The first English settlers arrived in the Carolina colony near present-day Charleston in April 1670. The following year, Carolina's Grand Council passed the colony's first militia law and what we recognize as the South Carolina National Guard was born. In the next 100 years leading to the American Revolution, the state's militia was tested in numerous conflicts from the War of the Spanish Succession and the Cherokee War in South Carolina to the Yemassee War and the French and Indian War. Since then, the soldiers and airmen of the South Carolina National Guard have taken part in every major conflict this great nation has faced, serving with the pride and distinction of the early Palmetto state patriots.
With the majority of Continental troops engaged in the north, much of the fighting fell to the militia in the south. On September 15, 1775, famed frontier warrior Capt. Francis Marion led his men across the harbor to take Fort Johnson from the British on James Island, raising an indigo blue flag with a gorget and the word "Liberty" over the Fort. Later in the war he would begin an extensive guerilla warfare campaign, ambushing larger forces and finding refuge in the swamps, earning his nickname, "Swamp Fox." With the 2nd Regiment of South Carolina Infantry, Col. William Moultrie defended his palmetto log for in the Battle of Sullivan's Island on June 28, 1776. After Charleston fell to the British in 1780, Gen. Thomas Sumter's home was burned by Col. Banastre Tarleton's raiders. Gen. Sumter organized a group to harass the British and their Tory allies, and after his defeat at the Battle of Blackstock's farm, Col. Tarleton complained that Gen. Sumter, "fought like a gamecock," inspiring his nickname the "Carolina Gamecock." The final defeat of British Maj. Gen. Charles Cornwallis came at the hands of Gen. Nathaniel Green at the Battle of Eutaw Springs - the bloodiest battle of the war - on September 8, 1781, near present-day Eutawville in Orangeburg County. Nearly a third of the battles fought in the American Revolution were waged in South Carolina. In his 1857 history of the United States, George Bancroft wrote that South Carolina's militia had, "suffered more, and dared more, and achieved more than the men of any other state." Four South Carolinians - John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, and Pierce Butler, the state's first adjutant general - signed the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787.
The 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command is one of 24 current units in the National Guard to carry campaign credit for the War of 1812. Organized in 1756 as the Artillery Company of Charles Town, commanded by Capt. Christopher Gadsden, the unit was later incorporated into the militia of the colony of South Carolina. The unit served during the Revolutionary War as the Charles Town Battalion of Artillery, and defended Charleston and other coastal towns. The 263rd AAMDC is the oldest currently serving unit in the South Carolina National Guard.
The 132nd Military Police Company, stationed in West Columbia, also carries the lineage of units that served in the Revolutionary War. The 132nd MP Company, organized February 21, 1776 as the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery, served in the South Carolina militia and later as an element of the 4th South Carolina Regiment – an artillery unit of the Continental Army. The unit defended Fort Lyttleton outside of Beaufort and participated in the heroic defense of Savannah and Charleston.
Following participation in the Mexican War, reconstruction after the Civil War and the Spanish American War, the South Carolina legislature passed a new South Carolina Military Code, conforming to the Militia Act of 1903, which created a federally recognized and supported National Guard. In 1905, the state's organized militia officially became known as the South Carolina National Guard.
The South Carolina National Guard mobilized nearly its entire force - 4,000 soldiers - for service in "The Great War." They served primarily in the 30th "Old Hickory" Division and the 42nd "Rainbow" Division. The 1st Battalion, 117th Engineers hailing from Marion, Columbia, and Spartanburg, served in the 42nd Division building roads and bridges, constructing deep shelters, erecting barbed wire, and evacuating trenches. During the Aisne-Marne Offensive from July 25 - August 3, 1918, the engineers maintained control of a narrow strip of land along the Ourcq River. When more troops were needed to strike the final blow against the German resistance, the engineers served gallantly as infantry, advancing farther than any other dismounted element of the 42nd Division and took the town of Chery-Charteuve. The proud lineage of the 1-117th Engineers is carried by the 1st Battalion, 178th Field Artillery Regiment, headquartered in Georgetown, South Carolina. The 30th Division was the most decorated of Gen. John J. Pershing's American Expeditionary Force with 12 Medal of Honor recipients. Of those 12, six were members of South Carolina's 118th Infantry Regiment, which holds the distinction of being the first American regiment to make an attack against the Hindenburg Line.
One of the Medal of Honor recipients was 1st Lt. James C. Dozier, Company G, 118th Infantry, who would go on to serve as Adjutant General for 33 years - the longest-serving in the history of South Carolina. During his tenure, Maj. Gen. Dozier was known throughout the country as "Mr. National Guard." He is credited with rebuilding the South Carolina National Guard following World War I and helped to save and expand what is now Fort Jackson.
By 1941, South Carolina had provided 3,761 soldiers of, "the Greatest Generation" for World War II. The men of the 178th Field Artillery Regiment would serve 630 days in combat, including 249-consecutive days on the front line in the European theater. In January 2007, then Brig. Gen. Robert E. Livingston, Jr. led the largest single deployment since World War II - over 1,600 soldiers served under his command in Afghanistan with the 218th Enhancement Brigade.
Shortly after the end of World War II, the Army would undergo a major reorganization which would give South Carolina her own Air National Guard. The 157th Fighter Squadron was established at Congaree Air Base in Eastover on December 9, 1946, and in 1957 the 169th Fighter Interceptor Group was born. The base was renamed in 1961 for the late Brig. Gen. Barnie B. McEntire, Jr., the first commander of the South Carolina Air National Guard and its first general officer. Brig. Gen. McEntire died earlier that year when he rode his malfunctioning F-104 into the Susquehanna River to avoid crashing in densely populated Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the last 70 years, the SCANG has been called to active military service for numerous contingencies. They were the first wing in the Air National Guard to fly the F-16. In late 1990, units of the SCANG were activated and deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, flying 2,000 combat missions and dropping four million pounds of munitions, while maintaining the highest aircraft mission capable rate in theater. Today, the South Carolina Air National Guard is one of the most advanced and modern Air National Guard organizations in the country.
Maj. Gen. Robert L. McCrady led a swearing-in ceremony for the first women to join the South Carolina National Guard. 1st Lt. Bonnie Morse and Spec. Ramona Swails joined the 132nd Medical Company in Darlington on May 12, 1973. Maj. Gen. McCrady served two-terms as The Adjutant General of South Carolina from January 19, 1971 - January 9, 1979, and was instrumental in growing the Guard's training center at Fort Jackson throughout his career. McCrady joined the S.C. Army National Guard as a private on Apr. 14, 1937, and received his commission as a second lieutenant of Coast Artillery in January 1941. He was a veteran of World War II and worked his way up to Assistant Adjutant General before his successful election to head the state's Military Department on Nov. 3, 1970. On July 31, 1999, South Carolina officials dedicated the 16,040-acre McCrady Training Center in his honor.
Just after midnight on September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo made landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina at Sullivan's Island as a Category 4 storm. The massive hurricane leveled beachfront properties and toppled trees, leaving much of the coastal areas in ruin, with 13 South Carolina lives lost. In the days and weeks that followed, more than 6,300 South Carolina National Guard members were mobilized to assist with response and recovery efforts.
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the South Carolina National Guard has deployed nearly 20,000 soldiers and airmen in support of Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Freedom's Sentinel, and Operation Inherent Resolve, as well as other contingency training and overseas mobilizations in support of multiple combatant commands.
The State Partnership Program (SPP) between the Republic of Colombia and the state of South Carolina formally began via a signed partnership proclamation on July 23, 2012. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Colombian Vice Minister of Defense Jorge Enrique Bedoya signed a partnership proclamation formally establishing a bilateral relationship between the South Carolina National Guard and the Republic of Colombia in the National Guard’s SPP. The SPP between the S.C. National Guard and Colombia continues to expand and develop. The SPP provides support to the Colombia Security Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the areas of rotary wing and ground vehicle maintenance, air defense, foreign military sales support, humanitarian assistance disaster relief, rule of law, military transformation, and key leader engagement.
The midlands of South Carolina were impacted by an epic weather event, dubbed the “1,000-year flood” from October 1-5, 2015, when 11 trillion gallons of rainwater impacted the Carolinas. Nineteen South Carolinians lost their lives, mostly due to traffic accidents and flood water related incidents on roads. The first S.C. National Guard missions were executed on October 3rd with more than 390 soldiers mobilized to fill and transport 13,500 sandbags to eight counties. On October 4th, 700 S.C. National Guard personnel including swift water rescue assets from Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia prepositioned for life saving response. By the early afternoon of the same day, S.C. Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team (SC-HART) conducted 25 hoist rescues/lives saved in first four hours in midlands. In total, more than 290 Army aviation flight hours were logged, sling-loaded 100 one-ton sandbags and construction equipment to assist the Columbia canal repair, and 28 lives saved by the SC-HART. From October 3 - November 15, the S.C. Military Department executed flood response operations, peaking between 8-11 OCT with over 4,100 personnel on the ground. The Air Operations Branch of the S.C. Air National Guard coordinated efforts to local emergency management agencies, which included air support for life-saving search and rescue capability, damage assessments, and resupply efforts.
The S.C. National Guard deployed multiple units – both Army and Air – to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, a category five storm struck the island. Over 150 Engineer Soldiers from the 178th and 122nd Engineer Battalions departed on October 1, 2017, clearing over 150 miles of roads from debris to open access routes for supplies and services, and returned in early November. An Army Aviation Task Force with approximately 10 soldiers supported recovery efforts from October 24 - November 24. Eighteen airmen assigned to the S.C. Air National Guard’s 245th Air Traffic Control Squadron departed November 5 to assist in the hurricane relief missions and returned later in the month.
The S.C. National Guard was activated at the direction of Gov. Henry McMaster on March 17, 2020, in support of the COVID-19 response efforts throughout the state. The response proved different than anything the organization faced in the past. At the height of operations, approximately 650 S.C. National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in Federal status to conduct primary mission sets to include mission command, medical, engineering, and logistical support. The number of activated service members fluctuated during the response based on the needs of the mission identified from the state. Missions ranged from delivering meals to school-aged children in Horry County, supporting mobile COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) received from the strategic national stockpile, facility sanitation, medical support in hospitals, and food distribution assisting local food banks and homeless shelters. The S.C. Air National Guard’s Air Surgeon served as a key advisor to the Governor and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and numerous expert airmen from the 169th Medical Group were mobilized and deployed to augment local authorities. The pandemic response highlighted the resilience of our force during times of uncertainty.
As S.C. National Guard soldiers were supporting the Florida National Guard’s response to Hurricane Debby on State Active Duty, the organization quickly mobilized at home. Hurricane Helene made landfall late in the evening on September 26, 2024, in the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast as a category 4 storm. The hurricane moved rapidly through Georgia and into South Carolina and North Carolina in the days after causing historic flooding in western North Carolina. At its peak, there were more than 1.4 million power outages and 912 state roads closed. The S.C. Army National Guard aviation units responded for search and rescue and relief missions across the North and South Carolina border, delivering supplies to aid communities cut off by the storm in Catawba County, North Carolina. Soldiers from the 117th Engineer Brigade removed downed trees and reopened streets in multiple communities, including Edgefield and Oconee. Task Force Engineer completed 34 missions removing 2,525 trees with more than 4,260 chainsaw hours. The 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade and the 351st Aviation Support Battalion handed out meals ready to eat (MRE), cases of water, and other essentials. Airmen with the 169th Civil Engineering Squadron were actively involved in cutting downed trees and assisting with debris removal and a team from 169th Fighter Wing public affairs office aided in the communication efforts, underscoring the organization’s commitment to serving the citizens of South Carolina during times of crisis. At the height of the response, the S.C. National Guard had over 1,000 soldiers and airmen deployed across the state, diligently responding to disaster relief requests from federal, local, and state agencies.
The rich history of this organization continues to be written by today's South Carolina National Guard members. They remain faithful to their "true and tried" heritage, protection and defending freedom both at home and abroad.