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

Hand‑painted blue silk field with gilt inscriptions and devices. Hamburg, South Carolina, December 1860. 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 time of South Carolina's secession. 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.

This flag was originally made in the ecstatic fervor surrounding South Carolina's secession in December 1860. The presentation of the flag was described by The Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, GA) in the 23 December 1860 issue: "Yesterday morning a number of the citizens of Hamburg and Augusta assembled at the new South Carolina railroad depot, in our little sister city, for the purpose of participating in the ceremonies of a flag presentation. The flag was presented to the authorities of Hamburg, by Dr. Felder, of this city, and the device upon it is a Palmetto tree, with a serpent coiled around it; while the motto is: "Southern Rights at all Hazards." The Doctor, on presenting the flag, made a very neat little speech, which was responded to, in appropriate terms, by Mayor Spiers, of AHamburg. The Washington Artillery, of this city, then fired a salute of fifteen guns. The whole affair passed off pleasantly and satisfactorily."

Upon close examination, the Company name "Ruffin Guards" is painted in a different tone of gold paint and was likely added after the original creation of the flag. Hamburg, now a ghost town, was a small market community in the Edgefield District across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia. It was from this area that Company K, also known as the Ruffin Guards, many of whom served in the 9th South Carolina militia, was recruited. It seems very likely that they co-opted their recent secession banner, adding their sobriquet early in 1861.

Additionally, while the flag was not examined out of the frame, there is documentation that there is a presentation inscription painted to the reverse, reading: "Presented / by / Dr. W.L. Felder / Decr. / 1860." This further connects the flag to the December 1860 presentation in Hamburg. 

The flag is consistent with other antebellum militia flags made in South Carolina, featuring a blue design with gold fringe. (Dedmondt, pp. 48-49). Many were used by militias early in the war, but most were stowed early in the war as the units were absorbed into the Confederate Army. 

There is another known example of a Ruffin Guards flag. 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 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. An important addition to any collection.

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

Glenn Dedmond. The Flags of Civil War South Carolina. Pelican, 2022. 

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 examined out of frame. 

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.