This is a picture of the original South Carolina Palmetto Flag, created in 1861 and flown over the State Capitol in Columbia. When Sherman’s troops torched that city and terrorized its inhabitants in 1865, an Iowa regiment took down the flag and carried it home as a trophy of war. Today it remains in the hands of the Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines, and although I’ve sent several messages requesting that they return it to South Carolina, they refuse, citing some nonsense about collections rules. This historic flag shows the true hypocrisy of the entire Union campaign against the South, as they have always claimed that it was a fight to “restore the Union”. If indeed that were true, the restored state of South Carolina should have its state flag restored. The fact that it has not been returned simply shows what the Union fight was really about in the 1860’s – a war of conquest.
