South Carolina Flag Status — Is the Flag at Half-Staff Today?
The current status could not be loaded just now. The national status is on the main flag page.
Who lowers the flag in South Carolina
In South Carolina, flags are lowered by order of the Governor and published as signed PDF orders. South Carolina orders frequently cover the State House complex and specified state buildings rather than the whole state — a distinction the document makes explicitly and which summaries elsewhere often lose.
The flag of South Carolina
An indigo field bears a white palmetto tree (commemorating the Sullivan’s Island fort that withstood British cannon fire) and a white crescent in the upper hoist, taken from Revolutionary War soldiers’ caps.
South Carolina on the American flag
Adopted by the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777 — 'Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.' The circular star arrangement is traditionally credited to Betsy Ross, the Philadelphia upholsterer said to have sewn the first example for General Washington.
Sunrise and sunset in Columbia
The flag is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset. Today at the state capital:
How South Carolina became a state
South Carolina split from the Province of Carolina in 1712 and developed an economy built on rice and indigo grown by enslaved Africans. It ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788, then in 1860 became the first state to secede from the Union — and the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
Admitted May 23, 1788 — the 8th state.
South Carolina at a glance
Did you know
- Sweet tea is the state’s official hospitality beverage.
- Morgan Island, off the SC coast, is home to about 4,000 rhesus monkeys used in research.
- The first museum in America, the Charleston Museum, opened in 1773.
- South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia in most years, despite Georgia’s nickname.
Born or raised here: Andrew Jackson (7th President; born in the Waxhaws region) · Strom Thurmond (long-serving senator) · Jesse Jackson (civil rights leader; Greenville) · Stephen Colbert (comedian; Charleston) · Joe Frazier (boxer; Beaufort)
South Carolina in the American Record
Moments from the daily edition that happened in South Carolina.
Official source
Orders are announced by the Governor’s office.
Common questions.
Is the flag at half-staff in South Carolina today?+
The status above answers that for today. A national half-staff order applies in South Carolina as it does everywhere else; the Governor can also lower flags within the state independently.
Who orders flags to half-staff in South Carolina?+
In South Carolina, flags are lowered by order of the Governor and published as signed PDF orders. South Carolina orders frequently cover the State House complex and specified state buildings rather than the whole state — a distinction the document makes explicitly and which summaries elsewhere often lose.
Does a county order mean the whole of South Carolina lowers its flags?+
No. A county or single-facility order (the State Capitol, for instance) applies only where it says it does. This page shows those separately from the statewide status precisely so the two are never confused — if the status above reads full-staff, South Carolina has no statewide order in effect regardless of any local one.
When should the flag be raised and lowered in South Carolina?+
The flag flies from sunrise to sunset. Today at the state capital, Columbia, those times are shown above. On the final day of a half-staff order that runs "until sunset", the flag returns to full height at the local sunset — which is why the West Coast stays lowered a few hours after the East.
Flag status for every state, and the day in American history — one page, every morning.
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