William Moultrie

William Moultrie
35th Governor of South Carolina
In office February 11, 1785 – February 20, 1787
Preceded by	Benjamin Guerard
Succeeded by	Thomas Pinckney
In office December 5, 1792 – December 17, 1794
Preceded by	Charles Pinckney
Succeeded by	Arnoldus Vanderhorst
Personal details
Born	(1730-11-23)November 23, 1730 Charleston, South Carolina
Died	September 27, 1805(1805-09-27) (aged 74) Charleston, South Carolina

William Moultrie (pron.: /ˈmuːltriː/; November 23, 1730 – September 27, 1805) was a general from South Carolina in the American Revolutionary War.

Life

Moultrie was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He fought in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1761) and served in the colonial assembly before the advent of the American Revolution.

In 1775 he was commissioned colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. In December of that year he led a raid on an encampment of runaway slaves on Sullivan's Island, killing 50 and capturing the rest.

In 1776 his defense of a small fort on Sullivan's Island (later named Fort Moultrie in his honor) prevented Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker from taking Charleston, South Carolina.

The Continental Congress passed a resolution thanking Moultrie. He was promoted to brigadier general and his regiment was taken into the Continental Army.

Moultrie's skill failed to prevent the fall of Savannah, Georgia to the British in 1778. He was captured in the fall of Charleston to the British in 1780 and later exchanged. He was promoted to major general in 1782, the last man appointed to that rank by Congress.

After the war he served as the 35th Governor of South Carolina (1785–87, 1792–94). He wrote Memoirs of the Revolution as far as it Related to the States of North and South Carolina (1802).

The Moultrie Flag

Fort Moultrie, in 2006

Grave of William Moultrie.

Legacy

After the war, the fort he had defended was renamed Fort Moultrie, continuing to function as a pivotal defense point until supplanted by Fort Sumter. Fort Moultrie was an active post of the United States Army from 1798 until the end of World War Two.

The Moultrie Flag

During his famous defense of the fort that would someday bear his name, a flag of Moultrie's own design was flown: a field of blue bearing a crescent with the word LIBERTY on it.

Shot down during the fight, then held aloft by a Sargent William Jasper to rally the troops, it became iconic of the Revolution in the South. It came to be known as the Moultrie Flag, or the Liberty Flag, and was incorporated in the Flag of South Carolina, as well as being used alongside the Gadsden flag in the modern liberty movement.

External links

• SCIway Biography of William Moultrie
• http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_south_carolina/col2-content/main-content-list/title_moultrie_william.html
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Moultrie, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Political offices
Preceded by Richard Beresford	Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina 1784 – 1785	Succeeded by Charles Drayton
Preceded by Benjamin Guerard	Governor of South Carolina 1785 – 1787	Succeeded by Thomas Pinckney
Preceded by Charles Pinckney	Governor of South Carolina 1792 – 1794	Succeeded by Arnoldus Vanderhorst