** Moultrie, in his Memoirs, says, "As there was no national flag at the time, I was desired by the Council of Safety to have one made, upon which, as the state troops were clothed in blue, and the fort was garrisoned by the first and second regiments, who wore a silver crescent on the front of their caps, I had a large blue flag made, with a crescent in the dexter corner, to be in uniform with the troops. This was the first American flag displayed in the South."—Vol. i., p. 90.
Fortifications around Charleston.—Fort Moultrie.—Organization of Civil Government.—John Rutledge.
Colonel Moultrie soon afterward mounted some heavy cannons upon Haddrell's Point, and the troops in and around Charleston were orderedSept. 16, 1775 to hold themselves in readiness, for it was expected that the Tamar and Cherokee would, pursuant to Lord Campbell's menaces, open a fire upon the town or the forts. A magazine was built at Dorchester, and ten thousand pounds of powder were sent thither. A small fort was also erected upon the Cheraw Hills, on the Great Pedee, to give confidence to the Whigs in that region where Campbell's emissaries had been. In December, Moultrie, with a considerable force, took possession of Sullivan's Island and commenced the erection of a fascine battery.
This advantage, and a few long shots from Haddrell's Point (where a battery had been erected), caused the Tamar and Cherokee to leave the harbor. Lord Campbell, despairing of maintaining his power, sailed to Jamaica. It was during these events upon the sea-board in the course of the autumn of 1775 that the organization of the Tories in Ninety-Six and other portions of the upper country, already noticed, occurred.
Colonel Gadsden assumed command of all the troops in Charleston early in 1776, and the Council of Safety commissioned him a brigadier. Colonel Moultrie was orderedMarch, 1776 to build a strong fort upon Sullivan's Island, large enough to accommodate one thousand men, and to take the command there. * This measure was considered necessary, for certain intelligence had arrived that a fleet and army were preparing to assail Charleston, and a fort at the point designated would be a key to the harbor, with the aid of Fort Johnson. The civil government was revised; a temporary Constitution was formed ** (the first in the colonies); and the Legislature was called the General Assembly of South Carolina. It possessed all powers of supreme local government. John Rutledge *** was chosen president, with the actual powers of governor; and other executive officers, with a privy and a legislative council, were elected by the new Assembly. ****
* This fort was constructed of palmetto logs, in sections, and filled in with sand. The merlons were sixteen feet thick, and sufficiently high to cover the men from the fire that might be directed upon them from the tops of the British vessels. It was first called Fort Sullivan, being upon the island of that name, but was named Fort Moultrie, after its gallant defense by its commander, in June, 1776. When I visited its site (a portion of which is covered by the modern strong works of Fort Moultrie) in 1849, some of the palmetto logs were visible, imbedded in the sand. The annexed engraving shows the plan of the fort when attacked in June, 1776, before it was completed. The drawing of the fort in the text is from a large plan by an English engineer, who was attached to the British fleet.
** This Constitution was to remain in force until October of the same year.