Fort Moultrie & the Palmetto on the State Flag
The 1776 defense of Sullivan’s Island helped inspire South Carolina’s palmetto symbol.
During the Revolutionary War, American forces on Sullivan’s Island defended a palmetto-log fort against a British fleet in 1776. The fort’s spongy palmetto logs absorbed cannon fire—an episode later commemorated by the palmetto tree on the South Carolina flag. The works became known as Fort Moultrie.
Researchers tracking militia service, naval stores, or Lowcountry planter families should consult Revolutionary War pension files, early plats, and Charleston notarial/probate material.