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143-year-old flag returns to Charleston
Secession banner sent from Massachusetts
BY ROBERT BEHRE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
One hundred forty-three years after it flew over Castle Pinckney, a large and unique secession banner has come home to Charleston.
Eric Emerson, director of the S.C. Historical Society, said the banner, which is displayed inside the society's Fireproof Building, appears to be one of a kind.
"No one has seen another flag that looks like this," he said.
The flag first flew Feb. 1, 1861, over Castle Pinckney, according to a newspaper account of the time. This was several weeks after South Carolina seceded but two months before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.
Maj. John H.A. Wagener then brought the flag with him when he was transferred to Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island, Emerson said.
That November, U.S. Naval forces under Adm. Samuel DuPont captured the flag, which later was displayed inside the U.S. Capitol on George Washington's birthday.
"We know that from a Harper's Weekly illustration that shows it," Emerson said.
Several years later, a Navy official donated the flag to the Massachusetts Historical Society, which kept it until last year.
That society didn't display the flag and agreed to send it somewhere that would, director William Fowler said. The society also sent other Confederate flags to museums in Georgia and Maryland.
"These are flags, icons, historical reminders that ought to be shared. They're American treasures, and Americans ought to see them," Fowler said. "We have a warm feeling knowing we did the right thing and knowing how much it will be appreciated."
The flag sent to Charleston was appraised at $175,000.
It cost the society $31,000 to have it specially cleaned by a Maryland textile conservator and mounted for display.
The 11-foot by 13-foot flag originally measured about 11 feet by 20 feet, but part of it was cut off, possibly by Union sailors seeking a souvenir swatch.
Emerson said Hugh Vincent, who sold ship supplies at 75 East Bay St., might have produced the flag, and its 15 blue and white stripes and 15 stars most likely represent the 15 Southern or slave states. (At the time, only seven states had joined the Confederacy; at its peak only 13 did).
The flag's two palmettos are a state symbol that possibly reflected the thinking of some South Carolinians that this would be its second war of independence.
"The Civil War was considered by many Southerners to be a second revolution, the second breaking away from a power. Maybe that's why there are two trees," he said.
The Massachusetts Historical Society's decision to send the flag back down South stands in sharp contrast to an ongoing feud between Minnesota and Virginia over a similar banner captured during the battle of Gettysburg.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said his state will keep that flag, which is housed at the Minnesota Historical Society, but some Virginia congressmen and the state's attorney general have asked the U.S. Army's chief of military history to intervene. Others are considering going to court, and the dispute has made national news.
Fowler traveled to Charleston to see the flag's new home, and he noted that South Carolina's governor visited Lexington, Mass., in 1876 and returned the flag of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the all-black unit that fought on Morris Island and later was depicted in the movie "Glory."
"It seems to me that we have been late in reciprocating that gesture," Fowler said.
WANT TO SEE IT?
The S.C. Historical Society is open for free to members, and the public is admitted for a $5 daily fee. The Fireproof Building is at 100 Meeting St. in Charleston.
Robert Behre covers Charleston County. Contact him at 937-5771 or rbehre@postandcourier.com.
Secession banner sent from Massachusetts
BY ROBERT BEHRE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
One hundred forty-three years after it flew over Castle Pinckney, a large and unique secession banner has come home to Charleston.
Eric Emerson, director of the S.C. Historical Society, said the banner, which is displayed inside the society's Fireproof Building, appears to be one of a kind.
"No one has seen another flag that looks like this," he said.
The flag first flew Feb. 1, 1861, over Castle Pinckney, according to a newspaper account of the time. This was several weeks after South Carolina seceded but two months before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.
Maj. John H.A. Wagener then brought the flag with him when he was transferred to Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island, Emerson said.
That November, U.S. Naval forces under Adm. Samuel DuPont captured the flag, which later was displayed inside the U.S. Capitol on George Washington's birthday.
"We know that from a Harper's Weekly illustration that shows it," Emerson said.
Several years later, a Navy official donated the flag to the Massachusetts Historical Society, which kept it until last year.
That society didn't display the flag and agreed to send it somewhere that would, director William Fowler said. The society also sent other Confederate flags to museums in Georgia and Maryland.
"These are flags, icons, historical reminders that ought to be shared. They're American treasures, and Americans ought to see them," Fowler said. "We have a warm feeling knowing we did the right thing and knowing how much it will be appreciated."
The flag sent to Charleston was appraised at $175,000.
It cost the society $31,000 to have it specially cleaned by a Maryland textile conservator and mounted for display.
The 11-foot by 13-foot flag originally measured about 11 feet by 20 feet, but part of it was cut off, possibly by Union sailors seeking a souvenir swatch.
Emerson said Hugh Vincent, who sold ship supplies at 75 East Bay St., might have produced the flag, and its 15 blue and white stripes and 15 stars most likely represent the 15 Southern or slave states. (At the time, only seven states had joined the Confederacy; at its peak only 13 did).
The flag's two palmettos are a state symbol that possibly reflected the thinking of some South Carolinians that this would be its second war of independence.
"The Civil War was considered by many Southerners to be a second revolution, the second breaking away from a power. Maybe that's why there are two trees," he said.
The Massachusetts Historical Society's decision to send the flag back down South stands in sharp contrast to an ongoing feud between Minnesota and Virginia over a similar banner captured during the battle of Gettysburg.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said his state will keep that flag, which is housed at the Minnesota Historical Society, but some Virginia congressmen and the state's attorney general have asked the U.S. Army's chief of military history to intervene. Others are considering going to court, and the dispute has made national news.
Fowler traveled to Charleston to see the flag's new home, and he noted that South Carolina's governor visited Lexington, Mass., in 1876 and returned the flag of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the all-black unit that fought on Morris Island and later was depicted in the movie "Glory."
"It seems to me that we have been late in reciprocating that gesture," Fowler said.
WANT TO SEE IT?
The S.C. Historical Society is open for free to members, and the public is admitted for a $5 daily fee. The Fireproof Building is at 100 Meeting St. in Charleston.
Robert Behre covers Charleston County. Contact him at 937-5771 or rbehre@postandcourier.com.
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