A lasting tribute to liberty

Next week will bring Fourth of July festivities marking the 231st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But we South Carolinians don't have to wait that long to celebrate our nation's founding. Today is Carolina Day — the 231st anniversary of the first major victory for the patriots who made the United States possible. And while this is always a fitting occasion to celebrate the successful defense of Charleston against a British assault, it carries added significance today thanks to the unveiling of a new statue of Gen. William Moultrie at White Point Garden following a procession, starting at 3:30 p.m., from Washington Park.

Retired Air Force Gen. Frank Rogers, chairman of the statue committee, told us Wednesday that the John Michel creation, and the assorted inscriptions that enhance it, are "absolutely a work of art." He also rightly hailed the persistence of those who collaborated on a "six-year effort" and the generosity of those who contributed the necessary funds to make that work a reality.

William Moultrie was just a colonel on June 28, 1776, when he led the surprising repulse of a British force significantly superior in numbers and guns. Most of the shells from mighty Royal Navy ships were fortuitously absorbed by the palmetto logs and sand of Fort Sullivan — later renamed Fort Moultrie — at the southern end of Sullivan's Island. A British assault on the northern end of Sullivan's Island from Long Island (now known as the Isle of Palms) also proved futile.

Such patriot triumphs were few and far between for much of the Revolutionary War. Indeed, four years later, the British took Charleston — and took Gen. Moultrie prisoner. Yet his devotion to the fledgling nation endured. The British authorities offered him a command in Jamaica if he came over to their side. His stirring reply, inscribed below the new statue:

"You say, by quitting this country for a short time I might avoid disagreeable conversations, and might return at my own leisure and take possession of my estates for myself and family; but you have forgotten to tell me how I am to get rid of the feelings of an injured honest heart, and where to hide myself from myself; could I be guilty of so much baseness I should hate myself and shun mankind. This would be a fatal exchange from my present situation, with an easy and approved conscience of having done my duty, and conducted myself as a man of honor."

As Gen. Moultrie, who later became South Carolina's governor, remained true to the principle of freedom, we must embrace the precious legacy so bravely bestowed upon us by America's heroes past and present — including the heroes of Carolina Day. That statue will be a fitting, lasting tribute to the glorious — and ongoing — cause of liberty.