Yet more proof that your beloved blogger is a big old dork
From Brown Neck Gaitor comes this story with an admonishment to “sit down for this” although, as with book stores the proper warning should have been to visit the SGM Academy first:
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.
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.
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.
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.”
But nobody knew, until now, what happened to the original flag.
The school has found what almost certainly is the original Civil War-era “Big Red” in a museum in Iowa.
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 that discusses the issue at great length. I will have you know that:
1) I have a Big Red bumper sticker on the front of my jeep wrangler (1994 Out Magazine’s #1 Gay Mobile); and
2) I ran home immediately after reading this article to swap out my claddagh ring (heart in, sorry ladies) with my Citadel Class of ’92 ring.
Totally jazzed about this.
Proceed to question my sexuality in the comments…..
Category: Pointless blather
Ok, we will; you homomobile driving sissy.
Naw… that is teh AWESOME!
And the Citadel is absolutely correct in their argument.
Much better school than that homo-magnet VMI.. 🙂
Heh… I understand that VMI’s school song is the banjo/guitar duet from Deliverance…
What does that make me?
You KNOW I am checking on reservations for the 150th Firing on Fort Sumter in 2011.
Accounts vary, but it’s said that prior to the Civil War, most of the VMI cadets despised Thomas Jackson, but admitted he had “real purty lips”…..
Hey Gaitor,
You think this time around we can use live ammo again?
Heck, maybe we could fill the place with all the terrorists from Gitmo and kill two birds with one stone, eh? 🙂
Alas, they would probably be safe. As I recall from my “knob knowledge” the Citadel cadets fired all day and casued a grand total of:
1 casualty, a mule at Sumpter.
WTH is a claddagh ring? Wait maybe I don’t want to know since it is being worn by a Citadel grad.
I thought the Citadel was a seminary school and know you are saying they are military college?
Just kidding, some of the best corporals I ever knew were students at the Citadel.
But was it an Yankee/ARMY mule?
Guys are allowed to wear claddagh rings?
My fiancee said they looked “to feminine”.
I wear mine everyday. Kind of a cultural thing I think, most of my Irish friends wear them. I don’t really like jewelry, I don’t even wear a watch generally, but the claddagh I wear daily.
The story is really quite interesting on the derivation of the ring, to include pirates etc.
Pirates? you don’t walk around and say “aaaarrgh matey” all day do you?
Exactly what kind of pirate anyway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claddagh_ring#Origins
I still have a silver one. My wife and I had them with our birth stones set into them, but those were stolen (along with a bunch of other stuff) a few years back.
Mostly I wear my Masonic ring, especially if i know there will be twoofers where I am going.. 🙂