The today's flag of South Carolina was adopted on 28th of January in 1861 as a result of the withdrawal from the USA (20th of December in 1860). It is a blue flag with a silvery sabal palm in the centre and a silver crescent in the upper corner. The flag was confirmed in 1910 and 1940, but its appearance and colour were never precisely defined. To this day, standardisation is not officially desired and is repeatedly rejected by parliament and senators. The predecessors of the today's flag are also connected with South Carolina's secession from the USA. Even before the secession, in the course of 1860, the "South Carolina Sovereignty Flag" appeared, a red flag with a blue cross, a crescent and palm tree in silver in the upper corner and in whose bars were placed fifteen white stars, a reference to the fifteen southern states of the USA (including Maryland and Delaware). It is possible that this flag was the inspiration for the "Battle Flag" of the Confederate States of America (CSA) used from 1861. The first official state flag was adopted on 26th of January in 1861 (more than a month after the secession from the USA). It showed (similar to the today's model) a blue bunting with a crescent in the upper corner, but a white high oval with a golden palm was placed in the centre. It only flew for two days ("2-day flag"), as the current flag was introduced on 28th of January in 1861. TThe crescent was placed in the top corner of a blue flag, with the inscription "Liberty" inside the moon, by Colonel Moultrie in 1775, during the War of Independence against United Kingdom (1775–1783), on the occasion of the capture of Fort Johnson. His troops wore blue uniforms and crescent moons on their caps. Allegedly, however, this did not originally mean a crescent, but a silver ruff, which was worn on a chain around the neck as part of old uniforms. This also explains the inscription better, as a moon with an inscription is very, very unusual. The palm tree also appears on the state seal of South Carolina. It also dates back to the War of Independence against United Kingdom. The palm tree became the symbol of freedom, indeed the symbol of the state of South Carolina in general, because Colonel Moultrie's troops succeeded in victoriously defending Fort Charleston on Sullivan Island, which was built entirely from palm trunks, against an attack by the British fleet in 1776.
about 8000 B.C. · settlement by Indians (Cherokee, Tuscarora, Muskogee, Cheraw, Tutelo, Catawba, Cherokee, Algonquin)
1497 · the Spanish navigator Sebastiano Caboto discoveres the coast
1524 · the Spanish navigator Giovanni da Verrazano lands on the coast
1526 · founding of the Spanish settlement San Miguel de Gualdape (today's Myrtle Beach)
1540 · the Spanish sailor and explorer Hernando de Soto explores the Savannah River
1562–1563 · French settlement Charlesfort at Port Royal Sound, destroyed by Spanish troops
1584–1586 · the English sailor and adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh receives by Queen Elizabeth I. the permission to found a colony at the coast of America
1585 · first attempt to establish a British settlement on the coast by Sir Walter Raleigh
1587–1590 · second attempt to establish a British settlement on Roanoke Island, "Lost Colony"
30th of September 1629 · the land is granted as a New Carolana to Robert Heath by King Charles I., no colonial activities
1660 · establishing of a settlement by New Englanders in the vicinity of the Cape Fear River
1662 · the governor of Virginia founds Southern Plantation
1663 · Charles II., King of England, gives the land to Lord Clarendon and seven other nobles (Lord Proprietors) as Province of Albemarle
1665 · establishment of Carolina as a separate colony (today's North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and parts of Florida)
1669 · founding of the capital, Charles Town (Charleston)
1710 · differences on the form of government and administration lead to dividing the country into North and South Carolina
1714 · the English king recognizes the division
1729 · the rights of the colony become returned by the Lords Proprietors for 17.500 pounds sterling to the British Crown, Carolina will be officially divided, South Carolina becomes a separate Crown Colony
1775–1783 · War of Independence of the colonies against United Kingdom, Charleston is from 1780 to 1782 occupied by British troops
15th of March 1776 · South Carolina declares itself as the first colony to be independent from United Kingdom
26th of March 1776 · proclamation of the constitution of the state of South Carolina
4th of July 1776 · declaration of Independence (of the USA), South Carolina is one of 13 founding colonies
20th of December 1860 · South Carolina announces its resignation from the USA (a by the constitution guaranteed fundamental right)
12th to 14th April 1861 · "bombardment" of Fort Sumter (the crew refused to hand over the fort to the CSA, the fort was shelled by troops of the CSA, there are only slight injuries, the crew surrendered after there were agreed 100 rounds honorary salute to the flag of the United States, the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln introduces the mobilization, followed by the call to the Forces of the United States to attack South Carolina)
1861–1865 · civil war: the coast near Port Royal will be occupied from 1862 by US-troops, the country becomes plundered and devastated by murdering and pillaging troops of the US-General Sherman in 1865
9th of April in 1865 · General Lee surrenders at Appomattox (Virginia) as commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the other CSA Armies capitulate gradually until July 1865
1865–1877 · "reconstruction", forced return of the CSA states in the USA
25th of June 1868 · reentry into the United States
On March 15th in 1776, South Carolina declared itself as the first colony to be independent from Great Britain, and on March 26th in 1776, the congress of South Carolina proclaimed the new constitution of the independent state of South Carolina. In this short period of time, the congress of South Carolina elected J. Rutledge for president of the country. The designation was changed to "governor" after the founding of the USA because the term "president" was reserved for the head of the USA. The colonies first declared themselves individually independent of the United Kingdom and then individually for sovereign, and then, on July th in 1776 collectively as the "United States of America". Just as from 1860, when thirteen states left the USA individually, each afterwards, and only then, after a short time, joined together in a new confederation, the Confederate States of America. The "South Carolina Sovereignty Flag" does not have thirteen, but fifteen stars, the southern slave states of Maryland and Delaware had been also represented. Obviously this was the very first flag that showed the crescent moon and palmetto tree together.
The name "Carolina" (initially also Carolana) was given to the country by Sir Robert Heath in honour of the English King Charles I in 1619, from the Latin form of the name, namely "Carolus". In 1710, the country was divided into North Carolina and South Carolina. According to other sources, the French introduced the name to the country around 1562 when they named it in honour of their king Charles IX (Charles). Charles I, King of England, liked the name and adopted it for the new English colony in 1629.
