![\"flag_t600\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/flag_t600.jpg\" "\\"flag_t600\\"")
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From Brown Neck Gaitor <\/a>comes this story with an admonishment <\/a>to “sit down for this” although, as with book stores the proper warning should have been to visit the SGM Academy first:<\/p>\n In the days leading to the Civil War, a battery of Citadel cadets on Morris Island fired at the supply ship Star of the West as it approached Fort Sumter, forcing the ship to turn around.<\/p>\n A red palmetto flag flew over the cadets during the attack on Jan. 9, 1861, which marked a victory for them, and was a significant precursor to the war.<\/p>\n The war officially began on April 12, 1861, with the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter. But some Citadel alumni and others consider the shots fired at Star of the West to be the first shots of the Civil War.<\/p>\n The red palmetto flag became a powerful symbol for the state’s military college. The school adopted a replica of the flag as its “spirit flag” in 1992 and called it “Big Red.”<\/p>\n But nobody knew, until now, what happened to the original flag.<\/p>\n The school has found what almost certainly is the original Civil War-era “Big Red” in a museum in Iowa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dude, so stoked over this. If there are any amateur historian types out there interested in more on this, I commend to you this pdf <\/a>that discusses the issue at great length. I will have you know that:<\/p>\n 1) I have a Big Red bumper sticker on the front of my jeep wrangler (1994 Out Magazine’s #1 Gay Mobile); and Totally jazzed about this.<\/p>\n Proceed to question my sexuality in the comments…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n2) I ran home immediately after reading this article to swap out my claddagh ring (heart in, sorry ladies) with my Citadel Class of\u00a0 ’92 ring.<\/p>\n