December 21, 1860; “The Star of the West Affair,” Charleston Mercury, January 15, 1861.

[5] “Seals, Flags, House & Senate Emblems,” SC State House, 2024; “The Flag of South Carolina,” Charleston Mercury, February 2, 1861.

[6] “The Latest,” Charleston Mercury, April 15, 1861.

[7] Abraham Lincoln. “Proclamation 81 – Declaring a Blockade of Ports in Rebellious States,” April 19, 1861. The American Presidency Project.

[8] Lawrence S. Rowland, Alexander Moore and George Rogers, Jr. The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, (University of South Carolina Press, 1996), Vol. 1, 444-445.

[9] The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol 6, 19; Timothy H. O’Sullivan “Rear View of Fort Walker,” Library of Congress.

[10] W. Clifford Roberts, Jr. and Matthew A. M. Locke. Holding Charleston by the Bridle: Castle Pinckney and the Civil War. (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2024) 77-78; Image of the Fort Walker flag, courtesy of the SC Historical Society.

[11] Dwight Hughes. “Ships vs Forts 1861: Off to the Races,” Emerging Civil War, Feb. 25, 2022; OR, Ser. 1, Vol. 6, 3-4.

[12] Rowland, et al. The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Vol. 1, 451.

[13] Tom Elmore.  “The Flags that Flew Over Castle Pinckney: Research, Analysis, Findings, and Recommendations,” 14; Harpers’ Weekly, Mar. 8, 1862.