Flag of the Palmetto Guard

The Flag of the Palmetto Guard was hoisted over Castle Pinckney on Dec. 20, 2024, to commemorate the 164th anniversary of South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession from the Union on Dec. 20, 1860. The government of South Carolina issued a proclamation, explaining its reasons for seceding from the United States, four days later.

The Charleston Mercury sent this broadside to press 15 minutes after the ordinance passed 159 to 0 on Dec. 20, 1860.

Maj. Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter on Apr. 13, 1861, after Confederates shelled the fort on April 12 and 13, 1861. The following day, Styles Bird, Jr., a private in a South Carolina militia unit called the Palmetto Guard, hoisted his unit’s flag over the fort as Confederates entered.

Battle of Fort Sumter, Apr. 12 and 13, 1861

That flag, known as the Flag of the Palmetto Guard, was the first Confederate flag to fly over the fort. It featured a red star, signifying the Republic of South Carolina, and a Palmetto Tree, the symbol of the Revolutionary War battle at Sullivan’s Island (current site of Fort Moultrie), on a white background.

Ten other states seceded by June 8, 1861 — Mississippi (Jan. 9); Florida (Jan. 10); Alabama (Jan. 11); Georgia (Jan. 19); Louisiana (Jan. 26); Texas (Feb. 1); Virginia (Apr. 17); Arkansas (May 6); North Carolina (May 20); and Tennessee (June 8).

John Styles Ashe, the son of John Styles Bird, Jr., donated the Flag of the Palmetto Guard to the National Park Service in 1979.