Salutations, and welcome, everyone, to another edition of History in a Nutshell.

Today we're going to do something a little different in this edition: we are going to take a look into an exclusive holiday for South Carolina born from an early victory in the American Revolution have you ever wondered why South Carolina is known as "The Palmetto" "State," or why there is a crescent symbol on the state flag?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, then join me as we explore the South Carolina holiday known as Carolina Day.

(gunshots) Every year on June the 28th, tourists and South Carolinians alike gather in Charleston, South Carolina to celebrate Carolina Day.

But what exactly is Carolina Day?

Ever since the Patriots here on June 20th, 1776 were victorious over the British Royal Navy, the victory was celebrated it took many years though for the name Carolina Day to come about as a the victory was commemorated as Palmetto Day.

The first instance of seeing it called Carolina Day occurs in the 1890s.

It's been Carolina Day ever since.

You have the annual parade down Meeting Street with speeches at White Point Garden.

Carolina Day is what we know the victory as South Carolinians have commemorated the anniversary of the victorious Battle of Sullivan's Island with traditions dating back to 1777.

One could argue that Carolina Day is South Carolina's version of the fourth of July.

So for South Carolinians looking for another reason to fire up the grill and celebrate, then this is for you!

It really is a shame that more people outside of South Carolina don't know more about the background of this historic battle: how, despite the insurmountable odds, a small band of Patriots fended off a massive enemy force.

Who doesn't love a good underdog story.

The battle of Sullivan's Island during the American Revolutionary War is a treasured event in South Carolina's history; taking place mere days before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia in 1776.

The fort on Sullivan's Island was built from palmetto tree logs for they were in abundance on the island.

As far as we know, Fort Sullivan as it was called then was the first fort in history constructed out of palmetto tree logs.

The president of South Carolina John Rutledge tasked Colonel William Moultrie with the construction of the fort.

Its purpose was to complement its neighbor, Fort Johnson, over on James Island.

Fort Sullivan was built in response to perpetual rumors of an impending British attack on Charleston.

These two forts would create a gauntlet, making it more difficult for British ships to enter Charleston Harbor.

At the time of the battle on June 28th 1776 Fort Sullivan was only about half finished.

And just over 400 raw and untested Patriots stood between the British fleet and Charleston.

The defenders were comprised mainly of soldiers from the first and second South Carolina regiments with an unfinished fort and low supplies, the Patriots had to defend Charleston Harbor at all costs against Peter Parker's British warships.

No, not that Peter Parker , Commodore Sir Peter Parker, who commanded eleven heavily armed warships to attack Ford Sullivan.

Parker's plan was for a two pronged attack.

The warships would attack Fort Sullivan head on, while British General Henry Clinton's army would lead an amphibious attack from the rear.

The British warships lobbed volley after volley of cannon fire at Fort Sullivan, but, to everyone's surprise, the cannonballs either harmlessly bounced off or became embedded in the palmetto fort's walls - an unexpected advantage afforded by the palmetto logs' spongy composition!

This advantage enabled the artillerymen inside the fort to take more time to precisely aim their cannons, dealing devastating damage to the enemy warships.

In the height of the battle, a cannonball knocked the fort's regimental colors down onto the beach below.

Not caring for his own safety, Sergeant William Jasper boldly jumped down onto the beach and retrieved the flag, Jasper improvising a makeshift flag staff using a canon sponger, hoisted the Moultrie flag back up onto the fort.

Sergeant Jasper's courageous act rallied the Patriots together and forever cemented him as a hero in South Carolina's history.

As the sun set that June the 28th, the British were forced to retreat away from Fort Sullivan.

Overconfidence, poor intelligence of the island's geography and heavy casualties spelled doom for this attempt to take Charleston.

The battle was a miraculous and decisive victory for the Patriots in the early years of the American Revolution.

This win spurned a major morale boost for patriot rebels all over; for it showed that putting up a fight against Great Britain was indeed possible.

Both Colonel Moultrie and Sergeant Jasper received commendations for their actions during the battle.

Shortly after the battle, Colonel Moultrie was promoted to Brigadier General.

And in his honor Fort Sullivan was renamed Fort Moultrie.

News of the patriot victory at the Battle of Sullivan's Island soon spread throughout the colonies.

In the following months after the battle, most of the fighting in the Revolution shifted north.

Between 1776 and 1780 times in Charleston were relatively peaceful.

During this period, Charlestonians had time to reflect on the victory, and decided that it should not be forgotten.

The following year in May 1777, the Palmetto Society was founded, which sought to honor the signal and providential victory obtained by our gallant troops over the formidable Fleet and Army of Great Britain, at Sullivan's island.

The Palmetto Society announced its intention to host a civic feast on June the 28th 1777, anyone who wanted to celebrate this anniversary was welcome to attend.

And what a celebration it was, in Charleston there were cannons firing, parades, flags waving and copious amounts of feasting and drinking.

People all across South Carolina raised their glasses to Sergeant Jasper and to General Moultrie.

These festivities set the standard for how Carolina Day would be celebrated today.

However, in those days the South Carolina holiday did not yet have a name.

It was simply known as the 28th of June.

Some people refer to this day as Palmetto Day, but this was an unofficial name more in reference to the Palmetto Society itself.

The earliest known record of a newspaper referencing Palmetto Day is from June 1847.

Now, let's fast forward to the 1860s.

The country was at the height of the Civil War and South Carolinians were not in a festive mood.

However, it was during this period in which the South Carolina state flag as we know it today came to be.

The earliest version of the flag which flew over Fort Moultrie during the battle was simply a white crescent on an indigo background.

Contrary to popular belief, the crescent symbol is not actually a moon.

Rather, the crescent represents the silver crescents worn on the caps of the First and Second South Carolina regiments.

And the blue is in reference to the blue uniforms worn by the Patriots.

The Palmetto tree was officially added in 1861 to represent the Palmetto trees used in the fort's original construction.

There were other variations of the South Carolina flag during the Civil War, but none of them were ever officially recognized.

Following the Civil War, the 28th of June celebrations slowly returned into the mainstream.

In 1871, the Palmetto Guard Rifle Club and the Sumter Rifle Club held a parade, and a shooting competition at Mount Pleasant.

The African American Carolina Light Infantry held similar events of their own.

1872 saw modest celebrations like the year before, but in 1873, Charlestonians celebrated a more robust version of the holiday.

For the first time in history, newspapers coined the name Carolina Day, but that name was not adopted right away.

Throughout the rest of the 19th century Palmetto Day and Carolina Day were used interchangeably.

This goes on until about 1912 when Palmetto Day for some mysterious reason, kind of disappears, and the holiday has consistently been referred to as Carolina Day ever since.

From the early 20th century to present day, Carolina Day is commemorated with a church service at St Michael's Church at the corner of Broad and Meeting Streets in Downtown Charleston.

Following the service, the Palmetto Society leads a parade.

(band music) (music) Wreaths are laid at the 1876 Defenders of Fort Moultrie monument, and the remainder of the events include speeches, firing cannons and band performances.

<i>And the home of the brave.</i> The National Park Service hosts several days of celebratory Carolina Day events of its own at Fort Moultrie National Park, where visitors and tourists gather to watch re-enactors recreate parts of the historic battle.

South Carolina ETV had the privilege of going down to Charleston to witness some of these events, and to allow people to reflect on what Carolina Day means to them.

Part of it's just the experience of being here because it's a cool place.

And I come here two or times a year, just walking around, seeing the Fort.

But there's a special day as you said.

And I always find it amazing, years ago before I ever got to South Carolina you see the Carolina flag and the crescent moon and the palm.

I had no idea.

It just seemed like a really cool thing.

And when you're up north, you don't think of that as part of South Carolina, when you find out the history about it.

So, it just kind of ties it together.

It's always good listening to these things.

I'm one of these guys that reads every historic marker.

So, I just can't pass one up.

So, just listening to this is always good.

This fort was an important turning point within the Revolutionary War where they were able to overcome the British.

And if it turned out differently, the entire extent of the war could have had a different ending.

So, it's a pretty major turning point as far as overcoming the British and what we thought at the time, they were superior to soldiers here at Fort Moultrie.

You have to understand the world looked at the Royal Navy as the most powerful military in the world.

And it wasn't as much as the British Army wasn't bad, but the Royal Navy and these large warships blows everything away.

So, the fact that a very small half completed fort, made out of palmetto, made out of sand, being manned by only 300 men was able to repulse a full fleet of warships.

When you look at the ratio, there's only two or three guns in the wall facing complete broad side of a ship of the line, which had 25 to possibly 30, 24 pound guns, like the ones you see behind me.

So, the fact that we could actually stop them and not just stop them, cause a lot of damage.

One of the warships actually got.

Where Fort Sumter currently is other ships were so severely damaged to include as the flagship was turning.

We got one last shot off and the ball actually went to the rear of the commander's cabin and Admiral Parker was wounded as all the wooden fragments and splinters went by that literally as he said tore his britches off.

So, not only did he got a parting shot, he got a real bad shot as he left.

But the fact, that a simple South Carolinian force could stand up to the might to the royal Navy and win was impressive.

It gave a lot of hope to the county.

So, if they can do it, South Carolina could.

Cause back then, we've only had a few victories.

We had Moor's Creek and of course we had Bunker Hill.

Yes, we held them but they drove us off.

This was a true, no kidding victory.

We stood up to the Royal Navy toe to toe, gun to gun.

They were forced to withdraw.

It stopped the invasion and bought us time here in South Carolina at least till 1780 where we tried again for round two.