Reviews and Info 

ISBN: 9780966711448
Publisher: Warbranch Press, Inc.
Year: 2005
Author and illustrator: Kate Salley Palmer
Illustrations: Acrylic paint and watercolor
Reading level: Grades 3-5
Retail price: $10.95

Reviews:

“Have you ever wondered why the palmetto tree is on our state flag? Palmetto: Symbol of Courage answers that question and more. This book describes the ‘David and Goliath’ Revolutionary War battle that took place at Fort Moultrie. Even though the British had more cannons….the patriots defeated the British. This picture book is jam-packed with facts and excitement.”

Charleston Post and Courier, 2006

PALMETTO: SYMBOL OF COURAGE 

Palmetto: Symbol of Courage tells the story of South Carolina’s beautiful state flag. Read it to learn how a tree – the Palmetto tree – helped win a battle in the Revolutionary War and why it appears on the state flag.

On June 28, 1776 – exactly one week before the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia – South Carolina patriots on Sullivan’s Island defeated a heavily armed British fleet and saved Charleston from being captured. It was the first important Revolutionary War victory against the British in the South – and it caught everyone, including the patriots, by surprise. When the patriots had hastily constructed their little fort out of palmetto logs and beach sand on Sullivan’s Island, even they had not expected it to withstand the British ships’ cannons. But luckily, most British cannonballs simply sank into the spongy palmetto logs and sand and did very little damage to the fort or the soldiers inside. Carefully aiming their own cannons, the soldiers of the South Carolina Second Regiment, commanded by Col. William Moultrie, did great damage to the British ships, and the fleet had to sail away in shambles. After the battle, the palmetto tree was adopted as the state tree and prominently featured on the state flag – one of the most beautiful in the United States.

Palmetto: Symbol of Courage is an important resource book for teaching South Carolina Revolutionary War history. A number of school districts across the state use the book as a teacher resource. At Ashley Hall School in Charleston, for example, the 3rd grade students presented a play in 2009 to their fellow students and their parents about the story of the little palmetto fort and based their play on the story and illustrations in Kate's book. They wrote the play themselves and even had an orchestra of 3rd graders to accompany the play with music also composed by the students.

Third grade students at Ashley Hall School in Charleston presenting a play in April, 2009 about the palmetto log fort on Sullivan's Island based on Kate's Palmetto - Symbol of Courage