“Big Red” flew over Castle Pinckney for The Citadel’s homecoming football game against Chattanooga on November 9th, thanks to one determined Bulldog!

The Stray Dog Society held its 12th Annual Big Red Flag Raising Cruise to the historic fort in Charleston Harbor from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 7th. But poor weather prevented Citadel cadets from hoisting the flag over the fort prior to Saturday’s game as originally planned.

Big Red

That is when Yale Huett, a graduate of The Citadel, Class of 1975, decided to act. He boarded his small boat late Friday, crossed the harbor and hoisted Big Red above Castle Pinckney before the football game the following day.

Anyone who has ever boated across the harbor, landed at the site, and hoisted a flag over the fort knows that it is not as easy to do as it sounds. But Huett, who regularly transports volunteers to Castle Pinckney to conduct clean-ups and/or flag raisings, was qualified and motivated to accomplish the task!

Yale Huett aboard his small boat

Big Red is The Citadel’s spirit flag. Many believe the original flag, similar to South Carolina’s state flag but bright red in color instead blue, was carried by Citadel cadets when they fired on the Union supply ship Star of the West on Jan. 9, 1861. (See posting of March 20, 2010)

Castle Pinckney Guardian Matthew Locke, using a bit of “English ingenuity,” figured out a way to capture a photo of Big Red shortly after Huett hoisted the flag over the fort. Locke, an Englishman, used one of the security cameras monitoring the fort to capture a screen shot of the flag (shown above).

Locke is co-author of the new book, Holding CHARLESTON by the Bridle: Castle Pinckney and the Civil War. He co-authored the book with W. Clifford Roberts, Jr.