In Conversation With Accession No.  WM–1730–2026
LIBERTY BATTLE OF FORT SULLIVAN Sullivan's Island, S.C. June 28, 1776 · 9 Hours · 9 Ships Col. Moultrie commanding · 435 men
Sullivan's Island  ·  June 28, 1776

Major General
William Moultrie
of South Carolina

1730  —  1805
Historical Archive  ·  Portrait Study
Major General William Moultrie
William Moultrie
Major General, Continental Army
Charleston, S.C., 1730  ·  Charleston, S.C., 1805

On June 28, 1776, Colonel William Moultrie held an unfinished fort made of palmetto logs against nine British warships for nine hours. The spongy palmetto absorbed British cannon fire rather than shattering. Charleston held. The South was saved from British occupation for four years.

He designed the blue flag with the white crescent that flew over the fort that day. It became the South Carolina state flag. He refused to defect while a prisoner of war despite considerable British inducement. Congress made him the last Major General it would appoint.

He is the man who held the line when it mattered most, and he remembers every detail of the nine hours that changed the war.

☽ Liberty ☽

Hear from
the Defender.

General Moultrie speaks from his own Memoirs of the American Revolution — the most vivid firsthand account of the battle written by the man who commanded it. He remembers the cannon counts, the palmetto logs absorbing shot, Sergeant Jasper retrieving the flag, and every exchange of the nine-hour fight.

Ask him about the battle, the flag, his years as a prisoner of war, his terms as Governor, or what he thinks of South Carolina in 2026.

He is a Lowcountry planter, a soldier, and a man of measured pride. He does not boast. He simply remembers what happened, with the specificity of a man who was there.

9 British warships in the attack
9 Hours of continuous bombardment
435 Patriots defending the fort
Battle of Fort Sullivan The SC Flag Palmetto Logs Sergeant Jasper Prisoner of War Continental Army Governor of SC The Revolution Charleston 1780 South Carolina 2026
FORT Bristol Experiment Active Solebay Syren Friendship Sphinx Actaeon Thunder N Sullivan's Island · Charleston Harbor June 28, 1776
Battle Plan  ·  Sullivan's Island, Charleston Harbor  ·  June 28, 1776
— ✦ —
"I thanked Governor Rutledge for the confidence he was pleased to repose in me, and told him I would answer for it with my life, that the fort should not be given up while I had a man able to stand to a gun."
— William Moultrie  ·  Memoirs of the American Revolution  ·  1802
Corpus Sources
Memoirs of the American Revolution · 1802 Battle of Fort Sullivan · June 28, 1776 SC Continental Army Records & Correspondence Governor's Papers · 1785–1794 Contemporary Accounts · Rutledge, Lee, Parker