23-04-2025
‘Once in a lifetime opportunity': Spartanburg revolutionary war flag acquired by library
SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A significant piece of local and American history – one no one knew existed for over 200 years – will soon return home to Spartanburg County.
During Monday's Spartanburg County Council Meeting, Todd Stephens, Spartanburg County librarian, and Brent Cobb, county director of veterans affairs, told county council about a recent effort to bring a piece of Revolutionary War history back to the county.
In 2023 Stephens said a friend informed him a never-before-seen regiment flag had been placed on exhibit at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. The regiment, Stephens said, hailed from what would become Spartanburg County.
Stephens asked a county employee who was in Pennsylvania for work to stop by the museum to see the exhibit. After learning more about it, Stephens reached out to the family who owned the flag and other artifacts in the exhibit.
'One thing leads to another and I find myself in Rhode Island,' said Stephens.
At the end of a roughly three-hour visit with the owners of the flag, Stephens asked what the plans for the flag beyond being put on exhibition were.
'In the end, it's Spartanburg's flag. They were real proud of the fact they had it in their possession and they were good stewards of it,' he said.
After 18 months of discussion, and with the help of some generous private donors, Stephens said the Spartanburg County Library system was able to enter into an agreement for the flag.
The total cost of the flag has not been disclosed, but Stephens said the family offered it at a significant discount compared to the cost of similar artifacts.
'We did not know this thing existed,' said Stephens. 'Nobody did. We saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity.'
The county sent a vexillologist – someone who studies flags – to Philadelphia to examine the flag.
The flag itself is a blue cloth with13 gold bars, representing each of the original 13 colonies, and gold ribbons bear the name of the South Carolina colony, and features an image of a dog and a snake. The significance of the animals on the flag is unclear, though an article on the museum website claims the dog is a representation of the bloodthirsty man from Shakespeare's 'Othello,' and a snake represents defense and resistance.
The image appears on both sides of the flag, and some of the stitching suggests the original color of the cloth was an indigo blue similar to the one used on the state flag today.
It is made of silk, and likely was created in Charleston. It is one of about 26 flags from an estimated 500 used during the Revolutionary War era, and one of just six still in existence from a colonial southern militia.
Southern relics from the revolutionary era, Stephens said, have become increasingly hard to find. Many were destroyed in the American Civil War, specifically when Gen. William Sherman marched his troops across the south, burning large amounts of property and land in the process.
'Relics are few and far between because of the fact Atlanta burned, Columbia burned,' said Stephens. 'Anything families may have had or museums or government entities had were most likely destroyed. The south's participation in the revolution was erased.'
The Spartan Regiment flag came to be in the possession of Col. Thomas Brandon, who passed it down to down to his children, and it remained in the family for more than 200 years. It was kept in a small wooden trunk, and the names of the family members who inherited it are carved inside, according to the museum.
'(The vexillologist) said this is a national treasure and probably one of the most significant finds of an American Revolutionary Relic in the last 20 years. Those are some very big words,' said Stephens.
According to Cobb, the flag was the standard for the Spartan Regiment, which was formed in by Col. John Thomas at Wofford's Iron Mill. The unit later split into two regiments, and Spartanburg is named for them.
'Spartanburg County is very deeply rooted in the Revolutionary War,' said Cobb.
To mark the acquisition of the battle flag, the veteran's affairs office printed replica flags and matching challenge coins to give to local officials.
The Spartan Regiment flag is not the first historical relic the library system has brought back to Spartanburg County. Years ago the county was able to locate and return the Spartanburg Freedom Flag, which had been sewn by the wife of a Black pastor at the end of the Civil War, when news of the emancipation of slaves reached the Upstate.
That flag was flown in a parade celebrating the end of the war and the end of slavery. It eventually ended up in California before the county was able to bring it home.
A self-described 'community nut,' Stephens said bringing historical relics like the Freedom flag and the Spartan Regiment standard are an important part of helping to shape the narrative of local history.
'For me, I'm a kid of Spartanburg, I grew up in Spartanburg, I think it's important for communities to be able to share their story and participate in defining who they are. Sometimes we spend a lot of time focused on wars or battles or military actions that overshadows what the Upstate's participation was in the American Revolution,' he said.
Stephens said the battle flag will remain on display at the Museum of the American Revolution for another four or five months. When it is able to be safely transported it will be returned to Spartanburg County and kept on display.
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