Key figures: William Moultrie, Charles Lee, Sir Peter Parker, Henry Clinton, William Jasper
Summary
The Battle of Sullivan’s Island, fought on June 28, 1776, was the first major British attempt to seize a southern port during the American Revolutionary War and ended in a decisive Patriot victory. Seeking to rally Loyalist support in the South, a British expedition under General Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir Peter Parker arrived off Charleston, South Carolina, in early June. Their objective was Fort Sullivan, a still-unfinished fortification guarding the channel into Charleston Harbor, commanded by Colonel William Moultrie of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment with a garrison of roughly 435 men and 31 cannon.
The fort’s walls were built of palmetto logs packed with sand. When Parker’s squadron — nine warships including the 50-gun flagship HMS Bristol, HMS Experiment, and the bomb vessel Thunder — opened a bombardment that lasted some nine to ten hours, the spongy palmetto wood absorbed the cannon fire rather than splintering, and the defenders held. Clinton’s planned land assault from neighboring Long Island collapsed when the inlet between the islands proved too deep to ford. Three British frigates ran aground on uncharted shoals; one, HMS Actaeon, was abandoned and burned. American losses were light — about 12 killed and 25 wounded — against far heavier British casualties, and Parker’s battered fleet withdrew that night.
A celebrated episode of the battle came when the fort’s flag — a blue banner bearing a white crescent — was shot down; Sergeant William Jasper recovered it under fire and remounted it on a makeshift staff, an act that became a lasting symbol of the defense. In recognition of the garrison’s stand, the South Carolina legislature renamed the post Fort Moultrie in honor of its commander.
Significance
The defense of Sullivan’s Island secured Charleston and the southern colonies from British invasion for nearly four years, leading the British to abandon their southern strategy until 1780. Coming just days before the Continental Congress declared independence, the victory provided a powerful morale boost to the Patriot cause and burnished the reputations of Moultrie and the South Carolina troops. The battle entered South Carolina’s enduring iconography: the palmetto log construction that saved the fort is commemorated by the palmetto tree on the state flag, whose crescent device derives from the banner Sergeant Jasper rescued. June 28 is still observed in South Carolina as Carolina Day.