The crescent moon and palm tree in a blue field fly across the state of Palmetto. So I kept thinking about the headline about a “new state flag” on the front page of the Post and Courier on December 29th.
The story is really about what eminent historians have recommended as our official state flag. The experts studied the history and determined, even the Pantone color, exactly how our flag should be.
Fat crescent? Skinny crescent? Horns up? Slanted horns?
Paragraph after paragraph in the article was dedicated to the fact that there is a moon in the upper left corner. But why no good explanation of the heart of palm tree, which reveals much more of South Carolina’s complicated history?
The article suggests that the crescent has been accompanied by its palm since the British destroyed the log and sand fort on Sullivan’s Island in 1776. Not quite.
The South Carolina Encyclopedia, edited by acclaimed historian Walter Edgar, describes the Moultrie flag in the general’s own words: “I had a big blue flag made with a half moon in the right corner.” Any kind of tree? No, not a single palm in sight.
In the 1840s, during our war with Mexico, a heart of palm appeared on a flag of the Palmetto Regiment. However, this is a flag for military unity, not a state flag.
Then came the 1860 Secession Convention in Charleston. A committee was created to “design a national flag for South Carolina”.
The winner? Design by Robert Barnwell Rhett Jr .. Adopted on January 28, 1861, “the National Flag or Ensign of South Carolina must be blue with a white palm tree in the vertical and a white crescent in the upper corner.”
Yes, as the newspaper article states, the palm tree honors the defeat of the British fleet on the eve of the American Revolution. But that is only part of the story.
The Secession Convention added the palm to make its declaration: the State of Palmetto defeated the British and now South Carolina will win its next war, this time against the Union.
Do I want the palm heart tree to be removed from our state flag because of its origin in the Civil War? Absolutely not. We have an attractive flag that tells a great story. But part of that story is to recognize the palm tree that came to our flag as a powerful declaration by the separatists at the beginning of the Civil War.
The story is complicated. What we don’t like to hear should not be forgotten, hidden or deliberately buried. No fake news here.
The primary source is available for everyone to read. And now you know how and why that tree jumped into our state’s flag. The separatists lost, but the palm remained.
Ruth M. Miller, a local historian, has been sharing Lowcountry as a licensed tour guide, teacher and speaker for over 40 years. His books include “Touring the Tombstones: Charleston’s 18th Century Graveyards”, “The Angel Oak Story” and, more recently, the highly illustrated “Slavery to Civil Rights: A Walking Tour of African-American Charleston.”