William Moultrie, born in England in 1731, came of good Scotch
ancestry. His education was such as could be gained at that early day
in the South Carolina colony to which his family had removed while he
was still a child. In 1761, as captain of a company of volunteers, he
marched against the Cherokee Indians, and gained much of that military
skill that made him such a conspicuous character during the Revolution.
In 1775, he was a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress,
and when that body authorized the seizure of the public arsenals,
he was one of the patriot band who put this advice into practice.
When news of the battle of Lexington reached South Carolina, he was
appointed colonel of one of her regiments, and designed the flag--a
blue field with a silver crescent in the right-hand upper corner--which
her troops carried to their first victory. The driving of the British
sloops-of-war from Charleston Harbor, the seizing of Fort Johnson,
and finally the glorious victory at the Palmetto Fort on Sullivan’s
Island, freed South Carolina for several years from the horrors and
the devastations of war, and secured to Moultrie immortal fame and a
prompt recognition of his military ability. He received the thanks of
Congress; the fort he had so ably defended was named for him; and
Sept. 16, 1776, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general in
the Continental army, with the duty of attending to the interests of
South Carolina and Georgia. The campaign of 1779 brought a renewal of
hostilities in the South, with most disastrous results. Repulsed and
kept at bay for a while by Moultrie, the British finally concentrated
their forces at Charleston, but badly provided as that city was for a
siege, it held out for six weeks, until driven by famine to surrender.
Moultrie was held a prisoner for two years, during which time he used
all his influence in obtaining justice for his fellow-prisoners and
the people of the country, and in vigorously keeping the enemy to the
terms of the capitulation. Several attempts were made to induce him to
resign his commission and enter the British service; and finally he
was offered large sums of money and command of a regiment in Jamaica,
to which he sternly replied, “Not the fee simple of all Jamaica should
induce me to part with my integrity.” He was exchanged about the end of
February, 1782, and promoted to the rank of major-general on the 15th
of October of the same year.
When the British evacuated Charleston in December, the American army
under General Greene resumed possession of it, Moultrie holding a
conspicuous position in the triumphant procession. In 1785 and 1794,
he was chosen Governor of South Carolina, discharging the duties of his
office to the satisfaction of all. From the close of his second term
until his death, which occurred in Charleston on the 27th of September,
1805, he enjoyed a well-earned and honorable repose.
The famous Palmetto Fort on Sullivan’s Island was constructed by
Moultrie. The cannonade from the “Admiral’s Ship,” the “Bristol,”
produced little effect upon the fort, owing to the soft spongy
palmetto-wood. After a nine-hours engagement, Sir Peter Parker
withdrew, with his ship almost a wreck.