Big Red and the Star of the West

[Part 2 in a series – TOMAHAWKS TO TALIBAN-HUNTERS – about South Carolina’s unique military heritage and tradition]

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Columbia, SC
April 11, 2013

A meeting this week between former and retired U.S. Army Special Forcessoldiers (members of the national Special Forces Association and theassociation’s S.C. chapter), cadets from The Citadel, and a few othermilitary officers brought to mind the fact that the North Americancontinent’s greatest clash of arms – the American Civil War – beganright here in South Carolina, 152 years ago, this week; Apr. 12-14, 1861 to be exact.  

Why the war erupted – whether it was over the issue of slavery, astate’s right to self-determination, high tariffs, the natural frictionbetween the South’s cavalier culture and that of the New Englandpuritan, or a combination of all – is still being debated. And we won’taddress any of that here.

What there is no debate about is the magnitude of the war, thestaggering losses on both sides, the physical and economic destructionof the South, and the official death knell of slavery across NorthAmerica.

Who actually lit the fuse? South Carolina.

The Palmetto State was the first to secede from the Union on Dec. 20,1860 (the first secession convention opened at First Baptist Church inColumbia a few days earlier, but was closed and reconvened in Charleston because of a smallpox epidemic in Columbia) and a bit of shooting began in Charleston harbor weeks later before the Confederate States ofAmerica were actually formed.

As most historians will tell you, the shots fired on Fort Sumter (builtatop shoals in the harbor) by Confederate guns strategically positionedaround the harbor on Apr. 12-14, were the inaugural shots of the war.

But some would argue the first shots were part of the aforementioned“bit of shooting” three months earlier, Jan. 9, 1861 when S.C.coastal-artillery batteries – including a four-gun battery positioned on Morris Island and manned by Citadel cadets under the command of Maj.Peter F. Stevens, superintendent of the now famous Military College ofSouth Carolina – opened fire on the U.S. commercial paddle-steamer “Star of the West” in Charleston harbor.

The cadets I met with in Camden this week were all aware of the Jan. 9firing on the Star, as The Citadel has a school-award named for theevent. And the action itself is, in many ways, one of the militarycollege’s claims to fame.

The action in Jan. 1861 forced the paddle-steamer to withdraw, abortingits mission of resupplying the besieged U.S. Army garrison at FortSumter. But not before the Star’s crew spotted and later reported seeing a red Palmetto flag” flying above the cadet battery. And an officialdispatch from Fort Sumter mentioned a flag with a red field, and awhite palmetto tree.

That flag – a red version of the blue state flag – known today as “BigRed,” flies as the official “spirit flag” over the parade ground at theCitadel (its window-sticker facsimiles are often seen runningup-and-down the highways of the Palmetto State).

But how “Big Red” came to be, is as much legend as it is truth andtradition, because during the Civil War most of The Citadel’s documentswere sent to the Arsenal Academy in Columbia (In those days, freshmancadets of the S.C. Military College attended the Arsenal in Columbiabefore transferring to the Citadel in Charleston). And the Arsenal andthe documents were burned when Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Shermanmade his way through the capitol city in Feb. 1865.

What we do know – according to an article by retired U.S. Air Force Lt.Col. Andrew D. Kullberg – is that “When cadets first arrived on MorrisIsland, they were presented with a red palmetto flag by the ladies ofthe Vincent family who owned most of Morris Island. A report in theCharleston Daily Courier dated January 28, 1861, says that the flagdisplayed a white palmetto tree on what was described as a ‘blood red’field.”

Kullberg goes on to describe the event: “[Maj. Stevens] gave CadetCaptain John M. Whilden, commanding the battery, the order to fire.Cadet George E. Haynsworth pulled the lanyard on the No. 1, cannonsending the first shot across the bow of the Star of the West as awarning shot. When the steamer failed to turn, Cadet Samuel Pickensfired a shot that struck the ship but did little damage. Cadet ThomasFerguson fired a shot striking the ship and another that fell justastern. Altogether, the Cadet battery on Morris Island fired 17 roundsat the Star of the West, with three rounds recorded as striking theship.”

So what became of Maj. Stevens? This Citadel grad (first in his class,1849) resigned his position as superintendent soon after the firing onthe Star to accept a commission in the Confederate Army. He saw quite abit of action, rose to the rank of colonel, was wounded in the Battle of Antietam, and after the war became a bishop in the Reformed EpiscopalChurch. He died in 1910.

What I personally love about both Big Red and the Star of the West isthat they are enormously symbolic of the Palmetto State’s rich militaryheritage and tradition, though few Carolinians beyond cadets andgraduates of The Citadel had ever heard of either.

In 2011, on the 150th anniversary of the action, a contingent of Citadel cadets dressed in 19th–century uniforms reenacted the historic eventthat – even if it was not the official start the Civil War – certainlytossed red hot shrapnel on the nation’s irrevocable path to war.

According to an article following the reenactment in The Statenewspaper, “The pride isn’t in starting a war but in a bunch ofyoungsters being put in that position because they were considered thebest trained soldiers in the state.”

Indeed they were. And as the war progressed, S.C. fielded some of thebest artillerists in the entire Confederacy, though Union artilleryproved to be superior (yes, I know Confederate cavalry was superior formost of the war).

Today, the historic firing on the Star is not only memorialized throughthe flying of Big Red, but with The Citadel’s Star of the West Award,an annual award recognizing the school’s “best drilled cadet.”

It’s also interesting to note that the Citadel cadets and militaryofficers who met with the Special Forces Association this week, met atthe Camden law offices of environmental attorney and global expeditionleader Tom Mullikin. The Special Forces Association has set uphousekeeping in the Todd Building, one of the historic buildings on theMullikin Law office complex. Interestingly, the Todd Building is namedfor Dr. George Rogers Clark Todd, a surgeon and theConfederate-sympathizing brother of, you guessed it, First Lady MaryTodd Lincoln, wife of Pres. Abraham Lincoln.

When war broke out in 1861, Dr. Todd traveled south and set up his practice in the Camden building now-owned by Mullikin.

Only in South Carolina.

– Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at http://uswriter.com.