Interesting flags have always decorated historic Charleston, and several home and building owners show their colors on a regular basis with banners that test the knowledge of those who pass by.
At 36 Meeting Street, the owner flies and assortment of interesting flags, including the “Fort McHenry Flag”. This version of the stars and stripes was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem, and is the only version of the official US flag with fifteen stripes.
Over at 100 Tradd Street, the owner flies a “Bonnie Blue Flag”, a blue banner with a single star that was a symbol of independence among southerners flighting against Spanish rule in Alabama and Florida in 1818. It became a famous symbol of the Confederacy after New Orleans native Harry McCarthy created the famous Bonnie Blue Flag song during the War Between the States.
At 3 Water Street, a friend of mine occasionally flies his “Gonzalez Flag”, featuring the symbol of a cannon, a single star, and the saying “come and take it”. It commemorates the town of Gonzalez, Texas, where during the suzerainty of Mexico, the community was given a cannon to fight off hostile Indians. When Gonzalez got involved in the Texian independence movement began, the Mexican government demanded the gun back, and the defiant town created the flag.
At 59 Meeting Street, a very unusual banner flies with stars and stripes in reverse color from the US flag. This is the “Guilford Courthouse Flag” flown in the Revolutionary War battle at that town in 1781.
At 24 Church Street, the owner flies an assortment of colorful banners, including “Big Red”. This version of our state flag includes the palmetto tree and gorget crescent on a red field, indicative of the artillery unit from the Citadel who showed this flag when firing on the USS Star of the West when that ship tried to resupply Fort Sumter in January, 1861.
