General William Moultrie

William Moultrie was born in 1730 in Charleston, South Carolina, into the lowcountry planter class that dominated the colony's politics and economy. He served in the colonial militia against the Cherokee during the late 1750s and 1760s, gaining military experience in the forests and coastal terrain that he would later defend against British forces. By the time of the Revolution he was a prominent political figure as well as a militia officer, respected across the lowcountry community that produced South Carolina's Patriot leadership.

Moultrie achieved his most celebrated military moment early in the war, commanding the defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island in June 1776. The fort's spongy palmetto wood absorbed British cannon shot without shattering, and Moultrie's garrison held through a sustained naval bombardment that would have demolished a conventional masonry fortification. The victory saved Charleston, made Moultrie a hero throughout the colonies, and gave the fort his name. He continued to command in the lowcountry throughout the middle years of the war, overseeing the defense of the Beaufort area and the Sea Islands as British forces pushed into South Carolina's coastal regions. When Charleston finally fell in May 1780 after a prolonged siege, Moultrie was among the prisoners taken — one of the largest surrender of American forces during the war. He spent more than two years in British captivity before being exchanged in 1782.

After the war Moultrie remained one of South Carolina's most admired figures, serving two terms as governor, from 1785 to 1787 and from 1792 to 1794. He published his memoirs in 1802, one of the more substantial personal accounts of the Revolution's Southern theater, and died in Charleston in 1805. The state of South Carolina eventually placed his image on the state seal, recognizing in his career the combination of military courage and civic commitment that the founding generation most valued in its leaders.