IMPORTANT PALMETTO FLAG OF THE “RUFFIN GUARDS,” COMPANY K, 7TH SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

Attributed to William Brower, Charleston, May 1861. Hand‑painted blue silk field with gilt inscriptions and devices, gilt‑painted palmetto tree entwined by a dark coiled serpent; red painted riband below lettered RUFFIN GUARDS in white; gilt bullion fringe on three sides; hoist edge turned for mounting. Visible approx. 42 3/8 x 40 3/8 in., framed to 47 1/8 x 45 1/4 in. 

A rare South Carolina company flag from the opening weeks of the Civil War. The flag's field is dominated by the state palmetto, adopted after the Revolution, entwined by a serpent, a clear echo of Revolutionary-era “Don’t Tread on Me” iconography and a pointed statement of resistance. Arching above the device is the pro‑secession motto SOUTHERN RIGHTS AT ALL HAZARDS in gilded lettering; below, the company sobriquet RUFFIN GUARDS appears on a painted riband. The flag retains its original gold bullion fringe on the fly, upper, and lower edges and displays the elegant hand of a Charleston banner painter.

As noted by Greg Biggs in Flag Makers of the Confederacy, Charleston artist William Brower painted a two‑sided Palmetto flag for the Ruffin Guards in May 1861. The present flag conforms to that description in materials, palette, and iconography and is attributed to his shop on this basis.

The Ruffin Guards were organized largely from veterans of the Upper Battalion, 9th South Carolina Militia, and mustered into state service on 15 April 1861. During the initial Federal mustering (4 June–2 July 1861) the company appears as Company I of the newly raised 7th South Carolina Infantry, and following the Confederate reorganization of 14 May 1862 it was redesignated Company K. The regiment, soon known as “the Bloody Seventh,” served in Kershaw’s Brigade, seeing heavy combat from First Manassas and Second Manassas to Maryland Heights and Antietam, where it engaged west of the Dunker Church and suffered grievous losses (23 killed, 117 wounded of 268 engaged). Subsequent fighting at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville was followed by Gettysburg, notably around the Rose Farm, where casualties again were severe (24 killed, 79 wounded, 7 missing/captured). The regiment continued through Chickamauga, and the Overland Campaign (the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Second Cold Harbor), ending the war in the Carolinas with further losses at Bentonville.

Company‑level banners from South Carolina are seldom encountered outside institutional collections. This example, marrying the state’s palmetto emblem with an emphatic contemporary motto and the company’s name, is a rare survivor from a regiment with conspicuous service. Its likely Charleston origin, association with William Brower, and direct attribution to the Ruffin Guards, make it an important addition to any collection.

Exhibited and Literature: See Greg Biggs, “Flag Makers of the Confederacy,” for documentation of Brower’s May 1861 commission for the Ruffin Guards.

Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Flags, Patriotic Textiles]

Not to be confused with a post-war police target shooting company formed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1869 of the same name, in honor of the Chief of Police, Captain Jas. L. Ruffin.