Two hundred and forty eight years ago on Sullivan’s Island, American patriots thwarted a land and sea onslaught by the powerful military of Great Britain. Fort Sullivan had 435 militia men and 31 cannons in a stronghold built of palmetto logs and sand. Great Britain had 2,200 infantry and nine warships laden with explosive power.
By the end of the day of sweaty, bloody fighting, the palmetto fort held, with logs absorbing shocks from British cannons. But the patriots’ cannons severely damaged two ships and moderately damaged two more. The British scuttled another frigate after it grounded. In all, 12 patriot fighters died in a battle that wounded 25 more of their troops. But 220 British were killed and wounded, including marines that drowned in Breach Inlet.
Today in South Carolina, we celebrate the June 28 victory as Carolina Day.
Six days after this first major patriot naval victory of the Revolutionary War, 56 leaders of 13 American colonies unanimously adopted a revolutionary document in Philadelphia saying they were independent states no longer subject to British rule.
The second sentence of the document is familiar and continues to inspire: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” What followed was a long list of grievances about British rule.
Today across the United States, we celebrate this Declaration of Independence as the framework that began our nation.
The courageous words in the declaration have since sparked movements of freedom around the globe. Similarly, the courageous actions by South Carolina patriots just six days before kept the rich colonial port of Charleston open and the city free as conflict boiled. The nation’s Founding Fathers didn’t learn of the Charleston victory until days after they adopted the Declaration of Independence, but the defense of the Holy City put starch in the clothing of patriots throughout the colonies, showing how people in the “united states” could stand up to Britain with more than words.
At the time, Charlestonians understood the impact of their June 28 victory. As Charleston historian Nic Butler has written, they formed the Palmetto Society, which was dedicated to host an annual feast “principally for the purpose of celebrating the anniversary of that day, with decent and chearful [sic] festivity. … in commemorating an Action, the most important in its consequences to the State, the most honorable to our Troops, and the most disgraceful to our Enemies, that has been known since the commencement of the present arduous struggle for Liberty.”
Now as we look back to the founding of our nation, let’s remember the courage and zeal for freedom that leaders and everyday colonists showed as they took up pen and sword to break ties with oppression. And let’s really consider what’s at stake in 2024 as Americans consider whether to protect their hard-fought freedoms and independence or to let it wither in the face of authoritarian impudence.
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