South Carolina Official State Song

Carolina


Written by Henry Timrod
Composed by Anne Custis Burgess

Hold up the glories of thy dead;
Say how thy elder children bled,
And point to Eutaw’s battle-bed.
Carolina! Carolina!

Throw thy bold banner to the breeze!
Front with thy ranks the threatening seas
Like thine own proud armorial trees,
Carolina! Carolina!

Thy skirts indeed the foe may part,
Thy robe be pierced with sword and dart,
They shall not touch thy noble heart,
Carolina! Carolina!

Girt with such wills to do and bear,
Assured in right, and mailed in prayer,
Thou wilt not bow thee to despair,
Carolina! Carolina!

Acting on the memorial of the South Carolina Daughters of the American Revolution that the patriotic song “Carolina,” written by Henry Timrod, South Carolina’s most beloved poet, set to music by Miss Anne Custis Burgess, be made “legally the State Song.” The General Assembly, on February 11, 1911, adopted Senator W.L. Mauldin’s Concurrent Resolution that it “be accented and declared to be the State Song of South Carolina.”
Submitted by: Tammy Bushey