i ' ' *'i'-'i'j7i;-;?i|il5?Jf' ,<;i;Ki.i;i:i,..!,t«;;tjpj{.nj- • -i'J'rS.:-- 'sHt;liM|'i„ itiiV'P':*'.' I , ; i . ! !,! "If ; -¦¦- YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG " When the standard of the Union is raised and waves over my head — ¦ the standard which "Washington planted on the ramparts of the Constitution, God forbid that I should inquire whom the people have commissioned to unfurl it, and bear it up; I only ask in what manner, as an humble individual, I can best discharge my duty in defending it." Daniel Webster. " There are two things holy, — the flag which repre sents military honor, and the law which represents the national right." "Victor Hugo. ORIGIN AND HISTORY The AMERICAN FLAG AND OF THE NAVAL AND YACHT-CLUB SIGNALS, SEALS, AND ARMS, AND PRINCIPAL NATIONAL SONGS OP THE UNITED ST.4.TES, Mitb a >(rbrontcle THE SYMBOLS, STANDARDS, BANNERS, AND FLAGS OF ANCIENT AND MODERN NATIONS. GEO. HENRY PEEBLE, EEAR-ADMIK.iL U. S. N. NEW EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES. SUPPLEMENTED BY Charles Edwaed Asnis, A.M., LL.B. VOL.. I. Philadelphia NICHOLAS L. BROWN mcmxfii COPYRIGHT 1917 BY NICHOLAS L. BROWN. ^b3 ' sod o PRINTED BY CENTRAL PRESS CO. PHILADELPHIA. "1Hot to tbe living, but to tbe 2>ea5" THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED MEMORY OF THOSE GALLANT SPIRITS WHO. BY LAUD OB SEA, HAYE FOUGHT, CONQUERED, Ifallen in D.efence THE BANNER "WHICH IT COMMEMORATES. " This is a maxim which I have received by hereditary tradition, not only from my father, but also from my grandfather and his ancestors, that, after what I owe to God, nothing should be more dear or sacred than the love and respect I owe to my country." — ^DeThou. " Land of my birth ! thy glorious stars Float over shore and sea. Made sacred by a thousand scars They were not born to flee ; Oh may that flag for ever wave Where dwell the patriot and the brave. Till all the earth be free : Yet still the shrine be here, as now, "Where freeman, pilgrim-like, shall bow." " There is the national flag ! He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship, aud counti'y itself, with all its endearments. "Who, as he sees it, can think of a State merely? Whose eye, once fastened upon Its radiant trophies, can fail to recognize the image of the whole nation ? It has been called ' a floating piece of poetry ; ' and yet I know not if it have any intrinsic beauty beyond other ensigns. Its highest beauty is in what it symbolizes^ It is because it represents all, that all gaze at it with delight and reverence. It is a piece of bunting lifted in the air ; but it speaks sublimely, and every part has a voice. Its stripes of alternate red and white proclaim the original union of thirteen States to maintain the Declaration of Independence. Its stars, white on a fleld of blue, proclaim that union of States constituting our national constellation which receives a new star with every new State. The two together signify union, past and present. The very colors have a language which was officially recognized by our fathers. White is for purity ; red, for valor ; blue, for justice ; and all together — ^bunting, stripes, stars, and colors, blazing in the sky — make the flag of our country, to be cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands." — Chaeles Sumnbe. " I have seen the glories of art and architecture, and mountain and river ; I have seen the sunset on Jungfrau, and the full moon rise over Mont Blanc ; but the fairest vision on which these eyes ever looked was the flag of my country in a foreign land. Beautiful as a flower to those who love it, terrible as a meteor to those who hate, it is the symbol of the power and glory, and the honor of fifty millions of Americans." — Gbobgb p. Hoak. 1878. " Up many a fortress wall They charged, those boys in blue ; 'Mid surging smoke and volleyed ball. The bravest were the first to fall, — To fall for me and you ! Our brothers mustered by our side. They marched and fought and nobly died For me and you ! Good friend, for me and you." PUBLISHER'S NOTE. This book, -which has been justly called the classic of the story of the Flag, has been out of print for almost thirty years. The recent extension of American dominion over new lands, the admission into the Union of all territories on the Continent, Alaska excepted, as sovereign States, the great tide of immigration -which set in to our shores, and our participation in the great World "War have made it almost necessary that the story of the Flag should be taken up -where the gaUant author of the previous editions of this book left it in 1880 to be merged into the stirring events of to-day. It is hoped that by so doing this editiqn -will serve the double role of supplying a much needed chapter of the story of Old Glory and of a-wakening the patriotic impulse so necessary in the great world drama of which we are now one of the leading characters. Philadeuhia, June, 1917. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION In preparing this book in its permanent form, the errors of the press and of fact inseparable from the first issue of so novel and com prehensive a work have been corrected, much new matter has been added, and some of the original text discarded, in order to keep the book within reasonable limits, while the general plan and arrangement is the same. The colored plates also have been rearranged and changed, and the wood engravings largely increased, while the maps and autographies of national songs and documents are a new and distinct feature. The aim of the book is to perpetuate and intensify a love for our Union, through the flag which symbolizes it. The story of Our flag and of the Southern flags in the Civil War show graphically the madness of the time, and will, it is hoped, serve to render the crime of secession hideous, and afford a moral aid towards preventing a recurrence of such fratricide against the life of the nation. To my sensitive Southern friends who have objected to being called ' traitors ' and ' rebels ' I would say, those words are not intended in an offensive sense; and I respectfully refer them to General Jackson's opinion of nullification, under his own hand, on page 354, and to the general dictionary definition : — Tkaitor. " One who -violates his allegiance ; " " one who takes arms and levies war against his country," &e. Rebel. " One who defies and seeks to overthrow the authority to which he is rightfully subject." I think, under these definitions, they must plead guilty to both counts. They were ' bad boys,' who barred themselves out, but, having returned to their allegiance, all that is forgiven; and, having learned by experience, it is hoped they will never again raise a hand to subvert the majesty and authority of the Union. Although we are comparatively a new nation, our Stars and Stripes may to-day claim antiquity among national flags. They are older than the present flag of Great Britain, established in 1801 ; than the present flag of Spain, established in 1785 ; than the French tricolor, decreed in 1794; than the existing flag of Portugal, established in 1830; than the flag of the Empire of Germany, which represents the sovereignty of fourteen distinct flags and States, established in 1870; than the Italian tricolor, established in 1848; the Swedish Norwegian ensign; the recent flags of the old empires of China and Japan; or the flags of all the South American States, which have very generally been modelled from ' Our Flag.' I wish to return my acknowledgments to many old friends for their continued interest in my work, who have given me much valuable aid and information; and I would also thank the Hon. A. R. Spoe- FOED, Librarian of Congress, H. A. Homes, LL.D., Librarian of the New York State Library, Hon. William A. Courten-ay, Mayor of Charleston, S. C, Hon. John P. H. CiaAiboene, of Natchez, ex- Governor of Mississippi, Colonel J. P. Nicholson, of Philadelphia, Miss D. L. Dis, of Washington, D. C, and the authors of our songs who have furnished autograph copies of them, with many others too numerous to name here, but whose favors have been credited elsewhere in the text. Cottage Paem, Beookline, Mass. July 4, 1880. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION Peoudhon, the French socialist, had a peculiar manner of pro ceeding in the composition of a work. "When an idea struck him, he would write it 6ut at length, gen erally in the shape of a newspaper article ; then he would put it in an envelope, and whenever a new idea occurred to him, or he obtained additional information, he would write it on a piece of paper, and add it to the envelope. "When a sufficient quantity of material was assem bled, he would write an article for some review or magazine. This article he would place in a larger envelope, and add thoughts and information until, at last, the article became a book; and the day after the publication of his book, he would place it in a pasteboard box, and add thoughts and additional information as he came into possession of them." Very much in the same way have these memoirs grown to the size of this volume. More than twenty years since, their compiler became interested in tracing out the first display of Our Flag on foreign seas, and the notes he then gathered resulted in the preparation of an article entitled "The First Appearance of the Flag of the Free," which was published in the " Portland Daily Advertiser," in 1853, and thence extensively copied into other journals. Around that article from time to time became concreted numerous additional facts, which were embodied in another and longer newspaper article on the same topic. His interest in the subject grew with the increase of knowledge; new facts were accumulated and sought for, wherever to be obtained. T'he War of the Rebellion added a fresh impulse to his inquiries, and new and interesting incidents. The result is the present volume, which, if not rendered interesting by the graces of a practised authorship, can claim to be a faithful record of facts. Following the idea of Proudhon, the writer will be glad to receive from his readers any facts, incidents, or corrections, that will enable him to complete his memorial of our grand old flag, and help perpetu ate it as the chosen emblem of liberty and Union. Collected for his own amusement and instruction, in committing these memoirs to the public the compiler hopes they may interest and amuse others as much as the collecting of them has himself. If they revive and preserve, in the least degree, a patriotic sentiment for our starry banner, his ambition will be accomplished, his end attained. More than a thousand volumes have been examined in their prepara tion, and an extensive correspondence has been a necessity. I may say, therefore, to my readers, considering the score of years I have spent in the pursuit, as Montesquieu remarked to a friend concerning a par ticular part of his writings, " You will read it in a few hours, but I assure you it has cost me so much labor that it has whitened my hair." I would express my obligations to Messrs. William J. Canby, William D. Gemmill, and Chaeles J. Lukbns of Philadelphia, and Messrs. B. J. Lossing and Charles J. Bushnbll of New York, for valuable suggestions and facts, and particularly to Mr. John A. McAl- LisTEE, who has been unwearied in searching for and completing e-vi- dences of facts otherwise beyond my reach. Other friends, too numer ous to mention, who have given me their assistance, will please accept my silent acknowledgments. In 1864, the manuscript of this book, in its then incomplete state, was forwarded from Lisbon, Portugal, to the managers of the National Sailors' Fair at Boston, as a contribution to that charity, which re sulted in the establishment of the National Sailors' Home at Quincy, Mass. It arrived, however, too late to be printed for its benefit. Naval Rendezvous, Navy Yakd, Ohablestown, Mass. September 10, 1872. CONTENTS PART I. page The Standards, Flags, Banners, and Symbols of Ancient and Modern Nations 1 PART II. A.D. 860-1777. 1. The Early Discoveries of America, and the First Banner planted on its Shores, a.d. 860-1634; 2. Colonial and Provincial Flags, 1634-1766; 3. Flags of the Pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary Periods pre ceding the Stars and Stripes, 1766-1777; 4. Tbe Grand Union or Continental Flag of the United Colonies 157 PART III. The Stars and Stripes, 1777-1818. 1. Theories as to the Origin of the Stars and Stripes, as tbe Devices of our National Banner; 2. The Flag of Thirteen Stars and Stripes during the Revolution, 1777-1783; 3. Tbe Flag of Thirteen Stars and Thirteen Stripes, 1783-1796; 4. The Flag of Fifteen Stars and Fifteen Stripes, 179.5-1818 249 PART IV. The Stars and Stripes, 1818-1861. 1. The Flag of Thirteen Stripes and a Star for each State of the Union, 1818-1861 ; 2. Chronicles of the Flag, 1818-1861 337 PART V. llie Stars and Stripes, 1861-1865. Our Flag in, the Great Rebellion 1. The Beginning of the War against our Flag and the Union; 2. Our Flag at Fort Sumter; 3. Loyal Flag Raisings; 4. Our Flag in Secessia; 5. Southern Flags, 1861-1865 393 PART "VT. The Stars and Stripes, 1865-1880. PAGE 1. The End of the War against tbe Union aud the Flag; 2. Tbe Return of the Battle-flags of the "Volunteer Regiments to their States; 3. The Disposition of the Trophy-flags of the War; 4. Anecdotes and Incidents illustrating the History of ouri Flag, 1865-1880; 5. State Seals, Arms, Flags, and Colors 535 PART VII. Miscellaneous. 1. Tbe Distinguishing Flags and Signals of the United States Navy, 1776-1880; 2. The Distinguishing Flags of the United States Army, 1880; 3. Tbe Seal and Arms of tbe United States, and the Seals of tbe Departments, 1782-1880; 4. American Yacht Clubs and Flags, 1880 ; 5. Our National and Patriotic Songs 669 PART VIII. Supplement, 1880-1917. 1. The Flag To-day; 2. Spanish-American War; 3. The First Shot of the War; 4. Taking of Manila; 5. Tbe Sinljing of the Merrimac; 6. Tbe Voyage of the Oregon; 7. Tbe Destruction of Cervera's Fleet; 8. The Flag in Porto Rioo; 9. Capture of Guam; 10. Hawaii; 11. The Dan ish West Indies; 12. North Pole; 13. Tbe Panama Canal; 14. The Admission of New States; 15. North Dalcota; 16. South Dalcota; 17. Washington; 18. Montana; 19. Idaho; 20. Wyoming; 21. Utah; 22. Oklahoma; 23. Arizona; 24. New Mexico; 25. Tbe War in Europe ; 36. Tbe Flag and the Immigrant 769 ILLUSTRATIONS, COLORED PLATES. page I. The Flag To-day Face Title II. The Flags of all Nations, 1880 1 IIL The Flags of United Germany 101 IV. The New England Colors, 1686, 1704, and 1734; and the Flag of the " Royal Savage," 1775 157 V. Flags of 1775-1777 193 VI. Southern Flags, 1861-1864 393 VIL Distinctive Flags of the United States Navy, 1776-1880 657 VIII. Signal Flags, Pennants, &c.. United States Navy, 1880 677 Portrait of Elkanah Watson, from a painting by Copley, and showing the first Stars and Stripes raised in England, 1783 296 "WOOD ILLUSTRATIONS. No. 1. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.16.17. 18.19. 20.21. 22.23. 24.25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.31. 32. 33.34.35. 36.37.38.39. 40. 41. 42. 43.44.45.46.47.48. 49. 50. 51.52.53. 54. 55. 56. Page Pulaski's Banner 9 Flag of Washington's Life Guard 10 Simon de Montfort's Banner.. 15 CromweU's liannerol 17 Cromwell's Funeral Ensigns, &c 17 The Pennon 18 Daubernoun's Pennon, 1277.. 19 The Pavon 19 Ensigns from the Bayeux Tap- esti-y 21 The Gonfanon 23 An Ancient Ship '. . . 24 French Vessel of War, 16th Century 26 Ship of Henry VI.'s Time, 1430-61 27 The Mora, 1066 28 Ship of the Earl of Warwick, 1437 29 The Harry Grace de Dieu, 1515 31 English Ship of War, 1520 32 The Sovereign of the Seas, 1637 34 A Knight of Malta 43 Hospitaller's Staiidard 44 A Knight Templar 46 A Templar in a Travelling Dress 47 A Knights Templar Standard 47 The Beaueeant 48 Isis 48 Egyptian Standards 49 Standards ot Pharaoh 50 Bgvitian Standards, from Wil kinson 50 The Horse and the Grasshopper 51 Death's-head and Crescent ... 52 Standards and Devices of the Hebrews 53 Two Assyrian Standards 54 The Device of Romulus 55 Roman Standards 56 A Bronze Horse, Roman Stand ard 57 Group of Eleven Roman Im perial Standards 58 The Daharum of Constantine . . 59 The Hand 60 The Doseh 62 The Crescent and Cross united, 1876 66 Tien Hoang and the Dragon . . 72 Old Imperial Standard of Japan 78 Imperial Arms of Japan, 1880. 78 The Banner of Cortez 82 A Spanish Standard, 155«... 88 Banner of Balboa 90 The Royal Standard of Russia 95 Russian Flag. 1386 96 Old Bast India Flag of Portu gal 99 Banner of Charlemas-Dp 104 Three Banners of St. Denis . . 105 The Orlflamme 105 The Bourbon Standard 107 A French Eagle 117 Head of a French Standard, 1878 117 The Royal Arms of England, 1066-1880 118 No. 57.58. 59.60.61. 62.63. 64. 65.66.67.68. 69. 70. 71.72.73.74. 75.76.77.78. 79. 80. 81.82.83.84. 85. 87. Sfl.90. ni. 92. 93.94.95. 96.97.98.99. 100. 101. 102 103, Pagb The Arms of London, a.d. 44. . 119 The Three Saxes or Swords of Essex, 530 121 Eleanor of Guyenne 126 Margaret, Daughter of Henry III., 1252 127 Standard of Edward III., 1337 128 The Crest of the Black Prince. 130 Standard of Henry IV 131 Standard of Edward IV 133 Two Standards of Henry VIII. 136 Standard of Henry VIII., 1544 136 Standard of the Douglas, 1382 141 Arms of Henry V. of England. 143 The Formation of the Union Flag of Great Britain 149 A Union Device of 180O 150 The Shields of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick... 151 Nelson's Signal at Trafalgar. . 155 A Northman Vessel, 860^1014. 159 Standard of Spain, 1492 .... 168 The Caravel of Columbus .... 169 Banner of Columbus 169 Raleigh's Ship, 1585 174 Formation of the Union Colors of 1606 176 The Long Parliament Flag, 1648 177 Standard of the Three County Troop, 1659 182 Colors of Captain Noyes's Company, 1684 183 The King's Colors at New York, 1679 184 St. George's Cross, 1679 185 Colonial Merchant Flag, 1701. 186 Six Flags from the "Dominion of th« Sea," 1703 188 Pavilion de la Nouvelle Angle- terre en Amerique, 1737... 189 Bas-relief of Boston Liberty Tree 194 Colonial Seal of New Nether- land 197 Bunker's Hill Flag 199 Boston North Battery. &c., showing Flags of 1775 .... 200 The Pine Tree Flag, 1776 .... 201 American Floating Battery, 1775 202 Flag ot the Pennsylvania West moreland County Brigade, 1775 205 The Cowpens and Eutaw Flag. 207 Rattlesnake Device 2l4 Flag ot the Royal Savage, 1776 219 Flag destroyed at Cheapside, 1644 220 East India Company's Ensign, 1704 221 East India Company's Ensign, 1834 221 Commodore Hopkins, &c.. 1776 222 Formation of the Grand Union Flag of 1776 223 Flag of the Dutch West India Company 224 Fac-siraile of Washington's Bookplate 225 No. ' Page 104. American Flag at White Plains, 1776 246 106. The Stars and Stripes, 1777- 1880, and the proposed Standard 248 106. Standard of the Philadelphia City Troop, 1775 252 107. The Device 253 108. The Phrygian Cap 254 109. A Union Device, 1776 264 110. House where B^rst Stars and Stripes, are said to have i been made 265 111. Diagram of a Union 272 112. Old Swedes' Church, Phila delphia 237 113. A Flag of the Bon Homme Richard, 1779 282 114. Silk Flag displayed at New Haven, 1783 288 115. The Bark Maria, 1859 296 116. A Medal, Discovery of the Columbia River, 1787 302 117. Stonington Flag, 1814 327 118. Flag of the Enterprise, 1813 . . 327 119. Portrait of Saml. C. Reid 339 120. Design for a National Stand ard, 1818 343 121. Fac-simlle of an Engraving of 1785 346 122. Diagram of Stars in a Union, 1795 347 123. Two Diagrams of the Unions of Navy Flags, 1818 349 124. Joel R. Poinsett and our Flag in Mexico, 1825 352 125. " The Warders of the Antarc tic " 357 126. The Schooner Flying Pish beset 359 127. The Antarctic Continent .... 364 128. Arctic Expedition Flag, 1861 . . 387 129. Prof. S. P. B. Morse's Sugges tion 40'8 130. State House, Montgomery, Ala., 1861 406 131. Fort Sumter, S. C, 1860' 417 132. Raising the Flag at Sumter, Dec. 26, 1860 420 133. Steamer Star of the West, 1861 425 134. Nailing the Flag to the Staff. 440 135. Repossession of Fort Sumter, April 14, 1865 452 136. Portrait of Barbara Frietchie. . 482 137. Barbara Frietchie's House. . . . 483 138. Street Flag-staff, Charleston, S. C 495 139. Banner of the South Carolina Convention 496 140. Banner of South Carolina, 1861 498 141. The Pelican Flag, Louisiana . . 498 142. The Confederate States Seal. . 525 143. Firemen Saluting the Flag, 1867 590 144. Stanley meeting Livingstone. . 597 145. Pennsylvania Battle-flags in Procession, .Tune 17, 1879. 601 146. Arms of Maine 606 147. Arms of New Hampshire .... 606 148. Seal of Vermont 60i8 149. Arms of Massachusetts 609 150. „ Rhode Island 611 151. „ Connecticut 612 152. „ iNew York 614 153. ,, New Jersey 617 No. 154. 155.156. 157.158. 159.IGO. 161. 162.163. 164. 165.166. 167.168.169.170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178.179. 180. 181.182.183.184. 185. 186.187.188. 189.190.191, 192. 193.194.195.196. 197.198. 199. 200.201. L'l)2. 203. 204, 205, 206. Page Arms of Pennsylvania 618 ,, Delaware 621 „ Maryland 622 „ Virginia 623 „ West Virginia 625 North Carolina 626 South Carolina 628 Louisiana 634 ,, Texas 635 ,, Arkansas 637 Tennessee 638 Kentucky 638 Ohio 640 „ Michigan 642 ,, Missouri 645 ,, Iowa 646 „ Wisconsin 647 ,, Minnesota 648 California 648 " Kansas 650 ,, Nebraska 651 Colorado 652 Seal of Utah 653 Seal of New Mexico 653 Flag of the Naval Commander- in-Chief, 1776 659 Day Signals U. S. Navy, 1803-4 660 Night Signals U. S. Navy, 1803-4 661 Day Signals U. S. Navy, 1812- 14 663 Perry's Battle Flag 663 Day Signals U. S. Navy, 1858- 65 666 Army Signals, 1862 667 United States Seal commonly used 683 Du Simitifere's Design for U. S. Seal 683 JetCersou's Design, 1776, ob verse and reverse 684 Design submitted 1779, obverse and reverse 686 Design submitted 1880, obverse and reverse 687 Barton's Design, 1782 687 The Great Seal of the United States, adopted June 20, 1782, obverse and reverse . . 691 The President's Seal 697 Franklin's Post-Rider 697 Naval Seal, 1779 698 Navy Department Seal, 1879. 698 War Department Seal, 1778- 1880 698 Treasury Department Seal, 1778-1880 699 State Department Seal 699 Department of the Interior Seal 699 Department of Justice Seal . . 699 Commodore's Challenge Cup . . 701 The America's Cup 709 Yacht Henrietta '711 The Author of ' Hail Colum bia,' with the House In which it was Written, and the Theatre in which it was first Sung 714 The Original ' Star-Spangled Banner ' 721 Bombardment ot Fort Mc-Henry 724 HERALDIC COLORS OF THE ENGRA^^NGS OF FLAGS. Red. Perpendicular lines. Blue, Horizontal lines. BlacTt. Vertical crossed by horizontal lines. Green. Diagonal lines from left to right. Purple. Diagonal lines from right to Yellow. Black dots on white. White. A plain white fleld. MAPS. No. Page 1. Map of Vineland 163 2. Map of North America, 1500... 172 3. Reiner s Map of Nova Scotia, &c., 1504 172 No. Page 4. Map ot the Antarctic Continent. 363 5. Map showing the Progress of our Flag towards the North Pole 389 6. Map of Charleston Harbor 418 AUTOGRAPHIES. No. Page 1. Bills of the Philadelphia City Troop Standard, September, 1775 257 2. Letter of James Meyler 281 3. H. W. Longfellow, ' The Stars and Stripes Evel'y where ' . . 290 4. Signature of Saml. C. Reid . . . 339 5. Signature of Joel R. Poinsett . . 352 6. Andrew Jackson on Nullification, 1833 354 7. John A. Dix's ' Shoot him on the Spot ' Order, Jan. 21, 1861 399 8. John G. Whittier, a Verse of Barbara FrietcMe 485 9. H. W. Longfellow, ' The Ship of State ' 542 No. Page 10. Jos. Hopkinson, Signature .... 714 11. Jos. Hopkinson, ' Hall Colum bia ' 717, 718 12. F. S. Key, ' The Star-Spangled Banner ' 720 13. O. W. Holmes, Additional Verse to ' The Star-Spangled Ban ner ' 730 14. Samuel Francis Smith, ' Amer ica ' 742, 743 15. Francis de Haes Janvier, ' God Save our President ' . . 744-746 16. Thomas a Becket, ' Columbia the Gem of the Ocean "... 756, 757 17. Francis Miles Finch, ' The Blue and the Gray ' 759, 760 18. .Tulia Ward Howe, ' Battle-Hymn of the Republic ' .... 767, 768 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG FLAGS OF FOREIGN NATIONS 18 80 ROYAL STANDARD GREAT B RITAI N s;^ LORD LTOf IRELAND EUROPEAN STATES p Pl ^ MERCHANT FRANCE | AUSTRIA MAN OF WAR I MERCHANT. [MMO^ff^^ •WT" MAN OFWAR | MERCHANT HOLLAND GREECE AMERICAN STATES. ur.^ 11 ADMIRAL BRAZIL m ARGENTINE WOFWARSMEROIANT || IMPERIAL PACIFIC ISLA^TD ADMIRAL5DFALL GRADES Pi [ CUSTOM HOUSE PORTUGAL P I BELGIUM SAN SALVADOR GUATEMALA ECUADOR PARAGUAY PARAGUAY ADMIRAL ORIENTAL NATIONS NEWZEALAND AFRICA OFWMGEFREESTATt Those Flags mar/fed « areman oftvarFiac^s, Merchantmen hat^esameti/ithoulihearma ordet^ce,ex€ept SanSa/yador, frhirh has aitiP n/ii/e siars in I'/.'i Unlofi . - ~" — — ¦ PART I. THE SYMBOLS, STANDARDS, FLAGS, AND BANNERS OF ANCIENT AND MODERN NATIONS. " It is in and through s3'mbols that man consciously or uncon sciously lives, moves, and ha,s his being. Those ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can best recognize symbolical worth and prize it at the highest." „ ^ ^ Carlyle. " Out of monuments, names, wordes, proverbes, private recordes and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we doe save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time.'' _, ° Bacok. " Many things contained in this book are no other than collections of other authors, and my labor is no more therein than theirs who gather a variety of flowers out of several gardens to compose one sightly gar- SiR Wm. Monson. " Great room there is for amendments, as well as additions. Either of these, in what dress soever they come, rough or smooth, will be heartily welcome." A HISTORY OF THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WITH A OHEONICLE OF TIIE SYMBOLS, STANDARDS, -pLAGS, AND BANNERS OP ANCIENT AND MODEKN NATIONS. Symbols and colors enabling nations to distinguish themselves from each other have from the most remote periods exercised a powerful influence upon mankind. It is a fact well established both by sacred and profane history that a standard or ensign was borne in the armies of all nations from the most distant era. A colored banner was one of the earliest, as it was the simplest, of military ensigns. As tribes and nations multiplied, these banners naturally became particolored by stripes and other linear divisions, ancl finally emblazoned with the devices of the several chieftains. Thus these symbols, which during peaceful times were but trivial ornaments, became in political or re ligious disturbances a lever like that of Archimedes, and convulsed the world. Before commencing the memoir of the flag which this volume com- mem/orates, I propose to notice some of the symbols, standards, and banners of other nations. History, in general, has failed to appreciate the value of these symbols, which have given ascendancy to party, and led armies to victory ^nVtx more certainty and de,spatch than all the combinations of tactics and the most disinterested valor. We talk of the eagles of the Romans, of the contest between the crescent and the cross, and of the wars of thc white and red roses ; of the meteor flag of England, and of the cross of St. George; of the white plume and banner of Henry IV., and the lilies and tricolor of France; and of our own starry banner, which, said Edward Everett (May 37, 1861), "spealcs for itself. Its mute eloquence needs no aid 4 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners to interpret its significance. Fidelity to the Union blazes from its stars, allegiance to the government beneath which we live is wrapped in its folds." The tassels which are customarily pendent from the upper part of military banners and standards, and the fringes which surround them, liave their origin in sacred emblems, which, passing from gentile, mosaic, pagan, and Christian banners and sacerdotal garinents, have finally crept upon profane standards and dresses. The high-priests of Bralima, Baal, Osiris, Mithras, Jehovah, the priestesses of Vesta, Isis, Lucinia, Ceres, and Diana, were adorned with tassels, fringes, ribbons, and colors consecrated to their respective worships. When Moses had adjured the gods of Egypt, his native country, to follow the Jehovah of Midian, he wrote a ritual, bidding pomegranates of blue, of purple, and of scarlet, alternating with golden bells, to be placed about the hem of the blue robe of Aaron, to minister in the priest's office (Exodus xxviii. 31-35). The pemegranates were some times figured by tassels. The Mosaic law bade the Israelites to border their garments with fringes and blue ribands, as being, in their eyes, a remembrance against lusting (Numbers xv. 38, 39). Thus early was blue the emblem of purity and innocence. The Popes having wedded the Jewish and Heathen rites with the Christian worship, the Chris tian prelates adopted the pagan garments with tassels. Hence the warlike priests of Christ, on their return from the crusades, having assumed armorial bearings, the sacred tassels became the badge of prelacy in ecclesiastical armories. The archbishops had their shields surmounted with a green chapeau, or hat, with tassels, interlaced by several rows of cordon or strings, pendent on both sides. The green color was the symbol of a See, which never dies, or always revives as foliage regenerates. The chapeau, or cardinal's hat, with the same tassels, is of scarlet, the emblematic hue of the criminal court of the Holy Inquisition. The tassels, having passed into profane customs, became ornaments for national standards, which were often blessed by the priests, and for royal girdles or cordelieres. These were a silk or gold cord, terminating in two heavy tassels of the form of pomegran ates, and a fringe, with which the royal robe of kings and queens is fastened around the waist. Our English word. Flag, — which in Danish fs the same, in Swedish fiagg, in German ilagge, in Teutonic and Old French flache, Icelandic flaka, Belgian fiaclc, flalc, — signifying that which hangs down loosely, is said to be derived from the early use of rushes for streamers and also from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning " to fly," because the light material of which it is made is floated or lifted by every breeze. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 5 In modern parlance, under the generic name of flag is included standards, ancients or ensigns, banners, bannerolls, pavons, colors, streamers, pennons, pennoncelles, gonfanons, guidons, coronetts or cor- onells (hence the title of colonel), and the like. A flag is defined by the ' London Encyclopedia ' as " a small banner of distinction used in the army, and stuck in a baggage-wagon, to distinguish the baggage of one brigade from another, and of one bat talion from another." Jt, however, properly denotes in our time the colors worn at mastheads of national vessels to mark the rank or quality of the person commanding a squadron or fleet. The admiral of a squadron or fleet is styled the flag-officer, from the square flag hoisted at one of the mastheads of the vessel on which he is embarked, and which denotes to the rest of the fleet his presence there, and causes his ship to be designated as " the flag-ship." The first flag of Great Britain, generally known as the Royal stand ard, is a square flag, blazoned with the arms of the United .Kingdom. When hoisted at the masthead it denotes that the sovereign, or some member of the royal family, is embarked on board the vessel ; or, when hoisted on the flag-staff over a residence, wherever they may be on shore. The royal salute for this flag is twenty-one guns. The second flag, that of the lord high admiral, or of " the commis sioners performing the duties of that high office," is " a crimson ban ner," with " an anchor argent gorged in the arm with a coronet and a cable through the ring fretted in a true lover's knot with the ends pendant." Thus it was carried by the Earl of Southampton in the reign of Henry VIIL, and by the Earl of Lincoln in the time of Mary, except that he bore the stem and flukes of the anchor argent, the ring and stock or, and the cable azure. The Duke of Buckingham used the anchor with cable entwined, all or, much as it is now. In the reign of Charles IL, the Duke of York placed his arms on an anchor sur mounted by his coronet. Among the first acts of Charles II. , after his restoration to the throne, was one declaring his brother the Duke of York lord high admiral, on the 4th of June, 1660. The Duke, having hoisted his flag on board the Royal Charles, put to sea on the 35th of April, 1665, with a squadron of fourteen sail, besides five ships and smaller vessels, and met and defeated the fleet of Holland under Op- dam on the 3d of June. On the commencement of th'e second Dutch war, the Duke again hoisted his flag on board the St. Michael, and en gaging the great De Ruyter's ship, the St. Michael was reduced almost to a wreck, when he shifted his flag to the Royal London, and was successful. 6 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners The only account we have of the flag of the lord high admiral being carried at sea by an individual not of the blood royal is in the Memoirs of Sir John Leake, which say, " The Earl of Berkeley being then (21st March, 1719) vice-admiral of Great Britain, and first lord commissioner of the admiralty, endeavored to come as near the lord high admiral as possible both in power and state; by a particular warrant from the crown he hoisted the lord high admiral's flag, and had three captains appointed under him as lortl high admiral, Little ton, then vice-admiral of the white, being his first captain." The Earl of Berkeley was one of fortune's favorites. As Lord Dursley, at the age of twenty he commanded the Lichfield, 50, it being his second command. When twenty-three he commanded the Boyne, 80; at twenty-seven he was vice-admiral of the blue, and a few months afterward vice-admiral of the white; and the following year, being then only twenty-eight, vice-admiral of the red. At the age of thirty- eight he hoisted his flag on the Dorsetshire as lord high admiral, being then actually vice-admiral of England and first lord of the admiralty. He died near Rochelle, in France, Aug. 17, 1736, aged fifty-five. The lord high admiral's flag is entitled to a salute of nineteen guns. The third flag, that of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, is the Union Jack, having in the centre of the crosses a blue shield emblazoned with a golden harp. This flag is worn at the main of any ship in which his Excellency may embark within the Irish waters or in St. George's Channel, and is entitled to the same salute as that of the lord high admiral. The fourth flag, the Union, or Union Jack, in which are blended the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, emblematic of the United Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, is appropriated to the admiral of the fleet of the United Kingdom, and is worn at the main, and entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. Somewhere before 1692, Sir Francis Wheeler, Knt., a rear-admiral, sent to command in chief in the West Indies, was granted the privilege of wearing " the Union flag " at the maintop-masthead " as soon as he was clear of soundings." ^ Fifth in rank is the cross of St. George, a white flag with a red cross, the sign of the old crusaders, now worn by the admirals of the royal navy at the main, by vice-admirals at the fore, and by rear- admirals at the mizzen mastheads of their respective -ships. Until 1864, Great Britain had admirals, and vice and rear admirals of the 1 Scliomberg's Naval Clironology, vol. v. p. 227. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 7 red, white, and blue. By an act of Parliament of that year, the red ensign was given up to the use of the merchant marine, the blue ensign assigned to merchant and paclcet ships commanded by the officers of the newly organized naval reserve or naval militia, and the white ensign alone reserved for the royal navy. The salute of an admiral in the royal navy is fifteen, of a vice-admiral thirteen, and of a rear-admiral eleven- guns. Merchant vessels frequently carry small flags at their mastheads, bearing the arms, monograms, or devices of their owners or command ers, or designating the province or port to which the vessel belongs. The flag of the President of the United States, hoisted at the main, and denoting his presence on board a vessel of war, is appropriately the National Ensign, the flag of the sovereign people of whom he is the popular representative, and from whom he derives power and authority. The Vice-President and members of the Cabinet (the Secretary of the Navy excepted) are also designated by the national flag worn at the fore during their presence on board a vessel of war, and it always floats at the Capitol over the Senate-Chamber and House of Repre sentatives whenever those bodies are in session, — a custom followed in all or most of the States of the Union whenever their legislative bodies are in session. A special mark for the Secretary of the Navy, established in 1866, was a square blue flag having a white foul anchor placed vertically in the centre ^vith four white stars surrounding it, one in each corner of the flag. By an order dated 1869, this flag became obsolete, and the Union Jack was ordered to be hoisted at the main whenever he embarked on board a vessel of the navy; but the flag of 1866 was restored by another order on the 4th of July, 1876. The first rear-admiral's flag in our navy was a plain blue flag, such as had been used by the rank of flag-officer before the introduction of admirals to the service. This flag was, by law, required to be worn at the main by the three senior rear-admirals, at the fore by the next three in seniority, and at the mizzen by the three junior rear-admirals, and was first hoisted at the main on board the Hartford, in 1862, by Rear-Admiral Farragut, who had previously, as flag-officer, carried it at the fore.^ The absurdity of a rear-admiral's wearing his flag at "^ I have in my possession this flag, which was worn by Flag-Oflicer Farragut at the passiige ot the forts below New Orleans, and hoisted on the Hartford on his promotion to rear-admiral. Later, the two stars were added to it. The admiral presented the flag to Lieut. D. G. McRitchie, U.S.N., who gave it to me in 1875. 8 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners the fore or main was so contrary to the custom of other nations, that, by the suggestion of Hon. R. H. Dana, Jr., the next Congress repealed the law, after which a square "flag hoisted at the mizzen, blue, red, or white, according to the seniority of the officer, was adopted. In 1866, after the introduction of the grades of admiral and vice-admiral, the device adopted for the admiral was four flve-pointed white stars arranged as a diamond in a blue field, to be hoisted at the main. For the vice-admiral, three white stars arranged as an equilateral triangle on a blue field, to be hoisted at the fore. For rear-admirals, a square flag, blue, red, or white, according to seniority, at the mizzen, with two stars placed vertically in the centre of the flag. The color of the stars to be white when the flag was blue or red, and blue when the flag was white. The commodore's broad pennants were swallow- tailed flags, the same in color according to their seniority as the rear- admiral's flags. From the organization of our navy until the regu lation of 1866 they had been studded with a constellation of stars equal in number to the States of the Union, by the regulations then established only one star in the centre was to be emblazoned on their field.' In 1869, a radical change was made in the flags of our admirals and commodores; square flags, with thirteen alternate red and white stripes, were then prescribed for all grades of admirals, their position on the fore, main, or mizzen mast showing whether the officer was an admiral, vice, or a rear admiral; and if two rear-admirals should happen to meet in the same port in command, then the junior was directed, while in the presence of his senior, to wear two red stars perpendicular in a white canton, on the upper luff of his flag. The commodore's pendant was swallow-tailed, but otherwise Uke the admiral's flag, and worn at the main or fore, according to seniority, when more than one were in port together. The order of Jan. 6, 1876, restored the flags of 1866 on our centennial birthday. Each of the States of our Union and most of the Territories have flags of their own, generally of one color, white, blue, or red, and blazoned with the arms of the State. This flag is carried by the State militia into battle or on parade side by side with the national standard. We shall treat of these under an appropriate heading. An interesting relic of the American revolution is the banner of Count PulasM, presented to him by the Moravian Sisters of Beth lehem, Penn., in 1778. Count Pulaski was appointed a brigadier in the Continental army on the 15th of September, 1777, just after the battle of the Brandywine, and given the command of the cavalry. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 9 He resigned that command in a, few months, and obtained permission to raise and command an independent corps, to consist of 68 horse and 300 foot, which was chiefly levied and fully organized in Baltimore in 1778. Pulaski visited Lafayette wliile wounded, and was a recipient of the care and liospitality of the Moravian Sisters at Bethlehem, Penn. His presence and eventful history made a deep impression upon that community, and, when informed that he was organizing a corps of cavalry, they prepared a banner of crimson silk, with designs beauti fully wrought with the needle by their own hands, and sent it to Pulaski, with their blessing. The memory of this event has been embalmed in beautiful verse by Longfellow. Pulaski received the banner with grateful acknowledgments, and bore it gallantly through many a martial scene, until he fell at Savannah, in the autumn of 1779. His banner was saved by his first lieutenant, who received fourteen wounds, and delivered to Captain Bentalon, who, on retiring from the army, took the banner home with him to Baltimore. It was in the procession that welcomed Lafayette to that city in 1834, and was then deposited in Peale's Museum, where it was ceremoniously received by young ladies of the city. Mr. Edmund Peale presented it to the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, where it is carefully preserved in a glass case. Little of its pristine beauty remains. It is composed of double silk, now faded to a dull brownish red. The designs on each side are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green, and a deep bullion fringe ornaments the edge. The size of the banner is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne in the field. On one side of the banner are the letters U. S., and in a circle around 'them the words Unitas Virti's Forciok, — Union makes valor stronger. The letter c in the last word is incorrect, it should be t. On the other side, in the centre, is the all-seeing eye, with the words NoN" Alius Regit, — "No other gov erns." Another interesting Revolutionary relic is the flag of Washington's Life Puiasisi's Banner. Guard, which is preserved in the Museum of Alexandria, Va. It is of white silk, on which the device is neatly painted. One of the guard is holding a horse, and in the act of receiving a flag from the Genius of Liberty personified as a woman leaning upon the Union shield, near which is an American 10 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners eagle. The motto of the corps. Conquer or Die, is on a ribbon over the device. This Life Guard was a distinct corps of mounted men, attached to the person of Washington, but never spared in battle. It was or ganized in 1776, soon after the siege of Boston, while the American array was encamped near the city of New York. It consisted of a major's command; viz., one hundred and eighty men, and its chief bore the title of Captain Command ant. The uniform of the guard consisted of a blue coat with white facings, white waistcoat and breeches, blue half-gaiters, Flag of the Washington Life Guard, ^nd a cocked hat with a white plume They carried muskets, and occasionally side-arms. Care was taken to have all the States from which the Continental army was supplied with troops represented in this corps. BANNERS, BANDEROLES, GUIDONS, PENNONS, ENSIGNS, ETC. Several varieties of flags were formerly employed, indicating by their form and size the rank of the bearer. The use of many of these, however, has become obsolete; but, as frequent allusion is made to them in history and in ancient ballads, it is necessary that the modern reader should be acquainted with the names and significations of these flags of former times. A passage in ' Marmion ' alludes to several flags now fallen into disuse. " Nor marlced tliey less, where in the air A thousand streamers flaunted fair; Various in shape, device, and hue, — Green, sanguine, purple, red, and blue. Broad, narrow, swallow-tailed, and square. Scroll, pennon, pensil, bamdrol,, there O'er the pavilions flew. Highest and midmost was descried The Royal iamner, floating wide; The staff, a pine-tree strong and straiglit Pitched deeply in a massive stone Which still in memory is shown. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 1 Yet beneath the standard's weight, Whene'er the western wind unrolled, With toil, the huge and caimbrous fold. It gave to view the dazzling field, Where, in proud Scotland's royal shield. The ruddy lion ramped in gold." ' Banner — ^in Dutch, haniere: French, banniere; German, banner; Spanish, 6a7iiera; Italian, bandiera; Swedish, haner — signifies in these languages a flag, the emblem of a bond-roll or bond-sign, the sign of union, the standard under which men were united or bound for some common purpose. Some derive the etymology of the name from the Latin bandum, a band or flag ; others, from the German ban, a rallying-point, a field, a tenement, because only landed men were allowed a banner; others, again, believe it a corruption of pannier e, from panmis, cloth, because banners were originally made of cloth. The Germans are said to have fastened a streamer to a lance, which the duke carried in front of the army, and which was called band; afterwards, a large cloth was used, ornamented with emblems and inscriptions. Knights wore a pointed flag or pennon. A squire's mark was a long pennant similar to the coach-whip pennant of modern ships of war. Bannerets were of a rank above a simple knight, and yet below that of a baron, and carried a knight's pennon slit at the end. Barons were usually created on a battle-field, when the candidate presented his pennon to the king or general, who cut off the train of it, and thus making it square, retumed it to him as the symbol of his increased rank. Thenceforward the knight was entitled to emblazon his arms upon a square shield, and was styled a Knight Banneret. Barnes, in his ' Wars of Edward III.,' writes that, before the battle of Nagera, Lord John Chandos brought his pennon to Edward the Black Prince, requesting to hoist it as a banner. The Prince took the flag, and, having torn off the tail, returned it, saying, " Sir John, behold, here is your banner; God send you much joy and honor with it." From these customs may be traced the coach-whip and broad pennants worn by commanding officers of ships, and of commodores, and the square flags of the admirals of our own and foreign navies. The banner has been made to assume almost every shape a paral lelogram so small could be converted into. As a rule, in banners of cognizance or individual escutcheons, its .size bore relation to the rank of the owner; thus the banner of an earl was larger than that of a baron, and the baron's larger than that of a banneret. At first, 1 Sir Walter Scott's Marmion, Canto III.. 28. 1 2 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners banners were plain or of several colors, but they were eariy orna mented with devices of m'en and animals, and finally used as a flying shield, to display tbe blazonry of the bearer, the symbols of a nation, or the heraldry of a particular order, or of a department of the State. The banner, says Burke,i is coeval with the introduction of heraldry, and dates from the twelfth century. The banner was of a square form, and served as a rallying-point for the divisions of which the army was composed. Judging from the siege of Carleverock,^ as early as the fourteenth century there was a banner to every twenty- five or thirty men at arms, and thus the battie array was marshalled. At that period the English forces comprised tenants in capite of the crown, with their followers; and such tenants were entitled to lead their contingent under a banner of their arms. When the tenant in capite was unable to attend in person, from illness or other cause, he sent his quota of soldiers and archers with the tenure of his lands enjoined, and his banner was committed to the charge of a deputy of rank equal to his own. Thus, at Carleverock, the Bishop of Durham sent one hundred and sixty of his men at arms, with his banner, intrusted to John de Hastings; and Edmund, Lord d'Eyncourt, who could not attend himself, sent his two brave sons in his stead with his banner of blue biletee of gold, with a dancettee over all. The right to bear a banner was confined to bannerets and persons of higher rank. According to the roll of Carleverock, the banners of the principle nobles were made of silk. The banner of the Earl of Lincoln is described as " Of Saffron sillc his banner good, Wliereon a purple lion stood; " and the bajnner of Pltigh de Vere, the younger son of the Earl of Oxford, " As a banner both long and wide, of good silk, and not of 1 Burke's Heraldic Register, 1840-50. ' The ' Siege or Carleverock ' is the title of a poem descriptive of the banners ot the peers and knights of the English army who were present at the siege of Carle verock Castle, iu Scotland, in February, 1301. This roll or poem was flrst printed in 1770, in the second edition of the ' Antiquarian EepertoiT,' from the MS. in the Cottonian collection, but with a text " as corrupt," says Sir Harris Nicolas, " as unfortunate." In 1828, the work was edited by Sir 'H. Nicolas, and published in a handsome quarto of more than 400 pages, the larger portion of which is occupied by memoirs of the persons commemorated by the poet, forming in a great measure a baronage for the reign of Edward I. In 1864, a third edition was printed under the following title : — ' " The Roll of Arms of the Princes, Barons, and Knights who attended King Edward I. to tbe Siege of Caerlaverock in 1.30O. Edited from the MS in the RHti^b Museum, with a tr.nnslation and notes by Thos. Wright, Esqr M A PR « * Corresponding Member of the Institute of France. With' Coat Ann ' ' ' ' with gold aud colors. Loudon : John Camden Hotten, Piccadilly. 1864'*'"4t **™'^'"^''°''" of Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 3 cloth." The latter was the material with which knights-banneret were content. The banner of the constable, the good ' Earle of Hereford,' was " of strong blue cendal," a superior kind of silk. In 1361, Edward III. granted to Sir Guy de Bryan two hundred marks a year for having discreetly borne the king's banner at the siege of Calais, in 1347; and Thomas Strickland, the esquire who so gallantly sustained Henry's banner at Agincourt, urged the service as . worthy of remuneration from Henry VI. In Scotland, the representa tive of the great house of Scrimgeour still enjoys the honor of being " hereditary banner-bearer of the queen," an office to which by special grant Alexander I., a.d. 1107, appointed a member of the Carron family, giving him the title Scrimgeour, for his valor in a sharp fight. Two manuscripts in the British Museum, not older than Henry VIIL, afford us authentic information as to the size of banners, standards, and pennons; extracts from them are printed in the ' Ret rospective Review,' in 1837. That valuable work, ' Excerpta Historica,' also, has many interesting details on the subject.^ BANNERETS.^Everard, a correspondent of the ' Gentleman's Maga zine,' in 1793, states that bannerets " were feudal lords who, possessing several large fees, led their vassals to battle under their own flag or banner, when summoned thereto by the king, whereas the bachJarius eques, or little knights, in contradistinction to bannerets, who were great knights, followed that of another." To be qualified for a ban neret, one must have been a gentleman of family, and must have had the power to raise a certain number of armed men, with an estate enough to subsist twenty-eight or thirty men. This must have been very considerable, as each man, beside his servants, had two horsemen to wait on him, armed, the one with a cross-bow, the other with a bow and hatchet. As no one was allowed to be a baron who had not above thirteen knights' fees, so no one was admitted to be a banneret if he had less than ten. Some assert ' Bannerets ' were originally persons who had portions of a barony assigned them, and enjoyed it under the title baro proximus. Others find the origin of bannerets in France; some, again, in Brittany ; others, in England. The last attribute the institu tion of bannerets to Conan, a lieutenant of Maximus, who commanded the Roman legions in England under the empire of Gratian, a.d. 383. This general, revolting, divided England into forty cantons, and in 1 Retrospective Review, 2d series, vol. i. p. 113 ; Excerpta Historica, or Illustra tions of English History. One volume, Svo. London, 1833, pp. .'30, 60, 1C3, 170. 1 4 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners the cantons distributed forty knights; to each he gave the power of assembling under their several banners as many effective men as were in their districts; whence they were called haimerets. ^Froissart' says that ancientiy such military men as were rich enough to raise and subsist a company of armed men, and had a right to do so, were called bannerets; not that these qualifications rendered them knights, but only bannerets,— the appellation of knights being added because they were knights before. Sir John Chandos was made a knight- banneret by the Black Prince, and the King of Castile was made one at Nagera, April 3, 1367. Bannerets in England were only second to knights of the garter. They were next in degree below nobility, and were allowed to bear arms with supporters, which no one else could under a baron. In France the dignity was hereditary, but in England it died with the person who gained it. The order, after the institution of baronets or hereditary knighthood by King James I., in 1611, dwindled and be came extinct in England.^ The last person created a banneret was Sir John Smith, who was created a banneret after the Edgehill fight, Oct. 33, 1643, for liis gallantry in rescuing the standard of Charles I. George IIL, however, in 1764, made Sir William Erskine a banneret. ^ According to Fioissart, the degrees of chivalry were three : knights- bannerets, knights, and psquires. Before a man could become a knight- banneret, he had to serve as a squire and a knight to attain renown in arms, and to have a considerable military following. This was the letter of the law, but it was not always strictly enforced. The knight who aspired to the higher distinction could carry his pennon to the leader of the army in which he served, and demand to raise his banner ; when his qualifications were proved, the leader cut off the end of the pennon, which thus became a square banner. This simple ceremony was completed with a short address on the banneret's duties, pro nounced by the leader, or by a herald. The knight-banneret had no superior except the king, and was the equal of the feudal baron. The banners of the .Knights of the Garter, blazoned with their arms, hang over their stalls in Sir George's Chapel .at Windsor ; those of the Knights of the Bath over their stalls in Henry VII.'s Chapel West minster Abbey. In Roman Catholic countries, banners form an important feature in religious services, processions, &c. Before the Reformation, all the monasteries in England had banners preserved in iThe first baronet, Sir Nicolas Bacon, was created May 22 1611- bni-nnot= nf Ireland were created 1629 ; of Nova Scotia, 1625. All baronets created siW the Irish union, 1801, are of the United Kingdom. ^'""^^ ^"^ OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 5 their wardrobes, from whence they were brought on anniversaries, festivals, and important occasions, and were sometimes displayed in battle. Edward I. paid eight and a half pence per day to a priest of Beverley for carrying in his army the banner of St. John, and one penny per day while taking it back to his monastery. The celebrated painting of the ' Madonna di San Sisto ' which is now in the Dresden Gallery, was painted by Raphael as a. banner to be used in processions for the Benedictine Cloister of St. Sixtus, in Piacenza. It was, however, soon placed upon the high altar of the church, where it remained until purchased by Augustus IIL, Elector of Saxony, and was removed to Dresden in 1753 or 1754. The price paid, according to Wickelmann, was 60,000 gulden. In 1837, the painting was restored, and a portion that had been concealed in the framing was brought to light, — the top of the curtain with the rod and rings supporting it. Engravings by Schulze and Miiller were made before this discovery; and by Nordheim, Steinla., and Keller after. Hence the difference in their details. The union jack of Great Britain is a religious banner, composed of the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick. The cor porations in former times had their banners, and several of the livery companies of London still retain them for public occasions, as do the St. Patrick, St. Andrew, and other societies of the United States. No political, religious, or secular procession would be considered complete in the United States without a display of banners. The study of this subject is of great importance to the historical painter, and few sources of information are available. Drayton, in his ' Battle of Agincourt,' says : — " A silver tower Dorset's red banner bears, The Cornishmcn two wrestlers had for theirs." All the great nobles of England and Scotland carried banners blazoned with the family arms. , John of Dreux, Earl of Richmond, in the reign of ¦ - - Edward I., bore a banner charged with the chequey coat of Dreux, surrounded by a bordure of England, and a canton of Bretagne. The bordure of England is de scribed as " a red orle with yellow leopards." The ban ner of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, is repre sented on a window of the cathedral at Chartres. On his shield he carries a lion rampant. Banners and bannerol's were carried at funerals of the great in England, from Trt"s Banner.*' the eleventh to the sixteenth century. They usually / 16 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners consisted of banners blazoned with the arms of the individual, and the families with which he was allied. On some occasions ecclesiastical banners were displayed. In 1388, John Lord Montecute, a brother of the Earl of Salisbury, ordered in his will that no painting should be placed about his hearse, excepting one banner of the arms of England, two charged with that of Montecute, and two with the arms of Monthermer. In the fourteenth century, those who were descended from or connected by marriage with the royal family used the royal arms with their own. Isabel, Countess of Suffolk, 1416, and the Earl of Huntington, 1380, forbade any banners to be borne at their funerals; but Richard, Earl of Salisbury, 1458, ordered at his interment " there be banners, standards, and other accoutrements, according as was usual to a person of his degree." At the exposing of the body of Richard II. in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1400, four banners were affixed to the carriage or bier supporting it, — two of which con tained the arms of St. George, and the other two the arms of Edward the Confessor. In 1543, Sir Gilbert Talbot, of Grafton, desired four banners should be carried at his funeral, — one of the Trinity, one of the Annunciation, of Our Lady, one of St. John the Evangelist, and one of St. Anthony. Sir David Owen, who died the same year, ordered by his will, 1539, his body should be buried after the degree of banneret; that is, with his helmet, sword, coat armor, banner, standard, and pendant, and set over all a banner of the Holy Trinity, one of Our Lady, and another of St. George, borne after the order of a man of his degree ; and the same should be placed over his tomb in the priory of Essebourne. The Banner, blazoned with all the quarterings of him to whom it belonged, was either attached to a staff or lance, or frequently depended from a trumpet, — a custom which is still retained by the trumpeters of the Household Brigade. We read in Shalcspeare, — " I will a banner from a trumpet take, and use It for 'my haste; " and in Chaucer, — " On every trump hanging a brode bannere Of fine tartarium full richly bete. Every trumpet his lordis armes bere." The flags carried by cavalry regiments, though usually called ' stand ards,' might properly be styled ' banners.' The term ' colors ' is applied to the flags of foot regiments. Shakspeare uses colors to denote mili tary flags. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 17 During the reigns of Edward VL, Mary, and Elizabeth, and even later, care was observed that the proper banners should be carried at the funerals of persons of rank. The Banderole, Bannerol, or Bandroll was a small banner about a yard square, generally but not always rounded at the fly, several of which were carried at funerals. They dis played the arms and the matches of the de ceased's ancestors, especially of those which brought honor or estate into the family. These arms filled the entire flag, which was gener ally fringed with the principal metal and color of the arms of the deceased. The bannerol which was placed at the head of Cromwell, at his magnificent funeral, ex hibited his arms, viz., sable; a lion rampant Oliver Cromwell's Bannerol, argent; impaling Stuart or; on a fess cheeky argent and azure; an escutcheon argent debruised with a bend fretty. At his funeral there were also displayed four standards, eight great banners, and twelve bannerols, with a guydon, of which we give a re- duced f ac-simile ¦ from Prestwick's ' Res R e p u b 1 i cae.' These standards ex hibit the shape and design of the stand ards of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales at the period of the great Protector's death, and also the banners of the 'Union or States,' ' St. George,' ' St. Andrew,' ' King David,' and of the Commonwealth, the 18 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners banner of Cromwell and his guydon, and the bannerols of the families with which he was alUed. It appears by the bill rendered for the funeral expenses that the six great banners cost £6 each, and the five large standards, " wrought in rich taffety, in oyle, and guilt with fine' gold and silver," cost £10 each; the guydon, " as large as a great banner," £6; and the twelve bannerols, £30. At the Restoration, Cromwell's body and the bodies of his associates were dug up, suspended on Tyburn gallows for a day, and then buried under it. The head of Cromwell was taken off, carried to Westminster Hall, and fixed there, where it remained until the great tempest at the commencement of the eighteenth century, which blew it down, when it was picked up by the grea1>grandf ather of its present possessor, a citizen of London, — a significant commentary on earthly greatness. " The body of Cromwell, carried to his burial in royal state, only a few yeaJrs after his interment is rudely torn from its last resting-place, and the half-decayed carcass, dragged by the heels through the mud and mire of London, is hanged upon Tyburn tree, the head afterwards torn oft' and placed so that, in grinning horror, it ever looked towards the spot where King Charles was executed." ^ The Guydon, or Guidon, Fr. (derived from guide-homme) , resem bled a banner in form and emblazonment, but was one-third less in size, and had the end rounded off. It was the standard of a company of soldiers, and borne by their cornet. " The guydhome must be two yards and a half or three yards longe, and therein shall no armes be putt, but only the mans crest, cognizance & devyce, and from that, from his standard and streamer, a man may flee, but not from his banner or pennon bearinge his armes." " Place under the guidhome fifty men, by the conduct of. an esquire or gentleman." ^ Every guydon carried, in chief, a cross of St. George. The Pennon (Fr.), sometimes spelled Pinione, was a small streamer ^ _ half the size of the guydon, of a swallow-tailed form. attached to the handle of a spear or lance, such as the lancers of the present day carry. Afterwards, by in- /^\J crease in length and breadth, it became a military Pennon. ensign, and was charged with the crest, badge, or war- 1 Anonymous ; Prestwick. 2 MS. British Museum. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 19 cry of the knight,— his arms being emblazoned on bis banner, so ar ranged as to appear correctly when the lance was held in a horizontal position. The pennon charged with a cross is borne by St. George, St. Michael, and St. Ursula; that of John the Baptist is in scribed with his words announcing the com ing of Christ : " Ecce Agnus Dei." The il lustration, a pennon of the earliest form, is Daubernoun's Pennon, 1277. copied from one held by the figure of Sir John Daubernoun, 1377, on his monumental brass in the church of Stoke D'Aubernoun, Surrey. A manuscript, giving the size of banners, &c., in the fifteenth cen tury, says : " Every knight may have his pennon, if he be chiefe cap- taine, and in it sett his armes; and if he be made a banneret by the king or the lieutenant, shall make a slitte in the end of the pennon, and the heraldes shall raze it oute : and when a knight is made a ban neret the heralds shall bringe him to his tente, and receive for their fees, three pounds, eleven shillings and four pence for every bachelor knight, and the trumpetter twenty shillings." In ' Canterbury Tales,' Chaucer's knight says : — " And by hys bannere borne is his pennon Of gold full riche:" Sir Walter Scott thus alludes to the pennon in ' Marmion : ' — " The trustiest of the four, On high his forlcy pennon bore: Like swallow's tail in shape and hue. Fluttered the streamer, glossy blue, Where blazoned sable, as before. The towering falcon seemed to soar." The Pavon was a peculiar-shaped flag, somewhat like a gryon attached to a spear. The cut is from an illuminated Psalter executed in 1340. The original is charged with the arms of Sir Geoffrey Loutterell: azure; a bend between six martlets argent. PSVOn. Pbnoncels, or Pensils, were small narrow pennons, usually borne to ensign the helmet, or to form part of the caparisons of the knight's charger, though they were sometimes affixed to lances, as appears from a line of the 'Lyfe of Alesaunder,' a metrical romance of the four teenth century, — " Many a fair pencel on spere." 20 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Ensign (Wal. insigna; Span, ensena; Lat. insigne; Fr. ensigne; also in English, antient or ancient), applied first to the flag, is now api>lied both to the flag and its bearer. In ' Othello,' Cassio, in speaking of lago, says, " The lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient." Edward the Black Prince commanded his ' ancient ' bearer. Sir Walter Wood land, to march forward.^ King Richard took with him on his crusade the standard and ensigns of his kingdom. Of late years, the national flags borne by vessels of war or merchant ships have been known as ensigns, and a grade of junior officers has been introduced into the United States navy, who are styled ' ensigns,' though their duties nec essarily have no connection with the colors. The French also have a class of officers in their navy styled ensigns de vaisseaux.^ Winthrop, in his ' History of New England,' mentions, under date Saturday, May 33, 1634, his meeting, on his passage across the At' lantic, a small French vessel, and " when we drew near her, we put forth our ' ancient/ and she luffed up the wind to us." That celebrated piece of royal embroider}^, the Bayeux tapestry, the handiwork of Matilda, the consort of William the Conqueror, and her ladies, exhibits a display of the military ensigns in use at the period of the conquest by the Norman invaders and the Saxon occu pants of England. The examples I have given from it afford an idea of the shape and devices of the ensigns of the chieftains of the eleventh century.^ The Bayeux tapestry, divided into compartments showing the events from Harold's visit to the Norman court to his (feSth at Hastings, is preserved in the public library at Bayeux, near Caen, Normandy. Only within a few years has it been where it could be seen with comfort or ability to appreciate its merits, having formerly been kept on a huge cylinder, from which an official unrolled seventy-two yards on to another cylinder. In this way it was carried through France in 1803, by order of Bonaparte, to be displayed from the stages of the theatres as an incentive to the public mind not to revive this kind of work, but to awaken the people to a project then on foot for the invasion of England. Now this grand work is shown on the walls of the town library, it consisting of a strip of linen j;Joth 318 feet long, and 1 foot 8 inches wide, having worked upon its entire length a series of fifty-eight scenes, representing the events in the ' Norman Conquests,' in which there are more than ten thousand figures, many of them being men who are 10 to 13 inches high; then there are horses, dogs, ships, and houses, and a running border 1 Boutell's Heraldry. 2 „ OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 21 with innumerable figures, all worked in worsted, and with only eight colors, dark and light blue, red, yellow, buff, and two shades of green; the horses are either blue, red, green, or yellow, to suit the sur roundings. Ensigns from the Bayeux Tapestry. Thus the queen has handed down to the present day a memorial so explicit in its details and graphic in its delineations as to form a valuable standard of reference in an archaeological point of view, and at the same time a perfect mirror of the curious usages, economy, manners, and even looks of the people of her time. Over each scene 22 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners is written, also in needle-work, the subject, in Roman capitals, in the Latin language.^ The number of pennons carried by the Norman soldiers figured in the entire tapestry amounts to thirty-seven, and of these no less than twenty-eight have their ends cut into three points or flames. Mr. French argues that the three-pointed ends on these pennons symbolize the Holy Trinity, as did those of crusaders of the first cru sade subsequently. Whether the pennons with their triple termina tions were intended to symbolize the Trinity or not, there is no doubt of their having been used extensively. When the crusader retumed, this symbol of his hostility to the Saracen was removed, as shown on the tomb of Edward Crookback, Earl of Lancaster, the brother of Edward I., who returned from the first crusade of 1370. The tomb remains to this day, though defaced. In 1783, the colors were copied, and each of the figures of the ten knights who accompanied him to the East and returned with him to England are represented as holding a square banner. Gonfanons were properly sacred banners carried in religious pro cessions, and as such Chaucer and Milton speak of them. The great standard or banner of St. Mark was styled a gonfanon. The gonfanon was bordered with fringe or twisted silk, and usually supported as shown in the illustration. In the ' Lyf e of Alesaunder ' we read, — " Tlier gonfannons and their penselles Wer well wrought off grene sendels.'' Dr. Myrick considers the small pennon attached to a lance in the hand of William the Conqueror on his great seal as a golifanon, differ ing from a banner, being, instead of square and fastened to a tronsure bar, of the same figure as the gonfanon, fixed in a frame, and made to tum like a modern ship's vane, with two or three streamers or tails. The object of the gonfanon was principally to render the leaders more conspicuous to their followers, and to terrify the horses 1 Mrs. Emma D. Southworth, Co^ Boston ' Traveller,' Oct. 4, 1879. A copy drawn by C. Stothard, and colored after the^ originals, was published by the Society of Antiquaries iu 1821-23. A fac-simile in chromo-lithograph, the full size of the origi nal, has been published. In 1836, the Rev. .lohn Collingwood Bruce published a quarto volume, entitled ' The Bayeux Tapestry elucidated,' which has reduced colored illustrations of tbe entire roll. In 1857, tbe Journal of the Archseological Association of Great Britain printed a paper by Gilbert J. French on the ' Banners of the Bayeux Tapestry,' which was subsequently published in a thin Svo. volume, for presenta tion only. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 23 of their adversaries ; hence the gonfanon was a mark of dignity. From the Bayeux tapestry it would appear that a standard was borne near the person of the commander-in-chief, which is described by the writer of the period as a gonfanon. Wace says : — ¦ " Tlie barons bad gonfanons, The knightsi had pennons." The Conqueror's gonfanon, depicted on the Bayeux tapestry,^ has three tails, and is white, within a blue border charged with a cross, or. The same charge also occurs on the mast of his ship, though in a square form. Wace says, Harold's standard was a noble one, — a dragon sparkling with gems and precious stones. One of the banners of the Bayeux tapestry, of which an illustration is given, represents a bird within a semicircle of rays, and has usually been called a Danish war-flag, the bird supposed to be the raven sacred to Odin; and Herr Worsao - adopts the opinion that it is the danbrog or war-flag of the Scandinavian vikings. .He goes on to state that the banners (or marks) of the ancient Danes were in times of peace light-colored, but in war times of a blood color, with a black raven on a red ground. This is entirely against the supposition that the flag of the tapestry represents the raven of Denmark, since, after the lapse of six hundred .years, the bird remains of a pale blue color, upon what appears to have been white, and it is represented with closed wings, — a peaceful afed dovelike attitude. There is, therefore, reason for a belief that this singular and interesting banner bears a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, within a nimbus of rays.' Speed informs us that the Duke of Normandy, " with three hun dred ships fraught full of his Normans, Flemings, Frenchmen, and Britaignes, weighed anchor." In this list there is no mention of Danes or Norwegians, and there is good reason for supposing that no soldiers of Scandinavian nations were present in the army of the Conqueror. The strength of these nations had invaded England in the north, and been subdued in a sanguinary and decisive battle, only four days before the Duke of Normandy landed at Hastings. The probability, therefore, is that neither Dane nor Danish banner was in the Norman .army.'' The Standard was a flag somewhat resembling an elongated pen non. It did not, like the banner, indicate a distinctive mark of honor, 1 Retrospective Review — Sir Harris Nicolas. ' The Danes In England. 2 Gilbert J. French. Banners of the Bayeux Tapestry, 1857. 24 , The Symbols, Standards, and Banners but might be borne by any noble commander irrespective of his rank, the only restriction being that of its length. A king's standard was eight or nine yards long; a duke's, seven; a marquis's, six and a half ; an earl's, six ; a viscount's, five and a half ; a baron's, five ; a banneret's, four and a half; and a knight's, four. The banner was always charged with the arms of its owner; but on the standard only the crest or badge and motto were exhibited ; the field being composed of the livery colors. When the livery of a family consisted of more than one color, — as the Tudor sovereigns, for ex ample, who bore argent and vert, — the standard was always parted per fess of such colors. Next the staff was emblazoned the cross of St. George; then followed the badge or badges, repeated an indefinite number of times, surmountecl by narrow bands, on which was inscribed the motto, or cri-de-guerre; the whole being usually surrounded by a roll of silk composed of the livery colors. The charges were so depicted upon the standard as to appear correct when it was developed by the wind in a horizontal position. On account of its size, it was not generally carried in the hand, like a banner, but the staff to which it was attached was fixed in the ground, — hence its name. The Royal standards of the present time are really square banners, blazoned with the royal arms over the entire field. / THE EARLY USE OF ENSIGNS AND COLOPS ON BOARD SHIP. According to Wilkinson and Bonomi, there are no flags depicted upon Egyptian or Assyrian representations of vessels; but in lieu of a flag certain devices are embroidered on the sail, such as a phenix, flowers, &c., whence the sail bearing the device -was called nes, or ensign. The utility of vanes and pennons must have been soon suggested as a means of ascertaining the direction of the wind. The blazoning them with the arms of the owner or the name of the vessel naturally followed. Livy mentions that Scipio, b.c. 303, was met by a ship of the Carthaginians, "garnished with infules, ribbands, and white flags of peace, and beset with branches of olives " &c. A medal of the time of Antiochus VIL, king of Syria, b.c. 133 shows a galley without mast or sail, having a swallow-tailed flao- not of Ancient and Modern Nations. 25 slung upon a spreader, but hoisted on an eiisig-n-.stafl' abaft. The Prophet Ezekiel, whose prophecies date 600 years k.c, metaphori cally comparing the maritime city of Tyre to one of the ships by which they carried on their commerce, speaks of Jier banner as made of fine linen. Pliny tells us that the sterns and prows of trading vessels and men- of-war, without exception, were decorated with colors ; and at Athens, Corinth and Sicyon the profession of ship-painters founded the famous school of painters in those cities. At flrst, merely to preserve the wood, the ship-builders covered every part of the vessel exposed to the action ol tiie air and water with a coating of pitch; but this sombre and uniform tint soon wearied the eye. A more brilliant color, prepared with wax, was painted over the pitch ; the costlier class of ships glistened in all the splendor of white, ultramarine, and vermilion ; while pirates and occasionally men-of-war were covered with a coat of green paint, which, blending with the color' of the sea, prevented them from being seen at a distance. Gildings glistened on the vessels of the rich, and the sculptor's chisel added busts and figures to the decoration of their bows and sterns. Even in this respect the Middle Ages still followed the traditions of antiquity. The decorations of ships varied according to the caprice of ovniers and the fashion of the times. The Saracen dromon boarded and taken by Richard Coeur de Lion had one side colored green, nnd the other yellow. The Genoese at first painted their ships green ; but in 1343, when they were at war with the Pisans, they colored them white, spotted with vermilion crosses ; that is, " red crosses on a silver ground, which resembled the arms of Monsieur Saint-Georges." 'Red was the color generally adopted for ships' hulls in the sixteenth cen tury, though a pattern in black and white was sometimes added, and sometimes the ground was painted black, and the pattern only ver milion. In 1535, when Francis I., made prisoner at the battle of Pavia, was taken to Barcelona, thasix galleys which carried the captive sovereign and his suite were painted entirely black, from the top of the masts to the water-line. The Knights of St. Stephen, in the fifteenth century, hid the brilliant hues of the principal galley of their squad ron, and painted its sails, pennants, awnings, oars, and hull with black, and swore never to alter the sonubre hue till their order had recap tured from the Turks a galley lost by the Pisans. The Normans, or men of the North, were as fond of these brilliant standards as the nations of the Mediterranean; when they sailed on a warlike expe dition, or when they celebrated a victory over pirates, they covered 26 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners their vessels with flags. The poet Benoit de Sante-More tells us that it was in this fashion, covered with seven liundred banners, that RoUo brought his fleet back up tlie Seine to Meulan. The Middle Ages made use of all kinds of fanciful decorations for their vessels. During the Renaissance, this taste was re newed, and was an improvement upon the cus toms of anti quity, whence it drew its inspira tions, and on those of,the thir teenth century. A galley, says the learned M. Jal," was in those days a species of jewel, and was handed over for embellishment to the hands of gen ius, as a piece of metal was given to Benvenuto Cellini." Sculptors, painters, and poets combined their talents, to adorn a ship's stern. A striking example of this artistic refinement in naval ornamentation was the Spanish galley constructed in 1568 by order of Philip IL, for his brother, Don John of Austria, to ^hom he con flded the command of the fleet intended to fight the barbarous Moor ish States of Africa. The vessel's cut-water was painted white, and emblazoned with the ro^al arms of Spain and with the personal arms of Don John. The prince being a Knight of the Golden Fleece, the history of Jason and of the good ship Argo was represented in col ored sculpture on the stern, above the rudder. This pictured poem was accompanied with four symbolical statues — Prudence, Temper ance, Power, and Justice, — above which floated angels carrying the symbols of the theological virtues. On one side of the poop might, be seen Mars the avenger. Mercury the eloquent, and Ulysses stop-' ping his ears against the seductions of the Sirens; on tiie other, Pal las, Alexander the Great, Argus, and Diana. Between these were inserted pictures, which conveyed either a moral lesson for the benefit French Man-of-war of the Sixteenth Century. From tho Collection of Drawings in the National Library, Paris. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. n of the young admiral, or a delicate eulogium on Charles V., his father, or on Philip IL, his brother. All these emblems were chof.s-d'amvre of drawing and sculpture, which the brilliancy of their gold, azure, and vermilion settings tended to enhance.^ The illuminated copies of Froissart's 'Chronicles,' in the British Museum, present many curious illustrations of the manner of carrying flags at sea. Some of the vessels have a man at arms in the top holding on a staff the banner of the nation to which it belongs. One of the illu- Ship of Henry VI.'s Time, 1430-61. minations of the time of Henry VI. (1430-61) represents a ship with shields slung along her topsides, — a very ancient practice, which was continued by painting the arms and devices on the bulwarks, and from whence eome the flgure-heads and stern carvings of modern ships. Two trumpeters at the stern have standards blazoned with fleurs-de-lis, attached to their trumpets, and a similar standard is dis played from her masthead. In some instances, the banners of ships were consecrated. Baldwin, Earl of Flanders (1304) had one, and William the Conqueror, when he invaded England (1066), hoisted at the masthead of the Mora, the ship that conveyed him to its shores, 1 Le Croix's Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages. 28 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners a s(juare white banner. This banner was charged with a gold cross within a blue border, surmounted by another cross of gold, conse crated by Pope .A.lexauder II. express] V for the occasion. Her name, the Mira, or Mora, is supposed to mean Man sion. She was presented to the Conqueror by his duch ess as a parting gift. A pic ture of her, from which our illustration is drawn, is pre- The Mora, 1066. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^jjg Baycux tapestry. Her sail is painted in three stripes ; viz., red or brown, yellow, and red. All the ships of AVilliam's fleet were painted in horizontal stripes, dif ferently colored. The Mora was painted alternately brown and blue. A variety of colors were borne by English ships in the fourteenth century. Besides the national banner of St. George, and the banner of the king's army (which, after the year 1340, consisted of three lions of England quartered with the arms of France, — ^azure semee of gold fleur-de-lis), every ship had pennoncels with the arms of St. George and two streamers charged with the image of the saint after whom she was called, if she had not a Christian name, the streamers con tained other charges. About 1346, one hundred and sixty pennoncels witli the arms of St. George were made for ships. The standards of St. George had sometimes a leopard, i.e. the lion of England, in chief. In 1337, the St. Botolph and the St. Nicholas carried Streamers with thc images of those saints. These streamers were from fourteen to thirty-two ells long, and from three to five in breadth. Before tbe battle of Espagnols sur Mer, in 1350, two standards and two streamers were issued to all thc king's ships, those called after saints having their effigies. Some of the other streamers were peculiar. That of the Jerusalem was white and red, and contained white dragons, green lozenges, and leopards' heads. That of the Edward had the king's arms with an E, and the streamer and banner of tbe sliip appointed for the king's wardrobe was charged with his arms and a black key. Two gonfanons are stated to have once been supplied to ships, prob ably to distinguish the vessels that bore them, carrying ecclesiastics, from other vessels; also a streamer charged with a drao-on. Streamers were considered warlike ensigns. One of the requi sitions made to the Mayor of Lyons by the French ambassadors of Ancient and Modern Nations. 29 appointed to carry the treaty of Montreuil into effect, was, that the masters of ships belonging to Lyons, who were going' to those ambas sadors in Hainault, should be forbidden to bear unusual streamers, or other signs of mortal war, until commanded to do so by the kiug, to avoid incurring the dangers mentioned in the eighth article oE a con vention agreed to before Pope Boniface the Eighth, for settling some disputes between the French and the inhabitants of Lyons, and of other maritime towns of England and of Gascony. The banner of the admiral of a fleet was hoisted on board his ship ; and when anjr eminent j)erson was a passenger, his banner was also displayed. In 1337, Sir John Roos, admiral of the northern fleet, was sent to convey the Bishop of Lincoln and the Earls of Salisbury and Huntingdon on their return to England from a foreign mission ; and the Christopher was fumished with banners of tbe arms of Sir John Roos, of the Bishop of Lincoln, and of the Earl of Salisbury. These banners were one ell and three-quarters long, and two cloths wide. The Christopher also received a banner of the king-'s arms, and two worsted standards, which were nine ells long and three cloths wide. Besides streamers bearing a representation of the saint for whom a ship was named, his image was sent on board. When Edward III. embarked in his Cog, the Thomas, in 1350, before the battle with the Spaniards, an image of St. Thomas was made for that vessel; and an image of Our Lady, captured in a ship at sea by John de Ryngeljorne, was carefully conveyed from Westminster to Eltham, and there de livered to the king, February, 1376. Targets and pavises or large shields, great numbers of which were placed on every ship, were sometimes painted with the arms of St. George, or with an escutcheon of the king's arms within the garter.' On a manuscript relating the pria- cipal events in the life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, written by John Rous, a chanting priest of Guy's Cliff, there is a representation of a ship having a main and miz zen mast with the sail braced up for sailing on a wind, contrary to the ear lier practice of sailing always before Ship of the Earl of Warwick, 1437. ^^^ .^,,j^^_ rpj,g streamer does not fly in accordance with the angle of the sail; but this anomaly by the priestly artist may be supposed to have arisen from his desire to » Sir N. Harris Nicolas's History of the Royal Navy, vol. ii. 30 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners make the best display of the armorial bearings on the streamer. Prom the following bill, the original of which is preserved in Dugdale s ' Warwickshire,' it seems this streamer was made in 1437, viz. :— " These be the parcells that Will Seburg, citizen and peyntour of London, hath delivered in the month of Juyn [July], the xv yeer of the reign of Kmg Harry Sext [1437], to John Ray, taillour of the same city, for the use and stuff of my Lord Warw'ick. " Item, for a grete Stremour for the ship of xl yerds lenght, and vij. yerdes in brede, with a grete Bear and Gryfon holding a ragged staff, poudrid full of ragged staves, and for a grete crosse of St. George, foi'' the lymming and portraying ^ 1, 6. 8. " Item, for a guiton for the shippe, of viij. yerdes long, poudrid full of ragged staves, for the lymming and workmanship 0. 2. 0. " Item, iij. Pennons of satyn entreteyned with ragged staves, for the lymming full of ragged staves, price the piece, ijs, 3. 6. 0." The gryfon mentioned in this account does not appear on the streamer; probably it was painted on the side not seen; with this exception, the streamer of the ship is identified with that described in the bill, and shows tliat the ship was equipped July, 1437. The use of streamers was confined to ships, and is continued in the narrow or coach-whip pennants of modern ships of war. When Eustace, the monk, in 1317, put to sea from Calais with a fleet of eighty ships, besides galleys and smaller craft, intending to proceed up the Thames to London, and was descried off the coast of England, some one exclaimed, " Is there any one among you who is this day ready to die for England?" and' was answered by another, " Plere am I ; " when the first speaker observed, " Take with thee an axe, and when thou seest us engaging the tyrant's ship, climb up the mast and cut down the banner, that the other vessels may be dispersed for the want of a leader." We may infer from this that the French commander of a fleet carried a distinguishing banner. Yet nothing has been found showing that the English admiral in the reign of Edward II. bore any distinguishing ensign by day. As the admiral and his vice-admiral certainly carried distinguishing lights by night, it is extremely probable that his ship was indicated by his banner at tlie masthead, which agi-ees with the fact that vessels were supplied with the banner of the admiral who sailed in them. In 1346 on an expedition against Normandy, Froissart says, Edward III. took the en sign from the Earl of Warwick, the admiral, and declared that he him self would be admiral on the voyage, and, running ahead, led the fleet. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 31 On a rose noble of- Edward 111. the king is represented as standing on a ship which carries at its masthead a pennon of St. George.^ On a rose noble of Queen Elizabeth, her Majesty is seated in the ship, which is charged with a Tudor rose, and carries at the bow a banner bearing an initial letter, — a Gothic E. Henry VII. ordered built a great ship, such as had never been seen in England, which was flnished in 1515, and called the Earrtj Ch-ace de Dieu. A drawing of her, preserved in the Pepsian collec tion at Cambridge, England, shows her at anchor pro fusely decorated with twenty-five flags and stand ards. The ship has four masts aud the high poop and forecastle of those times. Each of The Harry Grace de Dieu, 1515. the round tops at her lower and top masts' heads, and the bowsprit end (nine in all) are furnished with a streamer or standard bearing a cross of St. George at the luff, with the ends divided longitudinally by a red and white stripe, the red in chief. At three of the mastheads are St. George ensigns, and on the principal mast a flag or standard blazoned with the royal arms, and having a St. George cross in, the fly. The poop, waist, and forecastle show a line of flags or banners, two of which are St. George flags with a blue fly bearing a fleur-de-lis, and one bearing a rose, also two plain blue flags charged with a fleur-de-lis and rose. Pour are striped horizontally red and white, and four striped horizontally yellow and white. A drawing of the same ship under sail, given by Allen, exhibits a banner with the royal arms at the main masthead, a blue banner bearing a rose on the mast next abaft it, and St. George flags, white with a red cross, at both the fore and mizzen mastheads. A large royal standard on the ensign staff at the poop, and ^even streamers ' For a description of this rose noble, see ' The American .lournal of Numismatics ' for January, 1872, also Bntick's ' Naval History,' published 1757. It was coined to assert King Edward's title to Finance, his dominion of the sea, and to commemorate his naval victory over the French fleet im 1340, — the greatest that had ever been obtained at sea by the English, and the flrst wherein a king of England had com manded in person, and wherein the French are said to have lost 30,000 men. 32 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners or standards of various colors and devices are scattered about the rigging.^ In the ancient picture preserved at Windsor Castle of the embar kation of Henry VIIL at Dover, M.ay 31, 1530, the ship he is in- supposed to be the Harry Grace de Dieu, or the Great Harrj' — is repre sented as sailing out of the harbor of Dover hiving her sails set. She has four masts, with two round tops to each mast, except the short est mizzen ; her sails and pennants are of cloth of gold damasked. The royal standard of England is flying Ship of War in which Henry VIll. embarked at Dover in 1520. „„ pnpll of ths quarters of the forecastle, and the staff of each standard is surrounded by a fleur-de-lis, m-; pennants are flying from the mastheads, and at each quarter of the deck is a standard of St. George's cross. Her quarters and sides, as also her tops, are fortified and decorated with heater-shaped shields charged differently with the cross of St. George azure, a fleur-de-lis or, party per pale argent, and vert a union rose, and party per pale argent and vert a portcullis or, alternately and repeatedly. On the main deck the king is standing, richly dressed in a. garment of cloth of gold edged with ermine, the sleeves crimson, and the jacket and breeches the same. His round bonnet is covered with a white feather laid on the upper side of the brim. On his right hand stands a person in a dark violet coat slashed with black, with red stockings; and on his right three others, all evidently persons of distinction; behind them, the yeomen of the guard. Two trumpeters are seated on the edge of the quarter-deck, and the same number on the forecastle, sounding their trumpets. On the front of the forecastle and on the 1 A return of tbe Royal Shippes at Wolwidge in the 1st year of Edwd. VI. names the " Harry Grace a Dieu, 1000 tons ; Souldiers, 349 ; Marryners, 301 ; Gonners 50 ; Brass Pieces, 19 ; Iron Pieces, 103." of Ancient and Modern Nations. 33 stem are painted, within a circle of the garter, the arms of France and England, supported by a lion and a dragon, being the supporters then used by Henry VIII. The same armsi are repeated on the stern. On each side of the rudder is a port-hole, with a brass cannon; and on the side of the main deck are two port-holes with cannon, and the same number under the forecastle. The figure on the ship's head seems meant to represent a lion, but is extremely ill carved. Under the ship's stern is a boat, having at her bow two standards of St. George's cross, and the same at her stern, with yeomen of the guard and other persons in her. On the right of the Great Harry is a three-masted ship, having her sails furled, and broad pennants of St. George's cross flying. She has four royal standards on her forecastle. Between these two ships is a boat filled with a number of persons, having two pennants with armorial bearings at the bow, and two at the stern. These two ships are followed by three others, each having pen nants of St. George's cross flying, their sides and tops ornamented with shields. On the forecastle of the nearest of these ships three royal standards are visible, a fourth being hid by the foresail. All these ships are crowded with passengers. Between these ships and the shore are two boats carrying passengers on board the ships. In the stern of one of them is an officer dressed in green, slashed, holding up an ensign or ancient of five stripes — \\']iite, green, red, white, and green, — the same as displayed from the nearest fort.^ Francis I. had a magnificent carack constructed in Normandy, so richly decorated, with such lofty decks and towers, that it was called the ' Great Carack.' It was anchored in the roadstead of Havre de Grace, and was about to set sail at the head of a powerful fleet to meet the English monarch, when he was coming to the Field of the Cloth of Gold. On the eve of its departure, Francis I., desirous of inspecting the ship, went on board, accompamed by a numerous and a brilliant court. A collation had been prepared for him and his suite, the band was playing, salutes were thundering out in liis honor, and he was in the midst of his inspection of the floating citadel, when an alarm was given, — a fire had broken out between decks, and before help could be efiiciently rendered the whole of the rigging was in flames. In a few hours all that remained of the Great Carack was an immense hull half consumed aground on the beach, upon which the sea was casting up the corpses of those of its crew who were killed by the discharges of its cannons during the progress of the conflagration.- 1 charnoek's Marine Architecture. 2 La Croix's Middle Ages. 3 34 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners An engraving prefixed to Heywood's description of the Sovereign of the Seas, built in 1637 by order of Charles I., and which " was Just as many tons burthen as the year of our Lord in which she was built," shows that famous ship with four masts. A -white ensign, cantoned with a St. George's cross, flies from a staff on her bowsprit, and a St. George flag at the fore. A banner, blazoned with the royal arras, is at the main, and the union jack of 1G06 at the mast next abaft.^ A picture of the same ship, painted by Vandevelde, exhibits her with only three masts, and under sail, with a union jack at the bow sprit. . A banner, bearing the royal arms and support ers, is on the en sign staff, a 11 d flags at the fore and mizzen mast heads are blazoned with the crown and royal cypher sur rounded by the garter and mottoes on ribbons. Vessels in the Middle Ages, as in ancient times, frequently had golden-colored and purple sails. The sails of seigniorial ships were generally brilliantly emblazoned with the coat-of-arms of the seignior; the sails of merchant vessels and of fishing-boats, with the image of a saint, the patron figure of the Virgin, a pious legend, a sacramental word, or a sacred sign, intended to exor cise evil spirits, who played no inconsiderate part in the superstitions of those who went down in ships upon the great waters, — a custom which is still kept alive by the maritime people of China and Japan. Different kinds of sails were originally employed to make signals at sea; but flags soon began to be used for this purpose. A single flag, having a different meaning, according to its position, ordinarily sufliced to transmit all necessary orders in the daytime. At night its place was taken by lighted beacons. These flags, banners, standards, and » " A true description of His Majesty's royal ship, built this year 1637 at Woolwich, in Kent, to the Glory of the English Nation, and not to be paralleled in the whole Christian world," by Thomas Heywood ; to which is prefixed a Portrait of the Ship. The Sovereign of the Seas, 1637, by Vandevelde. Of Ancient and Modern Nations. 35 pennants, most of them embroidered with the arms of a town, a sover eign, or an admiral, were made of light stuffs, taffeta, or satin; sometimes square, sometimes triangular, sometimes forked, each had its own use and significance, either for the embellishment of the ves- ¦sel's appearance, or to assist in manoeuvring. The galleys were pro vided with a smaller land of pennant, which was put up at the prow, or fastened to the handle of each oar. These were purely for orna mental purposes, and were often trimmed with golden or silk fringes. Amongst the most celebrated flags and standards of the French navy was the baucents, a name that recalls the banner of the Knights Templar. These flags of red taffeta, sometimes sprinkled with gold, were only employed in tiie most merciless wars ; for, says a document of 1393, " they signified certain death and mortal strife to all sailors everywhere." It is related of Philip the Bold, of Burgundy, in his preparation for the invasion of England, 1404, his ship was painted outside in blue and gold, and there were three thousand standards with his motto, assumed, no doubt, for the occasion, but which he after ward always retained : " ]\ioult me tarde." It was also embroidered on the sails of his ships, encircled by a wreath of daisies, in compliment to his wife. In 1570, Marco Antonio Colonna hoisted on his fiag-gal- ley a pennant of crimson damask, which bore on both sides a Christ on the cross, between St. Peter and St. Paul, with the Emperor Con- stantine's motto, " In hoc signo vinces." The banner which Don Juan of Austria received at Naples, on the 14th of April, 1571, with the staff of supreme command over the Christian League, was made of crimson damask, fringed with gold, on which were embroidered, be sides the arms of the prince a crucifix, with the arms of the Pope, those of the Catholic king, and of the Eepublic of Venice, united by a chain, symbolical of the union of the three powers " against the Turk." A ship on the tapestry of the House of Lords, which has been de stroyed by fire, exhibited the royal standard at the main, swallow-tailed banners at the fore and mizzen, and a St. George ensign. In a very old representation of the fight with the Spanish Armada, on the coast of England, all the ships wear ensigns, flags, and streamers. The Venetian galleys of the fourteenth century carried blue banners and ensigns, blazoned with the winged lion and book of St. Mark, or. A manuscript in the British Museum, of the time of Henry VIIL, assigning directions relative to the size of banners, standards, &,c.., says : " A streamer shall stand in the toppe of a shippe, or in the fore castle, and therein be putt no armes, but in mans conceit or device, and may be of the lengthe of twenty, thirty, forty, or sixty yardes, and it is slitte as well as a guyd homme or standarde, and that may 36 The Symbols. Standards, and Banners a gentler man or any other have and beare." This answers to the description of the modern coach-whip pennant, used to denote the com mander of a single ship of war. When William, Prince of Orange, sailed for England, on the 31st of October, 1688, with five hundred sail, he carried the flag of Eng-. land and his own arms, with this motto : " I will maintain the Prot estant Religion and the Liberties of England." SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA.— STRIKING FLAGS. As early as the reign of King John, England claimed the sover eignty of the narrow seas surrounding her little island, and in the second year of his reign, 1200, it was declared by the Ordinance of Hastings, so called from the place where it bore date, " That .if any lieutenant of the king's fleet, in any naval expedition, do meet with on the sea any ships or vessels, laden or unladen, that will not vail and lower their sails at the command of the lieutenant of the king, or the king's admiral, or his lieutenant, but shall fight with them of the fleet, such, if taken, shall be reputed as enemies, and their ships, vessels, and goods be seized and forfeited as the goods of enemies, not withstanding any thing that the masters or owners thereof may after wards come and alledge of such ships, vessels, and goods, being the goods of those in amity with our lord) the king ; and that the common sailors on board the same shall be punished for their rebellion with imprisonment of their bodies at discretion." ^ In the reign of Mar}^, 1554, a Spanish fleet of one hundred and sixty sail, having Philip, their king, on board, to espouse Queen Mary, fell in with that of England, of twenty-eight sail, under the command of Lord William Howard, lord high admiral, in the narrow seas. Philip had the flag of Spain flying at the maintop-masthead, and would have passed the English fleet without paying the customary honors, had not the English admiral fired a shot at the Spanish ad miral, and forced the hhole fleet to strike their colors and lower their topsails as an homage to the English fla.g, before he would permit his squadron to salute the Spanish prince. In the reign of James I., in 1604, a dispute having arisen between the English and Dutch with respect to the compliment of the flag, a fleet was sent to sea under the command of Sir William Monson, who, on his arrival in the Downs, discovered a squadron of Dutch men-of- war, whose admiral, on Sir William Monson's passing their squadron, 1 Kent's Biog. Nan., vol. 1. ; Burchet's Naval History ; Macaulay. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 37 struck his flag three times. The English admiral, not satisfied with the compliment, persisted in his keeping it struck during his cruise on the English coast. November, 1635, Sir Robert Mansell fell in with six French men- of-war on the coast of Spain, and obliged their admiral to strike his flag, and pay him the usual compliments. In 1639, the various disputes constantly arising respecting the honor of the flag, which the English claimed, induced Hugo Grotius to write a treatise called ' Mare Liberum,' on the futihty of the English title to the dominion of the sea, which he considered was a gift from God common to all nations. When Sir John Pennington carried the Duke of Hamilton into Germany, in 1631, the Dutch ships which he met with in the Baltic Sea made no difficulty in striking their flags to him; and the same respect was paid by the Dutch admirals in the Mediterranean. In 1634, Mr. Selden -wrote a treatise in answer to Grotius, called ' Mare Clausum,' in which he asserted that Britons " have an hereditary and uninterrupted right to the sovereignty of their seas, conveyed to them from their ancestors, in trust for their latest posterity." A copy of this book was ordered by the king " to be kept in the Court of Admiralty, there to remain as a just evidence of our dominion of the sea." A proclamation was published the same year, asserting the sovereignty of the sea, and to regulate the manner of Wearing the flag. In 1635, at the blockade of Dunkirk, the admiral of Holland always struck his flag to any English ship of war which came within sight. The same year, the combined fleets of France and Holland vauntingly gave out that they intended to assert their independence, and dispute that prerogative which the English claimed in the narrow seas; but as soon as they were informed an English fleet of forty ships was at sea, and in search of them, they quitted the Enghsh coast and returned to their own. On the 20th of August, 1636, the Dutch vice-admiral," Van Dorp, saluted the English admiral, the. Earl of Northumberland, by lowering his topsails, striking his flag, and flring of guns; and the same year, on the Earl's retum to the Downs, he discovered twenty-six sail of Spaniards from Calais, bound to Dunkirk, -who, on their own coast, upon his approach, paid him like marks of respect. In the same ship (The Happy Entrance), Sir George Cartaret, the same year, carried the Earl of Arundel to Helvoet Sluice, where Van Tromp the Dutch admiral, was then riding at anchor, who took in his flag although Sir George wore none, and saluted him with seven 38 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners guns ; but " in regard he was in a harbor of the States General, he hoisted it again." A French ship of war at Fayal, the same year (1036) struck her flag, and kept it in while a British ship of war was in sight; and another French ship of war, coming out of Lisbon, struck her topsails to Sir Richard Plumbly. The memorable war with Holland, in 1652, was occasioned by Commodore Young's having flred upon a Dutch man-of-war, on the 14th of May, 1653, which had refused the accustomed honor of the flag. Young first sent a boat on board the Dutchman to persuade him to strike. The Dutch captain very honestly replied, that "the States had to take off his head if he struck." Upon this the fight began, and the enemy were soon compelled to submit. There were present two other ships of war and about twelve merchantmen, none of which interfered; nor, after the Dutch ships had taken in their flags, did Commodore Young attempt to make any prizes,^ On the 4th of April, 1654, a peace was concluded between England and Holland, by which the Dutch consented to aclmowledge the sover eignty of the sea to the English. " That the ships of the Dutch, as well ships of war as others, meet ing any of the ships of war of the English Commonwealth in the British seas, shall strike their flags and lower their topsail, in such manner as hath ever been at any time heretofore practised under any forms of government." This is the flrst instance of England's establishing her right by a formal treaty.' In 1673, an order was issued to the commanders of his , Majesty's ships of war, that in future they were not to require from the ships of war of France the striking of the flag or topsail, or salute ; neither were they to give any salute to those of the Christian king.^ On the 9th of Februar}^, 1704, another treaty was made with Hol land, which' stipulated that any Dutch ships of war or others meeting those of the King of Great Britain,. " in any of the seas from Cape Finisterre to the middle point of the land Van Staten, in Norway, shall strike their topsail and lower their flag, in the same manner and with the like testimony, of respect as has been usually paid at any time or place heretofore by the Dutch ships to those of the king or his ancestors." 'Burchet's Naval History; Naval Biography. London, 180O ¦' Anderson's Origin of Commerce, vol. li. 3 Memoirs relating to the Navy. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 39 In 1704, a dispute arose at Lisbon respecting the ceremony of the flag, in which the English admiral, Sir George Rooke, the King of Spain, and the King of Portugal, were participators. The King of Portugal required that on his coming on board the admiral's ship in his barge of state, and striking his standard, the English flag might be struck at the same time; and that when his Catholic Majesty, with himself, should go off from the ship, his standard might be hoisted, and the admiral's flag continued struc]< until they were on shore. This proposition was made from the King of Portugal to the King of Spain. The admiral replied, " That his IMajesty, so long as he should be on board, might command the flag- to be struck when he pleased ; but thai whenever he left the ship, he was himself admiral, and obliged to execute his commission by immediately hoisting his flag." " So the flag of England was no longer struck than the standard of Portugal." ^ Only six years before our Revolutionary war, viz. in 1769, a French frigate anchored in the Downs, without paying the customary salute, and Captain Jolm HoUwell, of the Apollo frigate, sent an officer on board to demand it. The French captain refused to comply; upon which Captain Hollwell ordered the Hawke sloop of war to fire two shots over her, when the Frenchman thought proper to strike his colors and salute. Falconer's ' Dictionary,' published the same year, contains the regu lations of the royal navy with regard to salutes, and says : " All foreign ships of war are expected to take in their flag and strike their topsails in acknowledgment of his Majesty's sovereignty in his Majesty's seas ; and, if they refuse, it is enjoined to all flag-officers and commanders to use their utmost endeavors to compel them thereto, and not suffer any dishonor to be done his Majesty." " And it is to be observed in his Majesty's seas his Majesty's ships are in no wise to strike to any; and that in other parts no ship is to strike her flag or topsail to any foreigner, unless such foreign sliip shall have first struck, or at the same time strike, her flag or topsail to his Majesty's ship." Instances of British arrogance in claiming this sovereignty of the narrow seas- could be multiplied. The present rule for ships of tiie United States meeting the flag ships of war of other nations at sea, or in foreign parts, is for the United States vessel to salute tbe foreign ship first, if ,«be be com- 1 Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. ill. ; .lames's Naval History ; Lediard's Naval History ; Entick's Naval History ; Burchot's Naval History ; Harris's Illst. Eoyal Navy ; Scbomberg's Naval Chronology, &c. 40 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners manded by an officer his superior in rank, and he receives assurance that he will receive gun for gun in return. The national flag of the vessel saluted is displayed at the fore and the jib, hoisted at the first gun and hauled down at the last. " No vessel of the navy is to lower her sails or dip her colors to another vessel of the navy; but should a foreign vessel, or merchant vessel of the United States, dip her colors or lower her sails to any vessel of the navy, the compliment shall be instantly returned." THE STANDARDS OP SYMBOLIC MASONRY.— STANDARD OP THE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.— STANDARDS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AND KNIGHTS OP ST. JOHN. Standards of Symbolic Masonry. — The standard designated as the principal or general standard of symbolic masonry is described as follows : — The escutcheon or shield on the banner is divided into four com partments or quarters by a green cross, over which a narrower one of the same length of limb, and of a yellow color, is placed, forming what is called a cross vert, voided or; each of the compartments' formed by the limits of the cross is occupied by a different device. In the first quarter is placed a golden lion in a field of blue, to repre sent the standard of tiie tribe of Judah; in the second, a black ox on a field of gold, to represent Ephraim ; in the third, a man in a field of gold, to represent Reuben; and in the fourth, a golden eagle on a blue ground, to represent Dan. Over all is placed on a crest an -ark of the covenant, and the motto is, "Holiness to the Lord." Besides this, there are six other standards proper to be borne in processions, the material of which must be white bordered with a blue fringe or ribbon, and on each of which is inscribed one of the following words : Faith, Hope, Charity, Wisdom, Strength, Beauty. In the royal arch. degree, 'as recognized in the United. States, there are five standards : — The royal arch standard, for commandery use, is of scarlet silk usually twelve by eighteen inches, with painted quarterings; viz. a lion, a priest, a bull, and an eagle. The royal arch captain carries a white standard, emblematic of purity of heart and rectitude of conduct. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 41 The standard of the master of the third vail is scarlet, emblematic of fervency and zeal^ and is the appropriate color of the royal arch degree. The standard of the master of the second vail is purple, which is emblematic of union, being a due mixture of blue and scarlet, the appropriate colors of the symbolic and royal arch degrees; and this teaches to cultivate the spirit of harmony and love between brethren of the symbolic and companions of the sublime degrees, which should ever distinguish the members of a society founded upon the principle of everlasting truth and universal philanthropy. The standard of the master of the first vail is blue, the peculiar color of the ancient craft or symbolic degrees, which is emblematic of universal friendship and benevolence. In the royal arch degrees, as practised in the chapters of England, twelve standards are used, illustrating the twelve tribes of Israel, which are as follows : ^ — 1. Judah, scarlet, a lion couchant. 2. Issachar, blue, an ass. 3. Zebulon, purple, a ship. 4. Reuben, red, a man. 5. Simeon, yellow, a sword 6. Gad, white, a troop of horsemen. 7. Ephraim, green, an ox. 8. Manasseh, flesh color, a vine by the side of a wall. 9. Benjamin, green, a wolf. 10. Dan, green, an eagle. 11. Asher, purple, a cup. 12. Naphtali, blue, a hind. The rabbins suppose that the standards of the Jewish tribes were flags bearing figures, derived from the comparisons used by Jacob in his prophetic blessing to his sons. Genesis xlix." The following-described banners are used in the lodges of the United States, viz. : — The Persian banner, twelve by eighteen inches, with a sun and rays on the upper half, and three crescents on the lower half. This banner is usually blue. 1 Macoy's Cyclopedia of Masonry. 2 In removing Cleopatra's Needle, at Alexandria, Egypt, trom Its base for transpor tation to the United States, In the latter part of 1879, Lieut-Commander Gorrlnge, U. S. N., made the interesting discovery ot the following masonic emblems under Its base ; viz., a blo<:k of hewn syenite granite, 40 inches in the cube, representing a perfect masonic altar. Under this a white marble slab, representing the apron, 102 Incbes long and 51 Inches broad and 25% Inches thick, the upper half hewn Into a perfect square. At the same level, and in the west angle of the foundation, another block of syenite granite, markedly regular In form, the surface of which represented rough ashlar steps, and the foundation of which waa composed of white granite. Besides these four pieces were other les,? noticeable but equally significant emblems. Boston Journal, Jan. 22, 1880, 42 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners 4 ivhile sllh banner. Motto at top, " The will of God; " a Maltese cross in the centre; a lamb and small pennant .below. The cross on staff composed of four passion crosses. A white sill: banner, as above, with cock, shield, spear, sword, and trumpet, also an axe. A white silk banner, with a nine-pointed star ; in the centre of the star a Maltese cross, surrounded by the motto, " Rex Requim Dominus Doininorum." ^ The regulation grand standard of masonic knighthood (Knights Templar) is of white siUt, six feet in height and five feet in width, made tripartite at the bottom, fastened at the top to the crossbar by nine rings. In the centre of the standard a blood-red passion cross, edged with gold, over which is the motto, " In hoc signo virices," and under, "Non nobis Domini, non nobis sed nomini tuo da Gloriam!" The cross is four feet long and seven inches wide. On the top of the staff is a gilded ball or globe four inches in diameter, surmounted by a patriarchal cross twelve inches in height. The grand standard of the ancient and accepted Scottish rile is of silk, three and a half feet long by two and a half wide, edged with gold, gold fringe, and tassels. In the centre a double-headed eagle, imder which, on a, blue scroll, the motto, "Deus Meumque Jus." In the upper part of a triangle irradiated over the crowned heads of the eagle are the figures 33 in the centre.^ The standard of the Red Cross Knights is a green silk banner, suspended by nine rings on a stretcher. In the centre of the ban ner is a Geneva cross within a si.x-pointed star, with this motto around it, " ilagna est ventas et prevalebit." A trefoil cross heads the staff. Another standard is a green silk flag, with triple triangles, and a passion cross in the centre of each triangle; a trophy below, com posed of a spear, two crossed swords, a trowel, trumpet, and sash grouped. On the sash, " Venici Imp. Traia." A Geneva-shaped cross on the top of the staff.^ Stand-iiid op the Independent Ordeh of Odd Fellows op the United States.— At a meeting of the Grand Lodge of the United States; held in Baltimore, September, 1868, a committee, consisting of William E. Ford, ^ of Massachusetts, Joseph B. Escavaille, and Fred. D. Stuart, submitted the following design for a flag, to be the flag of » Letter of Horstman Brothers & Co., Philadelphia, .Tan. 8 1880 = Macoy's Cyclopedia of Masonry. ¦..!.,, OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 43 the order at the approaching celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of Odd Fellowship on this continent: — "Resolved, That the R. W. Grand Lodge adopt for an Odd Fellows' flag the pattern or design presented by the special coniiniittee appointed for that purpose ; to wit, ' the flag to be manufactured of white material, either bunting, satin, or cotton cloth, as may be selected by those desiring one. The proportions to be 11-19 of the length to the width. The emblems to con sist of the three Units, to be placed in the centre of the flag, with the letters I. O. O. F., to be painted or wrouglit in scarlet color, aud trimmed with material of the same color. Wlierever the flag is to be used by tlie encamp ments there should be added two croolcs.' " Resolved, That the R. W. Grand Corresponding and Recording Secretary be and he is liereby instructed to procure a flag of suitable size and proportions as above descTibed for this Grand Lodge, to ke used for the flrst time at the celebration of our fiftieth anniversary, on tlie 26th of April, and in addition to the emblems add the letters G. L. U. S." Mr. Hevenner, of the District of Columbia, proposed that after the letters I. 0. 0. F. in the resolution there should be inserted, " and the name of the State, District, or Territory using it;" and Mr. Ross, of New Jersey, moved further to amend, by adding that the letters " I. 0. 0. P. and F. L. T. may be inserted in the links." These amendments were agreed to, and the flag as thus amended adopted, Friday, Sept. 25, 1868. At the meeting of the Grand Lodge in Chicago, September, 1871, it was voted that the crooks should be " painted or wrought in purple." It was subsequently proposed that this flag should be only used for grand lodges and encampments, and that the subordinate lodges and encampments should have a smaller flag, — of scarlet, if only a lodge, and of iiurple, if an encamp ment; but it was considered by a select committee of five, reported against, and voted unnecessary. The Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and op -f" Malta. — As early as the middle of the eleventh century some merchants of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt permission Knight of Malta. ^ 1 Fac-simile of a wood-cut in Jost Ammans, ' Cleri Toitus RomaniE Ecclesiee Habitus.' 4to. Frankfort, 1585. 44 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners to build a hospital at Jerusalem, which they dedicated to St. John, and in which they received and! sheltered the poor pilgrims who visited the Holy Land. Godfrey de Bouillon and his successors encouraged this charitable institution, and bestowed upon it large donations. Pierre Gerard, a native of Provence, proposed to the brothers who managed the hospital to renounce the world, to don a regular dress, and to form an uncloistered monastic order, under the name of the Hospitallers. Pope Pascal II. appointed Gerard director of the new institution, which he formally authorized, took the Hospitallers under his protection, and granted them many privileges. Driven out of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1191, they transferred their hospital to Margat, until the capture of Acre, in which they took part in 1192, when they established themselves there, and took the name of ' Knights of St. John of Acre.' Driven from their new residence by the Infidels, by permission of the King of Cyprus they established the central house of their order in the town of Limisso. Heavily taxed by the King of Cyprus at Limisso, and having to defend themselves from the Saracens, in 1306 the Hospitallers laid siege to Rhodes, which, after an investment of four years, was taken by assault in 1310, and thence became their home, and gave to them the title of ' Knights of Rhodes' for more than two centuries, or until 1522, when, Rhodes being taken by Solyman, they retired into Candia, thence into Sicily, and in 1530- removed to the Island of Malta, which was ceded to them by Charles V., and became the definitive residence of the order; thenceforward they assumed the title of ' Knights of Malta.' The Emperor Paul of Russia declared himself grand master of the order, June, 1799; and the Czar of Russia has continued to be the grand master and patron of the order to the present time. The banner of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusa lem was black, and charged with a white or silver cross of eight points. Every country in Europe furnished its quota to the Order of Malta, which entirely replaced that of St. John, and was divided into eight tongues or nations, each under the direction of Hospitaller's standart. ^ grand prior. The regular dress of the Order . consisted m each nation of a black robe, with a pointed cape of the same color; on the left sleeve of each robe was a cross of white linen of eight points, typical of the eight beatitudes Of Ancient and Modern Nations. 45 they were always supposed to possess, and which, according to a manu script preserved in the library of the arsenal, were: 1. Spiritual contentment; 2. A life free from malice; 3. Repentance for sins; 4. Meekness under suffering; 5. A love of justice; 6. A merciful disposition; 7. Sincerity and frankness of heart; and, 8. A capa bility of enduring persecution. At a later period, the regulations permitted the knight to wear an octagonal golden cross inlaid with white enamel, and suspended from the breast with black watered ribbon. This badge was decorated so as to distinguish the country of the bearer; namely, Germany, by an imperial crown and eagle; Prance, the crown and fleur-de-lis, &c. All the insignia of the order were symbols. The pointed black mantle with its peaked cape, worn only on occasions of solemn cere mony, was typical of the robe of camel's hair worn by St. John the Baptist, the patron of the order ; the cords which fastened the mantle about the neck and fell over the shoulder were significant of the pas sion our Saviour suffered with such calmness and resignation; the girdle around his waist signified he was bound for the future by the vows of the order; the golden spurs on his heels were emblems that he was bound to fly wherever honor called him, and to trample under his feet the riches of this world. At his initiation, the knight bran dished his sword around his head in token of defiance of the un believers, and returned it to its scabbard, first passing it under his arm as if to wipe it, as a symbol that he intended to preserve it free from stain. In time of battle, the members wore a red doublet embroidered with an eight-pointed cross, and over if a black mantle with a white cross. The Knights Templar originated twenty years after the estab lishment of the Hospitallers, in the piety of nine French knights, who in 1118 followed Godfrey de Bouillon to the Crusades. They were suppressed March 22, 1312. Baldwin II. granted them a dwelling within the temple walls, a circumstance which gave them the name of ' Templars,' or ' Knights of the Temple.' At first they led- a simple and regular life, and, contenting themselves with the humble title of " Poor Soldiers of Jesus Christ," their charity and devotion obtained for them the sympathy of the kings of Jerusalem and the Eastern Christians, who made them frequent and considerable donations. In the flrst nine years of their existence, from 1118 to 1127, the Tem plars admitted no strangers to their ranks; but their number having nevertheless considerably increased, they soon preferred a request to 46 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners the Holy See to ratify their order. At the Council of Troyes, in 1128, Hugues de Payens, with five of his companions, presented the letters that the brotherhood had received from the Pope and the Patriarch of .Jerusalem, together with the certificate of the founding of their order. Cardinal Mat thew, who presided over the council, grant ed them an authentic confirmation of their order; and a special code was drawn up for them under the guid ance of St. Bernard. St. Bernard, describ ing the Knights Tem plar in their early days, says : " They lived without any thing they could call their own; not even their fair will. They are generally simply dressed and covered with dust, their faces embrowned with the burning sun, and a fixed, severe expres sion. On the eve of battle, they arm themselves with faith within and steel without : these are, their only decoration; and they use them with valor, in the greatest perils fearing neither the number nor the strength of the barbarians.- Their whole confidence is placed in the God of armies, and fighting for his cause they seek death. Oh, happy way of life, in which they can await death without fear, desire 'it with joy, and receive it with assurance ! " The oath they took on their entrance, found in the archives of the Abbey of Accobaga, in Aragon, was 'as fol lows : — a Knight Templar. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 47 A Templar in Travelling Dress, i " I swear to consecrate my words, my arms, my strength, and my life to the defence of the mysteries of the faith and that of the unity of God. I also promise to be submissive and obedient to the Grand Master of the Order. Whenever it is needful, I will cross seas to fight. I will, give -.help against all infidel kings and princesy and, in the presence of three enemies, I will not fly, but flght, if they are infidels." The Templars were bound to go to mass three times a week, and tocommimicate thrice a year. They wore a white robe, symbolical of puritj', to which Pope Eugenius IIL added a red cross, to remind them of their oaths to be always ready to shed their blood in de fence of the Christian religion. Their rules were of great austerity. They prescribed perpetual exile, and war for the holy places to the death; The Knights were to accept every combat, however outnumbered they might be, to ask no quarter, and to give no ransom. The unbelievers dreaded no enemy so much as these poor soldiers of Christ, of whom 1 it was said that they possessed the gentleness X — — >v °^ ^^^ lamb and the patience of the hermit, united to the courage of the hero and the strength of the lion. The Knights Templar (Carried at their head their celebrated standard, called the ' beaueeant,' or ' scant,' which bore the motto, " Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam;" ^ and after this they marched to battle, reciting prayers, having first received the holy sacrament. It was in 1237 that the knight who carried the beaueeant in an action when the Mussulmans had the advantage, held it raised above his head until his conquerors, with redoubled blows, had pierced his whole body and cut off both his hands. The beaueeant was of woollen or silk stuff, six feet in height and five feet in width, and tripartite at the bottom, fastened at the top to the crossbar by nine rings. The upper half of the standard wa.s 1 Facsimile from Jost Ammans, ' Clsri Toitus Romante Ecclesise Habitus.' Frank fort, 1585. ' " Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy name ascribe the glory." A Knights Templar Standard. 48 The Syimbols, Standards, and Banners black, and the lower half white. The illu,stration of this standard is as it is represented in the Temple Church, at Lon- - don. They also displayed above their formidable J"^ lance a second banner of their own colors, whit«, yff charged with a red «ross 'of the order, of eight points. In 1309, the Knights Templar were suppressed, and by a papal bull, dated April 3, 1313, their order was abolished. Numbers of the order were tried, condemned, and burnt alive or hanged, 1308-10; and it suffered great persecutions throughout Eu rope; eighty-eight were burnt at Paris, 1310. The grand master, De Molay, was burnt alive at Paris, March, 1314. The Beaueeant ANCIENT MILITARY STANDARDS.— THE EGYPTIAN, GRE CIAN, HEBREW, ASSYRIAN, PERSIAN, STANDARDS. Op Standards. Ancient Military Standards consisted of a symbol carried on a pole. In more modem times, they were the largest and most important flags borne. Fixed on the tops of towers or elevated places, or on plat forms, and always the rallying-point in battle, they obtained the name of ' standards,' from being stationary. Dueange derives the name from standarum or stantarum, standardum, standate, used in corrupt Latin to signify the principal flag in an army. Menage derives it from the German stander, or English stand. The standard might or might not have a banner attached to it. Although now the two words are used by custom without distinction, it is nevertheless true there might be a thousand banners in the field, but there could be but one standard of the king. Egyptian Standards. — The Egyptians consid ered Osiris, the eldest son of the Nile, as their first king, and believed that his soul ascended into the sun, and adored him in that planet. His sister and wife, Isis, remained queen after his death, and established female power in Egypt. At her death she was reputed to have made her resurrec tion into the moon with her son 0ms, the god of Isis. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 49 futurity, and thus was established the Egyptian trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Orus, A\'hose mysterious motto was, " I am all that was, that is, and that shall be," represented in a solar triangle. The annual feast of Isis, ^or Daughter of the Nile, was on the vernal equinox (March 21), which was the annunci ation of tlie open ing of its navi gation after a stormy winter. On that day her image — a statue of solid gold standing on a crescent and clouds of silver — ^was carried in solemn proces sion. She had a glory of twelve golden stars around her head, symbolic of the twelve lunar months ; and her own shining face reiDresented the thirteenth, which was the sacred moon, or the equi noctial month of spring. In subsequent ages, when Egypt was conquered by the Romans, the conquerors adopted the worship of Isis, and con secrated her equinoctial feast as "Noster Domina Dies" (Our Lady Day), and qualified her the "Heaven's open gate;" Star of the Sea; Queen of the Heavenly Spheres; and introduced the feast and labarum or banner of Isis and her legendary worship into all the conquered provinces of the Roman Empire. Her attributes remind* one of the " Queen of Heaven " of the Chinese mythology of to-day, and ]\Iu- riUo's paintings of the Virgin Mary. Egyptian Standards. 50 The Syimbols, Standards, and Banners The invention of standards is attributed, with great probability, to the Egyptians, as they had the earliest organized military forces of which we have any knowledge, and it is equally probable that the Hebrews obtained the idea, or at least the use, of ensigns from the Egyptians. The wandering tribes of shepherds who conquered Egypt set one of their pastoral chiefs as king on the throne of Osiris. This warlike shepherd introduced into Egypt the annual oblation of an unblemished lamb or kid, sacred to their conductor, the Angel Gabriel, and bore a lamb as his standard. When the Egyptians recovered their in dependence, under chieftains styled Pharo, or revenger, the lamb on their standards, arms, and coins was superseded by the face of Pharo, but the oblation of the lamb was continued. The illustration represents a group of Egyptian standards as they were used in the army in the time of Pharaoh. According to Diodorus, the Egyptians carried an animal, at the end of a spear as their standard. Sir G. Wilkinson, in his work on the ' Ancient standards of Pharaoh. ^* % lo Egyptian Standards, from Wilkinson. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 5 1 Egyptians,' speaking of their armies, says: "Each battalion, and indeed each company, had its particular standard, which represented a sacred subject, a king's name, a sacred boat, an animal, or some emblematical device." Among the Egyptian standards there also appear standards which resfemble at the top a round-headed table- knife or an expanded semicircular fan. Another of their ancient standards was an eagle stripped of its feathers,— the emblem of the Nile. Greek Standards. — The Greeks set up a piece of armor at the end of a spear ns a rallying signal, and Homer makes Agamemnon use a purple vail with ^A'hich to rally his men. A white horse was the standard of Cecropia, founded by Cecrops, the chieftain of an Egyptian colony. This badge recalled that the finest white horse had been brought by sea from Egypt into Greece. The tradition of the white horse arriving by sea was arranged into a sacred pedigree; viz., „. „ , .,, Neptune created a white war-horse to endow The Horse and the '¦ Grasshopper. Athens. This swift animal was given to Mars, the god of wslt, for the defence of the country and the standard of Attica. The aborigines of Attica styled themselves the children of the earth, and boasted to be sprung from the soil; therefore they distinguished themselves from aliens by wearing in their hair a grasshopper of gold or silver, to signify that, like that insect, they were produced from the ground. The golden grasshopper was granted to any Athenian who had rendered the country eminent service, and was later assumed by the nobles of Athens, and it became a badge of Greek nobility. The Athenians also bore an owl, the emblem of Minerva, and the olive, on their standards. Other nations of Greece carried effigies of their tutelary gods and their particularly chosen symbols on the end of a spear. The Thessalonians adored the immortal sorrel horse Xanthus, who spoke to his master Achilles. The Corinthians bore a winged horse, or Pegasus, on their standard ; the Messenians., the letter M; the Lacedemonians, the letter L, in Greek, A . Alexander the Great, when he beg0,n to claim for himself a divine origin, caused a standard to be prepared, inscribed with the title of Son of Ammon, and planted it near the image of Hercules, which, as that of his tutelary deity, was the ensign of the Grecian host. The standards and shields of the Thfacians exhibited a death's- head; as a signal to revenge the death of Thrax, the son of the 52 The Syiwbols, Standards, and Banners nominal father of the Thracians, a wandering people near the Black Sea. This people settied north of Byzantium, the modern Romania, and named their new country Thrace. They soon took the city of Byzantium, which was dedicated to Diana, and united her symbol, 'the crescent,' to 'the death's-head' of Thrax, to whom they paid divine respect. The Deattrn^nd death's-head and crescent were afterward adopted Crescent. by the Romans, Turks, and other nations which invaded Thracia and Byzantium. The Chaldp^ns adored the sun, and represented it on their stand ard. Heber, a Chaldean, gave his name to his descendants, who were called the children of Heber, or the Hebrews. The greater number of the Hebrews were born in Ur, a city of Chaldea, in which a perpetual fire and lamp were sacred to Baal, or the sun of Chaldea. The money of Hebron bore the type of Heber adoring the sun.^ Hebrew Standards. — In the time of Moses, the Hebrews had their emblems. We find in the book of Numbers, 1491 B.C., 1st chapter, 52d verse, the children of Israel directed to " pitch their tents every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts ; " and 2d chapter, 2d verse, " Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch [camp] by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house : far off about the tabernacle of the congregation." In the wilderness, says Adam Clarke, they were marshalled accord ing to their tribes., each tribe being subdivided into families. Every head of a subdivision or thousand was furnished with an ensign or standard, under which his followers arranged themselves according to a preconcerted plan, both when in camp and when on the march ; and thus all confusion was prevented, how hastily soever the order might be given to proceed, or halt and pitch their tents. The four leading divisions — viz., Reuben, Ephraim, Judah, and Dan — were designated by the component parts of the cherubim and seraphim, — a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. Solomon, of the tribe of Judah, hoisted the standard of the lion in Jerusalem. According to the Talmudists, the standard of Judah had on it a lion painted, with this inscription, " Rise, Lord, let thine ene mies be dispersed, and let those that hate thee flee before thee." They gave to Issachar an ass ; to Zebulun, a ship ; to Reuben, a river, and 1 Brunet's Regal Armorie. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 53 sometimes the figure of a man; to Simeon, a sword ; to Gad, a lion; to Manasseh, an ox; to Benjamin, a wolf; to Dan, a serpent or an eagle. Standards and Devices of the Hebrews. The ensign of Asher was a handful of corn, and that of Naphtali a stag. The cities of Samaria and Shechem, being in the land of the tribe of Joseph, the standard of Samaria bore the bough or palm of Joseph. Allusions to standards, banners, and ensigns are frequent in the Holy Scriptures. The post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest importance, and none but officers of approved valor were ever chosen for such service; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which he was about to bring on the haughty king of Assyria, says, " And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth." Assyrian Standards. — Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, had for its device an arrow, which represented the swiftness of the Tigris, whose waters washed its walls, — the Chaldean name, Tigris, express ing the swiftness of an arrow. Semiramis, the widow of Ninus the son of Belus, its founder, having united Nineveh to Babylon, founded 54 The Syiwbols, Standards, and Banners the first great empire of the world. Her subjects symbolized her by a turtle-dove, and that bird was stamped on the coins, with an arrow on the reverse. Mossoul, built on the ruins of Nineveh, impressed on its goods the sign of an arrow and dove ; and that badge, printed on a light stuff called muslin, has been exported to all modern na tions.^ Among the sculptures of Nine veh which Layard brought to light are representations of the standards of the Assyrians car- Assyrian standards, rig^ by charioteers. These sculp tures have only two devices : one of a figure standing on a bull and drawing a bow; the other, two bulls running in opposite directions, supposed to be the symbols of peace and war. These flgures are en closed in a circle, and fixed to a long staff ornamented with streamers and tassels. These standards seem to have been partly supported by a rest in front of the chariot. A long rope connected them with the extremity of the pole. In the bass-relief at Khorsabad this rod is attached to the bottom of the standard. Persian Standards. — The standard of ancient Persia, adopted by Cyrus, according to Herodotus, and Xenophon, and perpetuated, was a golden eagle with outstretched wings painted on a white flag. The standard of Koah, the sacred standard of the Persians, was originally the leather apron of the blacksmith Kairah, or Koah, which he reared as a banner B.C. 800, when he aroused the people and de livered Persia from the tyranny of Sohek, or Bivar, surnamed Deh-ak (ten vices). It was embroidered with gold, and enlarged ffom time to time with costly sillc, until it was twenty-two feet long and flfteen broad; and it was decorated with gems of inestimable value. With this standard the fate of the kingdom was believed by superstitious Persians to be connected. This standard was victorious over the Moslems at the battle of El liser, or the battle of the bridge, a.d. 634, and was captured by them two years later at the battle of Kadesir, which the Persians call, of Armath, and the Moslems, " the day of succor from the timely ar rival of reinforcements." To the soldier who captured it thirty thou sand pieces of gold was paid by command of Saad, and the jewels with ^ Brunet's Regal Armorie. or Ancient and Modern Nations. 55 which it was studded were put with the other booty. In this battle, which is as famous among the Arabs as Arbela among the Greeks, thirty thousand Persians are said to have fallen, and seven thousand Moslems.^ Thus, after 1,434 years' service, this standard was de stroyed. The Persians also employed a figure of the sun, especially on great occasions, when the king was present with his forces. Quintus Curtius mentions the figure of the sun enclosed in crystal, which made a most splendid appearance above the royal tent. To the present day the sun continues to divide with the lion the honor of appearing upon the royal standard of Persia. Among the ancient sculptures at Persepolis are found other speci mens of ancient Persian standards. One of these consists of a staff terminating in a divided ring, and having below a transverse bar, from which tvvo enormous tassels are suspended. The other consists of five globular forms on a crossbar. They were doubtless of metal, and probably had some reference to the heavenly bodies, which were the ancient objects of worship in Persia. At the present day, the flag-staff of the Persians terminates in a silver hand. THE ROMAN STANDARDS. Romulus, in founding Rome, adopted the image of the she-wolf, his reputed foster-mother, as well as of his brother Remus. The Senate of Romulus assumed the eagle of Jupiter, which became the Roman standard, with the wolf. In the following ages, the Romans increased their standards to as many as ten different badges. 1. The peacock of Juno. 2. The boat of Isis. 3. The cock of Mars. 4. The imperial elephant. 5. The dragon of Trajan. 6. The minotaurus of Crete. 7. The horse of Greece. 8. The pecus or sheep of Italy. 9 and 10. The she-wolf and eagle The Deviqe of Romulus, of RomuluS." Each legion of the Roman army was divided into ten cohorts, each cohort into three maniples, each maniple into two centurions, which would give sixty centurions to a legion, the regular strength of which was therefore six thousand ; sometimes the number of men in a legion varied. In the time of Polybius, a legion had but four thousand two hundred. 1 irving's Successors of Mahomet. ^ Brunet's Regal Armorie. 56 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners When the army came near a place of encampment, tribunes and centurions, with proper persons appointed for that service, were sent to mark out the ground, and assigned to each his proper quarters, which they did by erecting flags (vexillas) of different colors. The place for the general's tent was marked with a white flag. Each century, or at least each maniple, had its proper standard and standard-bearer. The standard of a manipulus in the time of Romulus was a bundle of hay tied to a pole. Afterwards, a spear with a cross-piece of wood on the top, sometimes the figure of a hand above, probably in allusion to the word manipulus; and below, a small Roman Standards. round or oval shield, on which were represented the images of war like deities, as Mars or Minerva, and in later times of the emperors or of their favorites. Hence the standards were ^called num^ria legi- onum, and worshipped with religious adoration. There were aho standards of the cohorts. The standards of the different divisions of the army had certain letters inscribed on them, to distinguish the one from the other. The standard of the cavalry was M vexUUm (a flag or banner), from bemg a square piece of cloth fixed on the end of a spear; and C^sar mentions it as used by the foot, particulariy bv the veterans who had served out their time, but under the emperors OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 57 were still retained in the army, and fought in bodies distinct from the legion, and under a particular standard of their own. Hence these veterans were called vexillarii. In the year 20 B.C., Phraates,' the Parthian king, apprehensive that an attack was meditated upon his .dominions, endeavored to avert it by sending to Augustus the Roman standards and caijtives that had been taken from Crassus and Anthony. This present was received with the greatest joy, and was extolled as one of the most glorious events of the emperor's reign. It was commemorated by sacrifices and by the erec tion of a temple in the capitol to Mars, " the avenger," in which the standards were deposited.^ To lose the standard was always disgraceful, particularly to the standard-bearer, and was at times a capital crime. To animate the soldiers, their standards were sometimes thrown among the enemy. After a time, a horse, a bear, and other animals were substituted for the bundle of hay, open hand, &c. In the sec ond year of the consulate of Marius, 87 B.C., a silver eagle with expanded wings, on the top of a spear, with the thunderbolt in its claws, the emblem of Jove, signifying might and power, with the figure of a small chapel above it, was Roman Standard assumed as the common standard of the legion ; Bronze horse half the size hence aquila is often put for legion. The place of the original which f^j. ^j^-jg standard was near the ordinary place of IS preserved at Good- •' ^ rich Court. the general, in the centre of the army. When a general, after having consulted the auspices, determined to lead forth his troops against the enemy, a red flag was displayed on a spear from the top of the prstorium, as a signal to prepare for battle." The standard of Augustus was a globe, to indicate his conquest of the globe. Roman standards were also ornamented with dragons and 'silver bells, as a trophy, after Trajan's conquest of the Dacians, a.d. 106, as shown on Trajan's column. The Etruscans were the first who adopted the eagle as the symbol of royal power, and bore its image as a standard at the head of their armies. From the time of Marius it was the principal emblem of the Roman Republic, and the only standard of the legions. It was represented with outspread wings, 'Lynam's History of the Roman Emperors, vol. 1. p. 28. London, 1828. ' Flag-Offlcer Farragut, when he ordei-ed to pass the forts below New Orleans, April 23, 1861, directed a red lantern should be hoisted as the signal for getting under way ; thus repeating tbe old Roman signal for battle, perhaps without ever having heard of it. 58 ¦ The Symbols, Standards, and Banners and was usually of silver, till the time of Hadrian, who ^^^e it of gold. The double-headed eagle was in use among the Byzantine emperors, to indicate their claim to f:he empire both of the east and west Prom the Roman standard is derived the numerous brood of white, black, and red eagles, with single or double heads, which are Roman Imperial Standards. borne on so many of the standards of modem Europe. The countries they represent claim to be fragments or descendants of the great Roman Empire. The changes of the Roman standard marked the epoch of their conquests, first of the_ Greeks, then of the barbarians. The double-headed eagle of Russia marks the marriage of Ivan L OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 59 with a Grecian heiress, the princess of the Eastern empire; and that of Austrhi, the investiture of the emperors of Germany with the title of 'Roman Emperor.' The arms of Prussia are distinguished by the black eagle, and those of Poland bear the white. The Labarum, or imperial standard of Constaniine the Great, which he caused to be made in commemoration of his vision of a shining j*«, cross in the heavens two miles long, has been flSscribed -'^^^^^i as a long pike, surmounted by a golden crown set with jewels, and intersected by a transverse beam forming a cross, from which depended a square purple banderole . wrought with the mysterious monogram, at once expres- Isive of the figure of the cross, and the two initial letters (X and P) of the name of Christ. The purple silken The Labarum of banner which hung down from the beam, was adorned Constantine. .^yj^h precious stones, and at first was embroidered with. the images of Constantine, or of the reigning monarch and his chil dren. Afterwards, the figure or emblem of Christ '^\'oven in gold was substituted, and it bore the motto, " In hoc signo vinces," — " In this sign thou shalt conquer." The labarum is engraved on some of the medals of Constantine with the famous inscription, ENTOYONIKA. This banderole, which was about a foot square, judging from the height of the men carrying the standard on ancient monuments, says Mont- faucoii, " was adorned with fringes and with precious stones, and had upon it the figure or emblem of Christ." ^Prudentius describes its glories with poetical fervor, and says, " Clirist woven in jewelled gold marked the purple labarum ; " also, " that the monogram of Christ was inscribed on the shields of the soldiers, and that the cross burned on the crests of helmets." The illustration given of the labarum is from a medal of Valentinan ^ (a.d. 364-375). It will be noticed there is no crown on the staff. A medal of the Emperor Constantine, which represents the banner of the cross piercing the body of the serpent, and surmounted with the monogram of Christ, with the motto, " Spes. Publica," expresses the hope of the Christian world from the conversion of the emperor. Upon the banner which hangs from the cross three circles are dis tinctly marked. As all the other objects upon this medallion have a symbolical meaning, it may be assumed that these three 'circles have one. The labarum is believed to have been the first military standard lAppleton's .lournal, Dec. 28, 1872. 60 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners emblazoned with the cross. It was preserved for a considerable time, and brought forward at the head of the armies of the emperor on important occasions, as the palladium of the empire. With it Con stantine advanced to Rome, where he vanquished Maxentius, Oct. 27, A.D. 312. The safety of the labarum was intrusted to fifty guards of approved valor and fidelity. Their station'was marked by honors and emolu ments ; and some fortunate accidents soon introduced an opinion that the guards of the labarum were secure and invulnerable among the darts of the enemy. In the second civil war, Licinius felt and dreaded the power of this consecrated banner, the sight of which in battle animated the soldiers of Constantine with an invincible enthusiasm, while it scattered terror and dismay through the adverse legions. Eusebius introduces the labarum before the Italian expedition of Constantine; but his narrative seems to indicate it was never shown at the head of an army till Constantine, ten years afterward, declared himself the enemy of Licinius and the deliverer of the Church. The Christian emperors who respected the example of Constantine displayed in all their military expeditions the standard of the cross; but when the degenerate successors of Theodosius ceased to appear at the head of their armies, the labarum was deposited as a venerable but useless relic in the palace of Constantinople. The etymology of its name has given, rise to many confiicting opinions. Some derive it from lobar; others from the Greek for reverence; others from the same, to take; and others from the Greek for spoils. A writer in the ' Classical Journal' considers the labarum like S. P. Q. R., a combination of initials to represent an equal number of terms, and thus L. A. B. A. R. V. M. will stand for Legionum. aquila Byzan tium antiqua Roma, urbe mutavit. The form of the labarum and its monogram is preserved as the medal of the Flavian family. The hand on the top of the Roman standard was an ancient symbol of Oriental or Phenician origin. It is found as a symbol in India and in ancient Mexico. A closed band grasping the Koran surmounts the sacred standard of JIahomet. The present flag-staff of the Persians termi nates in a silver hand. Csesar has recorded that when he attempted to land his Tjie Hand. Roman forces on the shores of Great Britain, meeting-^ a warmer reception than was anticipated, considerable hesitation arose OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 61 among his troops; but the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, with the Roman eagle in his hand, invoking the gods, plunged into the waves, called on his comrades to follow him, and do their duty to their general and to the republic ; and so the whole army made good their landing. Tlie bronze or silver eagle of the Roman standards must have been of small size, not larger than the eagles on the color-poles of modern colors, since a standard-bearer under Julius Cajsar, in cir cumstances of danger, wrenched the eagle from its staff, and concealed it in the folds of his girdle; and the bronze horse preserved in the collection at Goodrich Court is equally small, as will be seen by the engraving on a previous page, which represents it as half the dimen sions of the original. Another figure, used as a standard by the Romans, was a ball or globe, emblematic of their dominion over the world. STANDARDS OF THE TURKS AND MOSLEMS. Turkish and Moslem Standards. — The basarac or sandschaki sheriff, or cheriff, is a green standard, which was borne by Mahomet, and, being believed by his devout followers to have been brought down from heaven by the Angel Gabriel, is preserved with the greatest veneration. It is enveloped in four coverings of green taffeta enclosed in a case of green cloth. It is only on occasions of extreme danger that this sacred symbol is brought from its place of deposit. It was formerly kept in the imperial treasury at Constantinople, but, latterly, deposited in the mosque of Ayyub, where the sultans at their investiture are guarded with the sword of the caliphate. In the event of rebellion or war, it is obligatory upon the Sultan to order the mullahs to display the banner before the people and to pro claim the lihad, or holy war, exhorting them to be faithful to their religion, and to defend the empire with their lives. The usual address is as follows : " This is the prophet's' banner ; this ' is the standard of the caliphate. It is planted before you and unfurled over your heads, 0 true believers, to announce to you that your re ligion is threatened, your caliphate in peril, and your lives, your women and children and property, in danger of becoming a prey to cruel enemies ! Any Moslem, therefore, who refuses to take up arms and follow this holy Bairak is an infidel amenable to death." Accord ing to another account, it is carefully preserved in the seraglio, in a case built into the wall on the right-hand side as you enter the 62 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners chamber in which is the grand seignior's summer-bed. The standard is twelve feet high, and the golden ornament, a closed hand, which surmounts it, holds a copy of the Ko ran written by the Caliph Osman III. In times of peace this banner is guarded in the hall of the Noble Ves- timent, as the dress which was firorn by the prophet is styled. In the same hall are preserved the sacred ' teeth, the holy beard, the sa cred stirrup, the sabre, and the bow of M a h 0 me t.^ Every time this standard is dis played, by a cus tom which has be come law, all who hive attained the age of seventeen who profess the Mahometan faith are obliged to take up arms, those who refuse being re- The Doseh. ' 1 An English author, Mr. Thornton, has published, in his work on Turkey, copious details relating to this standard, which the Turks, who hold it in the highest veneration, believe to be tbe original Mahomet's standard from tbe temple of Mecca, — ¦ a delusion carefully nursed by their modern rulers, though history describes many standards of various colors which have served in its place, the original of which was white, then black, and lastly of green silk. 2 Suspecting the above cut was an exaggeration ot this Turkish ceremony, I wrote the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., President of the Bangor Theological Seminary, and long a resident of Constantinople, who, under date of Feb. 24, 1879, replied, " The OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 63 garded as infidels unworthy the title of Mussulmans, or True Believers. The unfurling of this standard is supposed to insure success to the Ot toman arms ; and despite the many tarnishes its honor has suffered, the Turks continue to rally around it with implicit belief in its sanctity. So jealously is it watched over, that none but emirs may touch it, emirs are its guard, the chief of the emirs is alone privileged to carry it, and Mussulmans are alone permitted to see this holy trophy, which, touched by other hands, would be defiled, and if seen in other hands, profaned. The ceremony of presenting the banner is called alay, a Turkish word signifying triumph. The ceremonies consist of an open- air masquerade. AIL the trades, professions, and occupations of the inhabitants,' seated in gaudy carriages, are represented and paraded in front of the assembled army, each trade performing in dumb show the manual operations of its art: the carpenter pretends to saw, the ploughman to drive his oxen, and the smith to wield his hammer. After these have passed, the sandschaki cheriff is brought out with great veneration from the seraglio, and solemnly carried along and presented to the army.'' The blessed banner, having thus been pre sented to the adoring eyes of the true believers, is carried back to its depository; and the troops, inspired with confidence and victory, set forth on their march to death and glory. The observance of this ceremony in the war between Turkey and Russia in 17G8 was the occasion of frightful outrages upon the Christians. So long a period had elapsed since its last presentation, that much of the sanctity of the occasion had been forgotten, and tho Christians, expressing a wish to observe the ceremony, found the Turks ready and eager to let windows and house-tops at high prices to the unbelievers^ who accord ingly mustered strong on the line of the "procession to gratify their curiosity. A few minutes, however, before the starting of the banner, an emir appeared in the streets, crying : "Let no infidel dare to profane with his presence the holy standard of the prophet; and let every engraving is an exaggerated representation of the Posch ceremony. When the sacred standard is brought out, a scene is witnessed which no doubt resembles that repre sented in the wood-cut. The believers crowd all the narrow streets where it passes. They fall down before it, but not in this extended, stretched-out manner. It is the regular worship prostration ; their heads do not often come very near the horse's feet. Some of the excessively devout may throw themselves before the horse, but the trained, intelligent Arabian would no more tread upon them than a mother would tread upon her child. But of such a scene of universal worship and prostra tion, It is a very moderate stretch of tho Greek fancy and fldelity to represent the horse and his attendants as travelling upon a compact pavement of living believers. Were there no greater exaggerations than this about Oriental affairs, one-half of our supposed knowledge ot tbe East would he disposed of." 1 Dictionary of Useful Knowledge. 64 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Mussulman, if he sees an unbeliever, instantly make it known, on pain of punishment." At tbis a sudden madness seized upon the people, and those who had let their premises to the greatest advantage became the most furious in their bigoted zeal, rushing among the amazed Christians, and with blows and furious violence tearing them from their houses, and casting them into the streets among the infuriated soldiery. No respect was paid to age, sex^or condition. Women in the last stages of maternity were dragged about by the hair, and treated with atrocious outrage. Every description of insult, barbarity, and torture was inflicted upon the unoffending Christians, the usual gravity of the Turk having on the instant given way to a fanaticism more in accordance with fiends than men. The whole city, as one man, was seized with the same furac; and if a victim managed to escape from one band of miscreants, he was certain to fall into the hands of others equally savage and remorseless.^ According to another account, this sacred standard of Mahomet is not green, but black; and was instituted in contradistinction to the great white banner of the Koraishites, as well as from the appellation okdb (black eagle), which the prophet bestowed upon it. Mahomet's earliest standard was the white cloth forming the turban which he captured from Boreide. He subsequently adopted for his distinguish ing banner the sable curtain which hung before the chamber of his wife Ayesha, and it is this standard which is said to be so sacredly preserved and so jealously guarded from infidel sight. It descended first to the followers of Omar, at Damascus, thence to the Abassides, at Bagdad and Cairo, from whom it fell to the share of the bloodhound Selim I., and subsequently found its way into Europe under Amurath III. The device upon it is " Nasrum min Allah, — "The help of God." Besides their sacred standard, the Turks have the sanjak, which is a red banner; the alem, a broad standard; and the tugh, consisting of one, two, or more horse-tails, the number varying with the rank of the person who bears it. The title of ' pacha ' is merely a personal one, denoting the official aristocracy, civil and military, of the Ottoman Empire, and is derived from two Persian words, signifying " the foot of the king." In former times, when the chief territorial divisions were called ' sanjalrs,' ruled over by beys, the larger sanjaks, or two or more smaller ' ones, were put under a pacha, and called ' pachaliks.' The military governors of provinces, who were only subordinate to the grand vizier, were styled 1 Baron Toll's Memoirs of the Turks and Tart.irs. Two vols. 1785. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 65 ' beylerbeys,' or 'bey of beys.' European Turkey was divided into two beylerbeyliks,— Roumelia and Bosnia; the latter included Servia, Croatia, and Herzegovina.- Constantinople and Wallachia and Mol davia were not included in any of these jurisdictions. The archipelago was^under the capitan pacha. The pachas consisted of three classes, and were distinguished by the numl^er of horse-tails borne before them as standards, — a custom brought from Tartary, said to ha\e originated with some chief, who, having lost his standard, cut off his horse's tail and displayed it as a substitute.. The governors of the larger districts were viziers, by virtue of office. Their insignia were the alem., a broad standard, the pole of which was surmounted by a crescent; the tugh, of three horse-tails, artificially plaited; one sanjalc, or green standard, similar to that of the prophet; and two large ensigns, called bairak. Other pachas had but two tails, with the other insignia. A bey had only one, together with one standard. The sultan's standard counts seven horse-tails, and the famous Ali Pacha, of Janina, arro gated to himself no less than thirteen. At the present day all this is much modified. In the time of Omar, the General Mesiera Ibu ilesroud was given a black flag, inscribed " There is no God but God. Mahomet is the Mes senger of God." ^ At the battle of Yermouk, Abu Obeidah, a Moslem general, erected for his standard a yellow flag given him by Abu Beker, Mahomet's immediate successor, being the same which Mahomet had displayed in the battle of Khaibab. One of Mahomet's standards was a black eagle.- When Monwyah rebelled against Ali, the bloody garment of Otliman was raised in the mosque at Damascus as the standard of rebelhon. The crescent standard, which has been set against the cross in so many battle-fields, representing the opposing force of Mahometanism, had its origin in the simple circumstance that the ancient city of Byzantium was saved from falling into the hands of Philip of Mace- don, from the approach of his army being betrayed- to the inhabitants by the light of the moon. In consequence, they adopted the crescent, which the Turks, when the place came into their possession, found everywhere as an emblem, and retained, believing it to be of good omen; probably in its meaning they saw a promise of increasing power.' The origin of the crescent as a religious emblem is as old. certainly, as Diana ; in fact, the very beginning of history. 1 Burkhardt's Notes on the Bedouins. " Irving's Successors of Mahomet. sAppleton's Journal. 66 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners The standard with the star and crescent upon it was first hoisted by Mahomet IL, after the capture of Constantinople, a.d. 1453. Prior to that event the sign was very common on the arms of English knights and esquires, but fell into disuse when it became the device of the Mahometans. The history of the device belongs to the Grecian, if not the more extensive, sphere of the Aryan mythology.^ At the commencement of the recent Russo-Turkish war, the sultan, in his dire need for help, resolved to call for volunteers, and arouse the loyal of Stamboul to arms, and that the aid of the Christian inhabit ants should be asked. Thus for the first time in Moslem history a crimson banner, emblazoned vrith the cross and crescent, the symbols of two antagonistic religions, was paraded through the streets of Con stantinople. It was heralded by weird playing upon pipes and the ^ monotonous note of a drum. There came first, 23Tessing through the throng, a youth, whose quietest movements were those of a maniac. In his hands gleamed two long scimitars, on his head was the green turban which denoted his. descent from the prophet; and as the noise of the mu sicians rose, he kept time and rhythm with head, hands, and feet; now turning _,. _ ^ „ round, and now jumping; now writhing The Cross and Crescent united, J r b 3 6 1876. as though in direful agony; and then, with a glance toward heaven, as though delivering an earnest petition, bending his head to the dust, and prostrating himself otf the ground. Behind him were the reeds and the drum; in the rear marched a standard-bearer, and in his hands was borne aloft the flag which bore the emblems of the crescent and the cross. At sight of the lad the bystanders turned pale with excitement, and every minute some one, enchanted by the rough melody and the dancer, fell silently into the procession which followed the banner. A strange coHege, truly: Softas, Armenians, Old and New Turks, GreelvS, and Roman Catholics, some with fez and others in turban, some with straw hats and others with bare heads,— all following the lead of the frantic youth. And when the air grew livelier, or his gyrations more rapid, when he raised his own voice and gave a loud cry of anguish, Imives, pistols, sticks, swords, were lifted high in the air or flourished round by those more moved than the rest. When was such a spectacle ever beheld before in the city of the sultan, under the very shadow of the great mosque ^ Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. viii., 1870, p. 4 Communicated by S. Wells Williams, LL.D. Of Ancient and Modern Nations. 79 works. A representation of this bird was formerly carried before the mikado whenever he made a joumej. All the nobles of Japan have a device or coat of arms, which is blazoned on their banners and on their tents, and worn on their shoulders and on the backs of their dresses. The naval flag recentiy adopted by the Japanese bears on the centre of a white field a red ball or globe, supposed to represent the sun. The imperial standard has a golden sun in the centre of a crim son field, with a network of golden diamonds woven over it. The admiral's flag is the same as the naval fiag, with a red, blue, or yellow border, in the order of their rank. The Japanese bark, ' Tu-Ju-Mara,' of six hundred tons, commanded by Captain Samuel A. Lord, formerly of Salem, Mass., and manned exclusively by Japanese sailors, arrived in San Francisco,- Cal., Aug. 23, 1872, and for the first time in history displayed the Japanese fiag at the masthead of a merchantman in American waters. Javanese Standards. — Though the natives of Java have followed the customs of Europeans in the use of standards, yet their prince's rallying-sign continues to be the payong, or par-a-sol, which is a pecu liar object of respect and veneration among the Javanese bands. The tombak pussaka, or lances hallowed by age, which they have inherited from their ancient sovereigns, serve for the same purpose as the payongs, and are distinguished by the horse-tails which dangle from them.* East Indian Standards and Ensigns. — ^The great banner of Mewar (whose prince was the legitimate heir of the throne of Rama), first of the thirty-six royal tribes, is blazoned with a golden sun on a crimson field ; those of the chiefs bear a, dagger. Ambler displays the hanchangra, a five-colored fiag. The lion rampant on an argent field is extinct with the States of Chanderi.^ The use of armorial bear ings among the Rajpoot tribes has been traced anterior to the war of Troy. In the Mahabharet, or great war, b.c. 1200, the hero Bheesama exults over his trophy, the banner of Arjoona, its field adoi;ned with the figure of the Indian Hanuman (monkey deity). The peacock was the favorite emblem of the Rajpoot warriors; the bird is sacred to their Mars (Kamara), as it was to Juno, his mother, in the West. The em blem of Vishnu is the eagle. Chrisna wa.s the founder of the thirty- six tribes who obtained the universal sovereignty of India, and lived 'I Colonel Pfltfer's Sketches of Java. = Colonel Tod's Annals of Rajahstan. 80 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners B.C. 1200. These thirty-six tribes had their respective emblems, as the serpent, the horse, hare, &c. One of these tribes, the Saceseni, supposed to be the ancestors of the Saxon race, settled themselves on the Araxes, in Armenia, adjoining Albania. These migrating tribes of course carried with them their respective emblems, and hence the identity of European and Asiatic devices. The blue eagle belongs to the ensign of Vishnu, the red bull to that of Siva, and the falcon to that of Rama. , The ensign of Brahma bore a white lion. The sun rising behind a recumbent lion blazed on the ancient ensigns of the Tartars, and the eagle of the sun on that of the Persians. The humza, or famous goose, one of the incarnations of Buddha, is yet the chief emblem of the Burman banners. The ensigns of the Bijala, reigning at Kalyan, were the lion, the bull, and the goose. The Tadu and the Silahara adopted a golden 'garuda' or eagle on their ensigns. Ths-Rattas tribe had the golden hawk and crocodile. A hymn to Camdeva, the god of love, has this line : — ¦ " Hail, warrior, with a fish on thy banner." Sir William Jones says Camdeo, the Hindoo god, is represented attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremost of whom bears his colors, which are a fish on a red ground.^ The' standards of the Indian princes, displayed over their chairs when Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India,' at Delhi, were of satin, and represented their ancestral arms ; viz., Odeyporis, a golden sun on a red disk; the Guicowar's, a blue elephant; the Nizam's, a full moon on a green standard ; and the historic fish of the Begum of Bhopal.2 FLAGS AND STANDARDS OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS AND PACIFIC ISLANDS. Mexico, San Salvador, Sandwich Islands, Society Islands, New Zealand, Peru. Mexican Standards. — The ancient standard of Mexico, or rather of the Aztecs, which has been compared to the Roman standard, was an eagle pouncing on an ocelot, emblazoned on a rich mantle of feather-work; that of the Tlasealans, a white heron, the cognizance of the house of Xicontencatl. All the great chiefs of Mexico, in the time of Cortez, had their derices and banners. The standards 1 Journal Royal Asiatic Society. = Newspaper report. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 81 of the Aztecs were carried in the centre of the army. A golden net on a short staff, attached to the back between the shoulders, so P'that it was impossible tqi be torn away, was. the usual symbol of authority for an Aztec commander.* The standards of the Tlas ealans were carried in the rear. The Rio de Vanderas (river of banners) was so named by Alvarado from the numerous ensigns dis played by the natives on its borders. Prescott says, "The Tlasea lans, allies of Cortez, led by Xicontencatl, fifty thousand strong, marched proudly under their great national banner, emblazoned with a spread eagle, the arms of the republic." According to Clavigero, it was a golden eagle; but as Bernal Diaz speaks of it as white, it may have been a white heron which belonged to the house of the youthful leader. Elsewhere, Prescott speaks of the great stand ard of the Republic of Tlascala as a golden eagle with outspread wings, in the fashion of a Roman signum, richly ornamented with emeralds and silver work. Ellis, in his 'Antiquities of Heraldry,' says the natural emblem of the Mexicans was a swan. The Spanish his torian Sagahan relates that, about two centuries before their conquest by the Spaniards, the Aztecs were compelled to surrender their emble- .matical bird, the swan, to a neighboring kingdom that oppressed them. In the Mexican Tribute Tables (Talegas), small pouches or bags of tasteful form, and ornamented with fringe and tassels, frequently ticcur, having a cross of a Maltese or Latin form woven or painted on each. It is a surprising circumstance that they were thus ornamented before the arrival of the Spaniards, when the religion of Christ and significance of the cross were unknown to them.^ The Mexicans counted by units, twenties, four hundred, and eight thousand; and these were sufficient to express any number; their hieroglyphics are in accordance with this numeration. The unit was represented by a small circle; twenty, by a standard, shaped as a par allelogram; four hundred, by a feather; eight thousand, by a purse supposed to contain as many grains of cocoa; one to nineteen was represented by a number of small circles. The hieroglyphic of twenty was four squares, which, as they were colored, represented either five, ten, or fifteen. This mode of counting had a practical influence. Bernal Diaz, when speaking of the Indian armies, counts them as so many xiquipillis, .or bodies of eight thousand men. It is not improbable they were dirided into battalions of four hundred 1 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. 2 Don T. A. Lorenzard's History of New Spain, Mexico, 1770; also. Historical Magazine, 1867. 6 82 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners men each ; these again subdivided into squads of twenty men ; and that the hieroglyphic for twenty originally representeil the banner or standard of each of -such squads.^ Our North American Indians were found by the eariy voyagers and discoverers to carry for their standard a pole full-fledged with the wing-feathers of the eagle. The principal standard of Cortez, at his conquest of Mexico, accord ing to Bernal Diaz, says Prescott, was of black velvet, embroidered with gold and emblazoned with a red cross amidst flames of blue and white, with this motto in Latin beneath: "Friends, let us follow the cross, and under this sign, if we have faith, we shall conquer," — a legend which was doubtless suggested by that on the labarum of Constantine. Another standard of Cortez, described by his follower, Bernal Diaz, as borne in the procession when Cortez retumed thanlrs to God, at Cuyoacan, for the capture of the city of Mexico, 1519, is now preserved in the National Museum of that cap ital. The authenticity of this, probably the oldest flag in ex istence, is sustained by a se- -ries of accounts, beginning with that of Bernal Diaz. I am indebted to the Hon. .John W. Poster, our minister to Mexico, for the illustration of this banner, engraved from his pencil slcetch, as framed, and for the following descrip tion of it : " This standard is now deposited in the National Banner of Cortez. Museum in this Capital. The evidences of its authenticity are accredited by documents in the mu seum, and it is vouched for by Don Lorenzo Boturini, a learned Spanish gentleman contemporaneous with its recovery from the Tlascalan allies to whom Cortez gave it (see 'idea de una nueva his toria general de la America Septentrional'), and hy Don Lucas Ala- man, the distingLUshed Mexican historian and statesman (' Diserta- ciones sobre la historia de Mexico,' vol. i., Appendice p 19') 1 Gallatin, cited by Sir John Bowring in his Decimal System. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 83 "The standard has been placed in a frame and under glass for preservation, being much worn and faded. It is about one yard square, and is thus described by the authors cited : ' The standard is of red damask. On the front side is painted a most beautiful figure of the Most Holy Mary, with a crown of gold, and surrounded with V twelve stars of gold, her hands joined as if in praying to her Most Holy Son to protect and strengthen the Spaniards in conquering the idolatrous empire to the Catholic faith. The image has a blue mantle and a fiesh-colored tunic; the embroidery forming the border is green. On the reverse side are painted the royal arms of Castile and Leon. A more modern damask has been sewed on this side, in framing for preservation, so that the arms cannot be seen.' " ^ During the colonial government, on the anniversary of the surren der of Guatemozin, the 13th of August, 1521, a solemn procession was annually made around the walls of the city, headed by tiie viceroy, and displaying the venerable standard of the conqueror.^ San Salvador. — By a decree issued in 1865, the national fiag and arms of the Republic of San Salvador are as follows : — Article 1. The national flag will consist of flve blue and four white stripes, running horizontally ; each stripe shall be nine inches in width and from three to four yards long. At the superior angle, adjoining the staff, there shall be a square on a red ground of one yard each way, in which shall be placed nine white five-pointed stars, to represent the nine departments of the republic. Article 2. The above-described shall be the merchant flag. The battle-flag shall be of the same design and size, with the difference that the square shall contain the coat of arms of the republic on the converse [obverse], and the nine stars on the reverse. Article 3. The national coat of arms will be the same as that of the old confederation, with the following modifications, viz. : 1. In place of five volcanoes there shall be but one in eruption. 2. In the space above the volcano there shall appear nine stars, forming a semicircle. 3. At the base, the new flag of the republic shall be represented, running entirely across the shield. 4. The cap of liberty will be placed where the cornucopias meet. 5. The inscription, " 15th September, 1821," shall appear in the centre of the shield, and running across the cap of liberty. 6. Within the circle above the centre of the arms shall be placed the words, " Republic of Salvador, in Central America." ' Letters-, Hon. John W. Foster, Aug. 31, 1878, and Jan. 23, 1879 ; also tetter, A. NuBez Ortega, Jan. 17, 1879. 2 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. 84 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Sandwich Islands. — The flag of the Sandwich Islands has an English jack for a union ; and for a field, nine horizontal stripes, — white, red, and blue alternately. This fiag was given the islanders by the British Government, with an assurance that it would be re spected wherever the British flag was acknowledged. The present flag has only eight stripes, the lowest blue stripe being omitted. / The royal standard has no union, but in the centre of the flag a white fleld, blazoned with the royal arms. Formerly, the Sandwich Islanders hoisted a white flag on the end of a spear, at each end of the enclosure of their ' puhonas,' or cities of refuge. Whoever entered one of these enclosures, — the gates of which were always open, — whatever may have been his offence, it afforded him inviolable sanctuary. A wag has suggested^ as an appropriate standard for the Sandwich Islands one baring bread-and-butter stripes, with ham stars, on a groundwork of mustard, as a design that would readily suggest its nationality. The Society Islands. — The flags of the gods, or the emblems of the Society Islanders, were carried in battle to inspire the combat ants with confidence, "and their martial banners were hoisted on board the different fleets, or carried by the bravest warriors in the centre of their armies. These flags were red, white, and black. They also used a flag of truce. A sacred flag was used in their processions, and regarded as an emblem of their duties. March 17, 1829, Commander J. Laws, R.N., commanding H.B.M. Ship Satellite, proposed for the Georgian and Society Islands a flag " red above, white in the middle, and red below," which was adopted as a national flag by the chiefs.^ The present flag of the islands has the French tricolor grafted on this flag as a jack or union, emblematic of the Fi-ench protectorate established in 1844. New Zealand. — The flag of these islanders was granted them by British authorities as an emblem of sovereignty and independence. It is a white fiag, charged with a red St. George's cross. In the upper left-hand canton formed by this cross there is a blue union, divided by a similar red cross bordered with white, and each of its blue quarters has a five-pointed white star in its centre. When this flag was given to the chiefs at the Bay of Islands, they were 'assembled, and told that as long as it was allowed t6 fly they ' Ellis's Polynesian Researches. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 85 were free and independent, but as soon as the flag of any other power was flown in its stead, they would be no longer free, but slaves. In 1844, fearing the French might take possession of the islands, the English hoisted their own ensign at the Bay of Islands, and the act led to a war between them and the natives, which lasted several years. Peru. — Prescott, referring to Gomara, Sarmiento, and Velasco, as his authority for the statement, says that in the Inca army each com pany had its particular banner, and that the imperial standard, high above all, displayed the glittering device of the rainbow, the armorial ensign of the Incas, intimating their claims as children of the skies. ^ The modem Peruvian flag and standard is cohiposed of two red and one perpendicular white stripe, — ^the centre of the white stripe bearing the armsof the republic. The colors, red and white alternate, are said to have been suggested by the red and white feathers which were conspicuous ornaments of the head-dress or coronets of the ancient Incas. THE STANDARDS AND FLAGS OF EUROPEAN STATES. Italy, Denmare:, Spain, Austria, Germany, R.ussia, Belgium, Greece, Holland, Portugal, Sweden and Norway. Italian Standards. — About a.d. 1040, the Italians, who bor rowed the idea from the Persians, who borrowed it from the Egyp tians, invented, at Milan, the carriocium, or car standard, which was introduced into France about a.d. 1100. This pompous and cumbrous standard of the Italians consisted of a 'banner royal' fastened to the top of a mast or small tree, which was planted on a scaffold and home by a chariot drawn by oxen covered with velvet housings, decorated with the devices or cipher of the prince. At the foot of the mast stood a priest, who said mass early every morning. Ten knights kept g;uard on the scaffold day and night, and as many trumpeters at its foot never ceased flourishing, to animate the troops. This cumbrous machine continued in use one hundred and thirty years. Its post was the centre of the army; and the greatest feats of daring were in attacks upon it, and in its defence. No victory was considered complete, and no army reputed vanquished, until it had lost its standard. 1 Prescott's Conquest of Peru. 86 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Alviano, the great champion of the Orsini family, when he took the city of Viteliro, caused to be embroidered on his standard a unicorn at a fountain surrounded by snakes, toads, an^ other rep tiles, and stirring the water with his horn before he drinks: motto, '"Venana pel'lo," — "I expel poisons," — ^alluding to the property of detecting poison assigned to the horn of the unicorn. This standard was lost on the fatal day of Vicenza. Marc Antoiiio Monte, who car ried it, being mortally wounded, kept the tattered remnant clasped in his arms, and never loosed his grasp iintil he fell dead on the fleld. The Marquis of Pesoara's standard at the battle of Ravenna had for device a Spartan shield, with the injunction of the Spartan mother to her son before the battle of Mantinea for a motto, "Aut cum hoc, aut in hoc," — " Either with this, or on it." Pescara is buried in the church of Domenico Maggiore at Naples. Above his tomb" hangs his torn banner, and a plain short sword, surrendered to him by Francis I., at Pavia. The ensign of the Roman family of Colonna is a silver column, with base and capital of gold, surmounted by a golden crown, the grant of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, in acknowledgment of ser vices rendered by Stefano Colonna, who, when chief senator of Rome, crowned Louis in the Capitol contrary to the wishes of the Pope.^ The royal standard of the present kingdom of Italy is a square white flag bordered with blue, and has blazoned on the centre of its field the arms of Savoy, a cross argent on a red (gvJes) shield, sur mounted by a regal crown, supported by an ermine mantle and by trophies of national fiags. The man-of-ivar flag of the United Kingdom of Italy is composed' of equal green, red, and white vertical stripes, the green next the staff, the centre or white stripe being charged with the royal arms and crown. The merchant flag is the same, except that on it the crown is omitted. The origin of the Savoy arms is this: In 1309, Filles de Villaret, grand master of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, defended the Island of Rhodes against the Soldan, with the assistance of the Diflie of Savoy, to whom, in gratitude for his timely help, they granted the badge of their order, a white cross on a red shield." The Magic Standard of Denmark.— The banner of Denmark, taken from the Danes by Alfred the Great, was a famous magical 1 Bury's Historic War Cries and Devices. = Hospinan de Orig. Monach, lib. v. p. 333. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 87 standard. According to Sir John Spelman, it' had for a device the image of a raven magically wrought by three sisters, Hungar and Hubba, on purpose for the expedition, in revenge of their father Lode- brock's murder. It was made, said the sisters, in an instant, being begun and finished in a noontide. The raven has been regarded from very early ages as an emblem of God's providence, — prol)ably from the record in Holy Writ of its being employed to feed Elijah in his seclu sion by the brook of Cherith. The Danes believed it carried great fatality with it, and therefore it was highly esteemed by them. They believed that when carried in battle towards good success, the raven would clap his wings, or make as if it would. That the raven was their standard is confirmed by the figure of that bird on the coins of Aulef, the Danish King of Northumberland. The embroidery of flags afforded occupation and amusement to the ladies of the Middle Ages; thence their value became enhanced, and it was highly shameful for a knight not to defend to the death what his mistress's hands had wrought. When Waldemar 11. , of Denmark, was engaged in a great bat tle with the Livonians in the year a.d. 1219, it is said that a sacred banner fell from heaven into the midst of the army, and so revived the courage of his troops that they gained a complete victory over the Livonians. In memory of the event, Waldemar instituted an order of knighthood, called ' St. Dannebrog,'' or ' the strength of the Danes,' which is the principal order of knighthood in Denmark. The truth apj>ears to be, that King Waldemar, observ ing his men giving ground to the enemy, who had beaten do^vn his standard, which bore an eagle, raised up a consecrated banner or silver cross, which had been sent him by the Pope, and under it rallied his troops, and ultimately gained the victory. This achieve ment caused the people to believe that the banner had been sent from heaven.^ The present 'royal standard of Denmark and man-of-war ensign and admiral's flag are red swallow-tailed flags, with a white cross, the colors of Savoy. On the standard, the cross is quadrate and charged with the royal achievements, the shield being encircled with the col lars of the orders of the Elephant and Dannebrog. The quadrate of the cross in the admiral's flag is blazoned with an oval shield, azure, bearing three golden crowns, surrounded by a border of gold, the whole encircled with a wreath of laurel. The flag for merchant ships is a square red flag with a white cross. 1 Newton's Display of Heraldry. London, 1846. 88 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Spanish Standards and Flags. — The standard of Fernan Gon- sales. Count of Castile, in the eleventh century, was a massive silver cross, two ells in length, with' Our Sariour sculptured^ upon it, and above his head, in Gothic letters, " I. N. R. I. ; " below was Adam ¦LU iinirii/' awaking from the grave, with the words of St. ^5^013^ Paul, "Awake thou who steepest, and arise _ CT^T from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." This standard is said to be still preserved in a Spanish convent. The standard of the Cid was green, — A Spanish Standard. From the map of North " There were knights five hundred went armed before, America, by Diego ^„^ Bermudez ' the Cid's ' green standard bore." Honem, 1558. During the famous engagement between the forces of Aragon and Castile, called, from the fleld where it took place, de la Espina, the Krave Count of C'andespina (Gomez Gonzalez) stood his ground to the last, and died on the field of battle. His standard-bearer, a gentleman of the house of Olea, after having his horse killed under him, and both hands cut off by sabre strokes, fell beside his master, still clasping the standard in his arms, and repeating his war-cry of ' Olea.' ^ This incident has been rendered in stirring verse by an American poet, — George H.. Boker. " Down on the ranks of Aragon The bold Gonzalez drove, And Olea raised his battle-cry. And waved the flag above. ' Backward fought Gomez, step by step, Till the cry was close at hand. Till his dauntless standard shadowed him, And there he made his stand. ' As, pierced with countless wounds, he fell, The standard caught his eye, And he smiled, like an infant hushed to sleep, To hear the battle-cry. ' ' Yield up thy banner, gallant knight ! Thy lord lies on the plain; Thy duty has been nobly done; I would not see thee slain.' ^ Mr. George, Annals of the Queen of Spain. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 89 " ' Spare pity. King of Aragon, I would not liear thee lie; My lord is loolcing down from heaven, To see liis standard fly.' " ' Yield, madman, yield ! Thy horse ia down ; Thoul hast nor lance nor shield. Fly ! I will grant thee time.' — ' This flag Can neither fly nor yield! ' " They girt the standard round about A\ wall of flashing steel; But still they heard the battle-cry, — 'Olea for Castile! ' "And there, against all Aragon, Full armed with lance and brand, Olea fought, imtil the sword Shapped in his sturdy hand. " Among the foe, with that high scorn Which laughs at earthly fears. He hurled the broken hilt, and drew His dagger on the spears. " They hewed the hauberk from his breast, The helmet from his head. They hewed the hands from off his limbs, — From every vein he bled. " Clasping the standard to his heart, He raised one dying peal. That rang as if a trumpet blew, — ' Olea for Castile! ' " When Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Sept. 7, 1513, first touched the shore of the Pacific, at a bay which he named St. Michael, after the saint on whose day it was discovered, the tide was out, and so gradual wa^ the incline of the strand that the water was full half a league distant. Nunez Balboa seated himself under a tree until it should come in. At last it came dashing on to his very feet with great im petuosity. He then started up, seized a banner on which was painted a virgin and child and under them the arms of Castile and Leon, and, drawing his sword, advanced into the sea until the water was up to his knees, — ^then waving the standard, he exclaimed with a loud voice : " Long live the high and mighty monarchs Don Fernand 90 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners and Donna Juanna, sovereigns of Castile and I^eon, and of Aragon, in whose name I take real and corporal and actual possession of these seas, islands, coasts, &c., in all time, so long as the world endures, and until the final day of judgment to all mankind ! " His followers hav ing tasted the-water, and .Pound it indeed salt, returned thanks to God. When the ceremonies were concluded, Vasco Nunez drew his dagger and cut three crosses on trees in the neigh borhood, in honor of tbe three persons of the Holy Trinity, and his example was followed by many of his soldiers. Ferdinand and Isabella, in their Moorish wars, used a mas sive cross of silver^ presented them by Pope Si.xtus IV., as a standard, which Ferdinand al ways carried in his tent during his campaigns. Banner of Balboa. The Ceremonials observed on the occupation of a new Spanish conquest, says Marineo, were for the royal ' alferez ' or ensign to raise the standard of the cross, the sign of our salvation, on the summit of the principal fortress, when all who beheld it prostrated themselves on their knees iu silent worship of the Almighty, while the priests chanted the Te Deum Lauda-mus. The ensign or pennon of St. James, the patron of Spain, was then un folded, and all invoked his blessed name. Lastly, tho standard of the sovereigns emblazoned with the royal arms was disjilayed, at whjch the army shouted as if with one voice, " Castile ! Castile! " After these solemnities, a bishop led the way to the principal mosque, which, after rites of purification, he consecrated to the service of the true faith. It was stated in ' All the Year Eound,' in 1866, that the flag of Pizarro was then preserved in the Municipal Hall at Caracas, S. A., enshrined in a glass case, it having been sent from Peru in 1837. " All the silk and velvet are eaten off, but the gold wire with the OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 91 device of a lion and the word Carlos remained. The flag is about tive feet long and three broad, and being folded double in the frame, but one-half is seen. They will not allow it to be taken out." Per con tra. General San Martin, when^he voluntarily resigned the reins of power at Lima, in his speech on that memorable occasion, said, " I keep as a record the standard which Pizarro bore when he enslaved the empire of the Incas." In answer to inquiries which 1 instituted in 1879, concerning this flag, through the Hon. Pichard Gibbs, U. S. Min ister to Peru, Senor Ca macho, a nephew of Bolivar, v/rote Col. Jlanuel de Odnozola, under date, "Lima, April 22, 1879:" "When I was Secretary of the Municipal Council of Caracas, in 1848, 1 saw in a glass case, kept in the Hall of Sessions, a banner, richly embroidered, said to be Pizarro's. I can see it now, embroidered in gold, — the lion, the red ground, the creases in the flag, and all the details of the standard, — ^which I understood was brought from Peru by the regi ments ' Janin ' and ' Caracas ' on their return, this valuable present having been made to the Liberator Bolivar, by the government of that republic; but Doct. Lama, chief clerk in the Foreign Office, and my immediate chief, has assured me that it could not be Pizarro's flag, as it never left Peru. Please clear up this point, as you have a great memory, and such abundant archives to draw from." To this note. Colonel Odnozola, librarian and keeper of the ar chives, who was over eighty years of age, replied, " April 23d : " "I immediately answer your note of yesterday, stating that I and my contemporaries never saw any other standard than that which was brought out on the 1st and 6th of January, ' Dia de los Reyes,' ^ in the grand procession oFthe alcaldes." This standard was said to be, and all believed it to be, the one that Pizarro brought to the conquest of Peru. It was preserved in the municipal, chamber, and was pre sented by that body to General San Martin, who, when he left the country, carried it with him, as he so stated in his valedictory address when he delivered the presidential scarf to the Constitutional Con gress in 1823. By a clause in his will, he desired that the valu able relic should be returned to Peru ; and the executor of the will in France delivered it to Coronel Bolonese to bring it to Peru, who complied with the (Jrder, depositing it in the palace when General Pezet had supreme command of the republic. On the 6th of Noveln- ber, 1865, when the palace was sacked, it was carried off, and up 'Lima was founded Jan. 6, 1535-36, King's Day, by Pizarro (Dia de los Reyes), and afterwards, on that anniversary, tbe flag was always carried in the procession up to the time of the Independence of Peru, 1822. 92 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners to the present time (1879) the thief remains unknown, or where it went to." " In the work published in Buenos Ayres on the inauguration of the statue of General San Martin, there was printed or engraved a copy of the standard, 'drawn by Senor Balcacer, the son-in-law of General San Martin, previous to his delivering the original to Col. Bolonese." Senor Eicardo Palma also writes Senor Camacho : " Pizarro's stand ard was presented by the Corporation of lima, in 1833, to General San Martin, who, when he died, willed that it should be returned to Peru. Balcacer, son-in-law of San Martin, carried out the in structions of the will, and the flag was deposited in the palace. According to some, Pezet presented this precious relic to ihe rear- admiral or some chief of the reinstating or ' revin cadera ' of the Chincha Islands ; by others, that it was stolen by the mob who sacked the palace, Nov. 6, 1865, when Pezet fell. The presentation of the standard to San Martin is recorded in the official gazette of the year of its presentation, and it is mentioned by later historians. I have often tried to follow up the track of the flag, with no better result than I have mentioned. In the processions of the alcaldes, January 6, it was car ried by the ' alf arez real,' or royal ensign, to whose custody it was con fided. The rich fiag you saw in Caracas could not have been that of the ' conquestador.' When he commenced his daring enterprise he was not in a position to sport a valuable banner. Old men who saw the standard in 1822 have told me that it was of poor material, and badly used." The standard of Cortez, described and illustrated heretofore, is preserved in the city of Mexico.^ The present royal standard of Spain bears the arms of Catherine of Aragon, with those of Anjou in pretence displayed over its whole area. The man-of-war flag is yellow, interposed between two hori zontal bars (each half its own depth) of red, and is charged towards its dexter with the arms of Castile and Leon impaled within a red circular bordure, and ensigned with the Spanish crown. The mer chant flag is without the royal arms, and has a narrow yellow stripe at the top and bottom of the flag outside the two red bars. Spain becoming a great kingdom on the union of Castile and Aragon, united as a national flag the arms of the two kingdoms. But long before that, Barcelona ships had worn the red and yellow stripes known as the ' bars of Aragon.^ The tradition is, that in the year 873 Charles the Bald honored Geoffrey, Count of Barcelona, who had been mortally wounded in the battle against the Normans, by dipping his 1 Pages 82, 83. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 93 four fingers in the blood flowing from the Count's wounds, and draw ing them down the Count's golden shield. The story is, however, a pure fable, as the stripes on the Spanish flags are not so old by two hundred years. They are simply a pun on the name of Barcelona, — ' barras longas.' Afterwards, as Barcelona merged into the kingdom of Aragon, its arms were adopted for those of the kingdom. From the first greatness of Spain, her ships wore the Castilian fiag, — quar tering Castile and Leon. It was this, as the national fiag, that was worn by the ships of Columbus, — noteworthy in the history of navi gation as the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean. On the accession of Charles V. to the kingdom of Spain, he introduced the Burgundian flag, — the red raguled saltire on a white ground, — which was to some extent used for two hundred and fifty years. The ships of the Armada, in 1588, bore the Burgundian cross. In a series of maps of the actions, preserved in the British Museum, tJie Spanish fieet is as distinctly marked by the red saltire as the English by the red cross. There seems to be no doubt whatever that, during the latter half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century, the Spanish flag was white, withi the red Burgundian cross ; and a memo randum drawn up at Toulon, in 1662, says that, " During' the war with Spain, our ships always wore in battle a red ensign at the stern, to distinguish them from the Spaniards, who wore a white; but in the last war with the English they (the French) wore white, as different from the English red." ^ To the Bourbon marriage must be attributed the introduction of a white flag, bearing the royal arms, similar in effect to the French standard, fhe old one, however, was not entirely abolished; and an order, dated Jan. 30, 1732, systematizes the complexity : — " The king, having resolved that the ships of the fleet are to be divided into three squadrons, and that each of these shall belong to one of the ports already established in Spain, orders that every ship is to carry at the stern a white ensign, with the royal arms, a.s now in use. And to distinguish the different squadrons, those ships which belong to Cadiz shall wear as masthead flags or pennons, or at the bowsprit cap, white, with the royal arms. Ferrol ships shall wear white, with the Burgundy cross, charged at each of its four corners with an anchor; and Carthagena shall wear violet (morado), with the shield of the castles and lions." " > Jal : Abraham Du Quesne, vol. 1. p. 588. 2 Dlsqulsaeiones Nauticas, por el Capitan de Navis, C. F. Duro, p. 271. 94 The Syivibols, Standards, and Banners In the engraving in Anson's ' Voyage Around the World ' of the Spanish galleon, ' Nostra Seigniora de Cabadonga,' captured by him near the Philippine Islands, in May, 1843, she is sho^vn with the Bur gundian ensign at the stern, and a blue or violet flag with the shield of the castles and lions at the main.^ The ships that fought under Navarro, off Toulon, in 1744, belonged to Cadiz; those that formed the.squadron off Havana, in 1748, were from Ferrol. The Spanish contingent of the allied fleet that invaded the channel in 1779 consisted of the Cadiz and Ferrol squadrons, with possibly some ships from Carthagena. Throughout the war of American Independence, no distinctive squadrons were fitted out from that port, and the head-quarters of the grand fleet were through out at Cadiz. During these wars of the eighteenth century, the white flag was found to be inconvenient, from its closely resembling, at a littie dis tance, the white flag of France, and the shield bearing white flags of Naples and Tuscany. It was resolved, therefore, to alter it; and, after examining twelve patterns which were submitted, the existing flag was ordered, by a decree dated May 38, 1785. In this, the fla.g is defined as being in three horizontal stripes : the top and bottom red, each one-fourth of the whole breadth; the middle yellow, and on it the simple shield of Castile and Leon, quarterly, surmounted by the royal crown. The merchant flag was at the same time defined as having the yellow stripe in the middle without the shield, one-third' of tbe whole width, each of the remaining parts being divided into two equal stripes colored red and yellow alternately.^ There is no doubt the red and yellow then adopted was derived from the Aragon bars, being also the colors of the arms of Castile; but the Aragon arras are vertical. It is a coincidence that the arms of Ad miral Cordova, at that time commander-in-chief of the Spanish navy, we];e barrj' of seven or, and gules. Such as it was appointed in 1785, the Spanish flag has remained, with the exceptions of the short-lived change during the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, and at the time of the disturbance of 1868 to 1875, when the revolutionary ships flew any flag they thought best, with a prefer ence for a plain red one, denoting the Commune; sometimes a tri color of violet, white, and red. 1 Anson's Voyage Around the World, &c., by Richard Walter, p. 373. 1 vol. 4to. Printed for the author, 1748. Mr. Laughton says, in the plate in Harris's Collec tion of Voyages, tbe masthead flag is white. 2 Duro, p. 273. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 95 The red, yellow, red flag of 1785, but without shield or crown, was ordered by King Alfonzo XII. to resume its'place as the national 'ensign, on tiie 6th of January, 1875.^ Austrian Standard and Flags. — The fleld of the imperial stand ard of Austria is yellow, with an indented border of gold, silver, red, and black, and displays the eagle of the empire. The national or man-of-war flag is formed of three equally wide horizontal divisions, the central one white, and the two others red ; on the central division towards the dexter is a shield charged as the flag itself, having also the imperial cipher within a narrow golden border, ensigned with the imperial crown. The flag of the merchant service is the same, except that the flag is additionally blazoned with the Hungarian arms, and for the outer half of the red stripe green is substituted, indicating the union of the Kingdom of Hungary with Austria, and also its inde pendence. The national colors of Hungary are red, white, and green, arranged horizontally, — the green in chief, and the red at the base. The impe- rialeagle of Austria is claimed to be the successor of the eagle of the German emperor, which succeeded the eagle of ancient Rome ; and bears two heads, which symbolize the eastern and western Roman empires. Since 1495, according to an official return, two thousand and thirty- three colors and standards have been taken by Austrian troops from the enemy, and nine hundred and sixty-nine Austrian standards and colors captured. Russian Standard and Flags. — ;The imperial standard of Russia is yellow, blazoned with a double-headed eagle, surmounted by the imperial crown; each of the eagle's heads is also crowned, and in each of the eagle's beaks and in each claw is borne a chart, supposed to represent the Caspian and Black Seas, the White Sea, and the Baltic. On the breast of the eagle there is a red shield charged with a St. George on horseback spearing a dragon under the horse's feet. Pendent from the necks of the eagle and surrounding the shield is the collar and badge of the order of St. An- Royai Standard of Russia. ^J.g.^y^ established by Peter the Great in 1698. 1 ' The Heraldry of the Sea,' a lecture delivered by J. K. Laughton, A. M.E.N. , Lecturer on Naval History at the Eoyal Naval College, Feb. 28, 1879, before the Royal United Service Institution. ^¦s.^! 96 The Syimbols, Standards, and Banners The Czar of all the Russias bears on his standard the double-headed eagle, as an assured successor of the Roman Caesars. Its two heads, however, might denote his own eastern and western empires, — Asiatic and European Russia. The merchant flag has three horizontal divisions, the uppermost white, the central blue, and the lowermost red. The man-of-war flag is white, with a blue diagonal cross; and this flag is charged in the dexter chief quarter of the larger flags with stripes of red, white, and blue, for the three squadrons of the Russian nav^. The original ensign seems to have been borrowed by Peter the Great, who originated it, from the Dutch, and is merely the Dutch flag upside down. Afterwards, as a further distinc tion, the white was charged with a small blue St. Andrew's cross. During the great er part of the last century, the Rus sian navy wore a white, blue,' or red ensign, the latter bearing the blue cross in a white canton. The annexed engraving 'is a fac-simile of the banner under which the Rus sians conquered the Tartars in 1386, and is a curious specimen Russian Flag, 1386. j; . i , j; 01 the banners ot the fourteenth century. A fac-simile of the banner was presented to the Russian Legion in 1876.^ iI.iondon Graphic, Oct. 28, 1876. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 97 ' Scribner's Monthly,' for February, 1880, has an engraving of a military flag of Peter the Great's time, representing a warrior on horse back, with a drawn sword; but the magazine does not give any de scription of the flag, or state where it is preserved. In the Russian navy they pay honors and a respect to their na tional flag that other nations would do well to follow. The ensign is lowered with great formality at sunset. The oflicers are assembled on the quarter-deck, with the band in position, and the crew in their places. As the flag begins to descend, the national air is played, and the officers and crew stand uncovered before the emblem of the na tion's sovereignty. It is hoisted with similar ceremonies. In 1871, the Emperor of Russia presented new flags to those regiments of his army which had reached their centenary, inscribed " 1771-1871." The Belgian Standard and Flag. — The Belgian colors — black, yellow, and red — ^are those of the Duchy of Brabant. They were formed into a national flag in 1831, clearly on the French model. The standard is composed of equal bars of black, yellow, and red, arranged ^ vertically, the black next the staff. The royal arms — a golden lion on a black shield with the supporters and crown — ^are charged on tlie central yellow division. The national ensign is the same flag vrithout the arms. The admiral's flag is also the same, but has four white balls in the upper part of the black stripe. The vice-admiral's has three balls, and the rear-admiral's two. Commodores'.- pennants are hke the ensign, but swallow-tailed. Greece has adopted the colors of Bavaria, from which she got her first king. • The' merchant flag of Greece has a blue union with a white cross cantoned on the ensign, the field of which is white, with tive blue bars ; that is, it has nine alternate stripes of blue and white. The man-of-war flag has a yellow crown in the centre of the cross. The Alexandres, the first vessel bearing the Greek fiag that ever arrived at a port of the United States, entered the port of Boston, Mass., in August, 1835. She was built for a brig of war, but was owned by her commander ; and her officers and crew were all Greeks. She was laden with Samos wine, which, from her being a pioneer vessel, was admitted free of duty. Standard and Flag of the Netherlands. — The notional flag is of three equal stripes or bars, red, white, and blue, horizontally arranged, the red in chief, and white in -the centre. 98 The Syiwbols, Standards, and Banners The standard has the royal achievement of arms charged upon the white, with the motto, "Je maintiendray." The three colors were given to the Dutch by Henry IV., of France, on their requesting him to confer on them the national colors of his country. They have ever since continued the colors of the Dutch Eepublic, and ita successor, the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The admiral's and lieutenant-admiral's flags are the same as the national ensign, but beai' in the upper or red stripe four white balls. The fiag of the vice-admiral has only three balls, and a rear-admiral but two! HoUand, as an independent State, had no existence till the latter part of the sixteenth century. Before that time, it had followed the fortunes of the Duchy of Burgundy, and had become incorporated in the dominions of the King of Spain, — ^with them it had the Burgun dian fiag; and as the different ports were in the habit of using fiags of their own, these were rendered illegal by a decree of 1540, and as early as 1475 all ships were ordered " to carry the arms and standards of the Duke," and again, in 1487, " to carry the banners and pennons of the admiral, in addition to any other local or special flags." ^ It is certain, therefore, that from these dates to the outbreak of the War of Independence the Dutch ships carried the Burgundian flag, — ^the red raguled saltire on a white field; but from the very first discon tent the Gueux adopted the colors of the House of Orange, — orange, white, and blue, — ^which was at first to be worn promiscuously or haphazard, though very shortly, to the cry of ' Oranje boven!' — 'Up with the orange ! ' They were arranged in horizontal bars, with the orange uppermost; but the number and order of the bars continued a matter of fancy until 1599, when the flag was definitely fixed as orange, white, and blue, in three horizontal stripes, although* even , then, and for a hundred years afterwards, this was not unfrequently doubled, and contained six stripes, but in the same order ; and in the jacks on the bowsprit, or rather at the head of the spritsail-top- mast (jack staff), the three colors in no certain order radiated from the centre. When standing into Gibralta.r Bay to annihilate the Spaniards, on the 25th of April, 1607, Heemskirk wore an orangie scarf, and in his hat a large orange plume. Poumier, writing in 1643, speaks of the Dutch flag as red, white, and blue ; so that possibly the change was natural, from the similarity of colors, and had then wgU begun. But De Jonge, speaking from much official information, and from old records and contemporary pictures, considers that the change did not 1 J. C. de Jonge : " Over den Oorsprong der Nederlandgche Vlag." In Rey, vol. ii. p. 512. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 99 begin till 1653, and then very gradually effected between that date and 1665; and that the battles of the flrst war with England were fought under the orange, and that in the second war the colors were as now, — ^red, white, and blue; as, indeed, they have continued ever since. During a few years consequent on the French Revolution, the flags of ships of war were distinguished by a white canton charged with a flgure of Liberty, armed with pike in hand and lion at feet. This flag was worn by the Dutch ships at Camperdown. In 1806, after a dangerous mutin}', it was considered expedient to restore the old flag; but by some omission the ships of the Texel and Zuyder Zee wore the old flag, whilst the ships of the Zealand squadron wore the new, with Liberty in the canton, — a curious irregularity, which continued until July 17, 1810, when Holland and her flag were suppressed and absorbed into the French Empire. On the 18th of February, 1653, Van Tromp wore the lion flag at the stern, the orange, white, and blue at the main; De Ruyter, the lion at the stern, the tricolor at the fore, and a white flag at the main ; Evert- zen, a blue flag at the main,' the national colors at the mizzen, and the States arms at the stern.^ Standard and Flag of Portugal. — On the 35th of July, 1139, Affonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, with thirteen thousand sol diers, including a band of English and French knights, on their way to the second crusade defeated a Moorish army, commanded -by five kings, and consisting, according to the lowest estimate, of two hundred thousand men. The night before the battie, as the Count was medi tating in his tent on the vast superiority of the enemy's numbers, a hermit entered, and com manded him in God's name to go forth in the morning when he heard the bells toll for mass, and to turn towards the east. He did as told, and within a halo of clouds beheld the image of our crucified Lord, who promised him not only victory but a crown, and a succession of sixteen generations to inherit his sceptre.^ Another version of this legend is that Affonso was much encour aged by opening his Bible at the defeat of the Midianites by Gideon, and that a hermit visited him and promised him a sign of victory. 1 J. K. Laughton's Heraldry of the Sea, 1879, pp. 20, 22. 2 Camoen's Poems. \^t ll 1 h -** fc> i; " 1 M ^ f 1 ' -. . ^ *=^ Old East India Flag of Portug. ll. 100 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Accordingly at daybreak, as the matin bell sounded, there was a luminous cross seen in the sky, such as had been seen by Constan tine; and an assurance given him that he should be a king, and that his children to the sixteenth generation should reign in Portugal. His army did in fact salute him king before the battie; and he rode forward on a white horse, followed by enthusiastic troops, who won a most brilliant victory, and Portugal became a kingdom.^ In commemoration of this victory, Affonso Henriques changed his arms, which he had received from his father, viz. argent, a cross azure, and substituted for them the present arms of Portugal; viz., five shields disposed crosswise on a white shield, in memory of the Lord's five wounds, each shield charged with five bezants, in com memoration of the five Moorish kings who were slain in the Camp d'Ourique. This tradition was never questioned until Herculano, giving an account of the battle, endeavored to show the legend was unheard of in the twelfth century, and that the battle was of inferior importance. On the other side, Pereira de Figuerado, in an earlier treatise, dis poses, by anticipation, of most of the later historian's arguments.^ This formed the fiag of the early discoverers, — the flag that slowly pushed its route down the coast of Africa, and led the way around the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies. With it, Vasco de Gama also carried the armillary sphere given him specially by King Dom Manoel ; and this flag, with the sphere, in gold or red, was long known as the flag of Portugal in the Indies. The present flag, adopted in 1815, is a "Modification of the old and glorious fiag of Prince Henry the Navigator. The present royal standard of Portugal is a red banner, charged with the royal arms and crown in its centre. The arms are argent. five escutcheons, each charged with as many plates in saltire, arranged in a cross azure; the whole in a border gu, upon which are seveen castles or; the outer shield having an or border. The man-of-war and merchant ensigns are half in pale, blue and white, vertical, the blue next the staff, with the same emblazoned shield as the royal standard, surmounted by a crown, the shield half in the blue and half in the white stripe. A clear and handsome flag. Sweden and Norway. — The national flag of Sweden is blue with a yellow cross, and that of Norway is red vrith a blue cross, having 1 Charlotte M. Yonge's Christians and Moors of Spain. ' Handbook for Travellers in Portugal. London, 1856. of Ancient and Modern Nations. IOI a white flmbriation. These two flags are combined to form a united ensign, after the manner of the union jac\ of Great Britain, and the united fiag is cantoned in the national ensigns. The man-of-war flag is swallow-tailed, and that of merchantmen square. The admiral's flags are the same as the man-of-war flag, only smaller. Comnwdores pennants are triangular. The royal standard is charged with the royal arms, crown, and supporters. The prominent part Sweden once played in European history has been brought home by the discovery in the war office at Stockholm of a work prepared by Charles XL, to commemorate her triumphs. This is an illustrated manuscript in twenty volumes, containing up wards of two hundred pages of dravrings, with copies of numerous flags and standards captured by the Swedish armies in battle or siege down to the year 1697. Olof Hofman received six hundred and forty rix dollars for its execution. A great part of the original trophies actually exist in the Ritterholm Church, which' does duty as the metro politan cathedral on great occasions. The king ordered an inves tigation to be made of the vast stores of such relics laid up there, reported to number six thousand, but which were found not to exceed four thousand. Of these, the most remarkable are to be restored, in the saone manner that similar neglected relics have been restored in Germany and Switzerland. The Swedish flag seems to be merely the Danish, with the colors altered, in 1533, when Sweden won her independence. The Norway flag is clearly the Danish fiag, with a blue cross superimposed; for, though it is described as blue fimbriated with -white, the authorized border is too wide. The Swedish-Norwegian union, in the canton, was devised in 1817, when the two countries were united under one king. The Standard and Flags of Germany.— The most recent fiag added to the family of European nations is the black, red, and gold flag of the North German Empire, which is said to have originated in the time of Barbarossa. When that emperor was crowned, a.d. 1153, ruler of Germany, in the Frankfort Cathedral, the way from the Dom to the Romer Palace, where the festivities were held, was laid with a carpet representing the colors black, red, and gold. After the corona tion, this carpet was given to the people, and every one tried to cut off a piece, which was carried by them about the city as a flag. In the year 1184, at the Reichstag at Mayence, these were recognized 102 The Syimbols, Standards, and Banners as the true German colors, and were retained until Napoleon put an end to the empire in 1806. Since that time, the Burschenschaften have kept the old colors in memory. In the revolutionary year, 1848, the German colors were once again brought to Ught by the National Assembly at Frankfort. There was considerable discussion as'to which color had the precedence. ' Freilgrath ' said : " Powder is black, blood is red, and golden flickers the flame, that is the old imperial standard." Frederic Wilhelm IL, however, was the author of the motto bearing the meaning of the German standard, — " From night, through hlood, to light." This flag supersedes and covers not alone the black eagle flag and the standard of Prussia, but the flags of all the lesser states and prin cipalities and free towns which are united under the new German Confederation, viz. : 1, Hamburg; 3, Bremen; 3, Mechlenburg; 4, Sax ony; 5, Hanover; 6, Brunswick; 7, Oldenburg; 8, Lubec; 9, Hesse Cassel; 10, Frankfort; 11, Baden; 13, Bavaria; 13, Nassau; 14, Hesse Darmstadt; and 15, Wurtemberg. The impei-ial standard of Germany is orange, charged in each of its four quarters with three black eagles and an imperial crown. The arms of a Maltese cross, silver and black, extend across the entire field of the fiag, bearing on its arms the motto, " Gott mit uns, 1870," — Gott in the upper arm, mit on the left hand, uns on the right hand, and 1870 on the lower arm. The centre of the cross bears a golden shield blazoned with the black eagle and the imperial arms. The man-of-ioar flag is white, with a black eagle in the cSntre of a circle, frqm which are extended the arms of a black cross, bordered first with a narrow white and then a narrow black stripe. In the upper canton next the staff formed by the cross there is a black Maltese cross, edged with white, set in the centre of three horizontal stripes, — ^black, white, red. The merchant flag is composed of three horizontal stripes or bars, of equal width, — ^black, white, red, — the black uppermost. The pilot flag is bordered with a broad band of white. The Emperor William, in 1873, ordered all the Prussian regiments to state in detail the history of their regimental colors, and to send in carefully prepared drawings and paintings of them, designing a history of all the Prussian colors should be compiled under his own super- rision. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 103 FRENCH SYMBOLS, STANDARDS, AND FLAGS. The Standabcs of the Pr.vnks and Gauls. — Ancient and Modern French Standards, Banners, and Flags. The Standards of the Franks and Gauls. — The emblems of the barbarian, hordes which, rushing upon the Roman Colossus, over run and subdued Gaul, and established themselves in place of the aboriginal inhabitants, are so numerous and diverse, it is impossible to determine with precision the ensigns of each. To the Franks are ascribed the half -moon, toads, serpents, and the lion; the last is sup posed to be the parent of the seventeen Belgic lions. According to many authorities, the Sicambri bore a bull's head ; the Suevi, a bear ; the Alani, a cat; the Saxons, a horse; the Cimbri and most of the Celts, a bull. The military ensign of the Goths was a cock.^ The old Swiss cantons of Uri and Valais, the purest popular government known, have existed for more than a thousand years. ¦ Every spring, the little army of Uri, bearing a banner of ' the bull's head,' marches to a green meadow among the mountains ; all the men of lawful age following on foot, the magistrates on horseback, and the chief magistrate wearing a sword. Reaching the meadow, the people gather around the chief ruler ; there is a brief pause of silent prayer ; and then and there, in the general assembly of the people, the magis trates resign their trusts, the chief magistrate dehvers up the sword of his office, leaves the chair, and takes his place with the other citizens. If he has served them well, they bid him take the chair again; for there is no rule that he may not be re-elected.^ Prencpi Standards, Banners, and Flags. — To the reign of Louis XIV., the banner of the King of France was blazoned with his own device; thus, Charles IX. had 'pillars;' Henry IL, 'a, half-moon;' Henry IIL, ' three crowns ; ' Henry IV., ' a Hercules club ; ' Philip Augustu's chose ' a lion ; ' Louis VIIL, ' a boar ; ' St. Louis, ' a dragon ; ' Philip the Bold, 'an eagle;' Charles the Fair, 'a leopard;' John, 'swans; 'Charles V., 'greyhounds and a dolphin;' Charles VII. and VIIL, the 'winged stag;' Louis XII., the gentlest of sovereigns, 'a porcupine ; ' Francis L, ' the salamander.' Our illustration of a con secrated banner, presented to Charlemagne by the Pope, is from a mosaic in the TricUnium of San Giovannis de Laterno, built under 1 United Service Journal. ^ Gt. W. Curtls's Lecture, October, 1872. 104 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Charlemagne by Pope Leo, which has been partially destroyed, and is ill restored. The full mosaic represents St. Peter presenting Leo ITI. with the insignia of the popedom, and giving the standard of war te Charlemagne, who is represented as kneeling.^ For many centuries it was customary to choose for a military standard the colors of the saint in whose intercession the most confidence was placed. Often being charged with the custody of some relic of the saint, its sanctity was increased. The ancient kings of France carried St. Martin's blue hood or cap for their stand ard for six hundred yeass. The, legend of St. Martin is that he dirided his cloak Banner presented to Charie- with a naked beggar whom he found per- magne by the Pope. ishing with cold at the gate of Amiens. This cloak, miraculously preserved, long formed one of the holiest and most valued relics of France; when war was declared, it was carried before the French monarchs as a sacred banner, and never failed to assure certain victory. The oratory in which this cloak or cape — in French, chape — was preserved, acquired the name ' chapelle,' and the person intrusted with its care was termed chapelain; and thus, accord ing to Collin de Plancy, our English words ' chapel ' and ' chaplain ' are derived. The canons of St. Martin, of Tours, and St. Gratian had a lawsuit for sixty years about a sleeve of this coat, each claiming it as their property. The Count Larochefocault put an end to the proceed ings by sacrilegiously committing the contested relic to the flames.'' St. Martin, the son of heathen parents, was bom in Hungary, a.d. 316. He was elected Bishop of Tours, 374, and died a.d. 397 or 400. He was the first saint to whom the Roman Church ofl'ered public venera tion. St. Martin's standard was the richest of all the flags borne by the ancient kings of France. It was made of taffeta, and painted with the image of the saint, and was laid upon his tomb for one or more days to prepare it for use. i The counts of Anjou, as grand seneschals of France, were the first fiag-bearers of the ensign of St. Martin. Beneton de Peyrins says the cape of St. Martin was kept at Argenteuil, and was carried in a casket which enclosed it; but that the banner of St. Martin was of the form of other banners, resembled the ancient labarum, and was carried by a chosen warrior, and not by a priest. 1 Deodorus's Christian Iconography. ' Chambers's Book of Days. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 105 —Representations of the Banner of St. Denis . ... oldest, is from a window in the Cathedral of Chartres; No. 3. the latest, is from a Manuscript of Froissart. No. 2644, in the National Lihrary (the original which it represents was carried at the defeat of Artevelde at Rosebecque) ; No. 2, Drawing from the Library of the Celestins, preserved by Montfaucon. St. Martin's standard was succeeded by the famous Auriflamme, or Orlflamme, of St. Denis, which in* turn gave place to the ' Cornette Blanche.' This sacred banner of Clovis, fabled to have been brought by an angel to St. Denis, was originally the banner of the Abbey of St. Denis, suspended over the tomb of that saint, and was presented by the lord protector of the convent when ever it became necessary to take up arms for the preserva tion of its rights and posses sions. It was made of red silk, with flames of gold worked in gold thread upon the silk, and was flxed on a golden spear, in the form of a banner. Its end was cut into five points; egich adorned with a tassel of green silk. Guillaume Guiart, who wrote in 1306, describes it as " a banner made of silk stronger than guimp of fiaring cendal, and that simply without any figure upon it ; " and adds, that he had recently seen it. Later, it was powdered with golden fiakes of fire, as represented in the ' Indice Armorial ' of Louvain Geliot, 1635, where it is thus described : — " L'Oriflambe estoit faite de sendal, Cest a dire de taffetas ou tissu de soys rouge, Aucunefois semee de flames d'or d'ou elle Prenoit de nom de oriflambe.'" The Oriflamme was red, — for all the banners of the churches dedicated to martyrs were red, — and fringed with green, the one color indicating suffering, the other hope. The illustra tion, representing Henry of Metz receiving the Orl flamme from the hands of St. Denis, is from a painted window in the church of Notre Dame de Chatres. Another account^ says the color of the Oriflamme was purple, azui;§, and gold; the two colors producing orange were separated in the Ori flamme, but united in its name. The Oriflamme borne at Agincourt was an oblong red flag, split into five points. Sometimes it bore upon it a saltire wavy, from the centre of which golden rays diverged.' The Oriflamme. 1 Herald and Genealogist, vol. ill. 1866. 2 Fairholt's Dictionary of Terms of Art. ' Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas. 106 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners The Oriflamme was intrusted by the community of St. Denis to the kings of France, who ranked themselves aS vassals of the abbey, as counts of the Vexin. When the kings of France were threatened with doubtful wars, and obliged to have recourse to the oriflamme, they paid their flrst devotion in the church of Notre Dame of Paris, then repaired to St. Denis, where, baring been solemnly received, they descended, without hood or girdle, with the oriflamme, to the vaults under which rested the rehcs of the saint, and placed the sacred banner on the altar. In 1382, the remains of St. Louis were placed beside those of St. Denis. The abbot celebrated Mass, and, to heighten the devotion of the king and his standard-bearer the Count du Vexin, admonished him of the request of St. Denis. While the Count was on his knees, bareheaded, and without a girdle, between the king and the abbot, the king received the Oriflamme from the abbot, blessed by his prayers, and delivered it over to the custody of the Count du Vexin. After the earldom of Du Vexin was joined to the crown, under Louis le Gros, any noble whom the king wished to honor was made its standard-bearer, who kept it unfurled. Sometimes the king placed it around his neck, awaiting the encounter of battle, and when it was unfurled, attached it to the end of a lance. The chosen stand ard-bearer, before receiring it, confessed, partook of the eucharist, and solemnly vowed to guard it faithfully with his life. The war ended, the Oriflamme was carried back to St. Denis by the king himself. Louis le Gros was the flrst king who took the Oriflamme to battle, A.D. 1124,^ and it appeared for the last time at Agincourt, a.d. 1415,^ others say at Monterey, a.d. 1465. At Bouvines, in 1214, the blue royal flag was carried at the head of the French knighthood, while the red oriflamme was the standard of the commoners. The Oriflamme was borne against the Flemings in the battle of Eosbecq, 1382, in which Philip van Arteveldt was slain. Says Frois sart : " It was a most excellent banner, and had been sent from heaven with great mystery. It is a sort of gonfanon, and is of much comfort in the day of battle to those who see it. Proof was made of its rirtues at this time; for all the morning there was so thick a fog that with difficulty could they see each other, but the moment the knight had displayed it, and raised his lance in the air, the fog instantly disap peared." (See illustration of it, p. 105.) 1 Renault. '=Du TlUet. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 107 In an inventory of the treasury of the church of St. Denis, talcen in 1534, the Oriflamme is described as " a standard of very thick silk, divided in the middle like a gonfanon, very frail, fastened around a stick covered with gilded copper, and a long pointed spear at the end." This banner of St. Denis was said to have been destroyed when the tombs of the kings of France in the abbey were desecrated and despoiled, at the time of the first French revolution; but a writer in 1867 asserts that it " is still suspended from an eminence at the eastern extremity of the venerable abbey church of St. Denis, beyond the high altar." The monks of old were in the habit of assuring the people that this banner was brought to the abbey by an angel, at the time of the conversion to Christianity of old King Clovis; and tradition assigns an age of thirteen hundred and eighty years to this silken remnant of monastic supierstition and imposition. The cornette blanche, a plain white banner, emblematic of the purity of the Virgin Mary, succeeded the oriflamme in the flfteenth century. The fieur-de-lis, with which it was subsequently powdered, are supposed to represent the flower of the lily, and may be a rebus signi fying the flower of Louis. Mr. Planche says that Clovis is the Prankish . form of the modern Louis, the C being dropped, as in Clothaire, which is now written Lothaire, and Clovis may have assumed the fleur-de-lis as his rebus, from his favorite clove-pink or gilly flower. Ancient heralds tell us that the Franks had a custom, at the proclamation of their king, to The Bourbon Royal elevate him upon a shield or target, and place standard. jj^ j-^jg ]^Qjy^ a reed or flag in blossom, instead of a sceptre ; and from thence " the kings of the first and second race in France are represented with sceptres in their hands, like the flag with its flower, and which flowers became the armorial figures of France." Eespecting this device there are many legendary tales: — that a banner, embroidered with golden fleur-de-lis, came down from heaven ; that St. Denis personally bestowed the lily as an heraldic device upon the royal family of France; that a banner semee of fleur-de-lis was brought by an angel to King Clovis after his baptism; and that such a banner was delivered, by an angel to Charlemagne. Such are some 108 The Syivibols, Standards, and Banners of the tales accounting for the origin of the fleur-de-lis as the device of the French royal fa;mily, from the time of Clovis to Charles X.^ The fleur-de-lis was first borne on a royal seal by Louis VIL, a.d. 1137-80. Edward III. was the first English monarch who quartered the French fleurs-de-lis on the Great Seal of that Idngdom, a.d. 1340, and they were not removed from the English shield until 1801.^ Under Philip Augustus, the French banner was white, and semee- de-hs, that is, strewn with golden lilies ; but from the time of Charles VL, A.D. 1380, it invariably consisted of three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue field, with a white cross in the middle.^ It is singular that the old English name for the iris, or fieur-de-lis, is ' fiag.' Does the flower derive its name from the standard, or vice versa ? The lily is an old device; and forms one of the most frequent decorations of Solomon's Temple, the Hebrew word ' susa ' or ' susiana ' being the same. The word ' shushan ' stands for six, ' the perfect num ber,' in Hebrew. Two interlaced fleurs-de-lis make the lily, each baring three prominent leaves, or both together, the perfect number. The name of ' susa ' and its changes are derived from the Hebrew for a lily. At the coronation of Charles VII. at Eheims, the Oriflamme was the only royal banner. The white flag was the personal banner of Jeanne d'Arc. A French national flag is a modern idea. Under the feudal system, every lord had his own personal coat of arms. Sieur de Aubigny, marshal of France, one of the most experienced commanders in the service of Charles VIII. and Louis XII., as a rela tive of James IV., bore the red lion of- Scotland on a field argent, which he caused to be ' semee of buckles,' signifying that he was the means of holding united the kings of Scotland and France against England, with the motto, " Distantia jungit," — " It unites the distant." Charles IIL, seventh Duke of Bourbon, the celebrated constable, had displayed near his tomb at Gaeta his great standard of yellow silk embroidered with flying stags and naked flaming swords, with the word ' esperance,' In several places ; meaning, he hoped to revenge himself by ffre and sword upon his enemies. The banner of Eobert de la Mark, the Great Boar of Ardennes, had a figure of St. Margaret with a dragon at her feet.* ' Newton's Heraldry. " Fairholt's Dictionai-y ; Recherches sur rOrigine du Blason et en particulier sur la Fleur-de-lis, par M. Adalbert de Beaumont, avec xxii Planches gravSes. Paris, 1853. 2 Fairholt's Dictionary. *Mrs. Bury Palliser's Historic Devices, Badges, and War Cries. London, 1870. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. .109 A French military author, who served and wrote in the time of Charles XIV., intending to express the importance of preserving the colors to the last, observed that, on a defeat taking place, the flag should serve the ensign as a shroud; and instances have occurred of a standard-bearer, who, when mortally wounded, tore the flag from its staff, and died with it wrapped around his body. Such a circum stance is related of Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, at the battle of Alcaza, and of a young officer named Chatelier, at the taking of Taillebourgy during the wars of the Huguenots. It also had a parallel during our ciril war. After the establishment of a permanent militia, every regiment carried the color of its colonel; and down to 1789 many ol them had preserved their own particular banners. The white being the royal color, however, superseded them all, from the fact that, when Louis XIV. suppressed the. functions of colonel-generals, whose distinctive sign^ was a white standard, such a standard was retained as an em blem of command; hence it became a sign of the regal power, and displaced all others. The royal fiag was, in reality, the national fiag of the eighteenth century. As late as 1543, there is a royal order for " all ships in the service of the king to carry the banners or ensigns of the admiral of France." ^ Annebault, who was admiral of France from 1543 to 1552, commanded the fleet which invaded the Channel in 1545, and his arms, gules a cross vair, were probably worn by Trench ships. It is probable that with these were worn the blue flag with the white cross, and others, prorincial and local. There is, notwithstanding all that has been written, no trace of the white flag as a national ensign before the time of Henry IV., though it is undoubtedly true a white flag was borne by Joan of Arc, with a picture of the crucifixion. The Catholic army wore first red, then green, the color of Lorraine, and after the murder of the Duke and Cardinal of Guise, black, until the death of Henry IIL, when they resumed the green. But the Protestants, from 1562, wore white, as an emblem of their superior purity, which they continued when Henry III. joined them, when it became royal. The principal standard of the League, captured at Ivry, 1590, was black charged with a crucifix, and the device, "Auspice Christo;" but it had green tassels. The royal flag was blue, with golden lilies, though white was the party color. Everybody knows that the king — • "Bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest; " iDependens. ^De Bouiue, Les Drapeaux Frangalse, p. 221. 1875. 110 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners and also that he cautioned his followers, — " And if luy standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may, For never saw I pronidse yet of such a bloody fray, Press where je see my white plume shine amidst the ranlcs of war, And be your Oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre." The wars of the League and the battle of Ivry were not naval, but they mark the introduction of the white flag, which became from that time royal and national, and supplanted the provincial and town flags, though the old blue flag continued to be worn by merchant ships. M. d'Infreville, Intendant of Toulon, in 1665 wrote: "The Saint Philippe is so richly gilt, that, to be in keeping with such splendor, she ought to have a new flag of crimson damask, bearing the arms of France, and powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and crowned L L's in em broidery. The old one, which was made at Paris for the Archbishop of Bordeaux, twenty-eight years ago, at a cost of 12,000 hvres, is torn away to half its size, and is quite a rag." ^ In 1669, an order was given reducing the chaos of flags to some thing like regularity. On the 6th of November of that year, it was decreed that " the ensigns at the stern are to be blue, powdered with yellow fleur-de-lis, with a large white cross in the middle, without distinction of peace or war, voyage or- battle. Merchant ships may wear the same ensign as our ships of war, with the escutcheon of their prorince or town in one of the corners. The pavesades are to be blue, powdered with yellow fleur-de-lis, bordered with two broad white bands." On the 3d of December, by a new order, " the ensigns of the stern are to be in all cases white." Merchant ships the sanie, with the escutcheon as before.' Thus, under the white flag the French squadron served in the allied fleet in 1672-73, and all the naval battles for more than a century. All through the eighteenth century the three squadrons of the French line of battle were distinguished, — the centre by a wliite flag at the main, the van by a blue and white flag horizontally divided at the fore, and the rear by a blue flag at the mizzen. Occasionally these three flags were worn at the main, subordinate officers wearing their fiags at the appropriate mast; there being also a particular instruction which prorided, " If the commanders of divisions are not general '^ Abraham du Quesne et la Marine de son Temps, par A. Jal, torn. 1. p. 350. " Du Quesne, par A. Jal, torn. i. p. 588. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. Ill' officers, they may carry for distinction a swallow-tailed flag of the color of the squadron, longer and narrower than a flag of command, but shorter and broader than a pennant." ^ After the battle off Ushant, M. d'Orrilliers reported that the flag of the blue division worn on that occasion caused mistalce and confu sion, in consequence of two out of the three British admirals wearing blue flags and -ensigns. It was therefore modified by the reintro- duction of the old white cross, which was worn during all the subse quent events of that war, and especially in the West Indies against Rodney.^ In the navy, both blue and red were originally hoisted, then blue alone. Louis XVI. reserved the white fiag for his ships of war, allowing merchant vessels to employ it, coupled with some distinctive badge. In the eighteenth century, merchant vessels wore the white flag, and also a blue flag with a white cross. The galleys flew a red flag.^" The flag of the French admiral, the Due de Penthievre, was the red flag of the galleys semee of fleur-de-lis, with a blue shield in the centre of its field, surmounted by a ducal crown, and blazoned with three golden fieurs-de-lis, — two and one, — the shield supported by two crossed anchors.* With the revolution, the spirit of change seized on the fiag as on every thing else. The National Assembl}?, Oct. 24, 1790, decreed that the tricolor should be adopted by the navy, thus : — ¦ " The fiag on the bowsprit (jack) shall be composed of three equal bands placed vertically; that next the staff shall be red, the middle white, and the third blue. , "The flag at the stern shall carry in its upper quarter the jack above described ; this shall be exactly one-fourth of the flag, and shall be surrounded by a narrow band, the half of which shall be red and the other blue ; the rest of the flag shall be white. This shall be the same for men-of-war and for merchant ships. " The flags of command shall carry in their upper quarters the three vertical bands, — red, white, blue; but the rest of the flag shall be, as heretofore [a curious mistake], red, white, and blue; the National Assembly having no desire to change in any way those dispositions which have been made to distinguish the three squadrons of the fleet." 1 Tactique Nayale, par Le Vicomte Moroques, p. 107. 2 Rey, Histoire du Drapeau, torn. 11. p. 578. 3M. Desjardlns, Recherches sur les Drapeaux Francais. Paris, 1874. * La Croix's Middle Ages. 112 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners On the 15th of February, 1794, the convention abolished this as savoring of royal tendencies, and decreed : — " The flag prescribed by the National Assembly is abolished. " The national flag shall be formed of the three national colors in equal bands, placed vertically, — the hoist being blue, the centre white, and the fly red." Such has been the French tricolor ever since, and the French national flag, except during the reign of Louis XVIII. and Charles X., when the white Bourbon flag and standard were resumed. In the picture by Loutherbourg, in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, the French ships in Lord Howe's action of the 1st of June, 1794, are represented as wearing the ensign suppressed on the 15th of February preceding, — either a mistake of the artist, or it may be that the fleet sailed from Brest before new flags could be made for it, and therefore fought under that flag. In 1814, on the return of the king, and again in 1815, as we have said, the tricolor was replaced by the white flag, which continued until the abdication of Charles X., in 1830, when the tricolor was restored. In 1848, March 5, the Provincial Govemment, on the flight of Louis Philippe, ordered the colors to be blue, red, and white, — the blue at the staff and white at the fly; but two days later, tiie opposi tion to it was so strong that the order was cancelled.^ There is no flag on the ocean so easily distinguished or more beautiful than the French . tricolor. The golden eagle of Napoleon, on an azure field, surrounded by a swarm of golden bees, succeeded the white standard and golden fieur- de-lis, which for so many centuries were identified with the heraldry and standards of France.^ The first and second republics had no standard. One of the principal standards borne by the insurgents, June 20, 1792, was a pair of black breeches, with the inscription, " Tremblez, tyrans! voici les sans-culottes." The standard and arms of the second empire were the same as those of the first. The flag of Elba, presented by Napoleon to the National Guard of Elba, 1814, and used by him on his return to France the following year, is on exhibition in the collection of Madame Tussaud & Sons, London. It is composed of tricolored silk, and the whole of the ornaments are elaborately embroidered in silver. The reverse side has exactly the same ornaments, with the inscription, ' Champs de 1 The notes respecting the French naval flags have been compiled principally from Laughton's Heraldry of the Sea, 1879. 2 Boutell's Heraldry. Historical and Ponnlar OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 1 3 Mai,' where it was presented by the Emperor to his guards, before they marched for Waterloo, when it was taken by the Prussians, and sold by them to an English gentieman, who brought it to England.^ Pietro Alessandro Garda, the man who, when Napoleon returned from Elba, hoisted the tricolored flag on the Tuileries while the palace was still occupied by the Eoyal Guards, died at Turin, Jan. 11, 1880. He was, after the return from Elba, attached to Napoleon's staff, and fought at Waterloo. Since then he has been director of an English mining company in Peru, a volunteer with his friend Garibaldi, and a gentleman of leisure, living quietly in his own chateau. The standard of the first regiment of the old Imperial Guard, which Napoleon embraced at Fontainebleau in 1814, on taking leave of the army, was preserved by General Petit, and presented to King Louis Philippe. It is deposited at the Invalides with the sword of Austerlitz, presented by General Bertrand. The colors are much faded by time and service, aiid are inscribed, " Garde im- periale I'Empereur Napoleon au premier regiment de Grenadiers a pied, vialle Garde;" on the reverse side is, "Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, Moskiva, Vienne; Berlin, Madrid, Moscow." The French tricolor is supposed to be a union of the blue banner of St. Martin, the red banner of St. Denis, and the ' cornette blanche,' there being evidence that those colors have been regarded as the na tional emblem for centuries. Yet the choice of thc tricolor as the emblem of liberty at the time of the Eevolution was purely accidental. Blue and red, the ancient colors of the city of Paris, were at first assumed, and the citizens mounted guard in a blue and red cockade; but the National Guard, which was not unfriendly to the throne, admitted the white of the Bourbon standard, and thus reproduced the tricolor as the standard of the French nation. A correspondent ^ of Ijondon ' Notes and Queries,' which has sev eral communications on the origin of the French tricolor, says : " In 1789, after the defection of the French guards, it was determined to raise a city guard of forty thousand men, each district to contribute a battalion of eight hundred men. The name of the guard was the ' Parisian Militia ; ' their colors the blue and red of the city, mixed with the white of their friends. This Parisian militia became the ' 1 Madame Tussaud's Catalogue. 2 Andrew Steinmetz, vol. vi., 2d series, p. 164. 8 1 1 4 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners National Guard, and their colors the tricolor, from the union or fraternization." Another correspondent says : " In or about 1356, dur ing the captivity of John of Ftance in the Tower of London, and the regency of the Dauphin Charles, the states-general of Paris effected great changes in the mode of government. Paris became, in fact, republic, and the municipality governed the estates, and, in truth, all France. At this tiijie it was decided that the city of Paris should have colors of its own, and under the authority of Etienne Marcel a fiag was selected, half blue and half red, with an agrafe of silver, and the motto, ' A bonne fin.' Shortly after, when Etienne Marcel was murdered with sixty'^of his followers, the colors of the city were suppressed, and re mained in obscurity until 1789. Upon the accession of Charles V., he erected the Bastile St. Antoine on the very spot where Etienne Marcel had been slain, as a monument of defiance on the part of the crown against the capital, which remained for centuries a state prison, and symbol of despotism. By a singular coincidence, the Bastile was destroyed on the anniversary of the day upon which the ancient colors of Paris — the colors of Etienne, Marcel — ^became victorious over royalty. On that day, July 14, 1789, Lafayette restored the colors of the city to the people, adding thereto the royal emblem, white, and thus com posed that tricolor which, according to Lafayette's prophetic words, ' Devait faire le tour du monde.' " At first, the French revolutionists adopted a green cockade, which was quickly discarded, when it was remembered that it was the livery of the Counts d'Artois, the most detested of the royal family. On the night of the 11th of July, after the dismissal of Necker, at the first meeting of the populace in the Palais Eoyal, they were harangued by Camille Desmoulins, who told them ' there was no resource but to fly to arms, and take a cockade by which to recognize each other.' He was rapturously applauded, and, snatching a popular leaf from the garden of the Palais Eoyal, he held it up before the excited crowd, and e.x- claimed,. ' What colors will you have ? Cry out ! choose ! Will you have green, the color of hope? or the blue of Cincinnatus, the color of liberty, of America, and of democracy ? ' The people cried, ' The green, the color of hope ! ' ^ Still another correspondent of ' Notes and Queries ' says, " The tra dition in France concerning the adoption of the tricolor is that it was originally the field of the arms of the Orleans family, which was made up in fact of the red of the ancient oriflamme, which was gules, semee of lys, or; of the arms of Valois, azure, semee in like nianner; 1 H. F. H. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 1 5 and of Bourbon, argent, semee of the same. As the Orleans claimed descent from all three branches, they took for the field of their escutcheon their three tinctures, and blazoned them, 'tierce in pal* azure, argent, and gvles, semee of fieur-de-lis or.' The tradition is, when Philip of Orleans threw himself into the arms of the repub licans, and called himself L'Egalite, he caused the fleur-de-lis to be erased from the escutcheons which were stuck up in the Palais Eoyal. The field being left, it was identified with his name, and by degrees became the republican flag." ^ The tricolor did not at once replace other emblematic signs. Only a few of the ninety battalions of the Parisian militia which took part in the fete of the Confederation combined the tiiree colors, and not one of them was designed according to the present fashion. The faihous flag of the Twelfth Brigade,, which General Bonaparte led across the bridge of Arcole, was not a tricolor, and the flag of the Fifth Half Brigade, carried by Augereau, had republican ornaments on a white ground. The imperial standard of Napoleon I. was the tricolor, semee of golden bees, and charged with the eagle of the empire upon the cen tral division of the white fleld. In the guard-chamber of Windsor Castle, England, suspended over the marble busts of the Dukes of Marlborough and Wellington, hang two little French flags of peculiar significance. The one a white flag of the Bourbons, spotted with fleur-de-lis; the other, the tricolor These flags are presented annually, by the Dukes of Marlborough and Wellington, to the reigning so^'ereign of Great Britain on the anni versaries of the battles of Blenheim and Waterloo, and are the tenure of service by which the noble dukes hold the estates of Blenheim and Stratfleldsaye, settled on them by Parliament. The banner rendered by the Duke of Marlborough was formerly suspended in Queen Anne's closet at Windsor, where she flrst received intelligence of the victory . of Blenheim.^ When King William IV. was on his death-bed, and awoke on June 18, he remembered it was the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, and expressed a pathetic wish to live over that day, even if he were never to see another sunset. Calling for the flag which the Duke of Wellington always sent him on that anniversary, he laid his hand upon the eagle which adorned it, and said he felt revived by the touch. ^A. A. = Guide to Windsor. 1 1 6 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners The flags and standards taken in battle, which were removed from the Hotel des Invalides on the approach of the Prussian army in 1870, and placed in safety at- Brest, were in 1871 restored to tiieir old places about the tomb of Napoleon I., or in the chapel. Their number is but small, for in 1814 the governor of Les Invalides ordered the whole collection to be burnt, to save it from the enemy. At 'that time, the chapel alone contained sixteen hundred of these trophies of the triumphs of Napoleon) I.^ On the night of the 30th of March, 1814, all the banners which hung under the dome of the Invalides were taken down, and formed into a pile in the court-yard ; the banners . with their lances, sur mounted by Eussian, Prussian, and Austrian eagles. Upon them were thrown other trophies, such as the sword and regal insignia of Frederick the Great. The ashes of this pile were swept up and thrown into the Seine. The next day, after tlie entry of the allies, a Eussian officer came to seek the banners, and Genera.1 Darmaud showed him where they had been, and told him they had been burnt the night pre vious.^ It has been said that the ashes of these trophies were thrown into a cask of wine, and that the veterans drank the mixture to the health of the Emperor; and that the sword of Frederick the Great was concealed in the cupola of the Invalides, and is now in the possession of a private gentleman. In 1839, an American ship entering the port of Havre with a tricolored flag at her masthead was -ordered to take it down. The three colors were not to be displayed in a French port, even as a signal flag." In 1830, the United States government was officially notifled " that the tricolored flag has been ordered to be hoisted on all French ships of war as well as commerce;" and in a circular letter dated "Navy Department, Oct. 22, 1830," United States navy officers were ordered " to recognize the same as the flag of the French nation, and respect it accordingly." From that time to the present (1880) — through tiie reign of Louis Philippe, King of the French, the second republic, the . second empire, and now the third republic — the tricolor has continued to be the national ensign of France. The eagles introduced into the French armies as regimental stand ards by Napoleon theGreat, and which were revived by Napoleon IIL, were wrought from pure gold, and had an intrinsic value of about two thousand dollars. The ribbon attached to them was of silk, flve 'London Times and New York Tribune, July, 1871. 2 Independence Beige, 1872. » Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post, August, 1829. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 117 inches broad, three feet long, and richly embroidered. During the war of 1870, it was a prize much coveted by the soldiers of King William's army, who, it is claimed, captured nearly two hundred of them in the successive disastrous defeats of the French. After that war, the regiments contented them selves with provisional flags. On the 2d of June, 1871, the war minister ordered the standards then in use to be handed over to the artillery, which was to destroy the silk of the old flags, and send the eagles and gold fringe to the domain office. In exchange, small flags without inscriptions were A French Eagle. gg^^g^ ^^^ provisionally. In 1876, the army owned only a few Napoleonic eagles, with the ' N ' cut out, and some common woollen flags. In that year, by a decree of President McMahon, all of the infantry and cavalry regiments received white, blue, and red silk standards, in the centre 'of which, surrounded by a cornette of laurel and oak leaves, was embroidered the once cele brated 'E.F.' (Eepublique Frangaise). The streamers bore the name of the regiment, division, and army corps, and number, also the derice, "Honncur et patrole.'' In June, 1878, the minister of war ordered for the colors of the infantry, and standards of the cavalry and artillery of the French army, a blue staff, sur mounted by a small rectangular block, like the pedes tal for the Eoman eagle, bearing on one face the number and designation of the regiment, and on the other the letters 'E. F.' In place of the imperial eagle a gilt laurel wreath surmounts this, traversed by a golden dart. The flag is of silk, with a fringe of Head of a French golcl. The colors were presented in September, 1878, standard, 1878. at a great national festival, to the troops composing the garrison of Paris, and to delegates from the territorial forces. 118 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners THE ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND 1066 to 1880. AD.Ioet to IIS4 A D IIS4 U 1341) A D I40S lo IC03 Wll.l.lAM HI. VILLI AM m a, MARY j^.n. 1707 unit \ 1>. 1714 to 1801 A D ISIS u lei; of Ancient and Modern Nations. 119 BEITISH SYMBOLS, STAND AEDS, AND FLAGS. The Standakbs and Banneks of Ancient Britain, England, Ire land, Scotland, and Grk4t Britain, from the Eoman Con quest, and Under the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, to the Eeign of Queen Victoria. Julius Csesar; having, B.C. 55, conquered the southeast of Britain, sent to the Eoman senate the standards of seven British kings. From Latin records, traditions, and ancient pictures it is ascertained that tlie allied petty kings fought under ensigns exhibiting the figures of animals abounding in their provinces. The ram, ewe, hind, and grouse, which abounded in the southeast of the island, were the typical signs on the standards of that region. The stag, goat, cor morant, and the golden eagle of the mountains of Cambria, represented the southwest. The wolf, beaver, and black eagle were the character istics of the northeastern provinces. The wild boar, bear, vulture, and raven were the symbolic tokens of the woody countries of the northwest. T'hese badges were represented on targets and quivers, made of osier twigs covered with white leather, and were hoisted as ensighs. Such were the primitive standards of the ancient Britons. Cacibelan, King of Colchester, B.C. 54, being vanquished by Ctesar, became tributary to Eome, and presented Csesar with a brigandine, or royal coat of arms, ornamented with pearls of the country, which was sent to Eome and consecrated to Venus. That war-dress, imitated from the Oriental coat of mail, with scales, exhibited shells and fishes, a brigantine, a boat, and a beaver, em blems of the Brigantes, who also depicted a bear on their targets. The British pennons, banners, and flags of this time were of woollen cloth or white leather. Emblems were also engraven on iron arms and wooden weapons, as clubs and staves. These last have been the type of a staff or mice bearing the royal armsj-which is still car ried by British peace-officers. A Eoman prefect governed London, a.d. 14, assisted by a prsetor or Judge. These magistrates had over their Arms' of Lon- tribunal or judgment-seat a Phrygian cap, bearing the don, A.D.44. monogram, S. P. Q. E.; the staff which supported the cap was blue, the color of the Eoman people and army, and purple, representing the Eoman senate and nobility; these colors were dis posed like two twisted ribbons. By putting on the ' liberty cap,' the 120 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners prefect was empowered to free any slave. The ' sword of mercy ' and club of Hercules also figured in the armorial bearings of the city under the Eoman prefects. The Emperor Trajan, waging war in Gurgistan, a.d. 98 to 117, cap tured a standard exhibiting a. dragon struck down by a horseman. He adopted it as his ensign, and had it hoisted in all the provinces of his empire. The Georgian chevalier trampling on the dragon was hence borne on the ensign and on the breastplates of the Eoman officers, and waved on citadels and towns all over Britain. The Em peror Valentinian IIL, a.d. 426-440, having recalled his legions from the south of Britain to resist an invasion of barbarians, the Saxons raided upon the southern coasts, and the forlorn Britains armed in self-defence, and hoisted the standard of Trajan, which they conse crated to Albion, the first patronal god of the isle. Thence Albion was depicted as a chevalier on a white horse, trampling on the dragon ; and many cities adopted that badge as an emblem for their fortified gates. The Hibernian or Irish harp was adopted by Constance Chlorus on his return from the conquest of Hibernia, a.d. 301. The evacuation of the Eomans was followed by the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons and Jutlanders, a.d. 449, under Hen.gist, whose brother Horsa was killed on the field of battle. Horsa had adopted for his ensign the war-horse of Odin, the northern god of war; and Hengist set up the ambling horse of Odin as his standard over a newly con quered city, which received the name of Canterbury, and became the capital of the kingdom of Kent, of which Hengist was the firsi king. The horse rampant, an attitude known as the ' canter,' or ' Canterbury gallop,' has been ever since the ensign of the county of Kent. The city of Glastonbury, a.d. 408-510, bore the standard of the Eoman dragon^ of a red color, allusive to Tor, the god of flre.^ In the Anglo-Saxon poem of ' Boewulf,' supposed to have been written in the teoth century, we read, " Then to Beowulf he gave golden bSnner." St. Oswald, who fell flghting in defence of Chris tianity against Penda, Lincolnshire, was buried at Bardney Abbey, a.d. 642, gorgeously enshrined, with a banner of gold and purple, paly or, bendy, suspended over his remains. The Picts regarded with rev erence the banner called Brechannoch,- from its association with St. Columb, their spiritual father. The keeper of this sacred relic had lands assigned him for its custody. 1 Brunet's Regal Armorie. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 121 Ossian mentions the standard of the kings and chiefs of clans, and says that the king's was blue, studded with gold, and having on it a white horse. The Anglo-Saxon ensign was very grand : it had on it a white horse, as the Danish was distinguished by a raven. William the Conqueror sent Harold's standard, captured at the battle of Hast ings, which bore the device of a dragon, to the Pope. His own stand ard was sumptuously embroidered with gold and precious stones, in the form of a man flghting. When he sailed for England, the white banner, consecrated by Pope Alexander 11. expressly for the occasion, was hoisted at the masthead of the ship on which he- was embarked. The device assigned Arthur, the mythic king of Britain in the sixth century, is azure, — three crowns proper, — and over this tire motto, ' Trois en un.' King Arthur's shield forms the centre of the star of the Bath. Arthgal, the first Earl of Warwick, is said to have been one of the knights of the Eound Table. ' Arth,' or ' Narth,' signifies a bear, and one of his descendants is said to have slain a giant who encountered him, with a tree torn up by the roots; hence the cognizance of the 'bear and ragged staff,' which is at least as old as the fifteenth century. The House of Orleans and Dukes of Burgundy bore the same device. A particular account of the standards of the successive rulers of Britain may be found in Sir Winston Churchill's curious work, ' Divi Brittanici,' also in Brunet's ' Eegal Armorie of Great Britain.' The origin of the standard! of the three saxes or swords of Essex, A.D. 530, is thus explained: The Eoman Empire was invaded in the second century by a tribe of Goths wearing a crooked sabre called ' saex,' from which the tribe derived the name of ' Saxons.' These Saxons con quered that part of Germany washed by the Elbe, which they named ' Saxony.' Then, uniting with the Jutes and An- ThT^^Tsaxes or Swords gl^s, they became powerful pirates or of Essex. sea-kings, and conquered three cantons in Britain, which they erected into kingdoms, named ' South-Sax,' ' East-Sax,' and ' West-Sax,' — ^that is to say, the Saxons of the south, east, and west, — ^whose contractions are Sussex, Essex, and Wessex. The chiefs or kings of these cantons having formed an alliance, hoisted a standard bearing three saxes or swords as an emblem of their triple union and common origin. The three swords of the Saxon standard 122 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners were damascened with Gothic hieroglyphics, and their type has been preserved in the armorial bearings of Essex. Edilfrid, a.d. 592-616, a Saxon king of Bernicia, in the north of Northumberland, had a standard called the ' tufa,' which exhibited a bear, a Eoman emblem of the polestar and the ancient ensign of War wick, the capital of Bernicia. The bear was also the device on the streamer of Bangor, in Wales.^ , The Anglo-Saxons established eight kingdoms in Britain, but Edwin, the successor of Edilfrid, united the kingdoms of Bernicia and Decia, by the name of the kingdom of Northumberland, and assumed the title of Bretwalda, or ruler of Britain, as presiding at the Witen- agemote, or parliainent of the heptarchy. The standard of the Bret walda was a bear, which was stamped on a coin that had currency all over Britain.^ He was the first Christian king of Northumberland, and, falling in battle, a.d. Oct. 12, 633, was canonized, and became St. Edwin. Not only in war ^fas his standards (vexiila) borne before him, but in peace he was preceded by his ' signifier,' and also when he walked the streets had a standard borne before him which the Eo mans called ' tufa,' and the Angles, ' turef,' being a tuft of feathers affixed to a spear. ^ A great battle was fought, a.d. 742, at Burford, in Oxfordshire, when the golden dragon, the standard of Wessex, was victorious over Ethelbald, the King of Mercia. Egbert (a.d. 827-837), King of Wessex, who dissolved the heptarchy and temporarily united the seven kingdoms in one, assumed the title of ' King of the Anglo-Saxons,' and spread the red dragon of Wessex as the national standard throughout his whole dominion. This re puted standard of King Arthur, as dear to the Anglo-Saxons as to the Britons, became the standard of Winchester, the capital of Egbert's kingdom. Among the Saxon kings of England there were two who were re puted saints: Edmund the Martyr, a.d. 975, and Edward the Confes-^ sor, A.D. 1042 ; and these, with St. George, are the three patron saints of England. The banners of the saints accompanied the English army, and waved over the fields where the Edwards and Henrys fought. St. Edmund's banner is considered to have been azure, three crowns or, two and one, the same .as the badge assigned Arthur ; but, from the description by Lydgate, two banners were appropriated to him, of which drawings are given in that writer's work, — one of them that mentioned above. 'Brunet's Regal Armorie. = Stevenson'? Notes. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 123 "Over he [the king], seyde Lady Hevene Queue, Myn own. baner, with here shall be." " This other sta,ndard, feeld stable off colour yude, In which off Gold been notable crownys thre, The first tokne in cronycle men may fynde Graunted to hym for Royal dignyte. And the second for virgynyte; For mantirdam, the thrydde in his suffryng To these annexyd ffeyth, hope, and charyte. In tokne he was martyr mayde and kyng. Thes&thre crownys Kyng Edmund bar certeyn. Whan he was sent be grace oif Goddis bond At Geynesburnh for to slen Kyng Sweyn." " By which myracle men may understond Delyvered was^rom trybut all thys lond Mawgre Danys in full notable wyse; For the hooly martyr dissolvyd hath that bond. Set this Region ageyn in his franchise." " These thre crownys history aly t' aplye. Applioacio By pronostyk nobally sovereyne To sixte Herry in: fygur signefye How he is born to worthy crownys tweyne. Off France and England, lynealy t' atteyne In this lyif heer, afterward in hevene The thrydde crowne to receyve in certeyne For his merits above the sterry swene." The other represented Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the serpent tempting her. " The feeld powdered with, many hevenly sterre And halff cressantis off gold ful bright and cleer; And when that evere he journeyde nyh or ferre, Ny in the feeld, with hym. was this baneer." " This hooly standard hath power and vertu To stanche fyres-and stoppe flawmys rede Byi myracle, and who that kan take heede God grantyd it hym for a prerogatyff." ' This vertuous baner shal kepen and conserve This lond from enmyes dante ther cruel prydc Off syxte Herry, the noblesse to preserve It shall be borne in werrys by his syde." '¦ 1 Retrospective Review, 2d series, vol. i. 124 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners The banners of St. Edmund or St. Edward do not occur in any of the illuminations of the chronicles or other manuscripts in the Brit ish Museum; and the only proof of their being used so late as the reign of Henry V., other than the allusion to the banner of St. Edmund, by Lydgate, who wrote in the reigns of Henry V. and VL, are the statements of cpntemporary chroniclers. Le Fevre, Seigneur de St. Henry, in his account of the battle of Agincourt, informs us that Henry had five banners ; viz., the banner of the Trinity, the ban ner of St. George, the banner of St. Edward, and the banner of his own arms. This list enumerates but four, the fifth was probably one of the banners of St. Edmund. The banner of the Trinity, we infer from a painting of the arms of the Trinity in Canterbury Cathedral, was " Gules an orle and pale, argent, inscribed with the Trinity in Unity." Lydgate says the fifth banner alluded to by St. Eemy was that of the Virgin Mary. After enumerating the banners of St. George, the Trinity, and St. Edward, he adds : " The device on the banner of St. Edward the Confessor was, without doubt, the cross and martlets, as they are carved in stone in Westminster Abbey, where he is buried, and which Eichard II. impaled with his own, as may be seen by the banner of that king on the monuiriental brass of Sir Simon de Felkrig, his standard-bearer, at Felkrig, in Norfolk." ^ Arms were invented for Edward the Confessor in the time of Edward I. The Anglo-Norman heralds were probably guided in their choice by a coin of that monarch, upon the reverse of which appears a plain cross with four birds, one in each angle. The arms as then blazoned are azure, a cross flory, between five martlets or, and formed the standard of St. Edward as usually displayed by the English monarchs down to the fifteenth century.^ The Danes, a.d. 1000, under the command of Sweyn, conquered England, and unfurled their standard of the raven. A black raven was exhibited on the royal shield and banner on a silver ground. Canute, King of England and Denmark, having conquered Norway, hoisted the Norwegian lion, — a: golden hon rampant, with a battie- axe, represented on an azure shield, strewn with red hearts, and bear ing the three crowns of England, Denmark, and Norway. Edward the Confessor, on his accession, a.d. 1040, changed the royal seal bearing a black raven to a white falcon. The king kept a tame falcon, which was represented on his sceptre, and has since been con verted into a dove. 1 Boutell's Heraldry. = Retrospective Review, 2d series, vol. 1. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 125 The ensign of Eolla, the first Dulce of Normandy, bore a leopard, the emblem of the Northmen. When Maine was annexed to Nor mandy, a second leopard was added to the Norman standard, and unfurled at Mans, the capital of Maine. WilUam the Conqueror, in 1066, introduced the two leopards as the royal standard of Britain; his personal standard represented a man flghting. The dragon, the standard of the West Saxons, was Harold's standard at Hastings ; a winged dragon on a pole is coristantly represented near his person on the Bayeux tapestry. And Eichard I. (Coeur de Lion), in 1190, seeing that no Western nation had adopted the legend and name of St. George and the dragon, selected it as the type of his intended exploits, and on his return from the crusade, 1223, instituted the festival of St. George. Henry IIL, 1264, at the battle of Lewes, and Edward I., in Wales, fought under the dragon. It was borne in the battle between Canute and Edmund Ironsides, 1016. Edward IIL, also, at the battle of Cressy, 1346, had a standard " with a dragon of red silk, adorned and beaten with very fair lilies of gold." And Henry VII.'s standard at Bosworth, 1485, was a red dragon upon a green and white silk. The banners of the sovereigns of England, from the Conquest up to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, bore their family devices, when the last brilliant relics of the feudal system, the joust, the tournament, and all their paraphernalia, fell into disuse. The standard of -William Eufus, 1087, bore a young eagle gazing at the sun, with the motto, " Perfero," — " I endure it." Pope Urban IL, in 1096, proclaimed the first crusade, and gave as a war-cry, " Dieu le veut," — " God wills it." In that holy war, the noble crusaders, wearing cuirasses and iron masks, which concealed their features, adopted various ensigns for recognizance on the field of battle. These standards, bannerolls, and streamers exhibited suggest ive figures and rebuses for rallying the troops; and these mottoes or war-cries from that time became surnames, and, with the devices, were exhibited on the crests of helmets and on various parts of the armor. Until this century, the Oriental armorial bearings adopted by the na tions of Western Europe were only worn by kings, princes, dukes, and marquises, or displayed upon the fortified gates of cities. On the return of the flrst crusaders they were introduced and propagated among the nobility, clergy, and gentry, who called them family arms. Thus originated the modern system of heraldry. Stephen of Blois, grandson of William the Conqueror by his daughter Adel, 1135-1154, adopted for his banner the sagittary, an emblem of hunting, and the ensign of the city of Blois, whence he derived his title of Count of Blois. 126 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Henry IL, 1154-1189, surnamed 'The Plantagenet,' succeeded Ste phen, and adopted the green broom, or Plante Genet {"11 portoit ung G-ennett entre deux Plantes de Geneste"), for his device. The sur name came from his father, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, who, having committed a crime, punished himself by flagellation with birches of green broom, and wore a branch of it on his helmet in sign of his humility and penance. Henry II. married Eleanor of Guyenne, who brought him the duchy of that name. The arms of Bordeaux, its capi tal, having a bolden lion, that charge was marshalled with the two leopards on the es cutcheon of England. From the conquest of Ireland by Henry IL, 1172, up to Henry VIIL, the kings of England styled them- Eieanor of Guyenne. selves ' viceroys of Ireland.' Eichard I., 1189-1199, bore several devices on his shields and ban- . ners ; viz., a star, probably of Bethlehem, issuing from the horns of a crescent, in token of his victories over the Tlirks; a mailed hand holding a shivered lance, with the motto, " Labor vvvis conven/it; " a sun or, and two anchor^ — motto, " Christo duce." ^ Engaging in the third crusade, he carried a white Latin cross on his banner. The- Christian nations of Europe, following that crusader, carried either Grecian, Armenian, or Latin crosses on their banners; viz., France, a red cross; Flanders, a green cross; Germany, a black cross; Italy, a yellow cross. On assuming the title of ' King of Jerusalem,' Eichard hoisted the banner of the lion of that holy city, — the dormant lion of Judah, the badge of^ David and' Solomon, kings of Jerusalem from the tribe of Judah. Thenceforth Eichard obtained the sumame of ' Coeur de Lion,' either for his lion, or his great achievements against the in- fldels. On the second seal of tiiis king is the flrst representation of the three lions or leopards, which from that time have continued on the royal arms and banners of England. In 1838, the tomb of Eichard was discovered in Eouen cathedral. The recumbent effigy of the king has a dormant lion at his feet. The armorists of later centuries, ignorant of the Norman leopards, repre sented Eichard with three lions passant. John and Henry III.,_1199-1272, bore the star and crescent, and John was the flrst to add Dominus Hibernia to the royal tities. When ^ Boutell's Heraldry, and Historical Badges aud Devices. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 127 Isabella, the sister of Henry IIL, married Frederic II. , Emperor of Germany, the Emperor sent Henry a live leopard in token of the British armorial bearings, which were still the two leopards of Wil liam the Conqueror. Henry III. then altered the standard of his father John by adding a, third leopard, as a device of his imperial alliance. When, later, Henry was beaten at Guyenne and fled to England, the French made rebuses, in which the weak monarch was represented as a retreating leopard. When Henry the Third's daughter Margaret was married to Alex ander, of Scotland, in 1252, her robe was embroidered with three leopards on the front and three on the back.^ A mandate of Henry III. to Edward Fitzode, in 1244, directed him to cause a dragon to be made in the fashion of a standard, of red silk, sparkling all over with gold, the tongue of which should be made to resemble flaming fire, and ap)pear to be continually moving, and the eyes of sapphires or other suitable stones, and to place it in the church of St. Peter, at Westminster, against the king's coming there; and the king, being informed of the cost, it should be defrayed.^ This standard is mentioned in Dart's ' History of Westminster Abbey.' That this standard was sometimes sent forth to battle may be pre sumed, as it is stated that at the battle of Lewes, 1264, a dragon standard was borne before King Henry III. ; and at a much earlier battle, between Edmund Ironside and Canute, it is stated, " Reqnis locus erat inter Draconem et standarum." ^ Edward L, 1272-1307, was the first English monarch who assumed a rose for his device, a golden rose, stalked proper or vert. When Eleanor, the wife of Edward I., followed him to the last crusade, Edward hoisted the three leopards of his father, Henry 111., whilst Margaret, Daughter of Henry IIL, in her Wedding Garments, 1252. 1 Brunet, Boutell, Harlean MS., &c. I have a photograph of Isabella II. , Spain, in which her dress is covered with castles and lions. ' Excerpta Historica ; or, Illustrations ot English History. London, 1833. ' Retrospective Review. • of 128 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Eleanor unfurled the banner of the lion in repose, — an emblem of Leon, in Spain, which was her birthplace. The chronicler of Caerlaverock describes the royal banner of Edward I. after this characteristic manner: "On his banner were three leopards, courant, of flne gold, set on red; fierce were they, haughty and cruel, thus placed to signify that, like them, the king is dreadful to his enemies. For his bite is slight to none that in flame his anger; and yet, towards such as seek his friendship or sub mit to his power, his kindness is soon rekindled." ^ The royal banners of England, from the time of Edward, have borne the same blazonry as the royal shield. Edward III. placed on his standards his quartered shield at their head, and powdered them with fleur- de-lis and lions. Drawings of many of these banners and standards are preserved in Herald's College. The English sovereigns, in addition to the banner of their royal arms, used ban ners and standards charged with their badges. The royal banner of arms charged their insignia upon the entire standard of Edward III., 1337. c u -j-u j. • j.-i xi. x-„ field Without accessories, until the time of the Stuarts, when the arms were sometimes associated with other devices, or the flag bore the entire royal achievement charged upon the centre of its field. Examples of royal standards thus emblazoned appear in the pictures at Hampton Court, representing the embarka tion of Charies IL, in 1660, and of William IIL, in 1688. Of late years the royal standard is a square flag, blazoned with the arms of the United Kingdom over the whole field. Edward IIL, 1327-1377, bore silver clouds proper, with descend ing rays; also a blue boar, with his tusks and his 'dies' and his members of gold. He was tiie flrst monarch that used the English vernacular dialect in a motto. His standard, as given by Sir Charles Barker, is the lion of England in a field semee of rising sunS and crowns; motto, "Dieu et mon droit." He flrst quartered the tfeur-de-lis of France, 1337, with the three leopards of England, and for the first time the lion passant gardant . bearing a crown as a crest, as it is continued on the royal standard and arms. His standard erected at Cressy was of red silk embroid ered with lilies of gold. When Edward III. did homage to Phihp VL, 1 Siege of Caerlaverock.* OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 129 of France, at Amiens, 1329, for the dukedom of Guyenne, he wore a robe of crimson velvet, vnth three leopards embroidered in gold and silver. The King of France wore a blue robe. When Edward assumed the titie of ' King of France,' he wore a robe and mantie of blue, and created a pursuivant or herald, called ' manteau bleu,' or blue mantle. It is a matter of familiar history that Edward IIL, on laying claim to the French crown, quartered the French lilies with the English lions ; and that, from some affectation which we may wonder at but cannot interpret, he placed the lilies in the first, or honpraljle, quarter. Tliat the lions were heraldically put in the secondary place is certain. Macaulay has elegantly interpreted the position thus : — " Look how the lion of the sea lifts up his ancient crown. Aid underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down. So stalked he when he tumed to flight, on that famed Kcard field, Bohemia's plume, Genoa's bow, and Caesar's eagle shield; So glared he when, at Agincourt, in wrath he turned to bay. And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay." Edward the Black Prince bore for his device " a sunne arysing . out of the cloudes, betokening that, although his noble courage and princely valour had hitherto been hid and obscured from tiie world, now he was arysing to glory and honnor in France.'' The cherished and popular belief is that the crest and motto of the Prince of Wales was won by the Black Prince at Cressy. " There lay the trophy of our chivalry Plumed of his ostrich feathers, which the Prince Took as the ensign of his victory, Which he did after weare, and ever since The Prince of Wales doth that achievement beare. Which Edward first did win b/ conquest there." ' " From the Bohemian crown the plume he wears, • Which after for his eredit he did preserve To his father's use, with this fit word, ' / serve! " ^ But this tradition is not supported by history, for -the crest of the blind King of Bohemia was not a plume of ostrich feathers, but the wings of a vulture expanded. On the other hand, an ostrich feather argent, its pen gules, was one of the badges of Edward IIL, and was, with slight difference, adopted by the Black Prince, and by all his sons and their descendants. The Black Prince used spmetimes three feathers, sometimes one argent. His brother, John of Gaunt, 1 AUeyne. ^ Ben Jonson. 130 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners three or one ermine, the stems or, on a sable ground. A single feather was worn by his brother, Thomas of Gloucester, and by their nephews, Edward, Duke of York, and Eichard, Duke of Cambridge. It is more than likely that Edward I. adopted this crest at the battle of Poitiers, joining to the family badge the old English word, Icden (Theyn), I serve, in accord with the words of the Apostle, " the heir, while Crest of the Black he is a child, diffcreth nothing from a servant." Prince. The feathers are placed separately upon the tomb of the Black Prince, in Canterbury Cathedral. This feather badge was also used by Eichard II. and by Henry IV. before and after he came to the throne; by his brother Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, and all the members of the Beaufort branch. Henry VI. bore two feathers in saltire. Three or one was adopted as a cognizance by his son. Prince Edward, and was worn by Warwick at the battle of Barnet.^ In 1344, during the reign of Edward IIL, the order of the Garter was instituted, but was not fully organized, nor were its knight com panions chosen, until 1350. The companions were twenty-five, the sovereign making the twenty-sixth, with authority to nominate the others. At first, the queen and the wives 'of the knights shared the honors of the fraternity, and were called ' Dame de la Fraternite de St. George,' wearing robes and hoods adorned with the garter. Charles I. attempted to revive this usage, but was unsuccessful. The original number of knights remained unchanged until 1786. In that year a statute was passed fixing the number at twenty-six, exclusive of the princes of the royal family or illustrious foreigners on whom the order might be conferred. The Prince of Wales, having been a knight of the original institution, is reckoned among the twenty- six companions. From time to time special statutes have admitted foreign sovereigns. Extra knights have also been admitted by stat ute. The meetings are held on St. George's day (April 23),^ in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where installations take place, and the banners of the knights are suspended. The motto adopted for this order, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," Edward III. placed upon a scroll at the top of his standard, and it 1 Boutell's Heraldry ; Hist. Badges and Devices ; Ellis's Heraldry ; The Retro spective Review ; Brunet's Regal Armorie. 2 The 23d of April Is otherwise noted as the anniversaries of the hlrth ol Shakspeare and of his death. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 131 has since remained upon the scroll of the British shield, as well as on the garter of the sovereign and of the knights of the order. Eichard IL, son of Edward the Black Prince, 1377-1399, adopted a white hind, couchant on a mount, under a tree proper, the banner of his mother, Joan, surnamed the Fair Maid of Kent, which appertained to her arms previous to her marriage. After the suppression of the insurrection led by Wat Tyler, King Richard changed the hind into a white hart, gorged with a royal crown around his neck, ornamented with the fleur-de-lis of France, and a loose golden chain. On the marriage of Eichard with Anne of Luxemburg, all the royal plate of England was engraved with this device. In 1396, on his second marriage, with Isabella of France, he adopted a lion and a hart as supporters of the royal shield, and he is the flrst monarch whose supporters are authenticated, — ^a golden lion gardant stood on the right hand, a silver hart affronte, on the left of the shield, with horns and hoofs or, bearing a crown around its neck, and a golden chain hanging down. The three leopards were also then changed into three lions leoparde, or spotted. Eichard's standard was a hart with two suns. He also used as supporters to his own arms two angels blowing trumpets. Henry IV., of Bolingbroke and Lancaster, 1399-1413, introduced the red rose of Edmund of Lancaster, whose daughter was his mother, and which became ever after the badge of the Lancastrians, as opposed to the white rose of York. The red rose of Lancaster was blessed by the Primate of England when he anointed Henry IV. with the holy oil from the sacred ampulla. He also had for cog- standard of Henry IV. of Boiing- nizances the antelope and the silver broke and Lancaster. ^^^^^ ^f ^^^ p^ -BohvinS. The stand ard of Henry IV. of England had a swan and a large rose, the fleld semee of foxtails, stocks of trees, and red roses, per fesse argent and azufe, the livery colors of the Lancastrians having at the head the red cross of St. George on a white field. Henry V., 1413-1422, had for devices an antelope or, armed, crowned, spotted, and horned with gold, a red rose, and a silver swan. His sup porters were a lion and an antelope,— an antelope argent being substi- , tuted for the white hart, as a companion to the lion of Aquetain. His standard, exhibiting the antelope gorged with a crown and a golden chain pendant, was carried at the battle of Agincourt, in 1415. 132 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners When Henry V. entered the lists against Mowbray, Duke of Nor folk, his caparisons were embroidered with the antelope and swan; Henry's antelope appeared also at his interview with King Charles at Melun. " The king of England had a large tente of blue velvet and green, richly embroidered with two devices : the one was an antelope draw ing in a horse mill ; the other was an antelope sitting on a high stage with a branch of olif e in his mouth, and the tente was replenished and decked with this poysie : " "After husie lahoure oommith victorious reste!' He also used, at times, a beacon or cresset, a fleur-de-lis crowned, and a fox's tail. When Henry V. made his entry into Eouen, a page carried behind him, in guise of a banner, a fox's tail attached ; and when presented to Katherine he wore in his helmet a fox's tail orna mented with precious stones. After the victory of Agincourt he assumed the motto, " Non nobis domine." ^ - After his marriage with Katherine, daughter of Charles VL, of FTarice, Henry V. assumed the title of ' King of France,' and hoisted the French standard,^a blue flag in imitation of the Oriflamme, strewed with fleur-de-lis of gold, bearing in the middle a cross of scarlet cloth. In later times, the Oriflamme of England was stripped' of its golden fleur-de-lis, but the blue flag with a red Latin cross was pre served as the flag of the British nation.^ The accession of Henry V. was remarkable for the revival of the Knights of the Bath, when the knights attending the king at the Tower of London bathed themselves in the Thames with great solem nity, and were afterwards arrayed in a white garment, as an emblem of their revived innocence.' Henry VL, 1422-1461, was .anointed and crowned at Paris when only nine years old. His badges, devices, and supporters were the same as his predecessor's. On his banner were antelopes and roses. He was the first sovereign to use the motto, " Dieu et mon Droit." He also' had for his devices a panther passant gardant argent, spotted with many colors, with vapor issuing from his mouth and ears, and two feathers in saltires, the sinister argent surmounted by the dexter or. According to historic traditions, the ivhite and red Roses of York and Lancaster — "the fatal colors of our striving houses" — ^were first ' Harlean MSS.. 2 Brunet OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 133 chosen during the momentous dispute about 1450, between Somerset and the Earl of Warwick, in the Temple garden, when Somerset, to collect the suffrage of the bystanders, plucked a red rose, and Warwick a white rose, and each called upon every man present to declare his party by taking a rose of the color chosen by him whose cause he favored- This was the prologue to the great national tragedy which ended in the extinction of the royal line and name of Plantagenet. " This brawl to-day, Grown to this faction in the Temple garden. Shall send, between the red rose and the white, A thousand souls to death and deathly night." King Eenvry YI., Part I. Act ii. sc. 4. But the roses were only renewed. Both Edward 1. and his brother Edmund of Lancaster wore the red rose, which was taken by John of Gaunt on his marriage with Blanche, the heiress of Lancaster. AVhen John of Gaunt adopted the red rose, his younger brother, Edmund Langley, Duke of York, assumed the white (derived from the Castle of Clifford), which he transmitted to his descendants, the House of York. Mr. Planche inclines to derive the rose originally from Eleanor of Provence, queen of Henry III. Edward IV., 1461-1483, adopted for his badge a white lion and a white rose, supported by a lion and a bull. The sun in splendor and Standard of Edward the Fourth. sable bull was another of his devices. He also placed the white rose en soleil on his standard in commemoration of his victory at the battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1471, when, before the battle, it is said, the sun appeared to Edward, then Earl of March, " like three suns, and suddenly it joyned altogether in one; for which cause some imagyne that he gave the sun in its full brightness for his badge or cognizance." 134 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners " Edward. — Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns ? Richard. — Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun ; Not separated with the racking clouds, But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky. See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss. As if they vow'd some league inviolable: Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun! In this the heaven flgures some event. Edward. — 'Tis wondrous strange ; the like yet never heard of. I think it cites us, brother, to the field; That we, the sons of brave Planitagenet, Each one already blazing lay our meeds, Should, notwithstanding, join our lights together. And overshine the earth, as this the world. Whate'er it bodes, henceforward will I bear Upon my target three fair shining suns." ' Henry VI., Part III. Act ii. sc. 1. The honor of bearing Edward IV.'s standard at the battle of Tow ton devolved upon Ealph Vestynden, afterwards flrst yeoman of the chamber, who had, for his services at the battle, an annuity of ten pounds granted to' him, " yerely, unto the t3rme he be rewarded by us of an office." Edward's standard at that battie was " the bull sable, corned and trooped or." It was used by him on other occasions, and others of the House of York, being the cognizance or device of the Clares (Earls of Gloucester), from whom the House of York was descended. In 1378, Edmund, Eari of Cambridge, fourih son of Edward III., on being created Duke of York by his nephew, Eichard IL, assumed the badge of a fetter-lock, shut, bearing a falcon within it, emblematic of the succession to the crown, which was locked up from all hope to him. Edward IV., of the race of York, unlocked this golden fetter lock, and in 1474 gave this badge, unlocked and open, to his second son, Eichard, Duke of York, implying the hope of succession open to his posterity. There is a description of three standards of Edward IV. in ' Excerpta Historica,' taken from a manuscript in the College of Arms, marked as compiled between the years 1510 and 1525. Eichard IIL, 1483-1485, had for his standard at the battle of Bos worth a dun cow. Having a blue boar in his coat of arms when he was Duke of Gloucester, he introduced it as a supporter of the royal shield, but changed it into a white one. This boar argent, with the bristles and hoofs or, was placed on the left side, opposite the lion gardant. The other charges of his escutcheon, when king, were the three leopards, the fleur-de-lis, and the white rose, rayonnee of the House of York. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 35 Henry VIL, 1485-1509. Eichard III. having been killed at Bos worth, in the fourteenth battle between the two roses, Henry Tudor, of the Lancastrian race, the conqueror, was proclaimed king, by the name of Henry VII. He married his cousin Elizabeth, of York, the daughter of Edward IV., aiid by this union the two rival parties became reconciled and the roses united. In the marriage procession, each partisan of the Lancastrian house gave his hand to a lady of the York party, holding a bouquet of two roses, red and white, entwined. Henry VIL introduced into his arms a branch of hawthorn, allusive to the battle of Bosworth, where the crown of Eichard III. was found on a hawthorn bush. On the birth of Prince Henrj^, subsequently Henry VIIL, the armorists composed a rose of two colors (the leaves alter nately red and white), as an emblematical offspring of the marriage. Horticulturists also forced nature into an act of loyalty, and produced the party-colored flower known to the present day as the rose of York and Lancaster. Hutton says, Henry VIL, after the battle of Bosworth, offered at St. Paul's three standards. The first, and chief, bore the flgure of St. George; the second, a red dragon on white and green sarcenet; and the third, a dun cow upon yellow tartan, — and erected them in the church; also, that Henry VII.'s standard at Bosworth was a red dragon upon green and white silk, — ^the red dragon of Cadwallader, "Eed dragon, dreadful." Henry claimed an uninterrupted descent from Arthur, Uther, and Caradoc, the aboriginal princes of Britain. His grandfather, Owen Tudor, bore a dragon for his device, in proof of his descent from Cadwallader, the last British prince and first king of Wales, A.D. 678> The dragon being Henry's, it is reasonable to consider the other two were Eichard's standards. Henry VII. also carried for his badge a portcullis, and the red and white roses com bined, emblematic of the union of the rival houses. Henry VIIL, 1509-1547, .and Edward VL, 1547-1553, used the same cognizances. The former sometimes displayed a greyhound courant and collared, and at others, after the siege of Boulogne, a white swan, the arms of that city. Mary, 1553-1558, before her accession, adopted the red and white roses, but added a pomegranate, to show her descent from Spain. On assuming the sceptre, she took " winged time drawing truth out of a pit," with this motto, " Veritas temporis filia." The eagle and lion were her supporters. The badges of ' good ' Queen Bess were the white and red roses, the fleur-de-lis, and Irish harp, all ensigned by the royal crown, to which James I., 1603, added the Scoteh thistle. Elizabeth had for her supporters a lion and a 136 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Standards of Henry VIII. Fi'om the picture of his embarkation at Dover Castle for the Field of Cloth of Gold, 1520. dragon, and James I., 1603-1625, took for his the lion and unicorn, which have continued the supporters of the royal arms ever since. At the Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520, the front of the tent of Henry VIII. was adorned with the gigantic figure of an English^ archer, bearing this motto, in Latin, " He prevails whom I favor," suggestive of the purpose of the interview. It was called the ' Field of the Cloth of Gold ' on account of the numerous tents being ornamented with armorial bearings and banners of cloth of gold. Our illustration of Henry VIII.'s standard at the siege of Boulogne, 1544, is from a coarse painting preserved at Cowdry, in Sussex, the seat of Lord Viscount Montague. The city of Boulogne having been restored to France in 1550, the swan was erased from the British arms; but the badge has continued a popular sign in England. Henry VIIL was the first English monarch who took the title of ' King of Ireland,' 1509. The following interesting description of royal stand- {ll^lffjBJiiii^^ ards is from a manuscript, A.D. 1590, in the College of Heralds : — Edward III. — The cross of St. George. Per fess azure and gules. A lion of Eng land imperially crowned, in chief a coronet of crosses, pate, and fieurs-de-hs, between two clouds irradiated proper; and in base a cloud between two coronets, — Dieu et Mon. In chief a coronet, and in base an irradiated cloud, — Droyt. Quarterly, 1 and 4 an irradiated cloud, 2 and 3 a coronet. standard of Henry VIII. at the Siege of Bonlogne, 1544. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 137 Eichard II. — The cross of St. George, argent and vert; a hart lodged argent, attired, unguled, ducally gorged and chained or, be tween four suns in splendor, — Dieu et Mon. Two suns in splendor, — ^DiROYT. Four suns in splendor. Henry V. — The cross of St. George, argent and azure. A swan with wings displayed argent, beaked gules, membered sable, ducally gorged and chained or; between three stumps of trees, one in dexter chief, and two in base of the last, — Dieu et Mon. Two stumps of trees in pale or, — Droyt. Five stumps of trees, three in chief and two in base. Another of Henry V.— The cross of St. George, argent and aziHre; an heraldic antelope at gage argent, maned, tufted, ducally gorged, and chained or; chain reflexed over the back, between four roses gules, — Dieu et Mon. Two roses in pale gxiles, — ^Droyt. Five roses in saltire gules. Edward IV. (see illustration^). — The cross of St. George. Per fess azure and gules; a lion of England imperially crowiied, iDctween three roses gules in chief, and as many argent in base, barbed, seeded, and ir radiated or, — Dieu et Mon. In chief a rose gules, and in base another argent, — D'ROYt. In chief two roses gules, and in base as many argent. Henry VII. — The cross of St.* George, argent and vert; a dragon gules, between two roses pf the last in chief, and three in base argent, — Dieu et Mon. A rose gules in chief, and another argent in base, — Droit. In chief three roses gules, and in base two argent. On another standard of Henry VII. appears a greyhound courant argent, collared gules; the whole being semee of Tudor roses, portcullis, and fleurs-de-lis or. ^ Mary Stuart, 1559-1587, the only child of James V., of Scotland, and Mary de Guise, claimed the crown of England in right of her grandmother, Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VIL, of England, and wife of James IV., of Scotland. Assuming the title of Queen of England, France, and Scotland, she marshalled the arms of the three kingdoms, and exhibited it on her banners, furniture, equipage, and liveries. James L, son of Mary Stuart, 1603, on his accession to the throne of England, discontinued the Norman leopards, considering them a badge of slavery under the Norman race, and substituting three golden lions passant gardant on the British shield and banner, and introduced the royal unicorn of Scotland, " argent, gorged with a golden coronet '¦Ante, p. 133. ^ See also ' Excerpta Historica ' for a description of the standards borne in the field by peers and knights in the reign of Henry VIIL, from a manuscript in the College of Arms, I. 2, compiled between the years 1510-1525. 138 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners bearing fleurs-de-lis and crosses patees, to which was appended a loose golden chain," as a companion to the English lion, supporting the shield of Great Britain. The standard of the unicorn, introduced to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons, had .been brought into Scotland by the English driven from England by William the Conqueror. The red lion rampant of Scotland was also marshalled by James I. on the left quarter of the British shield. The Commonwealth, 1648-1658. — After the execution of Charles I., the royal arms were defaced, the standard altered, and the ancient mottoes superseded by a maxim setting forth the supremacy of the people. The national seal, six inches in diameter, represented the House of Commons sitting, with the speaker in the chair, encircled by this legend, " The first year of freedom, by God's blessing, restored, 1648." On the reverse was a map of England and Ireland, the sea studded with ships. The flag of England bore the British cross, also that of Ireland, and the national harp of that country. Oliver Cromwell, being proclaimed Lord Protector of the Eepublic, 1653, had his family arms marshalled with those of the national gov ernment; viz., a lion rampant on a shield, supported on the right side by a crowned lion, and on the left by a gryphon, with a crowned lion statant for a crest. His motto was " Pax quceritur Bello." After his victoi^y over the Scotch and English royalists at Worcester, having an nexed Scotland as a conquered province to England, he added the cross of St. Andrew to the badges of the republic. After the death of Crom well and the resignation of his son Eichard, the Commonwealth added as supporters to the republican shield two angels, — the ' conductor ' angel of Britannia, and the ' guardian ' angel of the land, — holding a laurel crown over the shield, and bearing in the other hand a palm branch and a branch of laurel. '^ The flag of the Commonwealth was azure; in fess a double shield, that is, two shields conjoined, like those on the front of the public acts of the Commonwealth or, the first being argent; a cross gules for Eng land, the other being azure; the harp or, stringed argent; these within a label or scroll, like a horseshoe, but forming three folds argent, in Eoman letters sable, " Floreat— res : Pvblica;" without this two branches of laurel, stalked and slipped or, leaved vert, and placed in like form as the scroll, fringed or and azure. ' The standards displayed at the funeral of the Protector afford a curious example of republican armory.' 1 Brunet's Regal Armorie. s See Prestwick's Respubllca. ' See illustration, ante, p. 17, OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 1 39 The great banner of the States, called ' the Union,' as displayed at the funeral of Oliver Cromwell, was parted per pale gules and azure, having in the dexter chief points the Eoman letter ' 0,' and in the sinister chief point the Eoman letter ' P,' in gold, — that is, for ' Oliver, Protector ; ' between these letters, in middle chief, an imperial crown of gold proper, beautified with lilies, roses, and crosses pattee; under the above, a royal mantle of estate displayed, being ermine and gold, with tassels of gold, and thereon two shields of the arms of the Com monwealth, — one for England, the other for Scotland ; viz., first shield argent, a cross gules, for St. George of England; second, azure, a .^saltire cross argent, for St. Andrew of Scotland ; beneath the mantle, or in base, a scroll of silver, and thereon, in Eoman letters of gold, the motto : " Pax Qvaeritvr Bello." The great banner of the States or Commonwealth, displayed at the same funeral, was quarterly, the four banners of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; viz., first and fourth, argent, a cross gules, for Englandand Wales; second, azure, a saltire argent, for Scotland; and third, azure, a harp or, stringed argent, for Ireland. Over all, in fess, in an escutcheon of pretence sable, a lion rampant argent, for the name and family of Cromwell.^ The admiral's flag, during the Commonwealth, was the cross and harp. Off Portland, on the 1st of February, 1653, Blake, on board the Triumph, carried the cross and harp at the main; Monk, who was admiral of the white division, at the fore ; and Penn, who commanded the blue division, at the mizzen. The Govenantei-'s banner, of Scotland, was flrst unfurled in 1638, and was displayed at the battle of Drumclog, 1679, and at Bothwell bridge the same year. This old emblem is cherished with peculiar reverence by the Scotch people. One of these banners is preserved by the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh, and another is shown at the Mareschal's College, at Aberdeen. It is of white silk, with the motto, " Spe expecto," in red letters, and underneath, in English, " For Re Ugion, King, and Kingdom." The banner is much torn, but otherwise in good preservation. " The limbs that fought, the hearts that swelled, are crumbled into dust. But that frail silken flag, for which and under which they fought. Survives, a tattered, senseless thing, to meet the curious eye. And vpake a momentary dream of hopes and days gone by." = 1 Prestwick's Respnbllca. See also illustration, ante, p. 17. 2 New Monthly Magazine. 140 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners At the tercentennial celebration of Presbyterianism, in Philadelphia, Nov. 20, 1872, at the rear of the pulpit of the Seventh Presbyterian Church was displayed the American flag crossed with, the Covenanters' flag of blue silk, with a red cross of St. Andrew, and the motto, " Cove-. nants. Religion, King, and Kingdom." ^ The Covenanters' blue banner has been suggested as the possible origin of the blue field in the union of our stars and stripes. The Blue Blanket. — This ancient standard, the banner of the Edin burgh craftsmen, and probably the origin of the blue banner of the Covenanters, is still held in great honor and reverence by the burghers of Edinburgh. It was presented to the trades of Edinburgh by James IIL, of Scotland, in 1483, " as a perpetual remembrance of their loy alty, and haying power to display the same in defence of their king, country, and their own rights." It was borne by the craftsmen at the battle of Flodden, 1513, and displayed for. the purpose of assembling the incorporated trades to protect Queen Mary, after her surrender to the confederated states at Carberry Hill. It was brought out on the occasion of the rescue of James VI. from a rabble that assailed him in the old Tblbooth. Pennycriek's history of it, published in 1722, was reprinted, with plates, in 1826. A handsome carved oak case, in which to preserve it, was, in 1869 or 1870,. presented to the convener of the incorporated trades of Edinburgh.^ William III.'s standard, hoisted on board the frigate Brill, Oct. 16, 1688, when about to embark for England, displayed the arms of Nassau quartered with those of England. The motto, embroidered in letters three feet long, was happily chosen. The House of Orange had long used the elliptical device, " I will maintain." The ellipsis was now filled with words of high import, — " The liberties of England and the Protestant religion." " He landed at Torbay from the ship bearing this flag, Sunday, Nov. 4, 1688, auspiciously the anniversary both of his birth and his marriage. The battie of Caton Moor, or Northallerton, fought Aug. 23, 1138-, is called the ' battle of the standard,' because the English barons rallied around a sacred stand,, constructed of a ship's mast, fixed on a four- wheeled vehicle, bearing the banners of St. Peter of York,- St. John of Ueverly, and St. Wilfrid of Eipon, and surmounted by a pyx containing a consecrated host. This standard was brought forth by the Archbishop of York when the English were hotly pressed by the invaders headed by King David. » The Philadelphia Press. 2 Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. vL, October, 1870. ' Macaulay's England. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 141 A particular and minute account of the banner or standard of St. Cuthbert of Durham, made in 1346,- has been preserved in a little volume entitied ' The Antient Eites and Monuments of the Monastical and Cathedral Church of Durham, 1672.' It contained a relic of the saint, which was thought to endow it with peculiar sanctity and power. This banner, a yard broad and five quarters deep, was of red velvet, embroidered and wrought with flowers of green silk and gold, the nether part of it indented in five parts and fringed with red silk and gold. " In the midst of the banner cloth was the cor- porax cloth, with which St. Cuthbert in his lifetime had been used to cover th* chalice when he said mass. This corporax cloth was covered over tvith white velvet, half a yard square every way, having a red cross of red velvet on both sides over the same holy relique, most cunningly and artificially compiled and framed, being finely fringed about the skirts and edges with fringe of red silk and gold, and three little silver bells fastened to the skirts of said banner cloth like unto sacring bells." The bearer of this banner had faith it was never carried or shown in any battle, but, by the especial grace of God Almighty and the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, it brought home the victory. After the Eeformation, St. Cuthbert's banner fell into the hands of Whittingham, who was made the Dean 6f Durham, and his wife, a Frenchwoman, is reported to have burned it.^ In the Middle Ages, the English standard was not a square flag, like the modern standard, which is rightly a banner, but was elongated, like tiie guydon and pennon, but much larger, becoming narrow and rounded at the end, which was slit, unless the standard belonged to a prince of the blood royal. The size of the standard was regulated by the rank of the person whose arms or device it bore.^ The English standards were generally divided into three portions, one containing the arms of the nobleman, next his cognizance or badge, and then his crest; these were divided by bands, on which was inscribed his war-cry or motto, the whole being fringed with his livery or family colors. . I . .^ The standard of the Douglas and the I gauntlets of Percy, relics of the fight of The Douglas Standard, 1382. otterbume, Aug. 15, 1388, are still pre served in Scotland. The story of the battle represents Deuglas as 1 Penny Cyclopedia. " See ante, p. 24. 142 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners having, in a personal encounter with Percy in front of Newcastle, taken from him his spear and hanging flag, saying he would carry it home with him, and plant it on his castle of Dalkeith.^ The battie was an effort of Percy to recover this valued standard, which, however, found its way to Scotiand, notwithstanding the death of its captor. One of the two natural sons of Douglas founded the family of Douglas, of Cavers, in Eoxburghshire, the last male descend ant of which, James Douglas, died in 1878 ; and in their hands these relics of Otterburne have been preserved nearly flve hundred years. It is found, however, that history has misrepresented the matter. The Otterburne flag proves not to be a spear pennon, but a. standard thir teen feet long (two yards longer than the regulated size of an emperor's standard), bearing the Douglas arms; it evidently was Douglas's own banner, which his sons would, of course, be most anxious to preserve and carry home. Here is a standard laid up in store at Cavers, more than a hundred years before America was discovered ! ^ Charles I., in his issue with the Parliament, having decided to make a solemn appeal to the sword, issued a proclamation requiring all his subjects who could bear arms to meet him at Nottingham on the 23d of August, 1641, when he designed to raise his royal standard, the first and only time of such a rally since the barons raised the standard at Northallerton, a.d. 1138. At the appointed time, a numerous com pany, mounted and on foot, came from the surrounding country, rather to indulge their curiosity with respect to the mode of conduct ing an ancient ceremony never before witnessed in the memory of any living man, than to offer loyal assistance to their sovereign. On the hill, three troops of horse and a corps of six hundred foot were drawn up to guard the standard. As the herald was about to begin, King Charles desired to see the proclamation; and, calling for ipen and ink, placed the paper on his knee as he sat in the saddle, and made several alterations with his own hand, returning it to the herald, who then read it, but, on coming to the passages the king had corrected, with some embarrassment. Immediately after the reading, the trumpets sounded, the standard was advanced, and the spectators threw up their hats, shouting " God save the king ! " The standard raised was a large blood-red streamer bearing the royal arms quar tered, with a hand pointing to the crown which stood above, and inscribed with the motto, " Give Ccesar his due." Farther on towards the point were represented at intervals the rose, the fleur-de-lis and the harp, each surmounted by a royal crown. 1 Chambers's Book of Days. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 143 It was with difficulty the standard could be fixed in its place, the ground being sohd rock, and no instruments to pierce it having been provided. Scarcely had this object been accomplished by digging into the firm stone with the daggers and halbert points of the soldiers, when a flerce gust of wind, sweeping with a wild moan across the face of the hill, laid prostrate the emblem of sovereignty. This accident was re garded as a presage of evil, and a general melancholy overspread the assembly. No further attempt was made that day, and the standard was borne back into the castie in silence. The next day and the day following, the ceremony was repeated, with less gloomy auspices, the king attending on each occasion.^ The Eoyal Standard of Great Britain and Ireland. — The origin of the emblazonments on that gorgeous banner may be thus briefly sketched.- The lions passant gardant or, on a red field, were the arms of Normandy, and two of them were introduced by William Eufus ; the third was added by Henry II. for the duchy of Aquitaine, in right of his wife. Edward III. quartered with the lions the fleur-de- lis powdered on a blue fleld, of which five were entire, and borne in the first and fourth quarters. This he did on claiming the sovereignty of France, in right of his mother, Isabel, sister and heiress of Charles the Fair; the royal standard, composed thus of the arms of France and England combined, continued until the reign of Henry V., when the French king having reduced the number of fieurs-de-lis to three, Henry did the same. They so appear on the standard carried by the Great Harry, in the time of Henry VIIL, and on a royal standard at the main of a ship of war (supposed ArmsofHearyV., the Ark Eoyal of Ealeigh) of the time of Elizabeth, of England. as represented on the tapestry of the old House of Lords, which was destroyed by the fire. On a staff abaft, this ship had a plain square flag of St. George, white, with a red cross. On the union of England and Scotland, through the accession of James I., the stand ard was changed, the first and fourth quarters bearing each the arms described, the second introducing the lion of Scotland, and the third quarter the harp of Ireland. William III. placed an escutcheon of pretence upon the royal standard for Nassau, which was removed by Queen Anne; and » Cattermole's Great Civil War. ^ The royal banners of England have always borne the same blazonry as the royal shield, for which see engraving of royal arms, from the Conquest to Queen Victoria, p. 118. 144 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners the standard then, stood, the first and fourth quarterings the lions ol England and Scotiand, the second quarter the fleur-de-lis, and the third quarter the harp. George I. again changed it, and during his reign the arms of B'runswick, of Lunenburg, of ancient Saxony, and the crown of Charlemagne, formed the fourth quarter, the other quarters remaining as in the reign of Queen Anne. On the legis lative union with Ireland, in 1801, the fleurs-de-lis of France were removed. The royal standard of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established, and first hoisted on the Tower of London, and on Bedford Tower, Dublin, and displayed by the Foot Guards, Jan. 1, 1801.^ When the new standard was first hoisted on board the Eoyal William, at Spithead, after the Union, it was considered ominous, by the sailors of the fl^t, that a gale of wind blew it from the masthead and it was lost.^ It is a gorgeous banner, and when flashing its golden splendor in the bright beams of the sun presents a beautiful appearance. The emblazonry represents the arms for the time being of the nation, as impressed on the coins and borne upon the great seal and= seals of office. The royal standard is never hoisted except on occasion of the first ceremony. It is never displayed on shipboard except when 'ftia.^ sov ereign or some member of the royal family is actually present,^ or on, 1 Haydn's Book of Dates. = British Naval Chronicle.. - , 'The only occasion on which the Royal Standard has been displayed^ within 'the United States of Amei-ica since 1776 was when the Prince of Wales embarked at Portland, Maine, Oct. 15, 1860, to return "to England after his tour through the United States and Canada. " The Prince's last act on American soil was to take Jeave of the Mayor of Port land. He then stepped hurriedly down the carpeted steps where he embarked to Bis barge, which had a silken union jack flying at the stern. The moment he stepped on boi^rd, a sailor at the bow unrolled a small royal standard of silk attached to si staff, and placed it at the bow of the boat. As'soon as it was In place the whole British squadron, musteriiig eight or ten ships, honored it with a royal salute of twenty-one guns. The yards of the ships were at the same time manned, and when the Prince stepped on the deck' of the Hero, his own ship, the Royal Standard was run up at her main, and again saluted, hy the whole fleet, which immediately after weighed and put to sea, the Hero leading. .As they passed- Fort Preble, the American ensign was run up at the fore, and saluted by the whole fleet, with twentjj-one guns from each ship, which was returned by the guns of the fort." — Ooold's History of the Portland .Rifle Corps. A Royal Standard was captured at York, now Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada, when that place was taken by a land and naval force under General Pike and Commodore Isaac Chauncey, on the 27th of April, 1813, and is preserved in the gunnery-room of the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. This is prob&bly' the ¦ only instance of the royal standard of the United Kingdom having come 4nto- the ,possessiopi,of, an enemy. The fojlowing is^ Commodore, Chaunpey'^ ofScial aeeount of its capture :^ OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 145 the Sovereign's birthdays, when the commander-in-chief of a fleet hoists it at the main. In garrisons at such times it always supersedes the jack, or common garrison flag. As established in 1801, it was heraldically described as " quarterly, first and fourth, gules three lions passant gardant in pale or, for Eng land; second, or, a lion rampant gules within a double tressure fiory counter flory of the last for Scotland ; third, azure, a harp or, stringed argent, for Ireland. On an escutcheon of pretence, ensigned with the electoral bonnet ; and divided per pale and per cheveron, enarched with three compartments, the arms of his Majesty's dominions in Germany ; viz., two lions passant gardant in pale or, for Brunswick; second, or, semee of hearts proper, a lion rampant azure, for Brunswick; third, gules, a horse courant argent, for Saxony. In the centre, on an escutcheon gules, the crown of Charlemagne proper, being the badge of the office of arch-treasurer to the holy Eoman Empire." ^ The white horse on a red field was the armorial bearing of ancient Saxony or Westphalia, and has for centuries been borne by the illus trious House of Brunswick. The banner of Wittekend bore a black horse, which, on his conversion to Christianity by Charlemagne, was altered to a white one, as the emblem of the pure faith he had em braced. In 1700, a medal was struck at Hanover to commemorate the accession to the electorate of George Lewis, Duke of Hanover, after wards George I. This medal bears on one side the head of the Elector, and on the reverse the white horse. On the accession of George I., the white horse was introduced as a royal badge in the standards and colors of certain regiments of cavalry and infantry. By the peace signed at Amiens, 1802, the French fleurs-de-lis were required to be erased from the British shield, though they had already been dropped. From 1337, the King of England had styled himself 'King of Ftance.' George III. was the first who relinquished that title. At the death of WiUiam IV., 1837, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, under the Salic law, she relinquished the kingdom of Han over (since incorporated with the empire of Germany) to her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, and the escutcheon of pretence, with its " SiK, — I have the honor to present to you, by the hands of Lieutenant Dudley, the British standard taken at York on the 27th of April last, accompanied by the mace, over which hung a human scalp. These articles were taken from the Parlia ment' House by one of my officers and presented to me. The scalp I caused to be presented to General Dearborn, who, I believe, still has it in his possession." > Naval Chronicle, vol. v. 10 146 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners electoral bonnet, blue lion, and white horse, was removed from the royal arms and standard, leaving simply the quarterings for the three realms of the United Kingdom, — England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sir Walter Scott, alluding to the royal banner of Scotland, says that upon it — " The ruddy lion ramps in gold." The Scottish lion being rampant gules on a field or, as displayed on the standard of the United Kingdom. The origin of the tressure flory of Scotland, which surrounds the lion rampant, is believed to be this : Achaius, sixty-fifth King of Scotland, being a peaceable and godly ruler, made a league, about a.d. 792, with Charlemagne, Emperor of the Eomans and King of France; and in token thereof the tressure of lihes was given by him to Achaius, to be borne on the arms of Scotland, as a memorial to posterity of an alli ance offensive and defensive between the two kingdoms, and as a pledge of brotherly love, to signify that the French arms or lilies should defend and guard the lion of Scotland. About the same time, he adorned the crown of Scotland with four lihes and four crosses; the first, emblems of peace and unity, the latter, symbols of their faith in Christ, and of the inviolable fidelity of the kingdom of Scotland.^ The harp and trefoil of Ireland. — ^Queen Elizabeth was the first sovereign to assume the Irish harp and shamrock. The harp was an attributive ensign of the goddess Hibernia, the patroness of Ireland. The Irish monarchs being styled ' bards,' their standard bore a harp. The harp of Bryan Boiroiske, King of Ireland, Irilled by the Danes in 1039, was preserved at Dublin until 1782. The shamrock, or trefoil, a druidical symbol, was held in great ven eration by the Hibernians. Monkish historians of Ireland record this legend : About 440, St. Patrick preached the gospel in a fleld to the pagan peasantry of Ireland, but could not persuade -them of the Chris tian doctrine of the Trinity, until, picking up a plant of the trefoil, held sacred among them, he showed, by the union of three leaves on one stem, evidence of three bbdies united in one person. Having per suaded them by this natural example of the reality of a hitherto incomprehensible mystery, he converted multitudes, who adopted the shamrock in token of their belief. The Irish armorial bearings sub sequently disappeared , from the British shield, but were restored in 1801, when Ireland was united (?) to England. The harp first appears on the Irish pieces of Henry VIII. The groat of Elizabeth has » Prestwick's Respubllca. of Ancient and Modern Nations. 147 three harps. Henry VIII. is said to have given his daughter three harps for her perfecting in music. The Thistle of Scotland. — The origin of the thistle as the emblem of Scotland is said to be this: About the year 1010, in the reign of Malcolm I., the Danes invaded Scotland, and landed at Buchan-ness, intending to storm Stain's Castle, a fortress of some importance. Mid night was the time selected for the attack, and, as their presence was unknown and unlocked for, they expected to succeed, without much trouble, in gaining possession of the castle. The Danes advanced slowly and silently, and, to prevent the possibility of their footsteps being heard, they took off their shoes. They reached the place, and they had only to swim the moat and place their scaling-ladders, and the castle was theirs, when, in another moment, a cry from the invaders themselves wakened the inmates to a sense of their danger ; the guards flew to their posts, the soldiers mounted, armed, and pursued the Danes. This sudden change had arisen from a simple cause. It appeared that the moat, instead of being filled with water, was dried up and overgrown with thistles, which, piercing the unprotected feet of the Danes, caused them to forget their cautious silence, and to utter the cry which had alarmed the sleeping inmates of the castle. Thus was the thistle the means of preserving Scotland, and was thenceforth adopted as her national emblem. Burns thus alludes to it : — "The rough buri> thistle spreading wide Among the bearded bere, I turned my weeder-olips aside, ' And spared the symbol dear." Anciently, in France, there was an order of knighthood dedicated to our Lady of the Thistle. It was revived by Charles VIL, of France, and James IL, of Scotland, when they united against England about 1440. James IL, of Scotland, had the thistle painted on a sacred banner of St. Andrew, and hence it became a national standard for Scotland. In 1687, Janles VII. of Scotiand and II. of England entwined the thistle of Scotland with the roses of England. The jewel of the Knights of the Thistle bore the image of St. Andrew and his cross, and the motto was, " Nemo me impune lacessit," — " No one injures me with impunity." The crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick.— The origin of the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick have been thus stated: In 1248, the Christian allies besieged the walls of Seville, employing 148 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners divers war-machines, among which was the saltire or scaling-ladder, by aid of which they surmounted the walls. This victory having been gained on St. Andrew's day by the assistance of the saltire, that badge was adopted by the conquerors, and a Te Deum was sung in all the churches in honor of St. Andrew. In the mean time, Seville having been converted to Christianity, the archbishop, who succeeded the mufti, transferred the saltire to the banner of St. Andrew, to whose miraculous assistance the clergy ascribed the talcing of the strong golden tower of the city. Long rejoicing for the miraculous victory led to the legend that St. Andrew had been crucified on a saltire, which they hence named the ' cross of St. Andrew.' Crucifixion on a saltire never having been adopted by any nation, its use in the martyrdom of St. Andrew must be considered a monkish legend. St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, is alleged to have died on such a cross. Hence the representation of these crosses on the union jack of the United Kingdom.^ Another version is that the cross of St. Andrew as the national insignia of Scotland is derived from a miraculous occurrence, when Achaius, king of the Scots, and Hungus, king of the Picts, joined their forces to oppose the invasion of Athelstane, the Saxon king of England. The Scottish leaders, having addressed themselves to God and their patron saint, there appeared in the blue firmament of heaven the flgure of the white cross on which St. Andrew had suffered. Presuming from this heavenly vision that their prayers were favorably received, the soldiers fought with enthusiastic courage, and defeated the invaders, who left their king, Athelstane, dead upon the field of battle in East Lothian, a.d. 940; and ever since the white saltire upon an azure field has been carried by the Scottish nation.^ St. George, of Cappadocia, who furnishes the red Latin cross for the union, according to Mr. Emerson, was not a very reputable character, but a low parasite, who obtained a contract to supply the army with bacon. He was a rogue and an informer, became rich, and then had to run for his life. He saved his money, embraced Arminianism, was made Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, and in 361 was dragged to prison. He was finally taken out and lynched, as he deserved to be. This bishop is the St. George of England and Eussia,^a very different character from the Georgian chevalier and dragon-destroyer of the Trajan standard.* > Brunet's Regal Armorie. 2 Newton's Display ot Heraldry. ' Cardinal Newman, created in 1879, took his title from the Church of St. Georgio de Nelabro, the only one in Rome dedicated to the patron saint of England. This OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 149 ST CEoncES cnos8 fiT.ANDRCWS CROSS A very curious history of the origin and formation of the union jack, written by Sir Harris Nicolas, is in Braley's ' Graphic Illustrator.'' The Union Jack ok Flag oe Great Britain.— The combination of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew produced the first union jack, which was declared in 1606, by King James I., the national ensign of Great Britain, happily symbolizing the union of England and Scotiand, in its union of the crosses of the two realms. In 1801, in consequence of the legislative union with Ireland, a second union ensign was established. The new device combined the three crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick. The blazonry of this jack is borne by the Duke of" Welling ton upon a shield of pretence over his paternal arms, as an " augmen tation of honor " significant and expressive. The Duke of Marl borough's arms bear in like manner the cross of St. George upon a canton, in commemoration of the services of his ancestor. When or why the name 'jack' iiiiiB!>i.mi.i:? UNION OR KINOS COLORS Uoi if UNION CNQtCrt JAK.K 1707 CRANP UNIOM FbAft JAN. | |77J was given to this flag is conjectural : in old records it is almost uni versally styled the ' union flag.' Some have thought as the upper part of a troopers' armor was so named, the name was transferred during the time of the Crusades to the St. George's cross on a white field, which the soldiers of the cross wore over their armor before and behind. Others think the new flag received this name in honor of James I., it being the abbreviation, of his signature, Jac. The name is mentioned in 1673, in the English treaty with the Dutch, which obliges " all Dutch ships or squadrons of war meeting those of Great church contains, under the high altar, the head of St. George and his red silk banner, which are exhibited on the day after Ash Wednesday and on St. George's Day, the only days the church is open to the public. Two minutes' walk distant la the Church of S. Maria-ln-Cosmedin, under which is preserved a piece of St. Patrick's skull, exhibited on that saint's day. 150 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Britain, carrying the king's flag, called ' the jack,' within certain seas and bounds to strike their topsail and lower their flag with like ceremony and respect as heretofore by Dutch ships to those of the King of England or his an cestors." At the time of the union, devices repre senting it were popular. Our engTaxdng is a fac-simile of one of these. The royal ordinance establishing the first A Union Device of 1300. ' union jack ' is as foUows : " Whereas some differences hath arisen between our subjects of South and North Britain, travelling by sea, about the bearing of their flags ; for the avoiding of all such contentions hereafter, we have, with the advice of our council, ordered from henceforth all our subjects of this Isle and Kingdom of Great Britain, and the members thereof, shall bear, in the maintop the red cross, commonly called St. George's cross, and the white cross, commonly called St. Andrew's cross, joined together, according to a form made by our heralds, and sent by us to our admiral, to be published to our said subjects ; and in the fore- top our subjects of South Britain (England) shall wear the red cross only, as they were wont; and our subjects of North Britain (Scotland) in the foretop the white cross only, as they were accustomed : where fore, we will and command all our subjects to be conformable and obedient to this our order, and that from henceforth they do not use^ or bear their flags in any other sort, as they will answer to the con trary at their peril. " Given at our Palace this 12th day of April, 4th lacques, a.d. 1606." ^ There are instances in which this union flag is represented with the St. George's cross spread across the entire head, and the St. An drew's cross the entire fly. No drawing is extant "of the form made by the heralds," sent to the admiral to be published, but the paintings of Vandevelde and others show on the bowsprits of vessels of war the flag known as the ' union jack,' presumptive proof that such was the union devised by the heralds. In a drawing' of the Duke of York's yacht visiting the fleet in the Medway, painted by Vandevelde and preserved in the British Museum, all the ensigns have a red cross in a canton; but every bowsprit is furnished with a union jack, and two of the largest ships carry it aloft, — one, the Breda, at the 1 United Service Journal. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 151 st Andrew. St. George. St. Patrick. main and another at the mizzen. There is also an admiral's ship with the white at the main. In a paper dated Friday, Jan. 14, 1653, "By the commissioners for ordering and managing y" affairs of the Admiralty and Navy," ordering what flag shall be worn by flag-officers, it is ordered, " all the shipps to wear jacks as formerly." The king's proclamation, Jan. 1, 1801, establishing . and ordering the present red ensign, known as the 'meteor flag of old England,' which the lively imagination of poets has transformed into the omnipotent banner which "for a thousand years has braved the battle and the breeze," to be worn by all the merchant ships of the kingdom, in stead of the ensign before that time usually worn by them, says, " To the end that none of our subjects may presume on board their ships to wear our flags, jacks, and pen dants which, according to ancient usage, have been appointed as a distinction to our ships, or any flags, jacks, or pendants in shape or mixture of colors so far resembling ours as not to be easily distinguished therefrom, we do, with the advice of our privy council, hereby strictly charge and command all of our subjects what soever that they do not presume to wear on any of their ships or vessels our jack, commonly called the ' union jack,' nor any pen dants, nor any such colors as are usually home by our ships, without particular warrant for their so doing from us, or our high admiral of Great Britain, or the commissioners for executing the office of high admiral for the time being; and we do hereby also further command all our loving subjects, that, without such warrant as aforesaid, they presume not to wear on board their ships or vessels any flags, jacks, pendants, or colors made in imitation of or resembling ours, or any kind of pendants whatsoever, or any other ensign than the ensign described on the side or margin hereof," &c. The proclamation then excepts from this order certain vessels temporarily employed by the government, which are to " wear a ' red jack ' with a union jack de scribed in a canton at the upper corner thereof, next the staff." All merchant ships displaying the union jack, &c., were to have their colors seized, and the masters and commanders and other persons so offending were to be duly punished. This union flag or jack was worn, and continues to be worn, on the bowsprit of all ships of war. 152 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners It is also worn by the admiral of the fleet at the main of his flag-ship, and is the garrison color hoisted over all the forts belonging to her Majesty's dominions. It is heraldically described thus: The crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, on fields argent and azure, the crosses saltire of St. Andrew and St. Patrick quarterly, per saltire counter charged argent and gules, the latter fimbriated of the second, sur mounted by the cross of St. George, gules fimbriated as the saltire." ^ It does not appear why the red saltire is called St. Patrick's cross, in defiance of all Church tradition. St. Patrick never had a cross, and to g'ive him one is simply an Irish bull. The saltire, so far as it belongs to any saint, is St. Andrew's. It has been suggested that the red saltire, bordered with white, really represents the Fitz Gerald arms, " argent, a saltire gules." In 1823, it was royally ordained no merchant ship or vessel should carry the union jack, unless it was bordered on aU sides with white, equal in breadth to one-fifth of the breadth of the jack exclusive of the border. The penalty for using the royal union jack on board a merchant vessel is £500. An idea was long entertained in England that the admiral's red flag had been taken from the main masthead of the admiral's ship,. and that the Dutch obtained that trophy in one of the battles beween Blake and Van Tromp, — a mistalcen notion, for the red flag never has been surrendered. The last admiral who wore it, before it was restored to the navy by the creation of a batch of admirals and rear and vice admirals of the red after the battle of Trafalgar, Oct. 21, 1805, was Sir George Eooke, as admiral of the fleet, when commander of the combined forces of England and Holland in the Mediterranean in 1703. Upon the union of England with Scotland, 1606, the red flag was discontinued, and the union jack superseded a red flag at the main, as the distinguishing flag of the admiral of the fleet.^ Up to 1864, the royal navy wore ensigns of the three colors, red, white, or blue, according to the rank of the ofiicer commanding. In that year, the white en,sign was alone reserved for the royal navy, and the blue and red ensigns were given up to the use of the naval reserve and merchant marine. At the same time, the several grades of admirals of the red and blue were merged under the white ensign, with a St. George's red cross on a white field for their distinguishing flags, the union being continued in all the ensigns.^ 1 British Naval Chronicle, vol. v. pp. 64, 65. 2 British Naval Chronicle, 1805, also 1816. 'In the flrst edition of this work the fuU circular order from the adlniraltr, dated Aug. 4, 1864, was given OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 153 The mihtary flags of Great Britain in uSe may be grouped in the two divisions, — ' cavalry banners ' styled ' standards,' and ' infantry colors.' The standards of the cavalry are small in size; their color is determined by that of the regimental facings; they are charged with the cipher, number, heraldic insignia, and honors, such as ' Waterloo,' ' Ahna,' &c., of each regiment. The standards of the household cavalry are crimson, richly embroidered with the royal insignia of England. Every infantry regiment or battalion of the Une has its " pair of colors." One is the queen's color, a union jack charged with some one or more of the regimental devices; the other is the regimental color, and its field is of the same tincture as the facings, and bears the cipher, number, device, motto, and honors of the corps. At first, each infantry regiment had one color only; afterwards, there were three to each regiment. In the reign of Queen Anne, the colors were reduced to their present number, — a ' pair.' The colors of the Foot Guards reverse the arrangement of those of the line. Their queen's color is crimson, either with or without a cantoned jack, but always charg'ed with the royal cipher and crown, and the regimental devices. The regimental color of the Guards is the union jack. The Guards also have small company colors. The royal artillery and rifles of the line have no colors. The volun teer regiments have been left to determine for themselves whether they shall carry colors, and also the character of the colors they may decide to adopt. What may be termed the volunteer banner is worthy of the force. It has the figures of an archer of the olden time, and a rifieman of to-day, with the motto, " Defence, not defiance." ' In 1873, the colors of the native army in India were assimilated to those of the British army, and the devices, &c., of the colors of all the native regiments were ordered to be registered at the College of Arms. The standard of a regiment is a telegraph in the centre of the battle to speak the changes of the day to the wings. " Defend the colors ! form upon the colors ! " is the first cry and first thought of a soldier. This standard contains the honor of the band, and the brave press round its bearer. An instance of the attachment shown by English troops to their standards occurred after the battle of Corunna. It was night. The regimental color of the Fiftieth was missing ; a cry arose that it had been lost; the soldiers were furious; Sir Henry Pane, with a loud and angry voice, called out, " No, no ! the Fiftieth cannot have lost their colors ! " They were not lost. Two ensigns— 1 Boutell's Heraldry. 154 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners Stewart, a Scotchman, and Moore, an Irishman — ^had been slain as they bore the banners charging through the village of El Vina. Two color-sergeants, seizing the prostrate colors, continued the^ charge, and carried them through the battie. When the flght was done, an officer received one of these standards from the sergeant. It was dark, and he forgot both their use and their honor, and had gone to the rear, intending to embark with them, though the regiment was still in position. The stray color was found, and the soldiers pacifled; but this officer never could remove the feeling which his well-meaning but ill-judged caution had produced against him. This shows the sentiments entertained by British troops for their colors, pervading all ranks, from the general to the drummer. Sir Henry Fane's words rendered him a favorite with the Fiftieth Eegiment ever after. A British color-sergeant, shot down and overrun by the enemy, once seized in his mouth a corner of the flag, and his teeth locked upon it in the rigidity of death. The enemy cut it away, leaving a bit between his fixed teeth. The standard was retaken, and ever since the flag of the regiment is made with that little piece carefully cut out, in memory of the sergeant who was buried with the fragment in his mouth. In the Military Hospital at Chelsea is preserved a large number of military trophies, among them the following American flags : — 1. An American national color of Second Eegiment of the line, taken by General Brock on the frontier. 3. An American flag, taken probably in the Eevolutionary War. 3. An American flag, the same as the above. 4. A regimental color of the Fourth American Eegiment, 1813-14. 5. An American flag taken by the Eighty-fifth Eegiment on the left bank of the Mississippi. 6. An American flag, taken in the flrst war, probably at Boston. 7. An American regimental flag of the Second Eegiment.^ The American ensign of the Canadian rebel steamer Caroline is preserved in the Museum of the Eoyal Military and Naval Institute, Scotland Yard, London. Immediately before the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson exhibited the ever memorable signal, " England expects every man will do his duty." The illustration is from an original drawing in the Eoyal Service In stitution, and shows how great a number and variety of flags was used. Each set of flags had to be arranged according to its number iu the signal-book, and run up to the masthead, until answered and '¦ London Paper, 1836. OF Ancient and Modern Nations. 155 understood by each ship. Then another set was rim up, and so on until the signal was completed. Each set represented a word, except the last word, ' duty,' which, strange to say, was not represented by any number in tlie signal-b o o k, and had to be spelled out. This tedious method of signal ling is to some ex tent still used by the navy and mer chant ships of all nations. Sir Har ris Nicolas deemed it worth wliile to ascertain as pre cisely as he cauld the circumstances ¦'Engl.nd-expcct3-every-.nan-wiU-do-his-d-u-t-y." ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ words were uttered. There are three accounts of the matter, — one by Mr. James, in his ' Naval History ; ' one by Captain Blackwood, who commanded the Euryalus at the battle of Trafalgar ; and one by Captain Pasco, who was Nelson's flag-lieutenant in the victory. Sir Harris Nicolas accepts Pasco's version, because that officer himself sig nalled the words. " His lordship came to me on the poop," says Pasco, " and, after ordering certain signals to be made, said, ' Mr. Pasco, I wish to say to the fleet, " England confldes every man will do his duty ! " ' and he added, ' You must be quick, for I have one more to make, which is for close action.' I replied, ' If your lordship will per mit me to substitute " expects " for " confides," the signal will soon be completed, because the word " expects " is in the vocabulary, whereas the word " confldes " must be spelled ? ' His lordship replied, in haste, and with seeming satisfaction, ' That will do, Pasco ; make it directly ! ' When it had been answered by a few ships in the van, he ordered me to make the signal for close action." Captain Blackwood says the correction suggested by the signal-officer was from " Nelson expects " to " England expects; " but Captain Pasco's is accepted as being more probable. The flag which floated over the Nelson column in Trafalgar Square in 1844 was part of the ensign which thirty-eight years before waved over the hero on the memorable day of his last great achievement and death. 156 The Symbols, Standards, and Banners A gentleman residing at Sacramento, Cal., has in his possession a banner of green with a golden harp in the centre, which is the identical banner carried by the rebels of 1798 in Ireland, and most notably at the siege of Drogheda. It was brought to the United States by his father, James Gildea. The flag is thirty feet long by ten wide, and has been well preserved. At Cyprus, in 1878, when Sir Garnet Wolseley took possession, the British flag was solemnly censed, blessed, and hoisted by Greek priests, the guards presenting arms. ^ Note. — Campbell, the poet of Hope, wrote, some time previous to our civil war, the following lines, which, however, since slavery has been abolished, at the expense of a bloody and costly war, have now no significance ; — " United States ! your banner wears Two emblems, — one, of fame ; Alas ! tho other that it bears Reminds ns of your shame. Your standard's constellation types White freedom by its stars ; But what's the meaning of your stripes, — They mean your negro's scars." In reply to this bitter epistle, the Hon. George Lunt, of Massachusetts, wrote: — " England ! whence came each glowing hue That tints your flag of meteor li,2;ht, — The streaming red, the deeper blue, Crossed with the moonbeams pearly white? The blood and bruise — the blue and red — Let Asia's groaning millions speak; The white, it tells of color fled From starving Erin's pallid cheelc!" A fair retort, as true to-day as it was a quarter of a century ago. In acknowledg ment of this pungent reply, Mr. Campbell forwarded a splendid copy of his works, with a complimentary letter, to Mr. Lunt. " The cry that comes across the sea From your low cabins reaches mo, Like a Banshee's wild, despairing wail, Brought on the surging northern gale, Connemara ! " Men stag!;;cr as they try to stand "" Upon your f.Tmine-stricken land, And women lying down to die. Bare icy breasts, because their babies cry : Connemara !" i ^ P. C, in Providence Journal, 1880. NEW ENGLAND COLORS 1686-1776 NEW ENGLAND COLORS 1686 (from draft in BRITISH-STATE PAPER OFFICE ) MERCHANT FLAG 1701 NEW ENGLAND FLAG 1737 FLAG OF THE SCHOONER ROYAL SAVAGE JULY 1776 PART II. A.D. 860-1777. THE EARLY DISCOVERIES OP AMERICA, AND THE FIRST BANNERS PLANTED ON ITS SHORES, A.D. 860-1634. COLONIAL AND PROVINCIAL FLAGS, 1634-17G6. _ FLAGS OF THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY AND REVOLUTION ARY PERIOD, PRECEDING THE STARS AND STRIPES, 1766-1776. THE GRAND UNION OR CONTl NENTAL FLAG OF THE UNITED COLONIES, 1776-1777. ' Par o'er yon azure main thy view extend, Where seas and skies in blue confusion blend : Lo ! there a mighty realm, by Heaven designed The last retreat for poor oppress'd mankind ; Formed with that pomp which marks the hand divine. And clothes yon vault where worlds unnumbered shine. Here spacious plains in solemn grandeur spread. Here cloudy forests cast eternal shade; Elch valleys wind, the sky tall mountains brave. And inland seas for commerce spread the wave. With noble floods, the sea-like rivers roll. And fairer lustre purples round the pole. Here, warmed by happy suns gay mines unfold The useful iron and the lasting gold ; Pure, changing gems in silence learn to glow. And mock the splendors of the covenant bow. Far from all realms this world Imperial lies, Seas roll between, andi threat'nlng tempests rise. Alike removed beyond ambition's pale. And the bold pinions of the venturous sail ; Till circling years the destined period bring. And a new Moses lift the daring wing. On yon fair strand behold that little train Ascending venturous o'er the unmeasured main ; No dangers fright, no ills the course delay ; 'T is virtue prompts, and God directs the way. Here empire's last and brightest throne shall rise, And peace and right and freedom greet the skies ; To morn's fair realms her trading ships shall sail Or lift their canvas to the evening gale : In wisdom's walks her sous ambitious soar. Tread starry fields, and untried scenes explore ; And hark ! what strange, what solemn breaking strain Swells, wildly murmuring o'er the far, far main ! Down time's long lessening vale the notes decay. And lost in distant ages roll away." Timothy Dioight's Prophecy ol America, written 1771-1774 PART II. THE EARLY DISCOVERIES OP AMERICA, AND THE FIRST BANNERS PLANTED ON ITS SHORES, A.D. 860-1636. • " And then the blue-eyed Norseman told A saga of the days of old. ' There is,' said he, ' a wondrous boolv Of legends in the old Norse tongue. Of the dead kings of Norroway, — I Legends) that once were told or sung In many a smoliy fire-side nook. And he who looks may find therein The story that I now begin.' " — Longfellow. A Northman Vessel, a.d. 860-1014. 160 Origin and Progress of the Expeditions to the shores of North America are said to have gone forth from the British Isles even in advance of the Northmen. Only vague traditionary accounts of these expeditions have come down to ns, but records of early voyages from Greenland have been found, which afford strong circumstantial evidence that the New England coast WES' visited, and that settlements were attempted thereon, by Scandinavian navigators, five hundred years before the first voyage of Columbus. The fact that the Northmen knew of the existence of this conti nent prior to the age of Columbus was prominently brought before the people of this country in 1837, when the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, at Copenhagen, published their work on the antiquities of North America, under the editorial supervision of that great Icelandic scholar. Professor Rafn. It had always been known that the histories of certain early voyag'es to America by the Northmen were preserved in the libraries of Denmark and Iceland. Adam of Bremen, who wrote about a.d. 1074, had heard of the exploits of the Northmen in Vineland, and made mention of that country in his work. Naddod, a Scandinavian pirate or viking, in the year 860, and Gar- dar, a Dane, soon after, are said toi be the first Northmen who, driven by storms, came in sight of and reconnoitred Iceland. The news they carried home induced others to follow in their track, and Nortliman Ingolf, A.D. 874, was the first who settled there. He and his men found there Christian Irishmen, the Papas or Papar, who soon left the island. In 876, a northeast storm drove one of these Icelandic settlers, named Gunnbjorn, to some rock near Greenland, which he appears only to have seen in the distance. It was more than fifty years before any other adventurer followed in his track, until, in 928, Are Marson was driven by a storm from Iceland to America.^ At last, in the spring of 984-985, Eric the Red, having been banished, for manslaughter, from Iceland, sailed with the intention of seeking the country seen by Gunnbjorn. Having found it, he established a settlement, which he called Brattalid, in a bay on the west coast of Greenland, which, aftep- him, was called Eric's Fiord. He found the country pleasant, full of meadows, and of a milder climate than the more northern Iceland. He gave it the name of Greenland,^ saying that this would be an in viting name, which would attract other people from Iceland. Another adventurer, Heriulf, soon followed him, and established himself on the west coast, north of our present Cape Farewell, at a place which, after him, was called Heriulfsness. 1 De Costa's Pre. Col. Dis. p. 86. ' De Costa holds that Eric did not originate the name. Flag of the United States. 161 Heriulf had a son, Biarne, who, when his father went to Greenland, was on a trading voyage to Norway. Returning to Iceland in 986, and, finding that his father had gone to the west with Eric the Red, he resolved to follow him, and to spend the winter in Greenland. Boldly setting sail, he encountered northerly storms. After many days they lost their reckoning' or course, and, when the weather cleared, descried land entirely unlike that described to them as Greenland. They saw it was a more southern land, and covered with forests. It not being the intention of Biarne to explore new countries, but to find his father in Greenland, after sailing two more days and nights, he improved a southwest wind, turned to the northeast, and, after several days' sailing by other lands bordered by icebergs, reached Heriulfsness. His return occupied nine days, and he speaks of three distinct tracts of land along which he had coasted, one of which he supposed to be a large island. The results of the expedition of Biarne were these : He was the first European who saw, though from a distance, and very cursorily, some parts of the coasts of New England, Nova Scotia, and New foundland. Wlien he returned to Norway, he was blamed for not having examined the new-found coimtries more accurately. In Greenland there was much talk- about undertaking a voyage of discovery to the west. Leif, the son of Eric the Red, the first settler in Greenland, having bought Biarne's ship, a.d. 1000, with a crew of thirty-five men, among whom was Biarne himself, went out on Biarne's track to the southwest. They anchored and went on shore, probably at Newfoundland, and after a brief delay pursued their voyage, and came to a low, wooded coast, with shores of white sand, which they- named Markland (Woodland), our present Nova Scotia.^ Continuing their course, in two days they ag'ain made land, a promontory project ing in a northeasterly direction from the main, corresponding to our present Cape Cod. Leif, rounding this cape to the southward, sailed westward, and entered a bay, or harbor, and went on shore. Finding the country ^ About 1659, Francis Fuller, of Winthrop, Maine, stated that he went as a ship carpenter's apprentice to the Kennebec, and at Agrys Point, near the present town of Pittston, three miles below the city of Gardiner, in clearing the ground for a ship yard, they discovered the bottom of a brick chimney. Further examination disclosed the remains of thirteen other chimneys. " Within the limits of one," said Mr. Fuller, " grew a tree three feet in diameter. We had the curiosity to count the rings of this tree, to ascertain its age, and found that they exceeded six hundred, thereby indicating that it was over six hundred years old. We concluded a village had existed there long before Columbus discovered America." — Joseph Williamson, Esq., on the Northmen in Maine, in Historical Jlagazine, .T.Tiniary, 1809. 11 162 Origin and Progress of the very pleasant, he concluded to spend the winter there, and formed a settlement, which was called Leifsbudir (Leif's block-house or dwell ing) . It is, with a degree of probability, supposed this settlement was on the coast of Rhode Island, in Narragansett Bay, perhaps not far from Newport. Leif and his men made several exploring expeditions to the interior. On one of these a German named Tyrker, who had long resided with Leif's father in Iceland and Greenland, lost his way, and was missing. Leif, with some of his men, went in search of him, and had not gone far when they saw him coming out from a wood, holding something in his hands, coming towards them, very much excited, and speaking in German. At last he told them, in Norse, " I found vines and grapes," showing what he held in his hands. Leif, an Icelander and Greenlander, probably had never seen fresh grapes, and asked, " Is that true, my friend ? " and then Tj'rker said that he well knew they were real grapes, having been born and educated in a country in which there were plenty of vines. The Northmen col lected their boat full of grapes, and from this circumstance Leif gave this new southern country the name of Vinland. During the winter, Leif observed that the climate of Vinland was so mild that cattle could be kept out-doors unsheltered, and that throughout the-year the days and' nights were much more equal in length than in Greenland. On the shortest day in Vinland the sun was above the horizon from 7.30 A.M. to 4.30 P.M. This astronomical observation confirms the generally adopted view that their settlement was in the southem part of New England. Pilling their vessel with wood, they returned to Greenland in the spring.^ Leif's brother, Thorwald, being of opinion the new country had not been explored sufficiently, borrowed Leif's ship, and, aided by his advice and direction, commenced another voyage to this country in 1002. Sailing on the track of his predecessors, he arrived at Leifbudir, in Vinland, and spent the winter in fishing and cutting wood. In the spring he sent out his long-boat to the southward on a voyage of discovery, and she did not return until the fall of the year. These events took place about the time of the massacre of the Danes in England, and the revengeful invasion of the English coast by > Mr. Williamson, in his article on the Northmen in Maine, contends that the island to the eastward of the main was Monhe.2:an, while the river issuing from lakes, &c., is well represented by the Kennebec, which joins the ocean near that island. De Monts, who visited Acadie in 1607, speaks of grapes in several places, and they were in such plenty on the Isle of Orleans, in lat. 47°, that it was called the Island of Bacchus. Flag of the United States. 163 Sweyne, whose sister Gunhilda, with her husband and son, had been put to death in the presence and by command of Edric Streone, one of the Anglo-Saxon chieftains. He ravaged Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Wiltshire, as also other parts, and burnt several towns, until MA]? op K .VIN'l.ANP' _, CHAHLES C.UAFN. MIDDLE S(EX SOSJ'oi Etheldred was glad to purchase a two years' respite at a cost of £36,000, equivalent to the worth of 720,000 acres of land at that time. He was also compelled to feed his invaders.^ The Danish ships with which Sweyne made his descent upon the English coast in 1004 have been described with minuteness by eon- 1 Southey's Naval History. 164 Origin and Progress of the temporary chroniclers, and afford us an idea of the vessels in which Leif and his brother Thorwald sailed along the American coast. " Each vessel," says Six N. Harris Nicolas,^ citing contemporaneous chronicles, " had a high deck and bore a distinctive emblem indicating its commander, similar, probably, in object, to the banners of later chieftains. The prows of the ships were ornamented with figures of lions, bulls, dolphins, and of men, made of copper gilt, and at the mastheads of others were vanes shaped like birds with expanded wings, showing' whence the wind blew. Their sides were painted with various colors, and the shields of the soldiers, of polished steel, were placed in rows around the gunwales. Sweyne's own ship was the Great Dragon, built in the form of the animal whose name it bore; its head forming the prow, and its tail the stem. The mys terious Scandinavian standard of white siUc, having in its centre a raven, with extended wings and beak open, the supposed insurer of victory, which had been embroidered by three of Sweyne's sisters in one night, amidst charms and magical incantations, was on board his ship, but it was not displayed until he landed in England." The next year, 1004, Thorwald undertook another voyage, and had a battle with the aborigines, it is conjectured near the harbor of Plymouth. Of course the victory was with the Europeans. After the victory, Thorwald asked his men whether any had been wounded. Upon their denying this, he said, " I am : I have an arrow under my arm which will be my death-blow ! " Advising them to depart as soon as possible, he requested them to bury him on a hilly promontory over grown with wood, which he had previously selected as his abode; saying : " I was a prophet, for now I shall dwell there for ever. There you shall bury me, and plant two crosses, one at my head and one at my feet, and call the place ' Krossaness,' — the cape of the crosses — ^for all time coming." Thorwald upon this died, and his men did as he had ordered them. Thorwald was the ancestor of Thorwaldsen the sculptor, and in an unpublished poem Edward Everett expressed a hope that the artist would commemorate in undying stone the dis coverers to Europe of North America. " Thorwald shall live for aye In Thorwaldsen." But, alas ! the sculptor died with the hope unfulfilled.' Thorwald's men retumed to the settlement at Leifsbudir, and spent with them the following winter. But in the spring of 1005, •History of the Eoyal Navy, vol. 1. 2 Boston Daily Advertiser, July 17, 1872. Flag of the United States. 165 having collected a cargo of wood, furs, and dried grapes, they sailed to Greenland. The results of Thorwald's expedition were, that he and his men stayed on the coast of New England nearly two years, principally occupied in explorations. They sailed along the south coast of New England towards and perhaps beyond New York. They recognized and described more minutely the important head lands of -Cape Cod, and gave it the name of ' Kiarlamess,' — Keel Cape, — ^because there they experienced bad weather and broke their keel, a piece of which, after repairing their ship, they stuck up on the reef. They intended an expedition along the coast toward the north, which was turned back, near the harbor of Boston, by the death of Thorwald. The next vayager was Thorstein, Eric's third son, who resolved to proceed to Vinland in his brother's ship, with twenty-five able and strong men, to obtain his brother's body. His wife, Gudrida, a woman of energy and prudence, accompanied him. They got no farther than Greenland, when a siclcness broke out. Thorstein and others died, and Gudrida retumed with the ship to Eric's fiord on the southern coast of Greenland. In the following summer, 1006, two ships arrived at Eric's fiord from Iceland. Thorfinn, a wealthy and powerful man of illustrious lineag'e, who commanded one of them, fell in love with Gudrida, the widow of Thorstein, and married her. Thorfinn, urged by his wife and others, resolved to undertake a voyage to the south, and in the summer of 1007 prepared three ships, their united com panies amounting in all to one hundred and sixty men, and, with the intention of colonizing in the new and beautiful land, took all kinds of live-stock along. They sailed in the spring of 1008, and were the first European navigators that made a coasting voyage along. the coast of Maine, keeping in sight of the land until they came to Cape Cod, which, from itsi long sandy beaches and downs, they named Furderstrandr, — ^beaches of wonderful length. Their settlement was formed near Leifsbudir, on the other side of the water, at a place which pleased Thorfinn better, and which was called Thorfin's-budir. It stood near a small recess or bay called by them ' hop ' or ' corner.' On the low grounds around this hop they found fields of wheat growing wild, and on the rising ground plenty of vines. Here Gudrida, the wife of Thorfinn, gave birth to a son, who received the name of Snorre, who must be considered the first American child bom on the continent, of European parents. On a subsequent at tempt to explore the coast of Maine, Thorhall, one of Thorfinn's men, was driven over to the coast of Ireland. After a while, discontent 166 Origin and Progress of the and dissensions broke out among the settlers, and Thorfinn, with his wife Gudrida, and his American son Snorre, then three years of age, left the country together, and with a good southerly wind returned to Greenland. It is probable a party of his men remained behind, and continued the settlement of Vinland. Thorfinn never returned, but afterwards went to NorM-ay, and from thence, in 1014, to Iceland, where he bought an estate, and resided for the remainder of his life with his wife and son. After his death and the marriage of Snorre, his widow Gudrida made a pilgrimage to Rome, where she was received with distinction. Afterwards she returned to her son's estate in Iceland, where Snorre had built a church, and where, after all her adventures, she long; lived as a religious recluse.^ In 1121, the voyage to Vinland of a bishop of Greenland, named Eric, is mentioned in ' Icelandic Annals.' Eric was appointed bishop of Greenland, but performed no duties after his consecration, and eventually resigned that See in order to undertake the mission to Vinland. The fact that such a high ecclesiastical functionary should go to Vinland appears good proof that, since Thorfinn's time, North men settlers or traders had tarried there. Of the results of his ex pedition wp have no particular information. After this voyage, we hear no more of Vinland for more than one hundred years, nor of countries southwest of Greenland. Then, in 1285, two Icelandic clergymen, Adalbrand and Thorwald Helgason, visited, on the west of Iceland, " a new land; " and in 1288, Eric, king of Denmark, sent out a ship commanded by Rolfe, to pay a visit to this new land, sup posed to have been Newfoundland. In 1290, Eolfe travelled through Iceland, and called out men for a voyage to the new land. Another hundred years after this event, the ' Icelandic Annals ' has the following remarkable though short report : " In the year 1347, a vessel having a crew of seventeen men sailed from Iceland to Markland." From the middle of the fourteenth century down to the discovery of America by Columbus, Cabot, and others, we learn no '¦ The Dighton Rock, six and a half miles from Taunton, Mass., on the cast side of Taunton River, a boulder of flne gray rock, twelve feet long and flve feet high, has an inscription in the middle (surrounded by rude Indian hieroglyphics of a later date) which is supposed to be the work of the Northmen, and to relate that Thor finn Karlsefne established himself there with one hundred and fifty-one men. A copy of the inscription was shown to a Mohawk chief, who said it represented a triumph of Indians over a wild beast. Mr. Schoolcraft showed a copy to an Algon quin, who gave a similar interpretation, but the central figures he rejected as having no connection with the rest. That two distinct parties were concerned in making the inscription is clear from tbe testimony of the Indians. See Antiquitates Amerlcanse, pp. 355-371. There has been recently a proposition to remove this rock to Copenhagen. Flag of the United States. 167 more of Scandinavian undertakings in this direction. The heroic age of the Northmen, and their power and spirit of enterprise, had long passed by,'- though there is evidence tending to show that communi cation was never suspended. These early voyagers left no traces of their presence on the con tinent, unless it shall be conceded that the round toAver or mill at New port, about the origin of which history and tradition are alike silent, was built by them: it stood there when the Engli.'^h people first visited Rhode Island, and the Narragansett Indians had no traditions of its origin.^ Many have supposed that the skeleton in armor dug up near Pall River was a relic of a Northman killed by the natives in the battle with Karlsefne. Longfellow has iimuortalized this legend in his verse. Information of these voyages existed in Europe. But the dis covery was chiefiy remembered in traditionary tales of the exploits of these vikings; and these new lands were often considered a part of the European continent, connected along the ice-bound regions of the north. When Columbus conceived the grand idea of reaching Asia by sailing' westward, no account of these Scandinavian voyages was current in Europe.^ It is certain that the junks and boats of the Asiatic nations driven by storms from the islands and coasts of Asia, drifting along on the kuro-sima, or black current, which skirts the coast of Japan and is lost in Behring's Straits, and which answers in the Pacific to the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic, were thrown upon the Pacific coast of America, and that their shipwrecked crews and passengers found their way into the interior of the continent. It also seems probable that other Asiatics found their way by the Aleutian Isles and Behring's Straits from the projecting capes of Asia to our Pacific shores. Some refer the origin of the Indian tribes of America to the Phoenicians, others perceive evidences of their Egyptian or Hindoo parentage, and others claim they are the lost tribes of Israel " who took counsel to go forth into a far country where never mankind dwelt." 'An account of the Scandinavian voyagers is to be found in the Collections of the Maine Historical Society, containing a History of the Discovery of Maine, by J. G. Kohl, published in 1869, which, De Costa says, is a mass of errors, and that he wrote his ' Northmen in Maine ' to show we have no evidence that the Northmen visited Maine. He says, " they may have done so, but we do not know it." His American editors are responsible for some of the errors. = For an account of the Old Mill, see ' The " Old Mill " at Newport, a New Study of an Old Puzzle,' by R. G. Hatfield, IUustrated in Scribner's Monthly, vol. vUL, March, 1879, pp. 682-642. 2 Columbus visited Iceland in the spring of 1477, flfteen years before his first voyage. A few years after his voyage to Iceland we flnd him urging his theory of reaching Asia by sailing to the west. 168 Origin and Progress of the Within almost every State and Territory, remains of human skill and labor have been found, which seem to attest the existence here of a civilized people before the ancestors of the present Indian tribes became masters of the continent. Some of these appear to give evi dence of intercourse between the people of the Old World and those of America centuries, perhaps, before the birth of Christ, and at periods soon afterwards.^ Remains ,of fortifications, similar in form to those of ancient European nations, have been discovered, — fire-places of regular structure, weapons and utensils of copper, and walls of forts and cities. There are accounts of a Roman coin found in Missouri; a Persian coin in Ohio; a bit of silver in Genesee, N. Y., with the year of our Lord 600 engraved on it, &c. Near Montevideo, South America, a tomb is said to have been found in which were two ancient swords, a helmet, and shield, with Greek inscriptions show ing they were made in the time of Alexander the Great, 330 years before Christ. A few years since, an earthenware vessel containing Roman copper coins, bearing the names of Maximinus, Dioclesian, and Constantine, were dug up near the site of Old Panama on the Isthmus. The interesting question is, how these coins of the third and fourth centuries" a.d. came there, though the probable explana tion is that they were the collection of a virtuoso who buried them for safety when the city was sacked by the buccaneers.^ Recently a stone, said to be covered with Tyrian inscriptions, has been found on the Upper Amazon, which Dom Pedro IL has caused to be deposited in the imperial museum at Rio de Janeiro. The flags, banners, or standards which these peoples planted upon the shores of America in token of occupancy and sovereignty must ever remain conjectural. Nothing concerning them has come down to us. Beyond doubt, the first European banners displayed upon the shores of the New World, of which there is any authentic account, were those unfurled by Co lumbus, when he landed upon the small outly ing island of St. Salvador, Oct. 12, 1493, which, fortunately, have been described by his son: " Columbus, dressed in scarlet, first stepped on shore from the little boat which bore him from his vessels, bearing the royal standard of Spain emblazoned with the arms of Castile and Leon [a turretted and embattled castle or, on a field The standard of Spain, U92. gules for Castile, quarterly on a field argent, a > Lossing's History of the United States. 2 Panama Echo. Flag of the United States. 169 The Caravel iu which Columbus dis covered America. lion rampant gules for Leon] in his own hand, followed by the Pinzons in their uAvn boats, each bearing the banner of the expedition; viz., a white flag with a green cross, having on each side the letters P and Y, surmounted by golden crowns." ^ In 1497, Vespucci, on his first voyage, discovered the mainland at Yucatan. In 1498, Columbus discovered the con tinent, and planted the Spanish banners at the mouth of the Orinoco, supposing it to be an island on the coast of Asia. He lived and died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discoveries, while Americus Vespucius, a Florentine, who explored the eastern coast of South Amer ica north of the Orinoco, a year later, T> I ¦ i^ v * J * V ¦„ *i,^ 1499, made the first formal announce- From a drawing attributed to hiiu in the ' jEpistoia Christoforo coiumbi.' ment to the world of the great discovery, in 1507, and thus gave a name to the new continent of the west.^ At the court of England, " there was great talk of the undertaking of Columbus, which was affirmed to be a thing more divine than human, and his fame and report increased in the hearts of some of the king's subjects a great flame of desire to attempt something alike nota ble." Thus inspired. King Henry VIL, of Eng land, March 5, 1496, issued a patent to John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, to sail early in May, 1497, with five ships, " under the royal banners and ensigns, to all parts, countries, and seas, of the east, of the west, and of the north, and to seek out and dis cover whatsoever isles, countries, regions, and provinces in what part of the world soever they might be, which before this time had been unknown to Christians." The king gave them further license, " to set up the royal banners and ensigns in the coun tries, places, or mainland newly found by them," and \o conquer, occupy, and possess them as his vassals and lieutenants.^ 1 Narrative of Don Fernando ; Irving's Life of Columbus. ' Vespucius did not himself give name. See Major, In Archeologla, vol. xl.,. on Map of Leonardo da Vinci. See notes to De Costa's article on the Lenox Globe, Magazine of American History, 1879. ' See patent in Latin in Hakluyt's Dion's Voyages. London, 1860. Fioedera, xll. 1472. Expeditionary Banner ot Columbus. 1 70 Origin and Progress of the The patentees having to arm and furnish their vessels, to buy victuals, and to provide all things necessary at their own cost, were not able to avail themselves of the royal permission until more than a year after it was issued, and did not sail from .Bristol until May, 1497. It is asserted that the expedition comprised four vessels, but we only know with certainty that the admiral's ship was called the Matthew, that she was the first English vessel that touched our American shores, and the only one that returned in safety to Bristol. Relative to the course which the Cabots followed on this voyage, we have no definite informa tion. Formerly it was supposed that they made their landfall near a cape of the island of Newfoundland, but a more careful examination of the known facts has induced Baron Humboldt and recent writers to believe that what they called ' Prima Vista,' June 34, 1497, must be found in Labrador, in 56° or 58° north latitude. It is stated that they sailed along the coast about three hundred leagues to the south. The short time they were absent from England — about ninety days — renders this doubtful. They could hardly have per formed so long a coasting voyage unless in the line of their return route to the northward and eastward. The Matthew arrived at Bristol early in August, for there is an entry in the privy-purse accounts of Henry VIL, dated "Aug. 10, 1497," in which the king' says, "that he has given a reward of ten pounds to hym that found the new isle;"^ and Lorenzo Pasqualigo, under date " London, Aug. 23, 1497," announces to his brothers in Venice the return of John Cabot from his voyage of discovery, and that he had found at a distance of seven hundred leagues'^in the west a firm land, along which he had coasted for the space of three hundred leagues, not having met a living person at the points where he had landed, but still having observed there some traces of inhabitants, — trees notched, and nets for catching game. On his return, he had seen on his right hand two islands, where however he had not wished to go on shore, on account of the failure of his provisions; he had returned to Bristol after a voyage of three months, having left in the lands which he had discovered a grand cross, with the banner of Eng land and that of St. Mark of Venice. If this be true, then, under King Henry's patent and orders " to set up his royal banners and ensig'ns in the countries, &c., newly found," it is probable that the English standards and ensigns, with the Venetian banner of St. Mark, were the first ever planted by any European nation upon the shores of North America since those of the Northmen, and J Excerpta Historica, p. 113. Flag of the United States. I 7 1 that they were set up a year earlier than Columbus raised the castles and lions of Castile and Leon at the mouth of the Orinoco. Indeed Pasqualigo, in the letter already quoted, says, " The discoverer of these places planted on his newfoundland a large cross, with one flag of England and one of St. Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian, so that our banner has floated very far afield." The Cabots believed they had discovered portions of Asia, and so proclaimed it. But the more extensive discoveries of a second voyage corrected this view, and revealed nothing but a wild and barbarous coast, stretching through 30 degrees of latitude, and forming an im passable barrier to the rich possessions of China which they hoped to reach. Doctor Asher, a German writer, in his work on Hudson, pub lished in London by the Hakluyt Society in 1860, observes, " The displeasure of Cabot involves the scientific discovery of a new world. He was the first to recognize that a now and unknown continent was lying, as one vast barrier, between Western Europe and Eastern Asia." The voyages of these enterprising mariners along the entire Atlantic coast of the present United States, and along the whole extent of a great continent, in which at this time the English race and language prevail and flourish, has always been considered as the true beginning, the foundation and corner-stone, of all the English claims and posses sions in the northern half of America. English flags were the first which were planted along these shores, and Englishmen were the first of modern Europeans who with their own eyes surveyed the border of that great assemblag'e of countries in which they were destined to become so prominent; and were also the first to put their feet upon it. The history of each one of the chain of States stretching along the western .shores of the Atlantic begins with Sebastian Cabot and his expedition of 1498.^ On the map of the eastern coast of North America by Juan de la Cosa, in the year 1500, the discoveries of the Cabots are marked by English standards, while the Spanish possessions of Cuba and other West India Islands are similarly marked with Spanish, and the Azores with the Portuguese, standards. Verrazano saw the coast in 1524, but the expedition commanded by John Rut, in 1527, after Cabot, was the second expedition which sailed along the entire east coast of the United States, as far south as Caro- iM. D'Avezac, in a letter to Dr. Woods, dated "Paris, Dec. 15, 1868," advocates John Cabot's discovery of North America in 1494, and that he kept his discovery secret, to escape the exclusive pretensions of Spain and Portugal, until he had obtaiiied the letters-patent from Henry VIL, signed March 5, 1496, and retumed from his voyage in August, 1496, See Maine Hist. Coll., vol, i., new series. 172 Origin and Progress of the lina, and was the last official enterprise of the English in our waters until the expedition of Sir John Hawkins in 1565. On the Verrazano map of 1529, in the Propaganda, Eome, there are three flags placed to indicate the claims of Francis I. in North America, and colored blue, which about that time was made the color of France, in opposition to the white flag of England. These flags have no device whatever.^ There is preserved in the Royal Library at Munich a map of Nova Scotia, New foundland, &c., which has on it in great letters, "Pedro Eeinel a fez ; " that is, Pedro Reinel made it. Eeinel was a Portuguese pilot of great fame, who, like many Port uguese, entered the Spanish service some time after 1522. The language of the map is o cC2>y.iarortuiia^^ y.-datormento . c.domarco _ iSaJtiJohan _ ^° SarnPedro -iCj^ Qcdasqamaa — c. de boaventura •^^,y.de "boa Ventura "'^cdomarco r\y.d6freyluis "b-de Santa ciria. YdosbocalKas D.dacomceica cda ef^ra R-daspatas fo n.deSamftanpisquo a cBafo I K ova Scotia, NewfounHand an6 Laltra^or t)yPeftroI\cmgl made in about 1505, ^Am. His. Mag., August, 1878, Da Costa on Ver. Map. Flag of the United States. I 73 Portuguese, it presents only Portuguese discoveries, and shows the arms and flags of Portugal, but not of Spain. From these, circumstances it is probable that the map was made by Reinel in Portugal before he en tered the service of Spain, and probably soon after the voyage of the Cortereals and Cabral. We may therefore assign it to the year 1505. Peschal gives it the date of 1504. The cape which was called on the map of 1500 * Cavo de Anglaterra,' or ' Cape of England,' is here for the first time named ' Cavo Raso ' (the flat cape), a name which is of Portuguese origin. The English, who did not understand the meaning of the Portuguese word, afterward changed it to Cape Race, which has no meaning in this connection. During the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. several expedi tions were made by the English to the northeast of America. Their leading motive in those expeditions was the hope of finding a shorter passage to the rich countries of Eastern Asia. The last English ex pedition of this kind, in 1536, ended with such loss of life, and other disasters, that a most unfavorable impression appears to have been made by it on the nation. After this, for nearly fifty years, the English entirely abandoned the east coast of America. It was not until the twentieth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and eighty years after the discoveries of Cabot, that healthy efforts to found colonies in the new world were matured by the English. In June, 1578, Sir Humphry Gilbert, a step-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, obtained a liberal patent or grant from the Queen. Raleigh gave him the aid of his hand and fortune; and, as early as 1579, Gilbert sailed for America with a small squadron, accompanied by liis step-brother. Heavy storms and Spanish war vessels compelled them to return, and the scheme for a time was abandoned. Four years after wards, 1583, Gilbert sailed with another squadron, and after a series of disasters reached the harbor of St. John, in Newfoundland. There he set up a pillar with the English arms upon it, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the queen. Proceeding to explore the coast southward, after being beaten by tempests off the shore of Nova Scotia and Maine, and losing his largest ship, he turned his vessel toward England, and during a September gale his little bark, the Squirrel, of ten tons, went down with all on board, and only one vessel of the expedition reached England. In 1584, Raleigh obtained a patent for all the lands in America between the Santee and the Delaware Rivers, and sent Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow to explore the American coast. They approached the shores of Carolina in July, and took possession of the islands in 1 74 Origin and Progress of the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds in the name of Queen Elizabeth. They remained a few weeks exploring and trafficking, and returned to England with two Indians, named Manteo and Wanchese. The glowing accounts of the newly discovered country filled Raleigh's heart with joy. The Queen declared the event one of the most glorious of her reign, and in memorial of her unmarried state, she gave the name of ' Virginia ' to the enchanting region. April 19, 1585, Raleigh despatched a fleet of seven vessels under the command of Sir Eichard GrenviUe, with a governor and colonists, for the purpose of making a permanent set tlement of the inviting land. A series of disasters followed, and, induced by misfor tunes and fear, the emigrants abandoned their settlement on Roanoke Island, and were all conveyed to England by Sir Francis Drake, June, 1586. Ealeigh, undismayed by the result of his first attempt, despatched a band of agriculturists and artisans with their Raleigh's Ship, 1585. families, April 26, 1587, to found an indus trial state in Virginia. This attempt at colonization, like the others, proved a failure, and a century after the discoveries of Columbus and Cabot there was no European settlement upon the North American continent. Twelve years after the failure of Ealeigh's colonization efforts, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed in a small bark directly across the Atlantic for the American coast, and after a voyage of seven weeks discovered the continent, May 14, 1602, near Penobscot. Sailing southward, he landed upon a sandy point which he called ' Cape Cod,' and afterwards discovered Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the group of islands known as Elizabeth's Islands, which he named in honor of his sovereign. Upon an islet in a tiny lalce he built a fort and storehouse, but, owing to dissensions and the want of supplies, he returned to England in June, and was prosecuted by Raleigh upon his return. In 1605, Captain George Weymouth entered the Sagadahock, and took formal possession of the country in the name of King James; and the same year De Monts, a wealthy French Huguenot, organized a French settlement at Port Royal (now Annapolis), and called the terri tory around it ' Acadia.' In 1606, the Plymouth Company obtained their charter, and soon after despatched an agent to examine North Virginia. In 1607, Jamestown was founded, and in 1607, Popham, Flag of the United States. 1 75 with one hundred emigrants, landed at the raoutli of the Kennebec, where they erected a stockade, a storehouse, and a few huts. All but forty-five returned to England in the vessels, those who remained named the settlement ' St. George.' A terrible winter ensued. Lack ing courage to brave the perils of the wilderness, the emigrants abandoned the settlement, and returned to England in the spring of 1608.1 From the foregoing it will be seen that every attempt of Englishmen during the reign of Queen Elizabeth to colonize the new world proved abortive, and it was not until the accession of her successor, James I., and union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, that her flag was permanently planted upon its shores. COLONIAL AND PROVINCIAL FLAGS. 1634-1766 The flags used by the American colonies prior to their separation from the mother country would naturally be those of England, though such does not appear to have been invariably the case. Several flags, differing more or less from the standards and ensigns of that kingdom, seem to have been at times in use. The ancient national flag of England, the cross of St. George, a white banner with a red cross, was the universal badge of the Eng lish soldiery as early as the fourteenth century, and was worn by them over their armor, and blazoned on their shields. Why St. George was constituted the patron saint of England has been and continues to be a puzzle to antiquarians, but " St. George for Eng land," or " Merrie England," was a usual war-cry, and his banner above all others was the national banner of Englishmen. Whatever 'The English claimed dominion over a belt of territory extending from Cape Fear, in North Carolina, to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and indefinitely westward. This was divided into two districts. One extended fi-om tl-.e vicinity of New York City northward to the present southern boundary of Canada, including the whole of New England, and westward of it, and was called ' North Virginia.' This territory was granted to a company of " knights, gentlemen, and merchants " in the west of Eng land, called the ' Plymouth Company.' The other district extended from the mouth of the Potomac southward to Cape Fear, and was called ' South Virginia.' It was granted to a company of "noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants," chiefly residents of London, called the ' London Company.' The Intermediate domain of almost two hundred miles was a dividing line, so broad that disputes about territory could not occur, as neither company was allowed to make settlements more than fifty miles beyond its own boundary. — Lossing's History of the United States. 176 Origin and Progress of the III ST CtORCCS CROSS STAMDHCWS CROSS liiiaiiiMiiiiiiii WA iiiiiiiBiiim UNION OR K1N63 COLORS \t,tji other banners were carried, it was always foremost in the field.^ Adopted as the national standard and ensign, it continued such until A.D. 1606, when King James I., by his royal proclamation,^ united with it the cross of St. Andrew, a diagonal white cross on a blue ground (which had been the flag and badge of the Scots from the time of the Crusades), as a dis tinguishing flag, for all his sub jects travelling by sea. This union, in 1606, of the crosses of the two kingdoms, which had been united by the accession of James in 1603, was called the 'king's colors.' They were required to be displayed from the main-tops of all British vessels, — those of South Britain (England), however, were to carry the St. George's cross; and those of North Britain (Scotland), the St. Andrew's cross, in their fore-tops, to designate which section of the United Kingdom they hailed from; the union flag taking precedence in the main-top and at the after-part of the vessel.'' Rushworth says * that " the union flag, that is, the St. George's and St. Andrew's crosses joined together, was still to be reserved as an ornament proper to the king's own ships, and ships in his immediate service and pay, and none other. English ships were to bear the red cross, Scotch the white." The first grant of the crown of England under which effectual settle ments were made in North America was dated April 10, 1606, the very year the crosses of the two kingdoms were united by royal procla mation. By this charter all the country in America between latitude 34° and 45° north, was called Virginia. Two companies were con stituted, one called the ' London Company,' the other the ' Plymouth Company.' To the first named was assigned all that portion of this vast territory lying between the parallels of 34° and 41° north latitude, ' Miss Strickland, in her ' Queens of Eligland,' says : " Henry II. married Eleanor of Aquitaine, and through her, the ancestress of the royal line, may be traced armorial bearings and a war-cry whose origin has perplexed the readers ot English history. The patron saint of England, St. George, was adopted from the Dukes of Aquitaine, as the Duke of Aquitaine's war-cry was ' St. George for the puissant duke.' His crest was a leopard, and his descendants in England bore leopards on their shields till after the time of Edward I." " See oMte. » See ante, p. 149. * Rushworth, 1634, vol. 11. p. 247. 1/ Flag of the United States. 1 77 under the name of ' South Virginia ; ' to the latter, all lying to the north of 41°, called ' North Virginia.' Such was the vague extent of the old dominion of Virginia.^ After the execution of Charles I., the new council of states, on the 22d of February, 1648-49, passed a resolution, "that the ships at sea in the service of the states shall bear the red cross in a white flag. That the engraving upon the sterns of the ships shall be the arms of England and Ireland in two escutcheons, as is used in the seals." Soon after we read of vessels sailing under the Long Parliament flag, which bore on a blue field the yellow Irish harp, with the St. George's cross next the staff in a white canton. Under the Pro tectorate we find a blue flag in use, bearing in the field the two shields of England and Long ParUament Flag. t i j ¦ ^ t i Ireland ; viz., argent, a cross gules and azure, a harp or. These were joined together in a horseshoe shape, and surrounded by a white label of three folds, the motto in black letters, "Floreat Res. Publica," and outside, two golden branches of laurel, leaved green. A flag of this period, preserved as late as 1803 in one of the storehouses of Chatham Dockyard, bore the same shields slightly separated on a red field, and surrounded by branches of palm and laurel.^ On the fleet which restored Charles II. to the throne of his father, the royal cipher took the place of the state's arms, and the harp was removed from the Long Parliament flag, which they also bore, as having been instrumental in the restoration of that body during the previous year. Soon after this, under James, Duke of York, who had been appointed the lord higji admiral of England, Ireland, Wales, and of the dominions of New England, Jamaica, and Virginia, in America, we find the flags of the navy to have been the royal standard ; the lord high admiral's flag, then, as now, a foul anchor or, on a red field ; the union jack or flag; and the English red ensign, cantoned with the St. George's cross on a white field. During the civil war, the colors and ensigns were principally red for the royalist, orange for the parliamentarians, and blue for the Scotch, — and all cantoned with a red St. George's cross on a white field. The complete union of the kingdoms was not accomplished until 1707, a hundred years after this union of crosses in the king's colors, ' See note, ante, p. 175. " See p. 17. Ensigns, standards, &c., at the funeral of Cromwell. 12 1 78 Origin and Progress of the ! when under Queen Anne, the Mngdom of Great Britain, including England, Wales, and Scotland, was established by treaty, and the first union parliament assembled. The act of Parliament which ratified this union of the Mngdoms, Jan. 16, 1707, ordained " that the ensigns armorial of our kingdom of Great Britain " shall be " the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew conjoined (the same as heretofore described as the king's colors), to be used on all flags, banners, standards, and ensigns both at sea an4^ land," " and the ensigns described in the margent hereof (the crosses or king's colors conjoined in the upper corner of a crimson banner, since known as the 'meteor flag of England'), to be worn on board all ships or vessels belonging to any of our subjects whatsoever." These flags were familiarly known as union flags, from their typifying the union of England and Scotland, and were commonly used by the American colonies in connection with other devices, until their rupture with the mother country. Thus early the idea of a union flag became familiar to them. As the king's colors had been authoritatively prescribed for subjects travelling by sea only, it is probable the St. George's cross continued to be very generally used by the English subjects of Great Britain on land until the act of 1707, for the Parliament of the Commonwealth under, Cromwell adopted the old standard. Ireland was conquered in 1691, but was not incorporated into the kingdom until Jan. 1, 1801, long after our revolution, and then the cross of St. Patrick, a red diagonal saltire, was fimbriated on the white cross of St. Andrew and conjoined to the other two, and thus and then the union jack of the United Kingdom assumed its present form. The present ensign of Great Britain was never worn by any of the American colonies.^ The garrison flag of G-reat Britain is the union jack or flag pre scribed" Jan. 1, 1801. One of the British flags surrendered at Yorktown, and presented to Washington by Congress, was the same as the Mng's colors, estab lished by James L, excepting that in the centre of the cross there is ' a white square with a crown above the garter. The garter is inscribed with the usual motto, '' Honi soit qui mal y pense," and encloses a full blown rose. This flag is now in the museum at Alexandria, Va. It ^The proclamation declaring what ensigns, colors, &c., are to be borne by the subjects of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland may be found In full iu the British Naval Chronicle, vol. v. 1801. Flag of the United States. 1 79 is made of heavy twilled silk, and is six feet long and five feet four inches wide.^ The red cross of St. George was, without doubt, hoisted over the Mayflower when she disembarked our Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth in 1620, as it was the common sea-ensign of English ships of that period. Belonging to South Britain, she may also have displayed the king's colors from her main-top, and a St. George's cross at the fore, as required by the king's proclamation of 1606. We learn from the records of Massachusetts that the red cross of St. George was in use in that colony in 1634, if not earlier. In November of that year, complaint was entered " that the ensigns at Salem had been defaced by Mr. Endicott's cutting out one part of the red cross. Roger Williams is accused of having agitated the matter, and therefore accountable for the trouble it occasioned. The case was examined as a high-handed proceeding which might be construed into one of rebellion to England, on the complaint of Mr. Eichard Browne, ruling elder of the church at Watertown, and others, before the Court of Assistants. The court issued an attachment against Ensign Richard Davenport, then the ensign-bearer at Salem, whose colors had been mutilated, to appear at the next court, which was not held until a year after his flag was so mutilated. It was then shown that the mutilation complained of was done, not from disloyalty to the flag, but from an entire conscientious conviction that it was idolatrous to allow it to remain, and that having been given to the King of England by the Pope, it was a relic of anti-Christ. Endicott was judged to be guilty of a great offence, inasmuch as he had ' with rash indiscretion, and by his sole authority, committed an act giving occa sion to the court of England to think ill of them,' for which he was deemed worthy of admonition, and should be disabled from bearing any public office for one year." ^ The provincial authorities were, however, doubtful of the lawful use of a cross in the ensign, and, had there been no fear of a royal governor, little would have been heard about this mutilation of the colors at Salem; for, December 19, all the ministers except Mr. Ward of Ipswich, were assembled at Boston, by request of the governor, to consider, among other things, "whether it was lawful to carry a cross in the banners." The opinion of the mieeting on that subject being divided, the matter was deferred to another meeting, in March, at which Mr. Endicott was called upon to answer. This meeting was able to agree no better than the previous one ; and the record continues, " Because * Lossing has an engraving of it in his Field-Book of the American Revolution. 2 Massachusetts Records. 160 Origin and Progress of THfi the court could not agree about the thing, whether the ensigns should be laid by in that regard that many refused to follow them, the whole case was referred to the next general court, and the commissioners for military affairs gave orders in the mean time that all ensigns should be laid aside." In the interim, a new flag, having for an emblem the red and white roses in place of the cross, was proposed, and letters in relation to the matter were written to England, for the purpose of obtaining " the judgment of the most wise and godly there." This project seems not to have met the approval of the wise and godly in England, for in December, 1635, it is recorded that the military commissioners " appointed colors for every company," leaving out the cross in all of them, and appointing that the king's arms should be put into them and in the colors of Castle Island, Boston. All ships, in passing the fort at Castle Island, were bound to ob serve certain regulations ; but after these occurrences, the fort, wearing for a time no flag to signify its real character, presented the appearance of a captured or deserted fortress. Under these circumstances, in the spring of 1636, the ship St. Pat rick, Captain Palmer, was brought to by Lieutenant Morris, the officer in command of the fort, and made to strike her colors. Captain Palmer complained to the authorities of the conduct of the commander of the fort as a flagrant insult both to his flag and country. They therefore ordered the commander of the fort before them, and in the presence of the master of the ship informed him that he had no author ity to do as he had done ; and he was ordered to make such atonement as Captain Palmer should demand. The captain was very lenient, only requiring an acknowledgment from the lieutenant of his error on board his ship, " that so all the ship's company might receive satisfac tion." This Lieutenant Morris submitted to, and all parties became quieted ; but within a few days another circumstance occurred respect ing the fort, with a different result. The mate of a ship, called tlie Hector, pronounced all the people traitors and rebels, because they had discarded the king's colors, and w,as brought before the court and made to acknowledge his offence, and sign a paper to that effect. These occurrences troubled the authorities lest reports should be carried to England that they bad rebelled,^ and that their contempt of the English flag was proof of the allegation. To counteract such representations, Mr. Vane, the governor, called together the captains ' A seafaring man, approaching in his ship, having noticed that the flag displayed was destitute of a cross, " spoke to some one on board the ship that we had not the king's colors, but were all traitors and rebels." — Smith's Hist. IVewiuryport. Flag of the United States. 181 of the ten ships then remaining, in harbor, and desired to know if they were offended at what had happened, and, if so, what they required in satisfaction. They frankly told him that if questioned on their return to England " what colors they saw here," a statement of the bare facts in relation to it might result to their disadvantage. Therefore they would recommend that the king's colors might be set up in the fort. The governor and his advisers arrived at the same conclusion, and directed to give warrant to spread the king's colors at Castle Island, when ships passed by. There being no king's colors to be found to display at the fort, the difficulty was met by two of the shipmasters offering to present a set; but so fearful were the authorities of tolerating a symbol of idolatry, they declined receiving the colors thus offered until they had takeii the advice of Mr. Cotton in regard to them. It was finally concluded that, although they were of the decided opinion that the cross in the ensign was idolatrous, and therefore ought not to be had in it, never theless, as the fort was the Mng's, and maintained in his name, his colors might be used there. In accordance with this opinion, the governor accepted the colors of Captain Palmer, sending him, in requital, three beaver-skins, and directed Mr. Dudley to give warrant to Lieutenant Morris, the commander of the fort, to spread the king's colors whenever ships were passing.^ This tempest in a tea-pot having been satisfactorily adjusted, the king's colors were continued at the castle, but were excluded from use elsewhere in the colony, through the religious prejudices of the people, and the fiag bearing the king's arms continued in use until the estab lishment of the Commonwealth. In 1638, the subject of forming a confederacy of the New England colonies was discussed ; but, owing to divers differences, the matter was delayed. Twenty-three years after the planting of Plymouth, in 1643, the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were united in a league called " TiiE United Colonies of Kew England." The de clared object was defence against the French, Dutch, and Swedes, and in all relations with foreigners the confederation acted, each colony managing its domestic affairs. This was the first union on this conti nent. The union was declared to be perpetual, and the will of six of the eight commissioners chosen (two for each colony) was to be bind ing on all. We do not, however, learn that any common flag was adopted until several years later (1686), when Governor Andros re ceived one from the king. In 1645, the people of Massachusetts, 1 See Winthrop's Journal, vol. 1. pp. 141, 154, 156 i vol. 11. p. 344. 182 Origin and Progress of the through its legislature, demanded that a negro brought from Africa should be surrendered and sent to his native country. In 1651, the English Parliament revived and adopted the old stand ard of the cross of St. George as the colors of England, and the Gen eral Court of Massachusetts ordered, " as the Court conceive the old Eng lish colors now used by the Parlia ment to be a necessary badge of distinction betwixt the English and other nations in all places of the world, till the state of England alter the same, which we very much desire, we, being of the same nation, have therefore ordered that the captain of the Castle shall advance the aforesaid colors of England upon all necessary occasions." In the ' New, England Historical and Genealogical Register' for 1871 there is an interesting account of a local company of cavalry raised in 1659, just before the restoration of Charles IL, by the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Middlesex, Mass., and hence called 'The Three County Troop,' which, according to the records, con- standard of the Three County Troop, lesa tinned in existence until 1677, and possibly longer. The annexed drawing of it^ standard, and bill of its cost, is from an entry in a herald painter's book of the time of Charles I., preserved in the British Museum. Worlie don for New England For painting in oyle on both sides a Oomett one rich crimson damask, with a hand and sword, and invelloped with a scarfe about the arms of gold, blacli and sillver [£2. 0. 6] For a plaine cornett Staffe, with belie, boote and swible at flrst penny 1. 0. 0 For sillce of crimson and sillver fring and for a Oornett String 1.11 For crimson damaslf 0 11. 0 £5. 2. 6 (NoTE.-^The flrst item, '£2. 0. 6,' is not given, but ia deduced from the adding. The term 'at flrst penny' may be the same as 'at first cost.') Flag of the United States. 183 The existence of this troop is clearly shown by the Massachusetts records of 1659-77, and there can be no doubt the drawing represents its standards. We may imagine it ordered from England before King Philip's war, and tiiat under its folds the best soldiers of the three counties took part in the contest. Two copies from the drawing agree in representing the inscription on the flag as " thre county trom," which is supposed to be a mistake, and that the flag really bore the words " Three Coimty Troop," the name of the company for which it was ordered. The Hon. Nathaniel Saltonstall, "late of Haverhill," one of the council for the. colonies, on the 31st of May, 1684, wrote to Captain Thomas Noyes, of Newbury, Mass., concern ing the colors of a company of foot com manded by the latter, as follows : — T_. ¦jSj^^^j^j^,!. _- - ,'j • j.^ " In ye Major General's letter, I have ordered S^W*^> -"-'¦•.'• •v-''^' J I ^^^° ^ require you, which I herein do, with ....J -*._.¦ ..t , 1 g^jj convenient speed, to provide a flight of colors for your foot company, ye ground fleld or flight (fly) whereof is to be green, with a red cross with a white fleld in y angle, according to the antient custom,s of our cum, EngUsh nation, and the English plantations in America, and our Colors of Captain Noyes « q^^^ practise in, our ships and other vessels. The number of bullets to be put into your colors for distinction may be left out at present without damage in the malcing of them. • " So faile not, " Your friend and servant, " N. SAMX)NSTAIi." ' The flag of New England, in 1686, under the administration of Sir Edmund Andros, as appears by a drawing of it in the British State Paper Office, was the cross of St. George, the king's colors of the time, borne on a white field occupying the whole flag, the centre of the cross emblazoned with a yellow or gilt crown over the cipher of the sovereign. King James I. The early colonial documents of New York have several mentions of flags in use in that colony in the latter half of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. Augustin Herman, Sept. 10, 1650, brought with him from Holland a flag for the burgher's corps of New Amsterdam; but Stuyvesant, I Coffin's History of Newbury, credited to Robert Adams's Manuscript. 184 Origin and Progress of the who, he wrote, was doing as he pleased, " would not allow it to be carried." The patroon and his codirectors of the " colonic of Rensselaerswyck " complained, Jan. 17, 1653, that " their flag had been hauled down in opposition to the will and protest of their officers." What that ob noxious flag was we have now no means of ascertaining; but the directors of the chamber of Amsterdam reply, "they are ignorant where the flag wag down." An English flag was displayed with considerable bravado, Jan. 11, 1664, by one John Schott, in sight of the astonished burghers of New Amsterdam. " Captain John Schott," says the record, " came to the ferry in the town of Breucklin [Brooklyn] with a troop of English men mounted on horseback, with great noise, marching with sounding trumpets," &c:, and hoisted the English flag; and, as soon as John Schott arrived, they uncovered their heads and spoke in English. Secretary Van Ruyven asked the captain to cross over, to which John Schott answered, " No ! Let Stuyvesant come over with a hundred soldiers. I shall wait for him here." In September of that year the red cross of St. George floated in triumph over the fort, and the name of ' New Amsterdam ' was changed to ' New York.' Early in October, 1664, New Netherland was ac knowledged a part of the British realm, and Colonel Richard Nicolls, its conqueror, became governor. The journal of a voyage to New York in 1679-80, by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, translated from the original Dutch manuscript and published by the Long Island Historical So ciety in 1867, has several fac-simile engravings from the original drawings. One of these, a curi ous picture of New York in 1679, has the union flag or king's colors flying over the fort, and an other, a view of New York from the north, has a rude drawing of a sloop sailing along with flags at the masthead, bowsprit end, and stern, all bear ing the St. George cross in a white canton. The same writers, under date Boston, Thursday, The King's Colors on the July 23, 1680, give US a precise description of the Fort at New York in 1679. r, ,^ ¦ .,,,, , flag then m use in that colony, by which it seems those colonists' objection to the cross as an idolatrous symbol, nearly half a century earlier, still existed. Our voyagers say : " New England is now described as extending from the Fresh [Connecticut] River to Cape Cod and thence to Kennebec, comprising three provinces or Flag of the United States. 185 St. George's Cross, 1679. colonies, — Fresh River, or Connecticut, Rhode Island and the other islands to Cape Cod, and Boston, which stretches from thence north. They are subject to no one, but ac-' knowledge the king of England for their honeer [probably heer, that is, lord, is intended], and therefore no ships enter unless they have English passports or commissions. Each province chooses its own gov ernor from the magistracy, and the magistrates are chosen from the principal inhabitants, merchants, or planters. They are all Independent in matters of religion, if it can be called religion; many of them perhaps more for the purpose of enjoying the beneflt of its privileges than for any regard to truth and godliness. I observed that while the English flag or color has a red ground with a small white field in the uppermost corner where there is a red cross, they have dispensed with this cross in their color, and preserved the rest." The diary gives a poor and perhaps prejudiced account of the morality of the community, which it would be out of place to copy here. Messrs. Brooke and Nicoll, Nov. 13, 1696, in a paper addressed to his Majesty's Commissions for Trade and Plantations, relating to the requisites for the defence of New York, ask to be furnished with " six large union flags, for his ma*^®^ several forts " in that colony ; and, Feb. 1, 1696-97, the lords of trade write Governor Fletcher, his Majesty has ordered, with other stores that had been asked for, " six union flags, which we doubt not the agents will accordingly take care to see shipt." It was soon seen that a special flag to designate the merchant ships of the colonies, and to distinguish them from the king's ships, was desirable; accordingly we find, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the following report issuing from the Admiralty office, with a drawing of the flag : — '•Admiralty Office, July 29, 1701. "Council Chambbe, Whiteiiali-, 31 July, 1701. " Their Excellencies the Lords Justices in Council. "Report of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty: — Merchant ships to wear no other Jaclc than that hereafter mentioned, viz. that womi by his Majesty's ships, with the distinction of a white escutcheon in the middle 186 Origin and Progress of the thereof, and that said marlt of distinction may extend itself to one-half the depth of the Jack, and one-third part of the fiy thereof, according to the sample [drawing] hereunto annexed. 0 (Signed) " Pembroke. Haveesham. I). Mitchell. " The Lords Justices in Council order that the Governours of liis Majesty's Plantations do oblige the Commanders of such merchant ships to which they grant Comimissions to wear no other Jaclv than according to what is proposed by said report: And the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plan tations are to write to the Governours of his Maj esty's Plantations, signifying to them respectively Flag ordered for thc Merchant Service in 1701. their Excellencies' pleasure herein, with notice that they have been further pleased to order the Lords Oommdsaioners of the Admiralty to give neces sary directions on their part obliging the said ships to comply with their Excellencies' pleasure in this matter. " John Povey. " A true copy: W. Poppm;." ' This flag was undoubtedly worn by the American colonial vessels for many years, though we have no more than official mention of it, and it is never depicted in the engravings of the time. All the pictures of New England flags from 1700 to 1750 show a red or blue ensign can toned white, with a red St. George's cross, and having a tree or globe in upper corner of the canton. Lieutenant-Governor John Nanfan writes from New York, Dec. 29, 1701, to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations: " Since my last to your Lordships of the 30th October, by Mr. Penn, I have the honor of your Lordships' letter of the 14th August, with their Ex cellencies the Lords Justices' order on the reading the report from the lords of the admiralty relating to a flag of distinction from his Majesty's ships of war to be worn by all ships that shall be commission- ated by the governors of his Majesty's Plantations, which I shall punc tually observe." J. Burchett writes to Mr. Popple from the admiralty office, April 19, 1708, that the Lords, &c., instruct Lord Lovelace, the governor of New York, " they have no objections to certain colors pro posed for privateers." Among the instructions furnished to Robert Hunter, governor of New York, dated Dec. 29, 1709, is the following: "Whereas great iThe originals of these papers are In the records at the Massachusetts Stat? House, Boston, vol. Ixii., Maritime Affairs, p. 390. Flag of the United States. 187 inconveniences do happen by merchant ships and other vessels in the plantations wearing colors borne by our ships of war, under pretence of commissions granted to them by the governors of the said planta tions, and that by trading under those colors not only amongst our own subjects but also those of other princes and states, and commit ting divers irregularities, they do very mnch dishonor our service, for prevention whereof you are to oblige the commanders of all such ships to which you shall grant commission to wear no other jack than accord ing to the sample here described; that is to say, such as is worn by our ships of war, with the distinction of a white escutcheon in the middle thereof, and that the said mark of distinction may extend itself one-half of the depth of the jack, and one-third of the fly thereof." ^ A similar order was included in the instructions of Ftancis Nichols, the flrst royal governor of South Carolina, in 1720, and was undoubt edly forwarded to the governors of the other colonies. The Lorda of Trade to the Duke of Newcastle, under date Aug. 20, 1741, forwarded instructions to the Hon. George Clinton, governor of New York, one of which orders colonial [war] vessels " to wear the same ensign as merchant ships, and a red jack,^ with the union jack in a canton at the upper corner next the staff." Govemor Clinton wrote the Duke of Bedford from New York, June 17, 1750, that the Greyhound man-of-war had fired on a vessel with an intention of bringing her to, " she having a Birdgee flag hoisted ; " a shot struck a young woman, Elizabeth Stibben by name, in the vessel, so that she expired a few hours afterward. The vessel belonged to " Colonel Richetts, of the Jerseys, a hot-headed, rash young man, who declared before he put off from the wharf he would wear that pendant in defiance of the man-of-war." This affair caused no little excitement, and was the occasion of considerable correspondence between the gov ernor, the commander of the Greyhound, and the magistrates, &c. The cross of St. George, from its establishment, in 1651, by the Commonwealth of England, continued in general use in the American colonies with occasional variations throughout the seventeenth cen tury, and until the union flag of James I., devised for his English and Scotch subjects in 1606, was prescribed by act of Parliament for general use throughout the British dominions in 1707.^ 1 Instructions to Governor Hunter, New York Colonial History, vol. v., p. 137. ' See Account of Landing of British Troops at Boston, 1768. ' The proverb, " Those that live In glass houses should not throw stones," is said to have originated at the union of England and Scotland in 1606. Great numbers of 188 Origin and Progress of the A crimson flag, the jack of which was a red St. George cross on a white field, was the ensign most generally in use in New England. Sometimes a tree, at other times a hemisphere, was represented in the upper canton next the staff formed by the cross, and occasionally the fly or field of the flag was blue. In a little book, something of the character of the Gotha Almanac, entitled ' The Present State of the Universe,' by John Beaumont, Jr., printed at London by Benjamin Motte, 1704, there is a picture of a New England ensign, with a tree, like the one above described. An other book, entitled ' A General Treatise of the Dominion and Laws of the Sea,' &c., by Alexander Justice, Gent., printed at London for S. & J. Sprint and J. Nicholson & Rd. Smith, 1705, has a folding plate of national flags, among which there is a New England ensign of the same character, a tracing of which is annexed. This plate calls the T-l J iBiniiiiiiiiaiini ¦Jiiiniin Bnglish Ensign. £ast India Company. Scotch Ensign. ULi Scotch Union Flag. Irish Ensign. New England Ensign. From a Plate of National Flags in the ' Dominion ofthe Sea,' 1705. English red ensign ' the Budge flag,' the meaning of which is not obvious; perhaps a burgee flag. Another- work, published in 1701, has a representation of this New England ensign; and in yet another work there is a representation of Scotsmen flocked to London. Buckingham hated the Scotch bitterly, and encouraged marauders to break the windows occupied by them. Some of the sufferers retaliated by breaking the windows of the Duke's house, which had so many, it was caUed •the glass house.' The Duke of Buckingham complained to- the king, and the mon arch replied, "Ah, Steenie ! Steenie ! those wha live in glass housen should be carefu' how they fling stanes !" Flag of the United States. 189 the fiag of the New England colonies, having a dark blue field, with a red St. George qtoss on a white canton, while in the place of the tree a half globe is represented. Lossing, in his ' Field-Book of the American Revolution,' gives a picture of a New England flag, with the tree, copied from an old Dutch work representing the flags of all nations, which is preserved in the library of the New York Historical Society. I have a French work on flags, published in a La Haye, 1737, which describes a Pavilion de Nouvelle Angleterre en Amerique, " as azure, on a canton argent, quartered with the red cross of St. George, hav ing a globe in the first quarter," in allusion to America, commonly called thc ' New World.' The illustration is a fac-simile, reduced in si'/.e, of one in this book.^ The earliest notice of a New Eng land flag emblematic of the union of more than one colony I- have found is that of 1686, heretofore described.^ The departure from the authorized English flag, and assuming standards Nouv£i.i,EANG.i,ETii3iEE«AyxEsiqtrE of their own, evinces a ieelmg ot m- 173'- dependence among the colonies, while the absence of a desire for separation is evident in the allegiance im plied by representing on them the colors of England, or, when from tenderness of conscience they were left out, the substitution of the arms of the king. A green tree was the favorite emblem of Massachusetts, and ap peared on the coins of that colony as early as 1652. By an order of the General Court in that year, a mint was estab lished, and it was ordered that all pieces of money should have a double ring, with this inscription, " Massachusetts," and a tree in the centre on one side, and " New England " and the year of our Lord on the other. This was strictly adhered to by the mint-master, and for thirty years all the coins now known as pine-tree shillings, six pences, &c., bore the date 1652. The rudeness of the impressions on these early coins may render it uncertain whether a pine-tree was I La Connolssance des Pavilions ou BanniSres que Ui plupart des Nations arborent en Mer, &c. A La Haye, chez Jaques Van den Kleboom. 1737. " See ante, p. 183. 190 Origin and Progress of the intended to be represented, or some other tree, though at length it received the name of one of the commonest 'tribes^of trees in New England. Mr. Dtake, in his ' History of Boston,' says, the tree on the New England flag, of which he gives an illustration, "no more resembles a pine-tree than a cabbage." The following 'story con firms the idea that a pine-tree may not have been the original design : — ¦ When Charles II. learned the colonies' assumption of one of his pre rogatives to coin money, he was very angry; his wrath was, however, appeased by Sir Charles Temple, a friend of the colony, who told him they thought it no crime to coin money for their own use; and, taking some of the money from his pocket, handed it to the king, who asked him what tree that was upon it. " That," replied Sir Charles, " is the royal oak which preserved your Majesty's life." His remark put the king in a good humor, and he heard what Sir Charles had to say in their favor, calling them " a parcel of honest dogs." ^ This New England flag was undoubtedly the earliest symbol of a union of the colonies, and it probably went out of use after the adop tion of the union flag of King James, by the act of Parliament in 1707, for all the subjects of the British realm. That flag, with the addition of a white shield at the union of the crosses, was ordered (see ante), in 1701, to be worn by all merchant vessels commissioned by the colonial authorities of New England and New York, and, in 1720, by the merchant vessels of South Carolina; and the order was doubtless extended to all the American colonies. On Will Burgess's map of Boston, engraved in 1728, there are pic tured four ships at anchor and a sloop under sail, all wearing ensigns bearing the union jack of King James on a staff at the stern. One of the ships is dressed with flags, and flring a salute ; another flies a long coach-whip pennant at her "main. Sir William Pepperrell, commander of the expedition against Louisbourg, in 1745, furnished the motto for the expeditionary flag; viz., "Nil desperandum, Christo duce," — "Never despair, Christ leads us," — ^whieh g'^ve the enterprise the air of a crusade. Among those engaged against Louisbourg was William Vaughan, a graduate of Harvard University, holding the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel. He conducted the first column through the woods, within sight of the city, and saluted it with three cheers. He headed a detachment con sisting chiefly of New Hampshire troops, and marched to the northeast 1 Curwin's Journal. Valentine's New York Manual, 1863, contains an account of the flags which have waved over New York City, from a memoir prepared by Doct. A. K. Gardner, for the New York Historical Society. Flag of the United States. 191 part of the harbor in the night, where they burned the warehouses containing the naval stores, and staved a large quantity of wine and brandy. The smoke of this fire, being driven by the wind into the grand bat tery, so terrified the French that they abandoned it, and retired to the city, having spiked the guns and cut the halyards of the flag-staff. The next morning. May 2, 1745, as Vaughan was returning with thir teen men only, he crept up the hill which overlooked the battery, and observed that the chimneys of the barrack were without smoke and the staff without a flag. With a bottle of brandy which he had in his pocket he hired one of his party, an Indian, to crawl in at an em brasure and open the gate. He then wrote to the general : " May it please your honor to be informed that, by the grace of God and the courage of thirteen men, I entered the royal battery about nine o'clock, and am awaiting for a reinforcement and a flag." Before either could arrive, one of the men climbed up the staff with a red coat in his teeth, which he fastened by a nail to the top. This piece of trium phant vanity alarmed the city, and immediately an hundred men were despatched in boats to retake the battery. But Vaughan, with his small party on the naked banlc and in the face of a smart fire from the city and the boats, kept them from landing till reinforcements arrived.^ The name of the man who hoisted this impromptu flag with such rash daring is given in an obituary notice containing the following exaggerated version of his feat, printed in the ' Boston Gazette ' of June 3, 1771 : " Medford, May 25, 1771. This day died here Mr. William Tufts, Jr., aged about 44 years. . . . When about 18 years of age he enlisted a volunteer into the service of his king and country in the expedition against Cape Britain [Breton], under the command of Lieut.-General Pepperrell, in the year 1745, where he signalized his courage in a remarkable manner at the Island Battery, when an unsuc cessful attem;pt was made by a detachment from the army to take it by storm. He got into the battery, notwithstanding the heavy flre of the French artillery and small arms, climbed up the flag-staff, struck the French colors, pulled off his red great-coat, and hoisted it on the staff as English colors, all which time there was a continued fire at him from the small arms of the French, and got down untouched, tho' many bullets went thro' his trowsers and cloathes." ^ • Belknap's History of New Hampshire. ' J. L. gilbley, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1871. 192 Origin and Progress of the Govemor Thomas Pownall, in his Journal of ' A Voyage from Bos ton to Penobscot River,' May, 1759, mentions calling the Indians together and giving them a union flag, probably the union jack with a red field or flag, for their protection and passport. He also furnished them with a red*and also a white flag, as emblems of war and amity. Afterwards, he mentions hoisting the king's colors on a flag-staff at Fort Point, with the usual ceremonies, and saluting them.^ On the 21st of August, 1760, an engagement took place between the English under Lord Amherst and the French forces under Pou- chet, which resulted in the capture of Fort Levis on the St. Lawrence, a little below the present city of Ogdensburg, N. Y. During this en gagement the English vessel Seneca, of 22 guns and 350 men, grounded, and was compelled to strike her flag. There were two other vessels — the Ontaonaise and Oneida — on the English side. " One thing," says Pouchet, " which amused the garrison at the most serious moments of the battle was that the Indians, who were perched upon the trenches and batteries, to watch the contest with the vessels, which they regarded on their side on account of the names that had been given them, made furious cries at seeing them so maltreated, because they carried an Indian painted upon their flags." ^ FLAGS OF THE PRB-REVOLUTIONARY AND REVO LUTIONARY PERIODS. 1766-1777. In contemporary newspapers for ten years preceding the commence ment of our revolutionary struggle, liberty poles, trees, and flags of various devices are frequently mentioned. On the 9th of January, 1766, the people of Portsmouth, N. H., de manded from Governor Meserve, agent for the distribution of stamps in New Hampshire, his commission and instructions, and, notwith standing his resignation, required him to talte oath that he would not directly or indirectly attempt to execute the office. They afterwards marched through the streets, carrying the commission in triumph on the point of a sword, and bearing aloft a flag on which was inscribed " Liberty, Property and no Stamps ; " and, to perpetuate the mem orable event, they erected this standard at Swing Bridge, which thence forth was called " Liberty Bridge.' ' Maine Historical Collections, vol. v. " L. B. Hough's Trans. Pouchet's Memoirs, vol. 11. p. 32. FLAGS OF 1775-77 mm mm LIBERTY & UNION 3 ¦iTi»tai:J«JiHt» LIBERTY,.(^fc0R DEATH DONT TREAD ON ME LIBERTY TREE AN APPEAI«"««»>-TO GOD AN APPEAL TO GOD DONT TREAD ON ME Flag of the United States. 193 When the Stamp Act reached Boston, intense excitement ensued, and it was denounced as a violation of the British Constitution, and as destructive of the first principles of liberty; a coffin was prepared, inscribed "Liberty, born at Plymouth, in 1620; died, 1765, aged 145 years ; " an oration was delivered at the grave, a long procession having followed, with minute guns firing ; but, just as the oration was con cluded, the figure of Liberty showed symptoms of returning life, whereupon " Liberty revived " was substituted on the coffin, amid the joyful ringing of bells. The obnoxious Stamp Act was passed March 22, 1765, but did not go into effect until November. It was such a source of disaffection, rebellious utterances and acts, that it was repealed the 18th of March, 1766, after having been in operation only four months. When the glad tidings reached America, the colonists saw in its repeal a promise of justice for the future, and went into frenzies of rapture. They had celebrations and bonfires, and were ready to purchase all the goods England had to sell. At New York, they put up a liberty pole in The Fields, with a splendid fiag, inscribed " The King, Pitt, and Lib erty." They ordered a statue of Pitt, who had insisted on the repeal, for Wall Street, and another for George IIL, for the Bowling Green. The repeal of the obnoxious act was soon found to be only a snare of their rulers, under cover of which advantage was taken of their {rateful mood to wring concessions. Citizens were seized by the Brit- sh men-of-war in the harbor, and pressed to serve in the crews. Fresh taxes were levied. The soldiers openly insulted the people, and in a few weeks cut down their liberty pole. The angry but patient people raised a new pole, still with the loyal motto. The next spring the soldiers cut it down again. Next day came the Sons of Liberty, a society grown up with the peril of the times, composed of brave, loyal, and intelligent men, and set down a new pole sheathed with iron around its base, — still with the old loyal motto : " To his most gra cious Majesty George IIL, Mr. Pitt, and liberty." For almost three years this stanch liberty pole stood, though the soldiers attacked it once or twice. Finally, one January day in 1770, a squad of red coats mustered at its base, and the gallant pole came down. The Liberty Boys were ready with another pole, but the timid corporation forbade them to raise it on public ground. So the liberty Boys bought a strip of private ground close by the old stand, eleven feet wide and a hundred feet deep; and from the ship-yard, where it had been formed, they escorted their new mast, six horses, gay with ribbons, 13 194 Origin and Progress of the drawing it, a full band going before, and three fiags fiying free, in scribed " Liberty and Property." ^ They took the mast to the field, and dug a hole twelve feet deep, in which they stepped the liberty pole, after girding it with iron two-thirds of its length from the ground, defying the red-coats to cut it down. On it they shipped a topmast twenty-two feet long, on whicli was inscribed the word Liberty. This pole the British cut down in 1776. At Charleston, S. C, under a wide-spreading live oak-tree a little north of the residence of Christopher Gadsden, within the square now bounded) by Charlotte, Washington, Brundy, and Alexander Streets, the patriots of 1765 were accustomed to assemble to dis cuss the political questions of the day; and from this circumstance, that oak, like the great elm in Boston, obtained the name of ' liberty tree,' and it is claimed, and generally believed in South Carolina, that under it Gadsden, as early as 1764, first spoke of American independ ence. In 1765, when the stamp paper reached Charleston, it was deposited at Fort Johnson. A volunteer force took the fort and cap tured the paper. Whilst they held the fort, they displayed a flag showing a blue field with three white crescents, which seems to have been improvised by the volunteers, of whom there were three com panies. Underneath it, on the 8tli of August, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed to the people. In 1766, the Sons of Liberty met under it, and with linked hands pledged themselves to resist, when the hour for resistance came. Its history and asso ciations were hateful to the officers of the crown, and after the city surrendered, in 1780, Sir Henry Clinton ordered it cut down, and a fire was lighted over the stump by piling its branches around it. Many cane-heads were made from its stump in after years, and a part of it was sawed into thin boards, and made into a neat ballot- box and presented to the '76 Association. The box was destroyed by fire, at the room of the association, during the great confia- gration of 1838.2 The old liberty tree in Boston was the largest of a grove of beautiful elms that stood in Hanover Square, at the corner of Orange (now Washington) and Essex Streets, opposite the present Boylston Market. The exact site is marked by a building, 1 Valentine's Manual of the City Councils of New Yorlc. 2 Lossing. Flag of the United States. 195 erected by the late Hon. David Sears, in whose front is a bass-relief of the tree, with an appropriate inscription.'^ It received the name of ' liberty tree ' from the association called the ' Sons of Liberty ' holding their meetings under it during the summer of 1765. The ground under it was called ' liberty hall.' A pole fastened to its trunk rose far above its branching top, and when a red flag was thrown to - the breeze, the signal was understood by the people. Plere the Sons of Liberty held many a notable meeting, and placards and banners were often suspended from the limbs or affixed to the body of the tree, and the following inscription was placed upon it : " This tree was planted in the yeaj 1614, and pruned, by order of the Sons of Liberty, Feb. 14, 1766." - Nov. 20, 1767, the day on which the new revenue law went into effect, there was a seditious handbill posted on it. It contained an exhortation to the Sons of Liberty to rise on that day and fight for their rights, stating, that if they assembled, they would be joined by legions ; that if they neglected this opportunity, they would be cursed by all posterity. In June, 1768, a red flag was hoisted over it, and a paper posted upon it inviting the people to rise and clear the country of the commissioners and their officers. In 1768, Paul Revere published a view of a part of the town of Boston, in New England, and British ships of war landing their troops, Friday, Sept. 30, 1768. All the ships in front of the town, viz. the Beaver, Donegal, Martin, Glasgow, Mermaid, Romney, Launceston, and Bonetta, with several smaller vessels, carry the English red union ensign of the time on a staff at the stern, a union jack on the bowsprit, and a red pennant with a union at the main, except the Glasgow, which has a red broad pen nant at her main. The Glasgow, seven years later, played an impor tant part at the' battle of Bunker's Hill. The troops are landed and being landed on Long AVharf, and have two pairs of colors, one of each pair is the ordinary union jack, the other a red flag with a union jack in the centre of it. This is probably the red union jack elsewhere mentioned.' July 3l, 1769, on Governor Bernard's being ordered to England, the general joy was manifested by congratulations among the people, salutes from Hancock's wharf, the union flag flying above the liberty tree, and bonfires on the hills. The flag was kept flying for several 1 The illustration represents the hass-relief . " Tudor's Life of Otis. " A fac-simile of this engraving was printed by the publisher of the ' Little Corpo ral, ' Chicago, 111., in 1870. An engraving of Boston, by WUliam Price, dedicated to Peter Faneull, and probably of earlier date, as Faneull died in 1742, represents numerous ships wearing the English union ensign, while ther union flag or king's colors fly over the forts. 196 Origin and Progress of the days. The anniversary of the uprising against the Stamp Act, Aug. 14, 1773, was celebrated with great spirit, and a ' union flag ' floated over the tent in which the company had their entertainment. Nov. 3, 1773, a large flag was raised above the liberty tree, and the town-crier summoned the people to assemble. The destruction of the tea followed this meeting. In the winter of 1775-76, the British soldiers cut down this noble tree, which from these associations had become odious to them. It furnished fourteen cords of wood, and probably went to ashes in the stove set up in the Old South Meeting-house, when the soldiers occupied that building for a riding-school, and kindled fires with books and pamphlets from Prince's valuable library, the remnant of which is now preserved in the Boston Public Library. The destruc tion of the liberty tree was bitterly resented. The ' New England Chronicle,' reporting' the act, says : " The ene mies of liberty and America, headed by Tom Gage, lately gave a notable specimen of their hatred to the very name of liberty. A party, of whom was one Job Williams, was the ringleader, a few days since repaired to a tree at the south end of Boston, known by the name of ' Liberty Tree,' and, armed with axes, &c., made a furious at tack upon it. After a long spell of groaning, swearing, and foaming, with malice diabolical they cut down a tree because it bore the name of ' Liberty.' " ^ At Taunton, Mass., in October, 1774, a 'union flag' was raised on the top of a liberty pole, with the words ' Liberty and Union ' thereon. In January, 1775, the sleds containing wood for the inhabitants of Boston bore a ' union flag.' The colonists had long been familiar with union flags ; they now began to associate liberty with them. March 21, 1775, the friends of liberty at Poughlceepsie, N. Y., erected a flag bearing on one side " The King," and on the other " The Congress and Liberty," which was cut down By the authori ties as a public nuisance.^ In the earliest days of the Revolution each State seems to have set up its own particular banner. There were probably no colors worn by the handful of Americans hastily called together at the battle of Lexington or at Bunker's Hill, but immediately after, the Connecticut troops had standards, bearing on them the arms of that colony, with the motto, " Qui transtulit sustinet," in letters of gold, which was freely translated " God, who transported us hither, will support us." In April, 1775, six regiments were ordered by the General Assembly of 'The New England Chronicle for August 24-31, 1775. •Holt's Journal, April 6, 1775. '' Flag of the United States. 197 Connecticut to be raised for the defence of the colony. In May, stand ards were ordered for these regiments. For the 1st, the color was to be yellow; for the 2d, btu^e; for the 3d, scarlet; for the 4th, crimson; for the 5th, white; for the 6th, azure. In July, 1775, two additional regi ments were ordered, and the colors for these were, for the 7th, blue; for the 8th, orange. These regiments were enlisted for a few months only, and were not in the field at the formation of the Connecticut line, in 1777. There is now deposited with the Connecticut Historical Society an old red silk fiag, about a yard square, on which is a tracing of the arms of Connecticut, in a darker red paint, and over them, in gilt letters, this inscription: — II BAT II. REGT. CONNECTICUT. Raised 1640 This flag was presented to the State by the Hon. John Mix, who was an ensign, and adjutant of the 2d regiment of the line in 1777, and is supposed to be of that or earlier date. The " Raised 1640 " is supposed to allude to the great English rebellion, as a presage of what might be hoped for in the rebellion just begun.^ In March, 1775, a union flag with a red field, having on one side this inscription, " Geo. Rex and the Liberties of America," and on the other " No Popery," was hoisted at New York. The armed ships of New York of that time are said to have had a black beaver for their device on their flag. This was the device of the colonial seal of New Netherland, and is still seen on the seal of the city of New York. No description of the union flags of these times has been preserved. Aged people, living a few years since, who well remembered the processions and the great flags, could not recall their devices, nor has any particular description of them been found in the contemporaneous private diaries or public news papers; nevertheless, it is more than probable, and almost certain, that these flags were the familiar flags of the English and Scotch union, established in 1707, and long known as union flags, inscribed with various popular and patriotic mottoes. The Historical Chronicle of the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' under date April 17, 1775, records " by a ship just arrived at Bristol from 1 Connecticut Quartermaster-General's Report, 1839 ; Hartford Courant, 1839 ; Army and Navy Chronicle, 1839 ; Letters of C. .1. Hoadley to G. H. P., 1873. Colonial Seal of New Netherland. 198 Origin and Progress of the America, it is reported that the Americans have hoisted their standard of liberty at Salem." Neither contemporary accounts nor the recollections of old soldiers are satisfactory respecting the flags used by the continentals at the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775. The British used the following signals : " Signals for boats in divisions, moving to the attack on the rebels on the Heights of Charleston, June 17, 1775 ; viz., 1. Blue flag, to advance. Yellow ditto, to lay on oars. Red ditto, to land." ^ It is not positively ascertained that any were used by the Americans; certainly, none were captured from them by the British. A eulogy on Warren, however, written soon after the battle, de scribing the astonishment of the British on the morning of the battie, says : — " Oolumbia's troops are seen in dread array. And waving streamers in tlie air display." It is to be regretted that the poet has not described these fanciful waving streamers ; probably, says another writer, but without sta,ting his authority, " they were as various as the troops were motley." At a patriotic celebration in 1825, a flag was borne which was said to have been unfurled at Bunker Hill ; and tradition states that one was hoisted at the redoubt, and that Gage and his officers were puzzled to read by their glasses its motto. A whig told them it was " Come, if you dare." Trumbull, in his celebrated picture of the battle, now in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington, has represented a red flag having a white canton and red cross and a green pine-tree.^ 1 Orderly Book of Major-General Howe. 2 This cannot be considered authoi-itative. Painters frequently take a poet's license, and are not always particular in the accuracy of the accessories of their paintings. Thus Leutze, in his ' Washington crossing the Delaware,' Dec. 25, 1776, conspicuously displays the American flag with the blue fleld and union of white stars, although the flag had no existence before the 14th of .Tune, 1777, and was not published until September, 1777. Yet this inaccurate historical tableau has been selected to embellish the face of the fifty-dollar notes of our national banks. In Powell's ' Battle of Lake Erie,' at the Capitol, the flag in Perry's boat has only thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, although flfteen of each had been the legal num ber for twenty years, or since 1794. The gold medal awarded to General Daniel Morgan for the ' Battle of Cowpens,' which occurred Jan. 17, 1781, has on its reverse a mounted ofBcer at the head of his troops charging a flying foe, while behind and over the officer are two large and prominent banners simply striped with thirteen stripes, alternate red and white with out the stars, though the stars had been for more than three years blazoned oil the American ensigns. The medal was probably struck in France. Bacon, in his picture of the ' Boston Boys and General Gage,' hangs out over the porch of the Province House an English ensign showing the union jack of 1801, adopted a quarter ot a century later than the scene represented. But this is Flag of the United States. 199 In a manuscript plan of the battle, colors are represented in the centre of each British regiment. Botta ^ says that Doctor Warren, finding the corps he commanded pursued by the enemy, despising all danger, stood alone before the ranks, endeavoring to rally his men and to encourage them by his- example. He reminded them of the motto inscribed on their ensigns, on the one side of which were these words, " An appeal to Heaven," and on the other, " Qui transtulit sustinet," meaning that the same Providence which brought their ancestors through so many perils to a place of refuge would also deign to support their descendants. Mrs. Manning, an intelligent old lady, informed Mr. Lossing ^ that her father, who was in the battle, assisted in hoisting the standard, and she had heard him speak of it as a noble flag; the ground of which was blue, with one corner quartered by the red cross of St. George, in one section of which was a pine-tree. Washington arrived in Cambridge, Sun day, July 2, accompanied by Major-Gen eral Charles Luce, and the ' New England Chronicle ' says : — " None of the men who have been raised by this and several other colonies are in future to be distinguished as the troops of any particular colony, but as the forces of " The United Colonies of North America," into whose joint service they have been taken by the Continental Congress, and are to be paid and supported accordingly." ^ On the 18th of July, a month after the battle of Bunker's Hill, Major-General Putnam assembled his division on the height of Pros pect Hill, to have read to it the manifesto of Congress, signed by John Hancock, its president, and. countersigned by Charles Thom son, secretary. The reading was followed by a prayer suited to the occasion, and at the close of the prayer, at signal from the general, the troops cried ' Amen,' and at the same instant the artillery of the fort thundered a general salute, and the scarlet standard of the Third Connecticut Regiment recently sent to General Putnam, bearing on Bunker Hill Flag, excusable, since, in a fresco on the walls of the new Houses of Parliament or Palace of Westminster, the artist represents Charles II. landing under this union jack of 1801, which has the. saltire gules for Ireland. ^ History of American Revolution. ''Field-Book of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 541. ' The New England Chronicle, and the Essex Gazette, from Thursday, June 29, to Thursday, July 6, 1775. An engraving by Paul Revere, showing the flags in use in Boston dining the British occupation in 1775. NbTE. - This is a tac-simile of the illustrated heading of a certificate that the bearer was enlisted as a " Montross," at His Majesty's North Battery. A similar certificate, with an engraving of the South Battery, at Fort Hill, was given .to those enlisted at that battery. \ Flag of the United States. 201 the one side the Connecticut motto, " Qui transtulit su-ylinei," and on the other the recognized motto of Massachusetts, " An appeal to Heaven," were unfurled. The same ceremony was observed in the other divisions.^ Lieutenant Paul Lunt, in his Diary, which has been printed, says : " May 10, 1775, marched from Newburyport Avith sixty men, Captain Ezra Lunt, commander, and May 12, at 11 o'clock, arrived at Cam bridge. . . . June 16, our men went to Charlestown and entrenched on a hill beyond Bunker's Hill. T . . June 17, the regulars landed a num ber of troops, and we engaged them. They drove us off the hill and burned Charlestown. July 2, General Washington came into the camp. . . . July 18th. This morning a manifesto from the grand Conti nental Congress was read by the Rev. Mr. Leonard, chaplain of the Connecticut forces upon Prospect Hill in Charlestown. Our standard was presented in the midst of the regiments, with this inscription upon it, " Appeal to Heaven," after which Mr. Leonard made a short prayer, and then we were dismissed, by the discharge of a cannon, three cheers, and a war-whoop by the Indians." The 'New England Chronicle' for July 21, 1775, says: "Cam bridge, July 21. On Tuesday morning the standard lately sent to General Putnam was exhibited flourishing in the air, bearing on one side this motto, ' An appeal to Heaven,' and on the other, ' Qui TiiANSTiTLiT SUSTINET.' The whole was conducted with the utmost decency, good order, and regularity, and to the universal acceptance of all present. And the Philistines on Bunker's Hill heard the shout of the Israelites, and, be ing very fearful, paraded themselves in battle array." June 19, 1775, two days after the battle of Bunker Hill, and before the news had reached Georgia, there was a meeting of a committee of the leading men of Savannah to enforce the requirements of the American Association. After the meeting, a dinner was had at Ton- dee's tavern, where a 'union flag' was hoisted upon a liberty pole, and two pieces of artillery The Pine Tree Flag .^^^ under 'it. From a map published In r- . Paris, 1776. Aug. 1, 1775, there was raised at Prospect Hill, Charlestown, for a flag-staff, a mast seventy-six feet high, which came out of a schooner that was burnt at Chelsea. ' Bancroft's History of the United States ; Frothlngham's Siege of Boston ; I. J. Greenwood. 202 Origin and Progress of the In September, 1775, Arnold made his famous expedition through Maine to Canada, and, when drifting down the gentle current of the Dead River, came suddenly in sight of a lofty mountain covered with snow, at the foot of which he encamped three days, raising the conti nental flag over his tent. What its color was, or the devices upon it, we have no means of ascertaining. The mountain is now known as ' Mount Bigelow,' — tradition asserting that Major Bigelow, of Arnold's little army, ascended to its sumniit, hoping to see the spires of Quebec. During September, 1775, two strong floating batteries were, launched on the Charles River, and opened a fire, in October, .upon Boston, that caused great alarm and damaged several houses. They appear to have been scows made of strong planks, pierced near the water-line for oars, and along the sides higher up for light, and musketry. A heavy gun was placed at each end, and upon the top were four swivels. American Floating Battery, used at Their eusigu was a pine-tree flag.^ The six the Siege of Boston. schooners first Commissioned by Washing- From an English Manu.,cript. ^^^ ^.^^ y^g jfjj.^^ .^.gggg^g Commissioned by the United Colonies sailed under the pine-tree flag.^ Colonel Reed, in a ^ Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution. '' Captain John Selman and Nicholas Broughton were commissioned by General Washington (according to the statement of Selman to Elhridge Gerry), in the fall of 1775, both living at Marblehead. " The latter as commodore of two small schooners, one the Lynch, mounting sir 4-pounders and ten swivels, and manned by seventy seamen, and the other the Fi-anklin, of less force, having sixty-flve. The commodore hoisted his broad pendant on board thc Lynch, and Selman commanded the latter. " These vessels were ordered to the river St. Lawrence, to intercept an ammu nition vessel bound to Quebec, biit missing her, they took ten other vessels, and Governor Wright, of St. John's, all of which were released, as we had waged a ministerial war, and not one against our most gracious sovereign." — Letter of E. Ocrry to John Adams, dated Feb. 9, 1813. The form of commission issued by General Washington to the officers of the vessels fitted out by him, under authority of the Continental Congress, and the officers so commissioned, were as follows : — By his Excellency Geokge Washinoton, Esq., Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United Colonies. To William Buekb, Esq. By virtue of the powers and authorities to me given by the honorable Continental Congress, I do hereby constitute and appoint you captain and commander of the schooner Warren, now lying at Beverly port, in the service of the United Colonies of North America, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said office of captain and com mander of the said vessel, and to perform and execute all matters and things which to your said office do, or may of right belong or appertain, until further order shall be given herein by the honorable Continental Congress, myself, or any future com- mander-in-ehief of said army, willing and commanding all officers, soldiers, and per- Flag of the United States. 203 letter from Cambridge to Colonels Glover and Moylan, under date Oct. 30, 1775, says : " Please fix upon some particular color for a flag, and a signal by which our vessels may know one another. What do you think of a flag with a white ground and a tree in the middle, the motto, ' An APPEAL TO Heaven,' — this is the flag of our floating batteries." Colonels Moylan and Glover replied the next day, that, as Broughton and Selman, who had sailed that morning, had none but their old colors (probably the old English union ensign), they had appointed as the signal by which they could be known to their friends the ensign at the main topping lift. In January, the Franklin was wearing the pine-tree flag.^ The suggestion of Colonel Reed seems to have been soon adopted. The ' London Chronicle,' for January, 1776, describing the flag of a captured cruiser, says : " There is in the admiralty office the flag of a provincial privateer. The field is white bunting. On the middle is a green pine-tree, and upon the opposite side is the motto, ' An appeal to Heaven.' " April, 1776, the Massachusetts council passed a series sons whatsoever any way concerned, to be obedient and assisting to you in the due execution of this commission. Given under my hand and seal, at Cambridge, this 1st day of February, Annoque Domini, 1776. Geoege Washington. By His Excellency's command. To Captain William Buhkb, of the Warren. Opcers of the Armed Vessels fitted out b;/ Order of General Washington, on the 1st day of February, 1776. Hancock. . . John Manley Captain and Com . 1 January, 1776. Richard Stiles . . 1st Lieutenant . . . 1 January, 1776. Nicholas Ogllby . . 2d Lieutenant . . 1 .January, 1776 Lee . . . Daniel Waters . Captain . . . 20 January, 1777. William Kissick . . 1st Lieutenant . . 20 January. 1776. John Gill . . 2d Lieutenant . . 20 January, 1776. John Desmond . Master . . . . 20 Janiiary, 1776. Franklin . . Samuel Tucker . . Captain . . 20 January, 1776. Edward Phlttlpl ace . 1st Lieutenant . . . 20 January, 1776. Francis Salter . 2d Lieutenant . . 20 January, 1776. Harrison . . Charles Dyar . . Captain . . 20 January, 1776. Thomas Dote . . . 1st Lieutenant . . 23 January, 1776 John Wlggleswc rth . 2d Lieutenant . . 20 January, 1776 Lynch . . John Ayres . . . Captain 20 January, 1776 John Roche . . .1st Lieutenant . . . 20 January, 1776 John Tiley . . . 2d Lieutenant . . 20 January, 1776 Warren . . . . WUliam Burke . . . Captain . 1 February , 1776 Ame rican Archives, 4th serie s, vol. i". pp. fion, 510. 1 See next page. 204 Origin and Progress of the of resolutions for the regulation of the sea service, among which was the following: — " Resolved, That the uniform of the officers be green and white, and that they furnish themselves accordingly; and that the colors be a white flag^ with a green pine-tree, and the inscription, ' An appeal to Heaven.' " According to the Eng'lish newspapers, privateers, throughout this year, wearing a flag of this description were captured and carried Into British ports. " Jan. 6, 1776, the Tartar, Captain Meadows, arrived at Portsmouth, England, from Boston, with over seventy men, the crew of an American privateer that mounted ten guns, taken by the Powry, man-of-war. Captain Meadows likewise brought her colors, which are a pale green palm-tree upon a white field, with this motto, ' We appeal to Heaven.' " She was taken on the Massachusetts coast cruising for transports, and was sent out by the council of that province. Commodore Samuel Tucker, writing to the Hon. John Holmes, March 6, 1818,^ says : " The first cruise I made was in January, 1776, in the schooner Pranklin, of seventy tons, equipped by order of Gen eral Washington, and I had to purchase the small arms to encounter the enemy with money from my own pocket, or go without; and my \vife made the banner I fought under, the field of which wa« white, and the union green, made therein in the figure of a pine-tree, made of cloth of her own purchasing, at her own expense." Under these colors he captured the ship George and brig Ara bella, transports, having on board about two hundred and eighty Highland troops of General Eraser's corps. " Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 10, 1776, on Sunda.y, arrived from oif Boston a privateer brig, called the Yankee Hero, Captain Tracy. She was talcen by the Milford frigate, 38 guns. Captain Burr, after an obstinate engagement, in which the captain of the privateer received a ball through his thigh, soon after which she struck. She is a fine vessel, and mounts twelve carriage guns and six swivels. Her colors were a pine-tree on a white field." Instances of the use of this pine-tree flag, from October, 1775, to July, 1776, could be multiplied. In the museum collected in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, in 1876, was exhibited a green silk military flag, said to have belonged to a Newburyport company during the Revolution. The flag has a white canton, on which is painted a green pine-tree in a blue field, surrounded by a chain circle of thirteen links, each link grasped by a mailed hand coming out of a cloud. " Shepard's Life of Commodore Tucker. Flag of the United States. 205 In the same museum was a regimental flag of yellow silk, which once belonged to Colonel D. B. Webb, aid to General Putnam, and afterwards an aid and the private secretary of Washington. It was so mutilated that its general device could not be traced, but a female figure holds in her hand a staff, the top crowned or covered with a low-crowned and broad-brimmed hat, while from the staff streams a pennant of thirteen red and white stripes. Among the curious relics of the American Revolution in the collec tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society there is a silk flag, which was presented by Governor Hancock to a colored company called the " Bucks of America." It has for a device a pine-tree and buck, above which are the initials " J. H." and " G. W.," for Hancock and Wash ington. Mrs. Margaret C. Craig, the daughter of General Craig, an officer of the Revolution, and now living in New Alexandria, Penn., has a rattlesnake flag, which was carried r Colonel John Proctor's regiment .1 through the war, and was at the ittles of Trenton, Princeton, Ash wamp, &c. The fiag is composed of heavy crimson watered silk, somewhat faded, and, where painted, cracked and broken, and the covering and I fringe of the two tassels have been worn almost away; otherwise, the Flag of First Brigade, Westmoreland flag is in gOod Condition. The paint- County, Penn., 1775. i i^g ig alike OU both sides of the flag. It is six feet four inches long by five feet ten inches wide, and is cantoned with the English union jack of 1707; that is, with a St. George's red and St. Andrew's white cross on a blue field. In the centre of the red field of the flag there is painted a rattlesnake of the natural color, coiled up, and in the attitude of striking, and having thirteen rattles erect, representing the thirteen colonies. It will be noticed that the head of the snake is significantly erected, as if in defiance, toward^ the English union. Below the snake, on a yel low scroll, in large black letters, is the motto, " Don't tread on me." Above the snake are the letters " J. P.," and just below them are the letters " I. B. W. C. P." These letters. General Craig said, iThe Illustration is from a drawing of the flag by Mrs. Campbell, furnished by Mrs. Craig. 206 Origin and Progress of the meant "John Procter's Pirst Brigade, Westmoreland County, Penn sylvania." The fiag belonged to Colonel Procter's regiment, of which General Craig was a junior officer. On Colonel Procter's death, the fiag was . presented to the next senior officer, aud thus handed down to General Craig, who was the last surviving officer, and was sent to him by mail, but, unfortunately, the accompanying letter, detailing its history, has been lost. Mrs. Craig, to whom I am indebted for a painting of this interesting relic, from which the illustration is taken, informs me the fiag has been in the possession of her family for more than seventy years. It is the only fiag of the time bearing the rattlesnake device that I know of in existence at this time. Mrs. Craig values the flag very highly, and says, when the rebels invaded Pennsylvania, from the front yard of her house she heard distinctly the cannonading at Gettysburg, and resolved, should the rebels raid through her neighborhood, that she would secure it from them, as also her father's sword. The flag was last displayed in public at the centennial celebration at Greensburg, Penn. Another standard exhibited in Independence Hall, in 1876, and now deposited with the Pennsylvania Historical Society, was that of the Pirst Rifle Regiment of Pennsylvania, 1775-83, which is thus described by Lieutenant-Colonel Hand, in a letter to Jasper Yeates, under date, " Prospect Hill, March 8, 1776 : " " 1 am stationed on Cob bles Hill, with four companies of our regiment. Two companies — Cluggage's and Chambers's — ^were ordered to Dorchester on Monday. Ross's and Lowden's relieved them yesterday. Every regiment is "to have a standard and colors. Our standard is to be a deep green ground, the device a tiger, partly enclosed by toils, attempting the pass, defended by a hunter armed with a spear (in white) , on a crim son field. The motto, " Donari Nolo.' " In its services the regiment traversed every one of the thirteen States, and this standard was borne by it in all its skirmishes in front of Boston ; at White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, German- town, Monmouth, Green Springs, Yorktown, and was with Wayne when he fought the last battle of the war, at Sharon, Ga., May 34, 1782 ; entered Savannah in triumph, July 11, and Charleston, S. C, Dec. 14, 1782 ; was in camp on James Island, S. C, May 11, 1783, and only when the news of the cessation of hostilities reached that point was embarked for Philadelphia.^ ^Annals of Buffalo Valley, by John Blair Linn, Esq., p. 85; also his letter to Philadelphia Times, April 6, 1877. Flag of the United States. 207 The battle flag of Colonel William Washington's cavalry troop, known as the ' Eutaw Standard,* was placed in the custody of the Wash ington Light Infantry Corps, of Charleston, S. C, on the 19th of April, 1837, by the Colonel's widow, Mrs. Jane Washington, and is now preserved in their armory. It is of heavy crim son silk, and is in good condi tion. This little crimson flag first waved in victory at the battle of Cowpens, Jan. 17, 1781; and under its folds at Eutaw Springs, Sept. 8, 1781, Lieutena nt-Colonel Wade Hampton and many officers were wounded, and Colonel William Washington being disabled by the killing of his horse while charging the en emy, was made a prisoner.^ The tradition of the origin of the flag is interesting. Colonel Wash ington came from Virginia to South Carolina at the head of a cavalry force, and met Miss Jane Elliott at her father's house on the family estate, Iniown as Sandy Hill, near Rautowle's Bridge, ten miles west of Charleston ; a mutual attachment was formed, and Miss Elliott, sharing the sentiments of all her family, was an intense friend of the rebel cause. In the fall of 1780, Colonel Washington paid a hurried visit to his fiancee, and when about to lea^-e, in reply to her playful remark that she would look out for news of his flag and fortunes, he replied, that his corps carried no flag. Witli a woman's ready resource she seized her scissors, and, cutting a square of crimson damask that em bellished the back of a stately drawing-room chair, said, " Colonel, maJve this your standard ! " and gave it to her gallant lover, at the head of whose cavalry it was borne, mounted on a small hickory pole, during the remainder of the war. Never were knights of the old days of chivalry more deeply inspired by maidenly guerdons than were Washington and his brave cavaliers as they charged under that little square of crimson silk. Eutaw Flag. 1 Constitution and Rules and Relics belonging to the Washington Light Infantry, 1879. 208 Origin and Progress of the This flag was known as "Tarleton's Terror," after their last>nanied battie. It was presented to the Washington Light Infantry of Charles ton, by Mrs. Jane Elliott Washington in person, in 1837, on the anni versary of the battie of Lexington. The presentation took place in front of the then Washington mansion, southwest corner of South Battery and Church Streets, Charleston, S. C, and the house is still standing. Sergeant H. S. Tew, the color-sergeant, who received and bore the flag on that parade, still survives. This standard is always displayed on the Washington birthday parade, and other important military occasions. It was carried to the Bunker Hill centennial, and everywhere received with great enthusiasm. It was also carried as the colors of the Centennial Legion at Philadelphia, 4th July, 1876, which command was composed of one representative military corps from each of the old thirteen States. It will be a conspicuous feature at the grand celebration of the centennial of Cowpens, 17th January, 1881, at which time a memorial column to the victors of that field wiU be dedicated, with imposing ceremonies, under the auspices of the Washington Light Infantry of Charleston, S. C. At the semi-centennial celebration by the corps of Jane Washington day, or of the presentation of the flag, in 1877, Captain Courtenay, in an eloquent and patriotic speech, thus alluded to this valued relic : — " Pifty years ago to-day the Washington Light Infantry were in martial array in front of a well-known Carolina home. In the ample portal stood a venerated matron, whose brow had been frosted by time. Supported by an only son, she was discharging the last public duty of an eventful life. In her hand was that banner, originally im provised by her for the service of her country, and presented to that soldier of Virginia who under its crimson folds achieved a flashing fame, which filled the new-born States with patriotic enthusiasm, and still casts a reflected splendor on his times. Grouped around her were a trio of our own worthies, chosen sponsors of this corps, to make its solemn pledges and to assume the custody of this relic. The bril liant assemblage of spectators has receded from view, the long line of enthusiastic soldiers now answer a short roll-call. The chief actors have passed from time to eternity, but the spirit of the day we cele brate survives. . . . The world is largely impressed by symbols. We have our symbol ! There it stands, the flag of Eutaw, Guilford, and the Cowpens! It has been intrusted to our keeping, but it is the heritage of all our people, a constant reminder to the youth of Caro lina of every thing that is noble in citizenship and the martial virtues. May that standard in its progressing life ever command the rever ence due age, and combine the privileges of ardent youth ! and as is Flag of the United States. 209 the breadth of its widening fame, so shall also be the responsibilities imposed upon this community, for whom it stands in solemn pledge, ever recalling the wisdom, fortitude, and self-sacriflcing spirit of our heroic past." '¦ On the 22d of February following, a day which is always remem bered by the corps as its chosen anniversary, the orator of the day, the Rev. E. C. Edgerton, a member of the company, said, alluding to the flag : " There is meaning in our words when we gather beneath the crimson folds of the Eutaw banner, illumined by the stars and stripes, and shout: — " ' Unfurl tlie glorious banner Which at Eutaw shone so bright. And, like a dazzling meteor, swept Tlirough the Cowpens deadly figlit. Sound, sound your lively bugles, Let them: pour tiieir loudest blast. While .we pledge both life and honor To stand by it to the last.' " " In the orderly book of the army, at Williamsburg, Va., under date, " Head-quarters, April 8, 1776," is found this entry : " The colonels are desired to provide themselves with some colors and standards, if they are to be procured : it doth not signify of what sort they are." In the American Archives there is a description of the standard of the Thirteenth Regiment, under date Sept. 8, 1776 ; viz., " Ground, light buff; device, a pine-tree and field of Indian corn (emblematical of New England corn-fields) . Two officers in the uniform of the regi ment, one of them wounded in the breast, the blood streaming from the wound. Under the pine, several children. One of the officers pointing to them, with the motto, ' For posterity ive bleed.' " ' On the 13th of September, 1775, Colonel Moultrie received an order from the Council of Safety for taking Port Jolmson, on James Island, S. C. ; * and, a flag being thought necessary. Colonel Moultrie was requested to procure one by the council, and had a large blue flag made, with a crescent in the dexter corner, to be uniform with the troops of the garrison, who were clothed in blue, and wore silver cres- iJane Washington Day, &c., Charleston, S. C, 1877, p. 10. 2 Annual Observance of Washington's Birthday by the Washington Light Infantry of Charleston, S. C, 1878, p. 12, and Banner Song of the Washington Light Infantry, by Theo. L. Smith, Esq. • American Archives, 5th series, vol. 11. p. 244. * Holmes's Annals. 14 210 Origin and Progress of the cents in front of their caps,^ inscribed " Liberty or Death." He said, " this was the first American flag displayed in the South." When Moultrie hoisted this flag, the timid people said it had the appearance of a declaration of war, and that the captain of the Tamar, then off Charleston, would look upon it as an insult and flag of deflance. A " union flag " had been displayed at Savannah the preceding June.^ June 28, 1776, the standard advanced by Colonel Moultrie on the southeast bastion of Port Sullivan — or Moultrie, as it was afterwards named, on account of his gallant defence of it — ^was the same cres cent flag, with the word Liberty emblazoned* upon it.^ At the commencement of the action, the crescent flag which waved opposite the union flag upon the western bastion fell outside upon the beach. Sergeant William Jasper, an Irishman by parentage, see ing this, cried out to Colonel Moultrie, " Don't let us fight without a flag. Colonel," and leaped the parapet, walked the whole length of the fort, picked up the flag, fastened it on a sponge staff, and in the midst of the iron hail pouring upon the fortress,- and in sight of the whole British fleet, fixed the flag firmly upon the bastion. Three cheers greeted him as he leaped within the fort. On the day after the battle. Governor Rutledge visited the fort, and rewarded Jasper for his valor by presenting him with his own small sword, which he was then wearing, and thanked him, in the name of his country. He offered him a lieutenant's commission; but Jasper, who could neither read nor write, declined it, saying : " I am not fit to keep officers' company : I am but a sergeant." On the day after the battle, the British fleet left Charleston Har bor. The joy of the Americans was unbounded, and the following day (June 30) the wife of Major Bernard Elliot presented Colonel Moultrie's regiment with a pair of elegant colors; one of them was of flne blue silk, the other of flne red silk, both richly embroidered. In the assault on Savannah, Oct. 9, 1779, they were planted on the walls' of the city, beside the lilies of Prance. lieutenants Hume and Buck, who carried them, having faUen, Lieutenant Gray, of the South Carolina regiment, seized their standards, and kept them erect until he was stricken by a bullet, when brave Sergeant Jasper sprang forward, and had just fastened them on the parapef of the Spring Hill redoubt when a rifle-ball pierced him, and he fell into the ditch. Just then a retreat was sounded, and Jasper, wounded and dying as he was, seized the colors, and succeeded in saving them from falling into the hands of the enemy. He was carried to camp, and 1 Colonel Moultrie's Memoirs of the Revolution, vol. 1. p. 90. " See ante. • Bancroft's History of the United States ; Dawson's Battles by Sea and Land. Flag of the United States. 2 1 1 soon after expired. Just before he died, he said to Major Harry, " Tell Mrs. Elliot I lost my life supporting the colors she gave to our regiment." ^ The Declaration of Independence was read by Major Elliot at Charleston, on the 5th of August, 1776, to the people, young and old, and of both sexes, assembled around the liberty pole, with all the mili tary of the city and vicinity, flags flying and drums beating. Among the flags were, without doubt, these standards presented by his wife. They were captured when Charleston surrendered. May 12, 1780, and were among the British trophies preserved in the Tower of London. The General Congress, having previously appointed a committee to prepare a plan, on the 13th of October, 1775, after some debate, " Re solved, That a swift sailing-vessel, to carry the carriage-guns and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months." It was also " Re solved, That another vessel be fitted for the same purposes," and " that a marine committee, consisting of Messrs. Dean, Langdon, and Gadsden, report their opinion of a proper vessel, and also an estimate of the expense." On the 17th of October, the committee brought in their estimate and report, which, after debate, was recommitted. On the 30th, the committee recommended that the second vessel be of a size to carry fourteen guns and a proportionate number of swivels and men ; it was further resolved that two more vessels be fitted out with all expedition, the one to carry not exceeding twenty guns, and the other not exceeding thirty-six guns, with a proportionate number of swivels and men, to be employed for the protection and defence of the United Colonies, as Congress shall direct. Pour new members were added to the committee; viz., Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Hewes, Mr. R. H. Lee, and Mr. John Adams.^ Nov. 9, 1775, it was " Resolved, That two battalions of marines be raised, to be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, and to be con sidered as a part of the continental army of Boston, particular care to be taken that no persons be appointed or enlisted into said battalions but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs 'Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. li. pp. 532, 551. Oct. 9, 1879, there was a centennial celebration, at Savannah, of the siege, when the coi-ner-stone of a monument to Jasper was laid over the spot where he received his death-wound a hundred years before. Savannah News, Oct. 9, 1879. " Journal of Congress, vol. 1. p. 204. 212 Origin and Progress of the as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required." By a reso lution of the 30th, they were ordered to be raised independent of the army ordered for service in Massachusetts. November 23, the Marine Committee reported rules for the govern ment of the navy, which were adopted on the 38th. On the 3d of December, the committee were directed to prepare a proper commis sion for the captains and commanders of the ships of war in the ser vice of the United Colonies,^ and reported one, which was adopted the same day. December 9, Congress established the pay of the navy, and on Deceinber 11 it was resolved that a committee be appointed to devise ways and means for furnishing these colonies with a naval armament, and report with convenient speed, and that this committee consist of a member from each colony; viz., Mr. Bartlett, Mr. S. Adams, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Deane, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Crane, Mr. Morris, Mr. Read, Mr. Paca, Mr. R. A. Lee, Mr. Hewes, and Mr. Gadsden. — - On the 13 th, this committee reported that five ships of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight guns, three of twenty-four guns, can be fitted for sea probably by the last of March next; viz., in New Hampshire, one; in Massachusetts, two; in Connecticut, one; in Rhode Island, two; in New York, two; in Pennsylvania, four; in Maryland, one," — ^the probable cost of these vessels being estimated at $866,666%. The next day, the same committee, Mr. Chase being sub stituted for Mr. Paca, was appointed to carry out the report. These provisions for a continental navy were prior to the resolu tions of the Massachusetts Council, April, 1776, providing a green uniform and the pine-tree fiag for her State marine; but they make no provision for a national flag for this navy of the United Colonies. John Jay, in a letter dated July, 1776, three months later, ex pressly states Congress had made no order, at that date, " concerning continental colors, and that captains of the armed vessels had followed their own fancies." He names as one device a rattlesnake rearing 'its crest and shaking its rattles, and having the motto, " Don't tread on me." De Benvouloir, the discreet emissary of Vergennes, who arrived in Philadelphia the latter part of 1775, just after Congress had ordered the thirteen ships of war, reports to the French minister : " They have given up the English flag, and have taken for their devices a rattie- snake with thirteen ratties, and a mailed arm holding thirteen arrows'." 'The London Chronicle,' July 27, 1^76, says: "The colors of the 1 Journal of Congress, vol. 1. p. 255. Flag of the United States. 213 American fleet have a snalce with thirteen rattles, the fourteenth bud ding, described in the attitude of going to strike, with this motto, ' Don't tread on me.' " The number thirteen, representative of the number of colonies, seems to have been constantly in mind; thus, thirteen vessels are ordered to be built, thirteen stripes are placed on the flag, thirteen arrows are grasped in a mailed hand, thirteen rattles on the rattle- snalce, and, later, thirteen arrows in the talons of the eagle, and thir teen mailed hands grasping an endless chain of thirteen links. The rattlesnake was a favorite device with the colonists, and its origin as an American emblem deserves investigation as a curious feature in our national history.^ The choice of this reptile as a representative of the colonies had at tained a firm position in the regard of the colonists long before diffi culties with Great Britain were anticipated. As early as April, 1751, an account of the trial of Samuel Sanders, an English transported convict, for the murder of Simon Gerty, occasioned the following reflections, which were published in Franklin's paper, the ' Pennsyl vania Gazette ' : — ¦ " ' AVhen we see our papers filled continually with accounts of the ' most audacious robberies, the most cruel murders, and an infinity of other villanies perpetrated by convicts transported from Europe, what melancholy, what terrible reflections, must it occasion! What will become our position ? These are some of thy favors, Britain, and thou art called the mother country? But what good mother ever sent thieves and villains to accompany her children, to corrupt some with infec tious vices and murder the rest? What father ever endeavors to spread plague in his own family? We don't ask fish, but thou givest us serpents, and worse than serpents, in which Britain shows a more sovereign contempt for us than by emptying her jails into our settle ments. What must we think of that board which had advocated the repeal of every law that we have hitherto made to, prevent this deluge of wickedness from overwhelming vis ? and with this cruel sarcasm : that those laws were against the public utility, for they tended to pre vent the improvement and well-peopling of the colonies. And what must we think of those merchants who, for the sake of a little pa,ltry gain, will be concerned in importing and disposing of such cargoes ? ' " This remonstrance, a bold one for the time, was commented upon in a succeeding number of the ' Gazette,' by a writer who proposed the colonists should send to England in return ' a cargo of rattlesnakes, > The account following Is derived in part from an article printed In the ' Phila delphia Sunday Dispatch,' 1871. , ^ 214 Origin and Progress of the which should be distributed in St. James's Park, Spring Garden, and other places of pleasure, and particularly in noblemen's gardens.' He adds : — " ' Let no private interests obstruct public utility. Our mother knows what is best for us. What is a little house-breaking, shop lifting, or highway robbery? What is a son now and then corrupted and hanged, a daughter debauched, a wife stabbed, a husband's throat cut, or a child's brains beat out with an axe, compared with " the im provement and well-peopling of the colonies " ? ' " This idea of rendering the rattlesnake a means of retribution for the wrongs of America could scarcely have been forgotten, and re ceived a new value three years afterwards, when, to stimulate the colonies to a concert of measures against the Indians, the device of a snake cut into eight parts, representing the colonies then engaged in the war against the French and Indians, was published at the head of the ' Gazette,' xwith the motto, ' Join or die.' This device was adopted by other newspapers in the colonies, and in a Kj^^VfjY y l''"''^ it was placed at the head of the ' Pennsyl- "^ \k r,np I VE^ia> Journal,' the head representing New Eng- VNIIB ORPIR..: NC land, and the other disjointed portions being marked with the initials, ' N. Y.,' ' N. J.,' ' P.,' snake Device. . -^, < y./ < N. C.,' ' S. C.,' and ' G.' The motto then was, ' Unite or die.' These matters kept the rattlesnake in the memory of the provincials, and may have led to its early adoption. " Bradford's ' Pennsylvania Journal ' of Dec. 27, 1775, contains the following speculations upon the reasons for the adoption of this em blem. This composition has been ascribed to Dr. PrankUn, without any very good cause. The journal which published it was one with which Dr. Franklin was not friendly. He would have been more likely to have sent his communication to the ' Gazette,' which was partly owned by his old partner, David Hall. "'Messrs. Printers: — I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines, now raising, there was painted a rattlesnake, with this modest motto under it, " Don't tread on me ! " As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this might be intended for the arms of North America. As I have nothing to do with public affairs, and as my time is perfectly my own, in order to divert an idle hour I sat down to guess what might have been intended by this uncommon device. I took care, however, to consult on this occasion a person acquainted with heraldry, from whom I learned that it is a rule among the learned in that science that the Flag of the United States. 215 worthy properties of an animal in a crest shall be considered, and that the base ones cannot have been intended.' He likewise informed me that the ancients considered the serpent as an emblem of wisdom, and, in a certain attitude, of endless duration; both which circumstances, I suppose, may have been in view. Having gained this intelligence, and recollecting that countries are sometimes represented by animals peculiar to them, it occurred to me that the rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the globe than America, and it may therefore have been chosen on that account to represent her. But then the worthy properties of a snaJce, I judged, would be hard to point out. This rather raised than suppressed my curiosity, and having frequently seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in my mind every property for which she was distinguished, not only from other animals, but from those of the same genus or class, endeavoring to fix some meaning to each not wholly inconsistent with common sense. I recollected that her eye exceeded in brightness that of any other animal, and that she had no eyelids. She may therefore be esteened an emblem of viligance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem .of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarrelling with the weapons with which nature favored her, she conceals them in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears most defenceless ; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for defence, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds, however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds until she has generously given notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him 'against the danger of treading on her. Was I wrong, sirs, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America? " ' The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and, at the same time, is the certain destruction of her enemies. This may be understeo^ to intimate that those things which are de structive to our enemies may be to us not only harmless, but abso lutely necessary to our existence. I confess I was totally at a loss what to make of the rattles until I went back and counted them, and found them just thirteen, — exactly the number of colonies united in' America; and I recollected, too, that this was the only part of the snake which increased in numbers. Perhaps it may have only been my fancy, but I conceited the painter had shown a half-formed addi tional rattie, which I suppose may have been intended to represent the province of Canada. 'Tis curious and amazing to observe how 216 Origin and Progress of the distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together so as to be never sepa rated except by breaking them to pieces. One of these rattles, singly, is incapable of producing a sound ; but the ringing of thirteen together is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living. The rattlesnake is soli tary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for her preservation. In winter, the warmth of a number together will pre serve their lives, whilst singly they would probably perish. The power of fascination attributed to her by a generous construction may be understood to mean that those who consider the liberty and bless ings which America affords, and once come over to her, never after wards leave her, but spend their lives with her. She strongly resem bles America in this: that she is beautiful in youth, and her beauty increases with age; her tongue also is blue, and forked as lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks. " ' Having pleased myself with reflections of this kind, I communi cated my sentiments to a neighbor of mine, who has a surprising readiness at guessing any thing which relates to public affairs; and, indeed, I should be jealous of his reputation in that way, were it not that the event constantly shows that he has guessed wrong. He in stantly declared it his sentiment that Congress meant to allude to Lord North's declaration in the House of Commons, that he never would relax his measures until he had brought America to his feet, and to intimate to his lordship that if she was brought to his feet, it would be dangerous treading on her. But I am positive he has guessed wrong ; for I am sure Congress would not, at this time of day, condescend- to take the least notice of his lordship in that or any other way. In which opinion I am determined to remain your humble servant.' " Colonel Gadsden of South Carolina, a member of the Marine Com mittee, presented Congress, on the 8th of February, 1776, " an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander-in-chief of the American navy; being a yellow flag, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle in the attitude of going to strike, and these words underneath, ' Don't tread on me.' " Congress ordered that the said standard be carefully preserved and suspended in the Con gress-room ; and from that time it was placed in the southwest corner of that room, at the left hand of the President's chair.^ It would be interesting to know the further history of this flag, and what became of it. Such an historical flag would not be pur posely destroyed. 1 Drayton's Memoirs American Revolution, vol. 11. p. 172. Flag of the United States. 2 1 7 The first legislation of Congress on the subject of a Federal navy was in October, 1775, and after that, national cruisers were equipped and sent to sea on a three months' cruise ; but, so far as we can learn, without any provision for a national ensign, and probably Wearing the colors of the State they sailed from. Before the close of the year, and before the grand union flag raising at Cambridge, Congress had authorized a regular navy of seventeen vesgpls, varying in force from ten to thirty-two guns; had established a general prize law, in con sequence of the burning of Falmouth by Mowatt; had regulated the relative rank of military and naval officers; had established the pay ofthe navy, and appointed (Dec. 33, 1775) Esek Hopkins commander- in-chief of the naval forces of the embryo republic, fixing his pay at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. At the same time, captains were commissioned to the Alfred, Columbus, Andrea Doria, Cabot, and Providence, and first, second, and third lieutenants were appointed to each of those vessels. John Adams, a member of the Marine Committee, gives the fol- lawing reasons for the choice of these names : " The first was named Alfred, in honor of the founder of the greatest navy that ever existed ; the second, Columbus, after the discoverer of this quarter of the globe; the third, Cabot, for the discoverer of the northern part of this con tinent; the fourth, Andrea Doria, in honor of the great Genoese admiral; and the fifth. Providence, the name of the town where she was purchased, and the residence of Governor Hopkins and his brother Esek, whom we appointed the first captain." The Alfred was a stout merchant ship, originally called the Black Prince, and commanded by John Barry. She arrived at Philadelphia on the 13th of October, and was purchased and armed by the com mittee. The Columbus, originally the Sally, was first purchased by the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania, and ten days after sold to the naval committee of Congress. The merchant names of the other ships I have been unable to ascertain. Notwithstanding the equip ping of this fleet, the necessity of a common national flag seems not to have been thought of until Doctor Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison were appointed to consider the subject, and assembled at the camp at Cambridge. The result of their conference was the retention of the king's colors or union jack, representing the still-recognized sovereignty of England, but coupled to thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, emblematic of the union of the thirteen colonies against its tyranny and oppression, in place of the loyal red ensign. 218 Origin and Progress of the The new striped flag was hoisted for the first time on the 2d of January, 1776, over the camp at Cambridge. General| Washing ton, writing to Joseph Reed on the 4th of January, says : " We are at length favored with the sight of his Majesty's most gi-acious speech, breathing sentiments of tenderness and compassion for his deluded American subjects; the speech I send you (a volume of them was sent out by the Boston gentry), and, farcical enough, we gave great joy to them without knowing or intending it, for on that day (the 2d) which gave being to our new armj^, 'but before the proclamation came to hand, we hoisted the union flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But, behold ! it was received at Boston as a token of the deep impres sion the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission. "By this time I presume they begin to think it strange that we have not made a formal surrender of our lines." An anonymous letter, written Jan. 2, 1776, says : " The grand union flag of thirteen stripes was raised on a height near Boston. The regu lars did not understand it; and as the king's speech had just been read, as the;^ supposed, they thought the new flag was a token of sub mission." The captain of a British transport, writing from Boston to his own ers in London, Jan. 17, 1776, says : " I can see the rebels' camp very plain, whose colors, a little while ago, were entirely red; but on the receipt of the king's speech, which they burnt, they hoisted the union flag, which is here supposed to intimate the union of the provinces," The ' British Annual Register ' says, " They burnt the king's speech, and changed their colors from a plain red ground, which they had hitherto used, to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of the union and number of the colonies." A letter from Boston, in the ' Pennsylvania Gazette,' says : " The grand union flag was raised on the 2d, in compliment to the United Colonies." A British lieutenant, writing from Charlestown Heights, Jan. 25, 1776,' mentions the same fact, and adds: " It was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen cheers." Botta, in his ' History of the American Revolution,' derived from contemporary documents, writes : " The hostile speech of the king at the meeting of Parliament had arrived in America, and copies of it were circulated in the camp. It was announced there, also, that the first petition of Congress had been rejected. The whole army mani fested the utmost indignation at this intelligence; the royal speech was burnt in public by the infuriated soldiers. They changed at this time the red ground of their banners, and striped them with thirteen lists, as an emblem of their number, and the union of the colonies." Flag of the United States. 219 Two and a half months after this grand union fiag raising at Cam bridge, the flag was displayed for the first time in the streets of Boston. The occupation of Dorchester Heights compelled the evacuation of Roxbury, and on the afternoon of March 17, 1776, a detachment of Americans, under Colonel Ebenezer Learned, pushed its way through the crow's-feet and other obstacles thickly strewn in its path, and unbarred the gates of the deserted stronghold. The fiag was borne by Ensign Richards, and the troops were accompanied by General Ward.^ 'V\^ have contemporary evidence enough as to the time and place when " the grand union striped flag " was flrst unfurled ; but it will be observed there is no mention of the color of the stripes placed on the previously red flag, or the character of its union, or other than pre sumptive evidence that it had a union. Hinman states, in his ' Connecticut in the Revolution,' that " the red ground of the American flag was altered to thirteen blue and white stripes, as ^n emblem of the thirteen colonies in war for liberty," but does not give his authority for the statement. Bancroft, in his ' History of the United States,' describes this flag as " the tricolored American banner, not yet spangled with stars, but showing thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, in the fleld, and the united crosses of St. George and St. Andrew on a blue ground in the comer." I am informed by Benson J. Lossing, the eminent American histo rian, that he furnished Mr. Bancroft with the statement, having found among the papers of Major-General Philip Schuyler, and having in his , possession, a water-color sketch of the Royal Sav age, one of the little fleet on Ijake Champlain, in the summer and winter of 1776, commanded by Ben edict Arnold. This draw ing is known • to be the Royal Savage, being in dorsed, in the handwrit ing of General Schuyler, Flag of the Royal Savage, 1T76. as Captain Wynkoop's schooner, and Captain, or rather Colonel, Wynkoop is known to ha'ie commanded her at that time. There is no date on the drawing, but it may be considered as settling what were the characteristic features of 1 Drake's History of Roxbury, 1878. 220 Origin and Progress of the the new flag. At the head of the maintop-mast of the schooner there is a flag precisely like the one described by Bancroft, and it is the only known contemporaneous drawing of it extant. Through the kindness of Mr. I/ossing, I am able to give a fac-simile, in size and shape, of this interesting drawing. In September, 1776, the continental brig Reprisal, 16 guns, com manded by Captain Lambert Wickes, while lying at Martinique, wore a flag of thirteen stripes, whose field was white and yellow. In General Arnold's sailing orders for the fieet, he prescribes hoist ing the ensign at the main topmaf3t head as the signal for speaking with the whole fieet, and the same at the fore, for chasing a sail. The red union ensign had been familiarly known for nearly seventy years, and nothing would more naturally suggest itself to a people not yet prepared to entirely sever their connection with the parent government than to utilize the old flag, and distinguish their emblem of the new union from the old in this simple manner, rather than seek further for new devices. The flag adopted resembled, if it was not jexactly the counterpart of, the flag of the English East India Company then in use, and which continued the flag of that company, with trifling variations, until its sovereign sway and empire in the East for over two hundred years was, in 1834, merged in that of Great Britain.^ 1 The East India Company's Ensigns. — This company, whose flrst charter was granted Dec. 31, 1600, by Queen Elizabeth to " George, Earl of Cumberland, and two hundred and flfteen knights, aldermen, and merchants, that at their own costs and charges might set forth one or more voyages to the East Indies," &c., bore as a crest to their armorial ensigns a sphere without a frame, bound with a zodiac in bend or, between two split florant argents, each charged with a cross gales; on the sphere the words "Deus indicet;" to the shield with other devices were three ships rigged under full sail, pennants and ensign being argent, and each charged with the same cross gules. The pennants were long, tapering, and split at the end, while the ensigns were perfectly square. It is not probable that the East India Company were entitled to bear on their ships any particular distinguishing flag In the early years of its history, since the royal proclamation of James I., Issued April 12, 1606, ordered " all subjects of the isle and kingdom of Great Britain, and the members thereof, to bear in their maintop the union flag, being the red cross 61 St. George and the white cross (saltire) of St. Andrew, joined upon a blue ground." At what date a striped flag was adopted by the Bast India Company is not evident. A contemporary print, preserved in the British Museum, representing the Puritans in 1644, under Sir Robert Harlow, or Harley, destroying, the cross In Cheapside, exhibits several flags, one of which beajs two red stripes on a white fleld, and the St. George's cross on a white canton, which extends over the first two stripes. Flag destroyed at Cheap- side, 1644. Flag of the United States. 221 ifiJiiiuoniuwDlliiiiiuinilllliJiii East India Company's En sign, 1704. In 1681, the renewal of the charter of tbe company by Charles II. vested in it the power and authority to make peace or war with any nation not being Christians, « and six years later it was ordered the king's union flag Si „. 1 ,iii._ should be always used at the Fort St. George. In 1698, a new company was established by act of Parliament, which soon, however, became Incorporated with the former. Its arms were argent, a cross gules in the dexter "chief quarter, an escutcheon of the ai-ms of France and England quarterly, crest, two lions ram pant, gardant or, each supporting a banner crest argent charged with a cross gules. ' The Present State of the Universe,' fourth edition, London, 1704, by J. Beaumont, Jr., gives as the East India Company's ensign a flag with thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white, with a St. George's cross on a white canton, which rests upon the fourth red stripe. In the ' Dominion and Laws of the Sea,' published in London in 1705, the East India Company's flag Is pictured with but ten stripes. In a Dutch work on ship-building by Carl AUard, published in Amsterdam the same year, the East India Company's flag has but nine stripes. In ' La Connolssance des Pavilions ou Bannlferes que la plupart des Nations,' published & La Haye, 1737, there are represented many striped flags, among them : — Pavilion d'escadre, de Division des Yaisseaux B^cossois, which has eleven stripes, alternate red and white, with the white canton and red cross resting on tbe third red stripe. Pavilion de Rotterdam, which has eleven stripes, alter nate white and green. Pavilion de Breme, which has a head of red and white squares the whole width of the flag, and nine stripes, alternate red and white. Pavilion d'Enchase Norte Hollande, which has thirteen stripes, yellow and red. Pavilion de Bang ou de Division d'escadre [Ehgllsh] has thirteen stripes, red and white, with St. George's cross in a canton argent. The Bast India Company's flag has nine stripes, red and white, with the white canton and red cross resting on the third red stripe. The East India Company's flag, in 1834, was cantoned with the union jack of the United Kingdom, and its fleld was composed of thirteen alternate red aud white stripes, seven red and six white ; the central red stripe rather wider than the others, and crossed by a perpendicular red stripe or bar, forming a St. George's cross. It was the white St. George ensign, with the addition of six red bars or stripes across Its field. East India Company, 1834. 222 Origin and Progress of the Commodore Hopkitj-s, CCMAfjtfrDER m CuiEF of'tAe yiJ^ERICOf TI,£ET, Flag of the United States. 223 ¦Hi ST CE0Rec3 CROSS CT.AHOItCIVG CROSS THE GRAND UNION OR CONTINENTAL FLAG OP THE UNITED COLONIES. 1776-1777. It has been suggested that the stripes on our flag, as a symbol of union, were derived from the national flag of the Netherlands, adopted as early as 1582, and which then, as now, consisted of three equal horizontal stripes, symbolic of the rise of the Dutch republic from the union at Utrecht. The stripes on this flag were at first orange, w.hite, and blue, the orange in chief. In 1650, after the death of William IL, a red stripe was substituted for the orange, and the flag remains with out other change to this day. Hudson, the first to display a European flag on the waters of New York, and the explorer of the river bearing his name, sailed up the river in 1609, under tlie Dutch East India flag, which was the same as .above described, with -the addition of the letters 'A.O.C.,' " Algemeene Dost Indise Compag nie," in the centre of the white stripe. This was the flag of the colony of Manhattan established under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company, until 1632. When the government fell into the hands of the Dutch West India Company, the letters ' G. W. C.,' " Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie," were put in the white stripe in place of the letters ' A. 0. C This was the dominant flag (with the change of the orange stripe for a red one in 1650) until 1664, when, on the island's sur render to the English, the union jack ol England supplanted the tri color of Holland, and the name of ' New Amsterdam ' was changed to ' New York.' ^ In July, 1673, the Dutch again took possession of the city, which they occupied until Nov. 10, 1674, when, by a treaty of 1 Valentine's Manual Common Council, New York, 1803. UNION OR KIN»9 COLORS Uoi "IB 11 fl iiuiiiiirui.ii,ii|juuuiiiiui VNIOM CnSICN JAN.II 1707 filUNO VNIOH fLAft JAN.t l77J 224 Origin and Progress of the peace between England and Holland, the cross of St. George was re- hoisted over the city. " From Holland," argues a writer, " came the emigrants who first planted the seeds of civil and religious lib- ;y and popular education in the Empire ite, and from Holland more than any other land came the ideas of a federal union,^ which binds together the Ameri can States. From Holland, whither per secution had, driven them, also embarked the Pilgrim Fathers, to land upon our win ter-swept and storm and rock bound coast. Dutch West India Flag. The rights for which HoUand so long strug gled, and so ably portrayed by Motley in his ' History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic,' are identical with those which the thirteen colonies so successfully maintained. What more likely then," says this reasoner, " that in adopting a device for a union flag our fathers should derive the idea from a country to whose example they were already so much indebted." A more commonplace origin for the stripes has been suggested. The continental army of 1775 was without uniforms, and the different grades were distinguished by means of a stripe or ribbon. The daily view of these, the only distinguishing marks of rank, would naturally suggest the same device for representing the United Colonies.^ ' The United Provinces of the Netherlands on their Independence devised for their standard the national lion of Flanders [rampant ffu], grasping in his paws a sheaf of seven arrows or, to denote the seven provinces, and a naked sword, which had been borne by the counts from the eleventh century. The shield of the arms was azure billetSe, and the whole achievement was charged upon the white of the flag. ' Sarmlento's History of our Flag, 1864. The orders to which he refers are to be found in American Archives, 4th series, vol. 11. p. 1738, viz. : — • - \ " Hdad-quaeters,' Cambbidgb, July 23, 1775. " Parole, ' Brunswick.' Countersign, ' Princeton.' " As the continental army have, unfortunately, no uniforms, and consequently many Inconveniences must arise from not being able always to distinguish the com missioned officers from the non-commissioned, and the non-commissioned from the privates. It is desired that some badges of distinction may be Immediately pro vided ; for Instance, the field-oflicers may have red or pink cockades In their hats, the captains yellow or buff, and the subalterns green. They are to furnish themselves accordingly. The sergeants may be distinguished by an epaulette or stripe of red cloth sewed upon the right shoulder ; the corporals, by one of green. " Hbad-quabtdbs, CAMBRitKjB, July 24, 1775. " Parole, ' Salisbury.' Countersign, ' Cumberland.' " It being thought proper to distinguish the majors from brigadiers general by some particular mark, for the future major-generals will wear a broad purple ribbon." Flag of the United States. 225 Without far seeking for the origin of the stripes upon our flag, it is possible that the stripes on his own escutcheon suggested them to the mind of Washington. They were also one of the devices on the flag of tiie troop of light horse which accompanied Washington from Philadelphia to New York, when proceeding to assume com mand of the army at Cambridge, where they were first shown; and it may be that these lists, as they were sometimes called, were adopted as an easy expedient for converting the red ensigns of the mother country, by an economical method, into a new flag, representing the union of the American colonies against ministerial oppression, when not quite ready to give up their loyalty to -the "king's colors," which they retained on the new ensign. It required the addition of the " new constellation" to render the stripes sig niflcant, and give a poetic life and na tional character to the flag. When the Virginia convention at Williamsburg instructed its delegates in Congress, May 15, 1776, three weeks be fore the Declaration of Independence, " to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all al legiance to dependence upon the crown and parliament of England, and to propose a confederation of the colonies," there was a great civil and military parade, when, according to an eye-witness, "the union flag of the American States " waved upon the Capitol dur ing the whole ceremony.^ This could have been no other than the flag inaugurated by Washington at his camp at Cambridge in Jan uary. In July, 1776, a committee, consisting of Generals Sullivan and Greene and Lord Stirling, was appointed to devise a system of signals to be hoisted on the Highlands of Neversink, to give the earMest in telligence of the enemy's approacli. They proposed that, for any num ber of ships from one to six, and from six to twenty-two, and for any Reduced Fac-simlle of Wast ington's Book-plate. 1 Niles's American Revolution, pp. 251, 252. The toasts at the soldiers' banquet were : 1st, " The American independent States ;" 2d, " The grand Congress of the United States and their respective legislatures ;" M, " General Washington, and vic tory to the American arms." These toasts were accompanied by salutes of artillery and feu de joies of small-arms. 15 226 Origin and Progress of the greater number, three large ensigns with broad stripes of red and white should be hoisted.^ Colonel Rud. Ritzema, addressing the members of the New York Congress, May 31, 1776, says that, the day before, it was given out in general orders that General Putnam had received a letter from Gen eral Washington, requesting all the colonels at New York to immedi ately provide colors for their several regiments ; and he asks that Mr. Ctartinius may have directions to provide a pair for his regiment, of such a color and with such devices as shall be deemed proper by the Congress; i. e.. New York Provincial Congress.^ On the 4th of July, 1776, after various amendments, the Declara tion of Independence from Mr. Jefferson's pen was adopted. The document was authenticated, like other papers of Congress, by the signatures of the President and Secretary, and, in addition, was signed by the members present, with the exception of Mr. Dickenson, of New York, who, as Mr. Jefferson has testifled, " refused to sign." It did not bear the names of the members of Congress as they finaUy appeared upon it. Some days after the Declaration had thus passed, and had been proclaimed at the head of the army, it was ordered to be engrossed on parchment, and signed by every member; and it was not until the 2d of August that these signatures were made. It is this copy or form which has been preserved, as the firs1>-signed paper does not exist, and was probably destroyed.^ No person actuaUy signed the Declaration on the 4th of July. Mr. Read, whose name appears among the signers, was then actually against it ; and Morris, Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor, and Ross, whose names also appear, were not members on that day, and were not ap pointed delegates until the 20th of July. Thornton, of New Hamp shire, who entered Congress in November, then placed his name upon it, and Judge McKeen, who was present, and voted for it, did not sign until after his return from Washington's camp. It is said that, by a iLlfe of General Nathaniel Greene, vol. i. 2 American Archives, 4th series, vol. vi. p. 634, and on page 637 is the order he refers to, viz : — " After Orders, May 31, 1776. " General Washington has written to General Putnam desiring him in the most pressing terms to give positive orders to all the colonels to have colors Immediately completed for their respective regiments." In a letter to General Putnam, dated May 28, 1776, Washington adds, in a post script, " I desire you'll speak to the several colonels, and hurry them to get their colors done." — Washington Letters, B, vol. 1. p. 316. ' B. A. PoUard, In Lippincott's Magazine, July, 1872. Flag of the United States. 227 secret resolution, no member of the first year should hold his seat in Congress until he became a subscriber.^ The first legislation of the Continental Congress on the subject of a federal navy was on the 18th of October, 1775, and cruisers were about that time equipped and sent to sea on a three months' cruise, under the pine-tree flag, but without any provision for a national en sign. Two days later, Oct. 20, 1775, Washington writes to Colonel Glover and Stephen Moylan, " Please fix upon some particular fiag, and a signal by which our vessels may know one another. What do you think of a fiag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto, ' Appeal to Heaven.' This is the fiag of our floating batteries. We are fitting out two vessels at Plymouth, and when I next hear from you on this subject I will let them know the flag and the signal, that we may distinguish our friends from our foes." ^ Mr. Moylan replies : " The schooner sailed this morning. As they had none but their old colors, we appointed them a signal that they may know each other by, and be known to their friends, — as the en sign up the main topping Uft." ^ Before the close of the year, and before the grand union flag raising at Cambridge, a regular navy of seventeen vessels, varying in force from ten to thirty-two guns, was ordered, a general prize law estab lished, the relative rank of military and naval officers regulated, and Esek Hopkins, Esq., appointed commander-in-chief of the naval forces of the embryo republic. At the same time, Dec. 22, 1775, captains were commissioned for the purchased vessels, and first, second, and third lieutenants appointed to each. Under the same law the pay of the commander-in-chief of the fieet was fixed at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. Such was the humble beginning of a national naval organi^tion. Cruisers armed and equipped by and holding commissions from the several colonies had been fitted and continued to be sent out for some time after under their colonial or State flags, and probably continued to fly them until the close of the war. The floating batteries of Pennsylvania, in the Delaware, carried the pine-tree flag in the autumn of 1775. According to the English newspapers, privateers throughout the year 1776, wearing a flag of this description, were captured and carried into British ports. The Yankee Hero was captured under these colors in June. Com modore Tucker has related that he hoisted them on the Franklin in ^Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. = Washington's Letters, B, vol. 1. p. 84. 'Washington's Letters, vol. vll. p. 106. 228 Origin and Progress of the January, 1776, and under them captured the ship George and brig Arabella. ~^ Dec. 21, 1775. The province of North Carolina authorized three armed vessels to be fitted out with all despatch for the protection of the trade of that province. Nov. 11, 1775. The South Carolina Colony schooner Defence, pro ceeding to sink some hulks in Hog Island Creek, Charleston Harbor, was fired at by the king's ships Tamar, of sixteen, and Cherokee, of six guns. Port Johnson discharged some 26-pounders at the king's ships. Nov. 14, 1775. Clement Lempriere was appointed captain of the ship Prosper, fitting and arming for South Carolina, and other officers were appointed to her. Throughout October, 1776, the navy board of South Carolina made various provisions for a State navy, and commissioned officers for it and vessels.^ Dec. 20, 1775. A committee was appointed by the New York Provincial Congress to purchase and equip a proper vessel for the defence of the East River, her cost not to exceed £600. Jan. 22, 1776. The Committee of Safety of the Profincial Con gress of New York wrote to the delegates from New York to the Con tinental Congress, that they are informed by one of those delegates that the" Continental Congress will take into the continental service the sloop Sally, purchased December 20 by Colonel McDougall for the defence of the colony for-£335, and request, " Should it so be deter mined, her flag should be described to them," — showing that at that time the New York Committee of Safety were not informed what the continental flag was.'' April, 1776, the Massachusetts Council passed a series of resolu tions providing for the regulation of the sea service ; among them was the following: — " Resolved, That the uniform of the officers be green and white, and thai they furnish themselves accordingly, and that the colors be a white flag with a green pine-tree, and the inscription, ' An appeal to Heaven.' " The following order to the commander of one of these State cruisers issued later in the year : — •American Archives, vol. ii. 5th series, pp. 1323-1320. " American Archives, vol. iv. 4th series. Flag of the United States. 229 " state of Massaohiisetts Bay to John Clonston, Gomammder of the Sloop Freedom, in the service of said State. " You are hereby directed and oommanded to repair, with the vessel under your command, to the harbor of Boston, in company with the sloop Republick, commanded by John Foster Williams, now in Dartmouth, and there to await the further orders of the council. " By order of the major part of the council, the 4th of September, 1776. " Samxiel Adams, Secretary. " Returns of officers on hoard the armed sloop called the Freedom, ujhereof John Clonston is commander: — John Olonston, captain; James Scorr, first lieutenam,t; Timothy Tobey, second lieutenant. In council, Sept. 4, 1776, read and ordered that the above oflScers be commissioned agreeably to their respective rank. " Samuel Adams, Secretary." Philadelphia, June 6, 1776. Two privateers belonging to this port have taken three very valuable ships bound from Jamaica to London, laden with rum, sugar, molasses, &c., having also a large quantity of doUars and plate on board. We hear that on board of the above ships there were several very fine sea-turtles, intended as a present to Lord North, one of which, with his lordship's name nicely cut in the sheU, was yesterday presented by the captain to the worthy president of the American Congress. June 29, 1776, an ordinance passed the Virginia Convention estab lishing a board of commissioners to superintend and direct the naval affairs of that colony.^ Senior of the five first lieutenants of the new continental navy stood John Paul Jones, who was commissioned to the Alfred, then in the Delaware, designed to be the flag-ship of the commander-in- chief, Esek Hopkins, and of which Dudley Saltonstall, Esq., was the captain. Paul Jones has recorded that ' the Flag of America ' was hoisted by him, " by his own hand," ^ on board the Alfred,' and adds, " being the first time it was ever displayed by a regular man-of-war." From 1 American Ai'chives, vol. vl. 4th series, p. 1598. ' Mackenzie's Life of J. Paul Jcmes, vol. 1. p. 22 ; J. F. Cooper's Life of Jones, p. 17 ; Emmons's United States Navy, 1775-1853 ; Sands's Life of Jones, p. 33, who adds, " He does not mention the date of this transaction, nor has the present com piler heen able to fix it." ' All the commissions for the Alfred were made out before those for the Colum bus. Sands's Life of .Tbnes, p. 35. 230 Origin and Progress of the this we may infer it had been previously displayed by some of the State cruisers. In a letter to Robert Morris, dated Oct. 10, 1783, Jones says : " It was my fortune, as the senior first lieutenant, to hoist the ' flag of America' the first time it was displayed. Though this was but a light circumstance, yet I feel for its honor more than I think I should have done if it had not happened." In a letter to Baron Vander Capellan, Jones says : " America has been the country of my fond election from the age of thirteen. When I first saw it, I had the honor to hoist with my own hands the flag of freedom, the first time it was displayed on the Delaware; and I have attended it with veneration ever since on the ocean." Jones's commission is dated the 7th of December, but as the flag is said to have been hoisted for the flrst time when the commander-in- chief embarked on the Alfred, and his commission was not issued until the 22d of December, it would seem probable either that Christ mas or New Year's day would be selected for its display. The latter would bring its hoisting to the same date as the raising of the union flag in the lines of the army at Cambridge. Could the log-book of the Alfred referred to in the following letter be found, the precise date when Jones hoisted the flag of America would be laiown. " Captain Jones to 0>ixdnbl Tilunghast. " Sloop Providence, June 20, 1776. " Sir, — I have made so many unsuccessful attempts to convey the Fly past Fisher's Island, that I have determined to give it up, and pursue my orders for Boston. When I arrive there I will transmit you my letter of attorney; in the mean time you will singularly oblige me by applying to the admiral for an order to receive for me a copy of the Alfred's log-book, whichi I had made out for my private use before I left the. ship, and which was unjustly withheld from me when I took command of the sloop, by the ill-natured and narrow-minded Captain Saltonstall. When the old gentle man; was down here he promised to order thati my copy should be delivered; but when my lieutenant applied for it, the master of the Alfred told the ad miral a cursed lie, and said there was no copy made out. On inquiry, you will find that Mr. Vaughan, the mate of the Alfred, made out the copy in question for me before I went to New York. " I should not be so particular, did I not stand in absolute need of it before I can make out a fair copy of my journal to lay before the Congress, for I was so stinted in point of time in the Alfred, that I did not copy a single remark; besides, it is a little hard that I, who planned and superin tended the log-book, should not be thought worthy a copy, when a midship man, if he pleases, may claimi one. I take it for granted that you will receive Flag of the United States. 231 the book; I must therefore beg you to send it, if possible, to me at Mr. John Head's or Captain J. Bradford's, Boston. Regard not the expense, I will cheerfully pay it. " I am, sir, with esteem, your obliged and very humble servant, "J. Paul Jones." The Alfred, for which the high honor is claimed of being first to wear ' the flag of America,' as well as the standard or flag of the first naval commander-in-chief, was originally a merchant vessel called the Black Prince. She arrived at Philadelphia from London under the command of Captain Barry, October 13,^ and was purchased and armed by the committee. According to our present ideas, she was a small ship, though a stout vessel of her class at that time, mounting twenty 9-pounders on her main deck, and from one to two guns on her quarter deck and forecastle. When captured, in 1778, by H. B. M. ships Ariadne and Ceres, her captors reported her as mounting twenty 9-pounders on a single deck, having no spar deck battery. The weight of shot thrown from her entire battery or both broadsides was not equal to the weight of a single shot thrown by one of our modern monitors. Such have been the changes in naval warfare within a hundred years. I have said that Christmas or New Year's day was probably se lected for hoisting the flag of America, but there is evidence showing that it, or at least a continental flag, was hoisted over the Alfred as early as the 3d of December, before any of the officers of our infant navy had been commissioned. A tetter addressed to the Earl of Dartmouth, and dated from 'Maryland, Dec. 20, 1775,' says: "Their harbors by spring wiU swarm with privateers: an admiral is appointed, a court ^established, and on the 3d inst. [December] the continental flag on board the Black Prince opposite Philadelphia was hoisted." ^ Another letter to a friend in England says : "The Black Prince [Alfred], a fine vessel, carries a flag, and mounts from twenty to thirty 12 and 16 pounders, besides swivels, and fights mostly underdeck." It is not known with certainty what fiag Jones calls ' the flag of America,' though there are reasons for supposing it the grand union flag of thirteen stripes displayed at Cambridge on the 2d of January, and identical with the " union flag " displayed by the Virginia Con vention in May. 1 " The Black Prince, Campbell, arrived at Falmouth from Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 1775." Boston Gazette, Feb. 3, 1776. Either this was another ship of the same name or there is a mistake of dates. A vessel called the Black Prince was one of the Saltonstall expedition, and was burnt by the enemy. 2 See letter signed B. P., Niles's American Revolution, Baltimore, 1S22, p. 541. 232 Origin and Progress of the In the day-signals for the fleet to the several captains in the fleet, as sailing from the capes of Delaware, Feb. 17, 1776, the signal for the Providence to chase was a " St. George's ensign with stripes at the mizzen peak." For a general attack, or the whole fleet to engage, " the standard at the maintop masthead with the striped jack and en sign at their proper places." This stan/dard was probably the rattle snake flag mentioned elsewhere. The striped jack may halve been a flag of thirteen stripes, with a rattlesnake undulating upon it.^ '. The following are these orders in full, taken from American Archives, 4th series, vol. Iv. p. 179, &c. They are undoubtedly the first signals used by our navy. Oedees given the sevekal Captains in the Fleet at sailing from the Capes OF the Delaware, Feb. 17, 1776. Sib, — You are hereby ordered to keep company with me, if possible, and truly ob serve the signals given by the ship I am in ; but In case you should be separated in a gale of wind or otherwise, you then are to use all possible means tO' join the fleet as soon as possible ; but if you cannot, in four days after you leave the fleet you are to make the best of your way to the southern part of Abaco -(one of the Bahama islands) and there wait for the fleet fourteen days. But if the fleet does nor Join you in that time, you are to cruise In such places as you think will most annoy the enemy. And you are to send into port, for trial, all British vessels, or property, or other vessels, with any supplies for the ministerial forces, who you may make your self master of, to such places as you may think best within the United Colonies. In case you are in any great danger of being taken, you are to destroy these orders and your signals. E^BCK Hopkins, Gommamder-in-chlef. Signals foe the A.mbeican Fleet by Day. For sailing: Lkjosc the foretopsail, and sheet it home. For weighing and coming to sail: Loose all the topsails, and sheet them home. For the fleet to anchor: Clew up the maintopsail, and hoist a weft in th« ensign. For seeing u, strange vessel: Hoist the ensign, and lowftr and hoist it as many times as you see vessels, allowing two minutes between each time. For chasing: For the whole fieet to chase, a red pendant at the foretopmast head. To give over the chase: A white pendant at the foretopmast head. For the Columbiis to chase: Strike the broad pendant half mast, to be answered by a weft in the ensign, and making sail. To chase to windvard: Hoist the ensign, lowering the pendant at the same time ; if to leeward, not. To giiM over the chase: A white pendant at the foretopmast head, and if at a great distance, fire a gun at the same time. This may serve for any of the vessels to give over the chase and return to the fleet. For the Andreic Doria to chase: A Dutch flag at the foretopmast head. To chase to windward: Hoist the ensign, lowering the pendant at the same time; if to leeward, not. To give over the chase: A white pendant at the foretopmast head, aud If at a great distance, fire a gun at tbe same time, Flag of the United States. 233 A contemporary account says that, in the succeeding Eebruary, Admiral Hopkins sailed from Philadelphia with the American fleet, For the Cabot to chase: A white fiag at the foretopmast head. To chase to windward, .&c., as above. For the Proi-itlencc to chase: A St. George's ensign with stripes at the mizzen peak. To chase to windward, as above. For the Fly to chase: A Dutch fiag at the maintopmast head. To chase to wind ward, &c., as above. For the Hornet to chase: A red pendant at the maintopmast head. To chase to windward, &c., as above. For the Wasp to chase: A Dutch flag at the mizzen peak. To chase to wind ward, &c., as above. For a General Attack, or the whole Fleet to engage. The standard at thc maintopmost head, with the striped jack and ensign at their proper places. To disengage and fonn into a squadron: .\ white flag at the ensign staff, and the same into a weft for every vessel to make the best of their way off from the enemy for their own preservation. For all captains to come on board thc Commodore: A red pendant at the ensign staff. ¦ To speak Kith the Columbus: A white pendant at the mizzen topmast head. To speak with the Andrew Doria: A Dutch flag at the mizzen topmast head. To speak ivith the Cabot: A weft in a jack at the mizzen topmast head. To speak with the Providence: A white flag at the mizzen topmast head. To speak with the Fly: A Dutch flag at the ensign staff. For any vessel in the fleet that ivants to speak with the Commodore: A weft in the ensign, and if in distress, accompanied with two guns. To fall into a line abreast: A red pendant at the mizzen peak. To fall into a Une ahead: A white pendant at the mizzen peak. For meeting after a separation: A weft In an ensign, at the maintopmast head, to be answered with the same, and clewing up the maintop gallant sail, if they have any set. For the ship Providence to chase: A red pendant at the mizzen topmast head. To chase to windward, as before. To speak with the ship Providence: A weft in the ensign at the ensign staff. Among the signal flags to be used by the fleet under Abraham Whipple, com modore commanding, given under his hand on board the continental frlgatel. Providence, Nantasket Roads, Nov. 22, 1779, are metloned : — ¦ A continental ensign. A Dutch jack and ensign. A striped flag, and A continental jack. A white ensign. A white jack. A red ensign. Among the signals prescribed to be observed by commanders in the continental navy, and Issued by order of the Marine Committee, Jan. 14, 1778, are mentioned as to be used, — A French jack and A continental jack. Colonel Relgart, in his unreliable pamphlet, assigns a particular flag to each vessel of this squadron, — hut without giving any authority for his statement, and in all my researches I have never found any, — which is, viz : that " the Alfred carried a pine-tree flag, presented by Connecticut ; the Columbus, the red cross of St. George, presented by Vermont ; the Andrea Doria, tbe white cross of St. Andrew, presented by Philadelphia ; the Cabot, a white silk pine-tree flag from Connecticut ; the Providence, St. Andrew's cross, presented by Rhode Island ; the Hornet, the yellow silk flag of 234 Origin and Progress of the " amidst the acclamations of thousands assembled on the joyful occa sion, under the display of the union flag, with thirteen stripes in the field, emblematical of the thirteen United Colonies." The first achievement of this squadron was the capture, of New Providence, and a writer from thence to the ' London Ladies' Maga zine,' under date May 13, 1776, mentions that the colors of the Ameri can fieet were " striped under the union, with thirteen stripes, and their standard [admiral's flag] a rattlesnake; motto, "Don't tread on me.'" This confirms my opinion that ' the fiag of America' was no other than the grand union flag of Cambridge, and that the commander-in- chief's flag was the yellow flag presented by Colonel Gadsden, and heretofore described. At the Naval Academy, Annapolis, there is preserved a mezzotinto engraving of " Commodore Hopkins, convmander-inrchief of the Ameri can fleet, published as the law directs, 22d August, 1776, by Thomas Hart, London, which has been transferred to glass and colored." ^ I have a copy of this mezzotinto from which the illustration has been engraved.^ The commodore is represented in the naval continental uni form,' with a drawn sword. At his right hand there is a flag of thirteen Virginia, with rattlesnake ; the Wasp, the yellow silk flag oi South Carolina, with a crescent, a beaver, a rattlesnake, and motto, ' Don't tread on me ;' the despatch vessel Fly, bearing a blue flag with red cross of St. George." As these vessels were not fitted out or equipped by the colonies to which he assigns tliem, without further authority his statement with regard to the flags cannot be credited. 'There are extant other copies of this engraving. C. J. Bushnell, Esq., of New York, has one. It is inscribed like the other, 22d August, 1776. Hon. J. R. Bartlett, of Providence, also has a copy. Mr. Bushnell has a similar engraving' of Charles Lee, which has over a cannon a fiag-staft, attached to which is a white flag. bearing the motto, " An Appeal to Heaiven." This engi-aving is inscribed, " Cliarles Lee, Esq., major-general of the continental forces in America. Published as the act directs Oct. 31, 1775, by C. Shepherd. Thomtlnson, pinxt" Mr. Bushnell has also a simi lar engraving of General Gates, which exhibits at his right hand a flag with thirteen black bars and thirteen white. It is inscribed, " Horatio Gates, Esq., major-general of the American forces. London, published as the act directs, .Tan. 2, 1778, by John Morris." I have seen a colored copy of this engraving, in which General Gates is dressed in a red coat with white or buff facing, and the thirteen black bars on the flag are painted red. 2 See p. 222. 3 This, the first uniform of the continental navy, was prescribed by the Marine Committee, just two weeks after the date of this engraving. Uniform of Navy and Marine Offlcers. In Marine Co.m.miotbe, Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1776. follfws":- "' """"* *"' '"'""™ °' *"' °'"™" "' '-''' °'"^ "" *'^« ^«"«<* ^^''t^ be as Captain.s: Blue cloth with red lapels, slash cufl:, stand-up collar flat veliow b„t tons, blue breeches, red waistcoat with yellow lace. '^ Flag of the United States. 235 stripes with a snake undulating across them, and underneath it the motto, " Don't tread on me." There is no union to the flag, and it may represent the striped jack mentioned in his signals to the fleet. Over Lieutenants: Blue with red lapels, a round cuff faced, stand-up collar, yellow buttons, blue breeches, red waistcoat, plain. Master: Blue with lapels, round cuff, blue breeches, and red waistcoat. Midshipmen: Blue lapelled coat, a round cuff faced with r^d, stand-up collar, with red at the button and button-hole, blue breeches, and red waistcoat. Uniform of the Marine Offl^cers. A green coat faced with white, round cuff, slashed sleeves and pockets, with buttons round thc cuff, silver epaulette on the right shoulder, skirts turned back, buttons to suit the facings. White waistcoat, and breeches, edged with green, black gaiters, and garters. Green shirts for the men. If they can be procured. Extract from the Minutes : John Beown, Secretary. American Archives, 5th series, vol. 11. p. 181. This uniform does not appear to have been satisfactory, for in March, 1777, the major part of the captains at Boston agreed upon the following uniform dress for the navy : — Full Dress for Post Captains. Dark blue coat, white lining, white cuffs, and narrow white lapels the whole length of the waist. The coats full trimmed with gold lace or embroidered button holes; the buttons at equal distance asunder on the lapels, the upper part of the lapels to button on the upper part of the shoulder, three buttons on each i>ocket flap, three on each cuff. Stand-up blue collars. White waistcoats, breeches, and stockings. Dress swords. Plain hats with black cockades and gold buttons and loops. Gold epaulettes on the right shoulder, the flgure of a rattlesnake embroidered on the straps of the epaulettes, with the motto, " Don't tread on me." The waistcoat trim med with gold lace, yellow flat buttons, with the impression of the rattlesnake and the motto " Don't tread on me " on each of them. Undress for Post Captains. The same as dress coats, with the difference that the undress coats have frock backs and turn-down white collars. Dress for Lieutenants. The same as for post captains, excepting the lace and embroidery and tbe epaulettes, and that instead of the rattlesnake they wear buttons with the impression of an anchor. Evidently lieutenants were not allowed epaulettes. Undress for Lieutenants. The same as for post captains, excepting the lace, embroidery, and the epaulettes and buttons, and that the coats be made short, or such as are usually called ' coatees.' Dress and Undress for Masters and Midshipmen. The same as for lieutenants, excepting the lapels, and that they wear turn down collars on their dress and undress coats. .^ The dress and undress for commanders of ships and vessels under twenty guns to be the same as for post captains, excepting the epaulettes. This uniform proposition I found among the ' Paul Jones MS.' in the Congres sional Library, and is signed by Captains John Manly, Hector McNeil, Dudley Salton stall, E. Hinman, Joseph Olney, John Roche, and John Paul Jones, and by Captain McNeil for Captain William Thompson, and by Captain Olney for Captain Abraham Whipple. Evidently this uniform was adopted by Jones, If hy no one else ; for John Adams, 236 Origin and Progress of the his left hand is a white flag with the Massachusetts pine-tree, and over it the words, "Liberty Tree," and under it, "An Appeal to God." F. J. Dreer, of Philadelphia, has a smaller French engraving, evi dently from the same painting, inscribed : " Commodore Hopkins, Commandeur en Chef des Amerj: Flotte." It is without date, and only shows the flag at Hopkins's right hand, which is hoisted on the ensign staff of a ship of the line, and has the thirteen red and white stripes, without any union, rattlesnake, motto, or other device. The. ship has pennants at each masthead. In this engraving the left hand of the commodore, and ship and flag over it, are not shown.^ Cooper is of opinion that the flag hoisted by Jones was a pine-tree flag with a rattlesnake coiled at its roots, and the motto. Such flags were hoisted over the Massachusetts State cruisers, and it is possible such a flag was hoisted over the Alfred; but Jones would scarcely have called it " the Flag of America." The proof is certain, however, that the squadron sailed under striped ensigns. Whether the stripes were red and white, or blue and white, or red, blue, anid white alter nately, seems not certain. A writer in the ' Boston Post,' in 1853, asserted that he had then before him a" fac-simile of the flag used by the Confederate States from July, 1776, until the adoption of the stars and stripes, and that in the union emblem of the stripes there is a rattlesnake coiled up and ready to strike, with the usual motto under neath. A writer in ' Harper's Magazine,' in 1855, says, without citing his authority : " The Alfred was anchored off the foot of Walnut Street. On a brilliant morning early in February, 1776, gay streamers were seen floating from every masthead and spar on the river. At nine o'clock a full-manned barge threaded its way among the floating ice to the Alfred, bearing the commodore, who had chosen that vessel for his flag-ship. He was greeted by the thunders of artillery and the who was a passenger to L'Orient in the alliance, Captain Landais, wirltes In his diary at that port. May, 1779 : — " After dinner, walked out with Captains Jones and Landais to see Jones's marines dressed In the English uniforms, red and white. A number of very active and clever sergeants and corporals are employed to teach them the exercise and manoeuvres and marches, &c., after which Jones came on board our ship. This is the most ambitious and intriguing ofllcer in tbe American navy. Jones has art and secrecy, and aspires very high. You see the character of the man in his uniform, and that of his offlcers and marines, variant from the uniforms established by Congress, — golden button holes for himself, two epaulettes ; marines in red and white instead of green. Eccen tricities and Irregularities are to be expected from him, — they are in his character, they are visible in his eyes. His voice is soft and still and small ; his eye has keen ness and wildness and softness in it." 1 Mr. Bushnell has another French engraving of Hopkins, undated. It is in an oval, surrounded by emblems, &c., and under it are the two flags shown iu the Hart engraving. Flag of the United States. 237 shouts of a multitude. When he reached the deck of the Alfred, Captain Saltonstall gave a signal, and Lieutenant Jones hoisted a new flag prepared for the occasion. It was of yellow silk, bearing a pine- tree, with the significant device of a rattlesnake, and the ominous motto, ' Don't tread on me.' " This is like the flag presented by Colonel Gadsden to Congress, in February, for the use of the com mander-in-chief of the American navy, with the addition of a pine-tree. An English writer of the period is quoted by Eobert C. Sands, in his ' Life of Paul Jones,' as saying : — " A strange flag has lately appeared in our seas, bearing a pine-tree with the portraiture of a rattlesnalie coiled up at its roots, with these daring words, ' iJbn't tread on me.' We learn that the vessels bearing this flag have a sort of commission from a society of people at Phila delphia calling themselves the Continental Congress." Miss Sarah Smith Stafford informed me, in 1873, that when she was about eleven years old her father took her to New York, where she was shown several flags of the era of the Eevolution, and well remembered seeing one with stripes, and -a snake stretched out and partially con cealed in grass, with the head a little elevated. This emblem created a great impression on her, as she had never seen a snake. A letter from Williamsburg, Va., dated April 10, 1776, states that a British cruiser, the Eoebuck, had taken two prizes in Delaware, which she decoyed into her reach by hoisting a continental union flag. The affidavit of Mr. Berry, master's mate of the ship Grace, captured by the Eoebuck, conflrms the letter.^ Another letter, from Williamsburg, Va., May 11, 1776,= describes the colors of the American fleet as follows : " The colors of the American fleet have a snake with thirteen rattles (the fourteenth budding '), in the attitude of going to strike, with the motto, ' Don't tread on me.' " John F. Watson * states that the Alliance, frigate, when commanded by Jones, bore the " national flag of the coiled-up rattlesnake and •Pennsylvania Evening Post, June 20, 1776. » American Archives, 4th series, vol. vi. p. 420 ; also Boston Gazette, April 14, 1777. This letter bears no signature, but immediately above it and on the same page In ' American Archives ' there is a letter of the same date from Williamsburg, addressed by General Charles Lee to General Washington. ' The half-formed additional rattle was said by Franklin to represent the Province of Canada, and the wise man added that " the rattles are united together so that they can never be separated but by breaking to pieces." — Charles Sumner's Lecture, ' Are we a Nation f • Annals of New York, p. 34. 238 Origin and Progress of the thirteen stripes. Watson must be mistaken, since the Alliance was not launched until 1777, and Jones did not command her until 1779, when she must have carried the stars and stripes. On Dec. 17, 1779, the Dutch admiral at the Texel wrote Jones, asking to be informed whether the Alliance was a French or an American vessel ; if the first, the admiral expected himi to show his commission and display the French ensign and pendant, under a salute; if an American, that he should lose no occasion to depart. The French commissary of ma rine urged him to satisfy all parties by hoisting French colors; but Jones refused to wear any other than ' the American flag,' and sent word to the admiral that under that flag he should proceed to sea whenever the pilot would undertake to carry the ship out. Ten days after, on the morning of the 27th of December, Jones went to sea, and had the satisfaction of writing to Mr. Dumas, by the pilot : " I am here, my dear sir, with a good wind at east, and under my best American colors." Favored by a strong east wind, the Alliance the next day passed through the Straits of Dover, with her colors set, run ning close to the Goodwin Sands, in full view of the fleet anchored in the Downs only three or four miles to leeward. On the 29th she reconnoitred the fleet at Spithead, still showing her colors, and on the 18th of^anuary, 1780, was fairly out of the Channel.^ It is claimed for Commodore Barney that he flrst hoisted 'the continental flag' in Maryland. He was appointed second in rank to the sloop Hornet, one of Hopkins's squadron. A crew had not been shipped, and the duty of recruiting fell upon him. Fortunately for his purpose, just at this moment a new ' American flag,' sent by Commodore Hopkins for the service of the Hornet, arrived from Phila delphia, the flrst that had been seen in the State of Maryland. His biographer calls it a star-spangled banner; but that is evidently her mistake. The next morning at sunrise Barney unfurled it, to the music of drums and fifes, and, hoisting it upon a staff, planted it with his own hands at the door of his rendezvous. The sound of the martial music, then a novelty in Baltimore, and the still more novel sight of the rebel colors gracefully waving in the breeze, attracted crowds of all ranks and sizes to the gay scene of the rendezvous; and before the setting of the same day's sun the young recruiting officer had enlisted a full crew of jolly rebels for the Hornet.^ • Mackenzie's Life of Paul Jones, vol. 1. pp. 252, 253. ' Life of Commodore Joshua Barney, by Mary Barney. Flag of the United States. 239 That Paul Jones was the first to hoist the new continental flag has been doubted ; and Cooper remarks, he may have been mistaken : ^ " He always claimed to have been the first man to hoist the fiag of 1775 in a national ship, and the first man to show the present ensign on board a man-of-war. This may be true or not. There was a weakness about the character of the man that rendered him a little hable to self-delusions of this nature ; and while it is probable he was right as to the flag which was shown before Philadelphia, the town where Congress was sitting, it is by no means as reasonable to sup- • pose that the first of the permanent flags [stars and stripes] was shown at a place as distant as Portsmouth. The circumstances are of no moment, except as they serve to betray a want of simplicity of charac ter, that was rather a failing with the man, and his avidity for personal distinction of every sort." John Adams, who certainly did not love Jones, writing Elhridge Gerry, Vice-President of the United States, from Quincy, Jan. 28, 1813,^ disputes this claim of Jones, and says, with the pride of a Massachusetts man : " Philadelphia is now boasting that Paul Jones has asserted in his Journal that ' his hand hoisted the first American flag,' and Captain Barry has asserted that ' the first British flag was struck to him ; ' now I assert that the first American flag was hoisted by Captain John Manly, and the flrst British flag was struck to him. You were not in Congress in 1775, but you was in the State Con gress, and must have known the history of Manly's capture of the transport which contained the mortar ^ which afterwards, on Dor chester Heights, drove the English army from Boston, and navy from the harbor." He also wrote John Langdon, who was a member of the flrst Marttte-Committee, Jan. 24, 1813 : " My recollection has been excited lately by information from Philadelphia that Paul Jones has written in his Journal, ' My hand first hoisted the American flag,' and that Captain Barry used to say that the first British fiag was struck to " Cooper's Life of Paul Jones, p. 31. 2 Austin's Life of Elhridge Gerry. " The transport brig Nancy, with military stores, several brass guns, and one mortar, was captured by the schooner Lee, Captain John Manly, of four guns, ten swivels, and fifty men, on the 29th of November, 1775. December 8, he captured the ship Jenny, of two guns, loaded with provisions, and the brig Hannah, and beat off a British schooner of eight guns, having two vessels under convoy. Captain Barry did not get to sea in the Lexington until February, 1776. We have no account of the flag worn by Manly. It was probably the pine-tree flag. I think Jones may retain his honors, and for BaiTy, it can be truthfully claimed that he was the flrst under the striped flag to capture an armed vessel of the enemy. The fortunate capture of the Nancy is alluded to in ome of Mr. John Adams's letters. 240 Origin and Progress of the him. Both these vain boasts I Icnow to be false, and as you know them to be so, I wish your testimony to corroborate mine. It is not decent nor just that these emigrants, foreigners of the South, should falsely arrogate to themselves merit that belongs to New England sailors, officers and men." Mr. Langdon replied from Portsmouth, " Jan. 27, 1813, the appointment of Manly and his successors must be well known throughout the United States. As to Paul Jones, if my memory serves me, pretending to say that 'this hand first hoisted the Ameri can fiag,' and Captain Barry, that ' the first British fiag was struck to him,' they are both unfounded, as it is impressed on my mind that many prizes were brought into the New England States before their names were mentioned." ^ The brig Lexington, mounting fourteen 4-pounders, commanded by Captain John Barry, has been credited as the first of the new con tinental marine to get to sea and to display the striped fiag upon the ocean. There had been private and colonial marine enterprises and cruisers previously, as there were later. Two vessels, the Lynch and the Franklin, had been commissioned by General Washington, and had sailed under the pine-tree flag, and two small vessels, the Wasp and Hornet, had come around from Baltimore to join the fleet in the Delaware ; '^ but it was claimed for the Lexington that she was the first to get to sea. Cooper, in the early editions of his ' Naval His tory,' so asserted ; but in later editions he says an examination of the private papers of Captain Barry has shown him that Captain Barry was actually employed on shore or in the Delaware for a short time after Commodore Hopkins got to sea.^ The first regular com missioned cruisers, therefore, of the National Navy of the United Colo nies were those of Hopkins's squadron. The fleet left Philadelphia early in January, 1776.* ' Life and Works of John Adams, vol. x. pp. 28 and 29, where also are his letters to Elhridge Gerry, pp. 30, 31. a " Tuesday, Jan. 9, 1776. Resolved., That a letter be written to Mr. TUghman In forming him that the Hornet aud Wasp are under orders to sail to the Capes of Dela ware, and that such vessels as are ready to saU may take the benefit of that convoy. " That tbe committee for fitting out armed vessels be directed to give orders to the captains of the Hornet and Wasp, to take under their convoy such vessels as are ready to sail." — American Archives, 4th series, vol. iv. p. 1637. " Cooper's Naval History, edition 1856. *The Naval Committee were authoi-ized by the Committee of Safety of Pennsyl vania, under date Jan. 1, 1776, to engage three pilots of that province to conduct the vessels down to Reedy Island, and the Committee of Safety also authorized the loan of a number of men from the armed bodies of that proivinee to navigate the Flag of the United States. 241 f The following letter contains an account of its departure for Eeedy Island : — • " Nbwbeen, N. C, Feb. 9, 1776. " By a gentleman from Piiiladelphia, we have received the pleasing account of the actual sailing from that place of the first American fleet that ever swelled their sails on the VS'estern Ocean, in defence of the rights and liljerties of the people of these colonies, now suffering under the persecuting rod of the British] ministry, and their more than brutish tyrants in America. This iieet consists of five sail, fitted out from Philadelphia, which are to be joined at the Capes of Virginia by two ships more from Maryland, and ia commanded by Admiral Hoplvins, a most experienced and venerable sea-captain. The admiral's ship is called the Columbus, after Christopher Columbus, thirty- six guns, 12 and 9 pounders, on two decks, forty swivels, and five hundred men. The second ship is called the Galx>t, after] Sebastian Cabot, who com pleted the discoveries of America made by Coltunbus, and mounts thirty-two guns. The others are smaller vessels, from twenty-four to fourteen guns. Ihey sailed from Philadelphia, amidst the acclamations of many thousands assembled on the joyful occasion, under the display of a union flag with thirteen stripes in the field, emblematical of the tMrteen United Colonies; but unhappily for us, the ice in the river Delaware as yet obstancts the passage down, but the time will now soon arrive when this fleet must eome to action. Their destination is a secret, but generally supposed to be against the Ministerial Governors, those little petty tyrants that have lately spread fire and sword throughout these southem colonies. For the happy success of this little fleet, three millions of people offer their most eamest supplications to Heaven." ' At Eeedy Island, the squadron was frozen up for six weeks, and did not leave the Delaware until the 17th of February.^ On the 19th, the Hornet and Fly parted company. The first achievement of the vessels belonging to Congress down. The Naval Committee's sailing orders to Hopkins are dated Jan. 5, 1776. — American Archives, 4th series, vol. Iv. pp. 506 and 578. Washington, in his letter to Read, Jan. 4, 1776, after describing' his raising the union fiag at Cambridge, says : " I fear your fleet has been so long fitting out, and the destination of it is so well known, that the end will be defeated, if the vessel escape." ' American Archives, 4th series, vol. iv. p. 964. .Tohn Adams, in a letter from " Quincy, Ain-il 13, 1819," writes : " I lay no serious claim to the title of ' Father of the American navy,' or of any thing else except my own family. Have you seen the 'History of the American Navy,' written by a Mr. Clark and edited by Mat. Carey? I gave the names Alfred, Columbus, Cabot, and Andrea Doria to the flrst ships that sailed under the flag of the United Colonies." — Watson's Men and Times of the RevMution. See also »nte. Adams alludes to the ' Naval History of the United States,' by Thomas Clark, a second edition of which, in two volumes, 12mo, was published In Philadelphia, by M. Carey, Jan. 3, 1814. The book is scarce, and has long been out of print. The flrst edition was published May 6, 1813. 2 Life of Paul Jones ; Hopkins's Orders to the Fleet ; Cooper's Naval History, &c. 16 242 Origin and Progress of the squadron under the continental flag was a descent upon New Provi dence, where near one hundred cannon and a large quantity of other stores fell into its hands. After hoisting the striped flag, and holding possession of the place for a few days. Commodore Hopkins left on the 17th of March, bringing away the governor and one or two men of note.^ On this occasion, the flrst that ever occurred in the continental navy, the marines, under Captain Nicholas, behaved with the spirit and steadiness that has distinguished the corps from that hour down to the present time. Scattering his small vessels along the southern coast, the Commo dore, with the remainder of his squadron, arrived ofl: Montauk Point on the 4th of April, where he captured a small vessel of six guns, and on the 6th engaged the Glasgow, 30, Captain Tyringham Howe, whicli managed to get into Newport, and join the English squadron. : On the 17th of April, when near the Capes of Virginia, the Lexing ton supported the honor of the continental flag on the seas by captur ing, after a close and spirited action, the British brig Edward, mounting sixteen 4-pounders, two more than the Lexington. The Lexington had only four men killed, while the Edward was cut to pieces, and suffered severe loss. The Lexington's career was short, but glorious. The same year, in October, and near the spot where she engaged the Edward, she was captured by the frigate Pearl. During the night, the Americans overpowered the prize crew, and took the brig to Baltimore, where she was recommissioned, and sailed thence, March, 1777, for Europe. After her arrival, cruising in company with the Dolphin and Eeprisal, she was chased by a ship of the line, but escaped into Mor- laix, where she was seized and detained by the French government until September. Immediately after her release she sailed, and the next day surrendered to the British man-of-war cutter Alert, after an action of an hour and a half and a hard chase of four hours, having expended all her ammunition. Conquered, not subdued, and unable to return her opponent's fire. Captain Johnson, her commander, to save the Eves of his crew, was compelled to strike her colors. When taken, she had been in service about one year and eight months. She was the first vessel that bore the continental flag to victory on the ocean, and in her short career had fought two severe- actions under it, was twice taken and once recaptured, was otherwise engaged with axmed vessels, and captured several prizes. This Lex ington of the seas, therefore, occupies the position in our naval annals 1 Cooper's Naval History. Flag of the United States. 243 that the Lexington from whence she derived her name does from having been the arena of the first confiict of the colonies with England. A correspondent in England says: "An American privateer was some time since taken by one of our frigates. She carried the conti nental colors, which are thirteen red and white stripes; but it was observed that this privateer had but twelve stripes in his colors. Being asked the reason, he answered that, since we had taken Nj^w York, the Congress had a province less ; and that whenever they lost any of the provinces, it was their orders to cut away one of the stripes from their colors, so that there should be no more stripes than provinces."* It has been suggested, as a reason that a flag emblematic of the union of the colonies was not sooner adopted, the adherence of Georgia was required to complete their union. On the 6th of July, 1775, Georgia, in her Provincial Congress, assented to all measures of re sistance, and united with the other colonies 'against the ministerial measures; but the flag with thirteen stripes was not hoisted until January, 1776. It is not the province of this work to follow the naval events of the war only as it is connected with the history of the flag under its several phases, and to show where and when it first made its mark upon the ocean. The first American vessel of war to show the continental flag to the European world was the Eeprisal, Captain Lambert Wickes, a brig of sixteen guns. She sailed from home soon after the Declaration of Independence. A letter from St. Bustatia, dated " July 27, 1776," mentions her arrival there, after an engagement with the Shark, sloop of war, of equal force, and that " the colors which the American showed were a field white and yellow, with thirteen stripes." ^ She arrived at Philadelphia, September 17, with Dr. Franklin on board as a passenger, and appeared in France in the autumn of 1776, bringing in several prizes. The prizes were ordered to quit France without delay, and the Eeprisal and the Lexington were detained until security was given that they would quit the European seas. When released, the Eeprisal sailed for America, and foundered on the banks of Newfoundland, when all on board perished, with the excep tion of the cook. Aug. 16, 1776, the Marine Committee directed Captains Jones and Hallock, of the continental ships Hornet and Providence, to watch for 1 Low's Astronomical Diary, 1777. = American Archives, 5th series, vol. 1. p. 610. 244 Origin and Progress of the the arrival of the sloop Queen of Hungary, bringing arms and ammuni tion from Martinico, whose flag was six black bars and six yellow bars. In a little work published at Leipsic, entitled ' The Historic Gene alogical Calendar or Chronicle of the most Memorable Transactions in the New World,' for 1784, copies of which are in the Mercantile and Historical Society Library of New York City, there is a colored rep resentation of "the flag and pendant of the thirteen United States of North America." The flag bears on its field thirteen horizontal stripes, red, blue, and white, and a canton extending over the first six stripes, charged with thi*teen' white stars, arranged three and two. The narrow pendant corresponding, consists of three stripes, red, blue, and white, forked red and white at the end, and has a blue chief charged with thirteen white stars next the stafi', similarly arranged; but between this chief and the three horizontal stripes are thirteen short perpendicular stripes, red, blue, and white. The first vessel to obtain a salute for the continental flag from a foreign power was the brig Andrea Doria, Captain Eobinson. This little brig was purchased prior to the resolution of Dec. 23, 1775, and had done some active cruising under" the command of Nicholas Biddle. She sailed from Philadelphia, September, 1776, and pro ceeded at once to St. Eustatia to procure arms. On her arrival at that port, Nov. 16, 1776, she saluted the Dutch flag, and her salute was returned by the governor, who was subsequently removed from office for his indiscretion.* A letter to the Maryland Council of Safety, dated St. Eustatia, Nov. 19, 177G, says, " Captain Eobertson, of the continental brig Andrea Doria, arrived here three days ago, and saluted the fort with eleven guns. Tlie salute was returned by the fort with 18-pounders, and the captain most graciously received by his Honor the Governor and all ranks of people." "All American vessels here now wear the Congress colors!" ^ On hpr return, the Andrea Doria captured the Eaee Horse, of twelve gun'S;, a vessel of about her own force, and arrived at Philadel phia with her prize. When the evacuation of Fort Mifflin gave com mand of the Delaware to the British, both these vessels were burnt, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. 'In 1876, a pamphlet was published in Concord, N. H., entitled' The Stars and Stripes: ,'phe Flaf, of .the United States of America. — ^When, where, and by whom was It first saluted ?' in which the writer proves the fact of this salute, and con siders ifa' Salute to the stars and stripes ! Of course he Is mistaken, as the stars were not added to the stripes until June, 1777, and did not come into use for some months later. » American Archives, vol. 11. 5th series, p. 760. Flag of the United States. 245 In August, 1777, the General Mifflin, commanded by Captain Wil liam McNeil, and wearing the ' continental colors,' was saluted a,t IBrest, much to the indignation of the British ambassador. This is the second salute to the continental striped fiag of which we have any account.'- On the 39th of October, 1776, the Contineiital Congress passed the following resolve, though it does not appear upon its journals that to that time, or for several months later, there was any legislation establishing a national fiag : '' " Resolved, That no private ship or vessel of war, merchant ship, or other vessel, belonging to the subjects of these States, be perniitted to wear pendants when in company with continental ships or vessels of war, without leave from the commanding officer thereof. That if any merchant ship or vessel shall wear pendants in company with conti nental ships or vessels of war without leave from the commander thereof, such commander be authorized to take away the pendant froua the offender. That if private ships or vessels of war refuse to pay the respect due the continental ships or vessels of war, the captain or commander refusing shall lose his commission." This law, says Cooper, in his ' Naval History,' who dates it a year earlier (1775), "was framed in a proper spirit, and manifested an in tention to cause the authorized agents of the government on the high seas to be properly respected. It excites a smile, however, that the whole marine of the country consisted at that time of two small ves sels, that were not. yet equipped." ^ He might have added, and before any national fiag had by legal enactment, so far as the journals of Congress show, been prescribed. The official origin of the grand union striped flag at Cambridge, and the striped flags worn by the fleet of Commodore Hopkins, is involved in obscurity. It is singular that no mention of their official establishment can be found in the private diaries of the times, the official or private correspondence since made public of the prominent actors of the Eevolution, the newspapers of the times, or the journals of the Provincial and Continental Con gresses. We only know, from unimpeached testimony, that there, was 'In 1863, the Confederate (rebel) cruiser Florida received a return salute from the English authorities at Bermuda, but we do not learn that the governor was removed for his indiscretion. ^fh 2 Journal of Congress, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1776, vol. 1. p. 531 (edition of Way & Gideon, Washington, 1823). ' The list of vessels belonging to the Ulnlted States Navy, October, 1776, the date of the resolve given by Cooper, was : Thirteen vessels of from 32 to 28 guns building, and thirteen vessels in service; viz.. One of 24, one of 20, two of 16, three of 14, one of 12, two of 10, and three smaller, — -814 guns. At the same time (Oct. 10, 1776), a resolution passed Congress defining the relative rank of , the, twenty- four captains then in the navy. Cooper's Naval History, 1856 ed., pp. 57,,, 58. 246 Origin and Progress of the a striped continental flag, representing the majesty and authority of the thirteen United Colonies. Flags with different devices and mottoes continued, however, to be used by troops in the field. At the battle of Long Island, Aug. 36, 1776, the Hessian regiment of Eahl saw a troop of some fifty Americans hastening towards them with flying colors. Eahl commanded to give flre. The Americans, who had lost their way, or had been cut off from their countrymen, surrendered, begged for quarter, and laid down their arms. An under officer, leaping forward, took away the colors. He was about to present them to Colonel Eahl, when General Von Merbach arrived, and was about snatcliing the colors from the under officer's hands, when Eahl said, in a tone of vexation, " By no means. General ; my grenadiers have taken those colors, they shall keep them, and I shall not permit any one to take them away." A short altercation now took place be tween them, and they separated in an angry mood, but the colors remained for the present with Eahl's regiment. The captured colors were of red damask, with the motto, " Liberty." The Americans took their stand at the head of the regiment Eahl, with arms reversed, carry ing their hats under their arms, and fell upon their knees, earnestly entreating that their lives might be spared.^ I have an engraving of what purports to be the battle of White Plains, Oct. 28, 1776, which seems to represent the scene above de scribed, the Americans carrying a flag of which the annexed is a fac-simile. That a national flag other than the striped continental was not provided untirsome time after the Declaration of Independence, is to „ T^^^T^J^^f,\ me certain. William Eichards, writing to the From an old English en- ' " graving of the Battle of Pennsylvania Committee of Safetv, Aug. 19, White Plains, Oct 28, 1776. j^^g, says, " I hope you Imve agreed what sort of colors I am to have made for the galleys, &c., as they are much wanted ; " and ag^n, Oct. 15, 1776, " The commodore was with me this morning, and says the fieet has not any colors to hoist if they should be called on duty. It is not in my power to get them until there is a design fixed on to make the colors by." ^ 1 Hessian account of the battle of Long Island.- Memoirs of Long Island His torical Society, vol. 11. pp. 434, 435. » Pennsylvania Archives, vol. v. pp. 17, 46. Flag of the United States. 247 A letter dated Newport, Oct. 31, 1776, says, on the authority of a Captain Vickery, just arrived from the West Indies : " No vessel is suffered to wear English colors in any French pori, but continental colors are displayed every Sunday, and much admired."^ A letter dated " Southampton, England, Nov. 11, 1776," says, " that the brig Kingston, Captain Eeveness, this day arrived fourteen days from Oporto, and brought advice of sixteen American privateers at Bilboa and four at Ferrol, Spain, and that "their colors are a red field with thirteen stripes where our union is placed, denoting the united rebel lious colonies." ^ This would show that the fiags were red, with thir teen stripes in a union where we now have stars. Boston, Dec. 5, 1776. Captain Barbeoc, in a vessel belonging to Newburyport, has arrived at Squam from Bilboa, in thirty-three days. With him came passenger Mr. George Cabot, of Beverley, merchant, who informs that the Spanish and French ports are open to our cruisers, and that they permit American vessels to cari7 the American flag in their ports. In the preceding pages we have established that the earliest flags planted on the shores of North America, of which there is any record, were those of England ; that during the colonial and provincial periods they were continued in the Anglo-Saxon settlements, with the addition of various devices and mottoes, to the time of the grand union flag raising at Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jan. 3, 1776, when the long- established and well-known red ensign of England, bearing in its union the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, was striped in its field with thirteen alternate red and white stripes, emblematic of the union of the thirteen colonies against the oppressive acts of the ministerial government of the Kingdom of Great Britain, whose symbol they never theless retained. We now have arrived at the period when this last symbol of loyalty was abandoned, and the striped union flag of the colonies received added beauty and new signiflcance by the erasure of the blended crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, and showing in their place a canopy of white stars on a blue field, representing a new constellation in the western political heavens, an entire separation of the colonies from Great Britain, and the advent among nations of a new power, which, by its Declaration a few months previous, had sol emnly proclaimed a free and independent State, under the name of The United States of America. 1 American Archives, 5th series, vol. 1. p. 173. ' American Archives, 5th series, vol. ill. p. 637. THE STARS and STRIPES. 1777-1878. / 1 1 llll ifii r 1^ ¦i * Ji FHihiulir. T. II ll y|l J 777 U ft fTA/a- a tTKIKS iimiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiwii f7B5 IS srAna is stmfcs PROPOSED STANDARD tsia S?^ k I • 1818 1 J UlL kHif]! "" u. il »i If I ¦¦ Ml .11111 ' 1.1 I . isia \~, _ ¦ ¦¦;;jiii|ii|||- — ^ *^yiiisr _„' j: Uiu-nif. •^ "T ini'iliiiii iiiiii llll jii r J_ 1847 w tTAnt u srnipcs r-- %. nq jT -r-.i™,|,||_j 1 nn' ,.^^ J T 1 r™ J" TT"""^ ju "i i i-^Jf 1 -J'CELr'""''' "'S'7'Vn ¦ "-• n!t-RI»BWJSn*..."iJ]HaBBn 187ff W SrARS IS STHIKS PART III. THE STARS AND STRIPES. A.D. 1775-1818. THEOEIES AS TO THE OEIGIN OF THE STAES AND STEIPES AS THE DEVICES OF OUE NATIONAL BANNEE. 1774-1777. THE THIETEEN STAES AND THIETEEN STEIPES DUEI.NG THE EEVOLUTION. 1777-1783. THE FLAG OF THIETEEN STAES AND THIETEEN ' STEIPES. 1783-1795. THE FLAG OF FIFTEEN STAES AND FIFTEEN STEIPES. 1795-1818. " Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,, that it may be displayed because of the truth." — Psalms Ix 4. " As at the early dawn the stars shine forth even while it grows light, and then, as the sun advances, that light breaks into banks and streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense white striving together and ribbing the horizon with bars effulgent. So on the American flag, stars and heams of many-colored light shine out together. And where this flag comes, and men behold It, they see in its sacred emblazonry no ramping lions and no fierce eagle, no embattled castles or insignia of imperial authority : they see the symbols of light. It is the banner of dawn. It means Liberty; and the galley slave, the poor oppressed conscript, the down-trodden creature of foreign despotism, sees In the American flag that very promise and pre diction of God : ' The people which sat in darkness saw a great light ; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.' " In 1777, within a few days of one year after the Declaration of Independence, th« Congress of the Colonies in the Confederated States assembled and ordained this glorious national flag which we now hold and defend, and advanced It full high before God and all men as the flag of liberty. " It was no holiday flag gorgeously emblazoned for gayety or vanity. It was a solemn national signal. .When that banner first unrolled to the sun, it was the symbol of all those holy truths and purposes which brought together the Colonial American Congress ! . . Our flag carries American ideas, American history, and American feelings. Beginning with the Colonies, and coming down to our time, In its sacred heraldry, in Its glorious insignia. It has gathered and stored chiefly this supreme idea : Divine right of liberty in man. Every color means liberty ; every thread means liberty ; every form of star and beam or stripe of light means liberty : not lawlessness, not license; but organized institutional liberty, — liberty through law, and laws for liberty ! " It is not a painted rag. It is a whole national liistory. It Is the Constitution. It is the government. It is the free people that stand in the government on the Constitution." — Henry Ward Beecher's Address to two Companies of the Brooklyn Fourteenth Regiment, 1861. PART III. THE STARS AND STRIPES. THEOEIES AS TO THE OEIGIN OF THE STAES AND STEIPES. 1774-1777. " Flag of tlie free lieart's liope and iiome ! By angel liands to valor given; Thy stars have lit i;he welljin dome, And all thy hues were bom in heaven. For ever float that standard sheet! Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our fee<> And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us ? " — Drake. The earliest suggestion of stars as a device for an American ensign prior to their adoption in 1777 is found in the 'Massachusetts Spy' for March 10, 1774, in a song written for the anniversary of the Boston Massacre (March 5). In a flight of poetic fancy, the writer foretells the triumph of the American ensign : — " A) ray of bright glory now beams from afar, The American ensign now sparliles a star Which shall shortly flame wide through the skies." The earMest known instance of the thirteen stripes being used upon an American banner is found upon a standard presented to the Philadelphia troop of Light Horse in 1775, by Captain Abraham Markoe, which is now in the possession of that troop, and displayed at its anniversary dinners.^ As General Washington, when en route to talce command of the army at Cambridge, accompanied by Generals Lee and Schuyler, was escorted by this troop of Light Horse from 1 1 had a dim recollection of having seen a lithograph of this standard many years before, but I am indebted to my indefatigable friend, John A. McAllister, Esq., of Philadelphia, in a letter dated Oct. 26, 1871, for my knowledge of this flag, which had escaped the notice of the previous historians of our flag. 252 Origin and Progress of the standard of the Philadelphia Light Horse, 1775. Philadelphia, June 21, 1775, to New York,^ he was doubtless familiar with the sight of this standard, and it is possible that it may have suggested to him the striped union flag he raised at Cambridge six months later. The first Centinental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, Sep tember, 1774; and on the 17th of November twenty-eight gentle men of the highest respectability and fortunes voluntarily associ ated, constituted themselves the Philadelphia troop of Light Horse, and elected Abraham Markoe captain. The members equipped themselves at their own expense. The uniform adopted by them was a dark brown short- coat, faced and hned with white ; high-topped boots ; a round black hat, bound with silver cord and a buck's tail. Their housings were brown edged with white, with the letters 'L. H.' worked on them. Their arms were a carbine, a pair of pistols in holsters, and a horse man's sword, with white belts for the sword and carbine. Such was the appearance of the troop when it escorted General Washington to New York, and afterward fought under this standard at Trenton and Princeton. ' Sparks's Life of Washington, p. 143, also Bancroft's History of the United States. " On the 23d of June, the day after Congress had heard the first ru'mors of the battle at Charlestown, Washington was escorted out of Philadelphia by the Massachusetts delegates and many others, with music, officers of militia, and a cavalcade of light horse in uniform. On Sunday, the 2oth, all New York was In taction. Washington, accompanied by Lee and Schuyler, under escort of the Phila delphia Light Horse, was known to have reached Newark. On the news that he was to cross the Hudson, bells were rung, the militia paraded in their gayest trim, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the commander-in-chief, dressed' in a uniform of blue, was received at Lispenard's by the mass of inhabitants. Drawn in an open carriage by a pair of white horses, he was escorted into the city by nine companies of infantry, while multitudes of all ages bent their eyes on him from house-tops, the windows, and the streets. That night the royal governor, Tryon, landed without any such popular parade." — Banci-oft's History of the United States. " Nov. 21, 1773, Lady Washington was escorted from Schuylkill Ferry Into the city by the Light Horse," &c. " Nov. 27, 177S, Lady Washington, attended by a troop of horse, two companies of light infantry, &c., left Philadelphia on her journey to the camp at Cambridge." — Passages from the Diary of Christopher Marshall, vol. i., 1774-77, edited byWill- 1am Duane, pub. Phila., 1839. ' ¦ Flag of the United States. 253 Captain Markoe resigned his commission late in 1775, an edict of Christian VIIL, king of Denmark, forbidding his subjects to engage in the war against :Great Britain, under penalty of confiscation of their property.^ He presented this standard to the troop before his resigna tion, and it was their first standard ; this fixes the date of its manufac ture in 1775, and prior to the" union flag raising at Cambridge. For this reason this flag is considered a reUc of priceless value by the troop. The following minute description of this interesting Eevolutionary relic is furnished by Mr. Charles J. Lukens, of Philadelphia : '^ — " The flag of the Light Horse of Philadelphia is forty inches long and thirty-four inches broad. Its canton is twelve and one-half inches long, and nine and one-half inches wide. The armorial achievement in its centre occupies the ^proportional space shown in the drawing; both sides of the flag exhibit the same attributes. The left side shows every thing as if the material were transparent, giving the right side entirely in reverse, except the ciphers ' L. H.' and the motto, " For these we strive." ' The ciphers, the running -vine on both sides, the cord and tassels, and the fringe, are of silver bullion twist. The spear-head and the upper ferrule, taken together eight inches in length, are of solid silver. The staff is of dark wood, in three carefully ferruled divisions screwing together. Ten screw rings at irregular intervals, from two and one-half to three and three-fourths inches, are used to attach the flag to the staff by means of a cord laced through corre sponding eyelets in the flag. "The ilag is formed of two sides very strongly hemmed together along the edges, each side being of two equal pieces attached together by means of a horizontal seam, the ma terial of the flag being aJight, bright yellow silk, and apparently the same tint as that of the present artillery flag of the United States. The canton of the flag is ' Barry of thirteen azure and argent.' The azure being deep ultra marine, the argent silver leaf. The achievement in the centre of the flag is : Azure, a round knot of three interlac- ings, with thirteen divergent, wavy, bellied, double foliated ends or, whereof two ends are in chief and one 1 By-Laws, Muster Roll, and Papisrs of the First Troop of the PhHadelphla City Cavalry, Philadelphia, 1856 ; History of the First Troop, 1876. The edict was dated Oct. 4, 1775. ' Letters of C. J. Lukens, Nov. 6, 1871, March 21, 1872, &c. Mr. Lukens says the 254 Origin and Progress of the in base as per margin. The scrolled edging of the shield is gold, with outer and inner rims of silver. " Crest [without a wreath] a horse's head bay, with a white star on the forehead, erased at the shoulders, maned sable, bitted and resetted or, and bridled azure. Over the head of the charger is the monogram ' L. H.,' for Light Horse, though it has been suggested these letters are the monogram of Levi HoUingsworth, who was quartermaster of the troop at the battle of Trenton. " Beneath the shield, the motto, ' For these we strive/ ^ in black Eoman capitals of the Elizabethan style, on a floating silver scroll, upon the upcurled ends of which stand the supporters, Dexter, a con tinental masquerading as an American Indian (probably of the Boston tea-party, Dec. 16, 1773), with a bow or, the loosened string blue floating on the wind, in his left hand, and in his right a gold rod upholding a liberty cap,^ with tassel azure, the lining silver, head-dress first troop have always prized their standard very highly, but never suspected Its value in the history of the stars and stripes. Since the publication of the first edition of this work the flag has heen placed between two plates of glass and deposited in an iron fireproof safe, built expressly for its reception in the troop's new armory. 1 Evidently referring to fame and liberty, represented hy the supporters. 2 Many persons entertain a belief that the liberty cap was first used In modem times as an emblem of freedom by the French In 1790. That this was not the case Is proved by its being one of the devices on the flag ot the Philadelphia Light Horse, and by the following resolve : — " Philadelphia, August S\st, 1775. At a. meeting O't the I Committee of Safety, held this day. Resolved, That Owen Biddle provide a seal for the use of the board, ahout the size of a dollar, with a cap of liberty, with this motto, ' This is my right, and I will defend it.' " The Phr^'ian Cap. ^he liberty cap is of Phrygian origin, and belongs to clas sical times. It was granted to freedmen as a token of manumission from bondage. The Saxons of England used It as their ordinary head-dress, but without the mean ing we attach to it. It was on American coins In 1783. The Bryges, a warlike people from the southwest shores of the Buxlne, conquered the east of Asia Minor, which they called ' Brigia,' — afterwards changed to PTirygia. This people distin guished themselves from the primitive inhabitants by wearing their national cap as a sign of their Independence, and It was stamped on their coins. The Romans adopted it, and, when a slave was manumitted, placed a small red cap called ' a plleus' on his head, proclaimed him a freedman, and registered his name as such. When Saturnlus took the capital in 263, he hoisted a cap on a spear to Indicate that all slaves who joined him should be free. When Csesar was murdered, the conspira tors raised a Phrygian cap on a spear as a token of liberty. The Goddess of Liberty on the Aventlne Mount held in her hand a cap, the symbol of freedom. In France, the Jacobins wore a red cap. In England, the symbol of liberty Is a blue cap with a white border ; and Britannia is represented holding such a cap on the end of a spear. The American cap of liberty has been adopted from the British, and is blue with a white border or bottom on which are thirteen stars. There is no positive regulation In regard to it beyond Its shape aud color, so far as America is concerned. Flag of the United States. 255 and kilt (or ga-ka-ah) of feathers, the former of five alternately of dark red and gold, with fillet of criinson. The latter of seven alter nately of gold and of dark red. This may be of eight, and then it would be 5 -f- 8 ^ 13, alternately of dark red and of gold, as the gold at least occupies the extreme natural right of the kilt. The uncertainty arises from age, and the fact that the dependent ends of a crimson shoulder sash or scarf worn from left to right with knot at the waist bound the left edge of the kilt, which itself is supported by a narrow girdle, with pendent loops of gold, and the looped spaces red. The quiver is of gold, supported over the right shouldcLby a blue strap; its arrows are proper. A continental officer's crescent, gold, suspended around the neck by a blue string, rests just where the clavicles meet the sternum. The mocassins are hwff with feather tops, I think alter nated dark red and gold. The Indian has deep black hair, but his skin is intermediate between the Caucasian and the aboriginal hues, rather inclining to the former, and his cheek is decidedly ruddy, almost rosy. He approaches the shield in profile, as does also the sinister supporter, which represents an angel of florid tint, roseate cheek, with auburn curly hair, and blue eyes, blowing a golden trumpet, with his right hand, and holding in his left a gold rod. His wings are a light bluish gray with changeable flashes of diver. His flowing robe from the right shoulder to the left flank is purple. These supporters not being heraldic in position and motion for human or angelic figures, their left and right action have the natural and not heraldic significations. " This flag is in admirable condition, considering that more than one hundred years have elapsed since it was made. The whole is a model of good taste and Judgment, and evidences that Captain Markoe spared no expense." The presentation is not found .chronicled in the Philadelphia papers ofthe time.^ A lithograph of this flag, presenting a fair idea of its appearance, was published in William Huddy's ' Military Magazine,' Philadelphia, 1839. The picture is accompanied by some spirited lines by Andrew McMakin, which are dedicated to it.^ A fine'colored representation ' The ' Germantown Telegraph,' some twenty years ago, stated that the old flag of the flrst troop of Philadelphia county cavalry was in existence, and said : " It was painted in 1774, at the organization at the corps, and is believed to be the only relic now extant of the flrst flag adopted by the colonies." A correspondent of the ' Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch ' says : " The newspapers of 1774 contain nothing about the presentation of this flag, nor about the formation of the troop of Light Horse, and I have searched the newspapers of 1774 and '75, without flnding any mention of the presentation." ^ These lines were given in full In the flrst edition of this hook. 256 Origin and Progress of the of the flag is given in the ' Centennial History of the Troop,' published in 1875. On the semi-centennial anniversary of the troop, Nov. 17, 1834, this banner was displayed; and David Paul Brown, when called upon for a toast, gave impromtpu : — " OuB Banner! For fifty years, at fray or feast, O'er deadly foe or gentle guest, Triumphantly unfurled! And FIFTY more our flag shall wave In memory of the Good and Brave Who dignified the world, And tyranny and time defy In freedom's immortality." Mr. Lukens considered this flag to bear intrinsic evidence of hav ing existed before the invention of the star-spangled banner, " because it has no stars save a white star in the forehead of the horse-head used as a crest; it also symbolizes the thirteen colonies by a golden knot of thirteen divergent wavy, floating, foliated ends upon a blue shield; and although this in itself is a very beautiful type of the United Colonies, it never would have been selected for the purpose by anybody after the invention of the thirteen stars on blue, equiva lent to thirteen stkrs in the heavens; as the latter, being a higher and more significant symbol, would instantly have swayed every heart in its favor.'' ^ Fortunately, solving all doubts as to the early date of this standard, William Camac, a great-grandson of Captain Markoe, and at one time a lieutenant of the City Troop, discovered among his ancestor's papers, in November, 1874, the original bills for designing and painting it, and has presented them to the troop. A fac-simile of them will be found on the following page. The first bill, it will be observed, is for a pair of colors, that is, both sides of the standard, which were made separately and sewed together ; and includes a charge for a ' union,' that is, the stripes, showing that it was not an after addition, as has been suggested. Nothing on these bills fixes the precise date of ordering the flag. The bill for designing is dated a week later than the bill for painting, and it is reasonable to suppose the standard was completed some time before these bills were presented. Georgia, the thirteenth State to ' Mr. Lukens's lecture on ' The Heraldry of the American Flag,' as reported In the ' Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch.' Flag of the United States. 257 Join the confederacy, assented in her provincial congress to all the measures of resistance, and united with the other colonies on the s^f,>/D3^4^ "^^sl^^n 6th of July, 1775, three months earlier, though her delegates did not take their seats in Congress until September; and the thirteen blue and white stripes on the union of this flag may have symbolized those events, or anticipated them. And it may be that it was borne by the troop when it accompanied Washington, June 21, 1775, from Phila delphia to New York, when, being a new flag and device, it would naturally have attracted his attention. Colonel Joseph Eeed, his military secretary, was at that time a resident of Philadelphia, and had doubtless opportunities of seeing the flag carried by the troop, and he may have suggested the stripes to Washington. This con clusion is strengthened by the fact that he was secretary of the Committee of Conference sent by Congress to arrange with General Washington the details of the organization of the army, which went into being Jan. 2, 1776, and Colonel Eeed, while the committee was in * James Claypoolc was a painter in Philadelphia as early as 1749. He died in Philadelphia in 1784. Nothing is known of John Folwell. — History of the First Troop Philadelph-.n City Cavalry, 1774-1874. 17 258 Origin and Progress Of The session, had the subject of a flag under consideration. This standard was carried by the troop on all important parades until about 1830, when its condition, owing to age and the risk of its exposure, prevented its use in service. It was, however, often displayed at the anniversary dinners. As from-its increasing age the standard required careful preserva tion, and would not permit of its being handled, in 1872, immediately after the publication of the first edition of this book, in which attention was called to its exceeding value, the City Troop had a handsome frame and case made for its safe-keeping. The frame is of black wal nut, in the form of a screen, in which is set the case made of two plates of plate-glass, between which the flag is placed. On either side, and below the case, in one face of the frame, are attached the three sections of the staff. In the ornamental head of the same is a small semicircular opening, faced on either side with glass, which contains the spear-head and tassels. In the construction of the troop's new armory, in 1874, a fire-proof safe was built for the special purpose of containing this frame, in which is kept the original bills, since discov ered. On the 17th of November, 1874, at the centennial anniversary of the troop, the standard was displayed to the assembled guests in its new and safe quarters. A fine, large, colored illustration of it was published in the Centennial History of the troop, in 1875.^ The ' Pennsylvania Magazine,' vol. i., 1775, has for frontispiece two flags crossed, one of which, it has been asserted, is blazoned with the thirteen stripes, but has no stars. An examination of the engraving, however, shows that both flags are plain, and that the stripes are only a shaded representation of the folds of the flag. The same magazine has " a correct view of the battle at Charlestown, June 17, 1775," in which the British flag is plainly to be seen, but no other flag is visible. "History of the First Troop, Cdty Cavalry, 1774. Nov. 17, 1S74. 1 vol. 4to, pp. 150. Flag of the United States. 259 THE THIETEEN STAES AND THIETEEN STEIPES DUEING THE EEVOLUTION. 1777-1783. "Red, white, and blue, wave on; Never may sire or son Tliy glory mar; Sacred to liberty, Honored on land and sea, Unsoiled for ever be Each stripe and star." W. P. Tilden. On Saturday, the 14th of June, 1777, the American Congress "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 consteUation." ^ Thus, full fledged, and without any debate or previous legislation, our flag was flung as a new constellation among the nations. A careful examination of the Eough and Smooth MS. Journals of Congress in the Library of Congress, and of the files of the original drafts of motions made in the Continental Congress in the Department of State, instituted at my request by the Librarian of Congress, shows that this is the first legislative action of which there is any record for the establishment of a national flag for the sovereign United States of America, de clared independent July 4, 1776,^ nearly a year previous, and proclaims the official birth of a new constellation as the symbol of their union. In the ' Eough Journal ' the resolve reads : " 1777, Saturday, June 14. . . Resolved, That the flag of the United States of [' of ' changed to ' by '] 13 stripes, alternate red and white ; that the > MS. Journal of Congress, copied by Charles Thomson, No. 2, vol. vi. p. 1537, also in 1823 ed., vol. 1. p. 165 ; Arnold's History of Rhode Island ; Hamilton's His tory of the U. S. Ilag; Sarmlento's History of our Flag; Boston Gazette, Sept. 15, 1777, &c. ' Professor S. F. B. Motse, President of the American Academy of Design, said that, entering the studio of Benjamin West, long after the death of his patron and friend, George III , he found hlm^copying a portrait of that king. As he sat at his work and talked, according to his custom, he said : " This picture Is remarkable for one circumstance. The king was sitting to me when a messenger brought him ' the Declaration of Independence.'" "How did he receive the news?" I asked "He was agitated at flrst," replied West, "then sat silent and thoughtful; at length he said, " Well, if they cannot he happy under my government, I hope they may not change it for a worse. I wish them no HI.' " — Dunlop's History of the Arts of Design in America. 260 y Origin and Progress of the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constella tion." ^ This resolve was printed in the papers in August, but 'was not officially promulgated over the signature of the Secretary of Con gress at Philadelphia until September 3, and at other places still later. An oSicer of the American army records in his diary, under the date Aug. 3, 1777: "It appears by the papers that Congress resolved, on the 14th of June last, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field," &c.^ This tardy resolve of Congress, it will be observed, was not passed until eighteen months after the union fiag raising at Cambridge, and the sailing of the first American fleet from Philadelphia, under continental colors, — ^nearly a year after the declaration of the entire separation of the colonies from Great Britain, and another two and a half months were allowed to elapse before it was promulgated officially. There was red tape in those early days as- well as now. No record of the discussions which must have preceded the adoption of the stars and stripes has been preserved, and we do not know to whom we are indebted for their beautiful and soul-inspiring devices. It does not appear from the record whether it was the device of a committee or of an individual, or who presented the resolve. It seems probable, however, it emanated from the Marine Committee, if not from a special one, and such is the tradition. There are many theories as to its origin, but, though less than a century has elapsed:, none are satisfactory. The stripes, as already stated, some have supposed to have been bor rowed from the Dutch or from the designating stripes on the coats of the continental soldiers. Both stars and stripes, others have considered, were suggested by the arms of Washington, which, by a singular coin cidence, contain both. The arms of William, Lord Douglas, however, also bear on a shield argent a chief azure, a heart imperially crowned proper, and three mullets (five-pointed stars) argent. The stars and shield, it will be observed, of the Douglas arms, are the color of our union, while tliose on the Washington arms are not. " The Hodye harte in the Dowglas armes Hys standere stood on hye That every man myght fule well Icnowe; By side stode starres three." ^ 1 Eough MS. Journal, No. 1, vol. ix. p. 243. ^ Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783, by James Thatcher, M.D., late Surgeon in the Amenla. 'Battle of otterburne (written cir. Henry VI.). Flag of the United States. 261 Had any banner been blazoned with the coat armor of Washing ton, it is reasonable to suppose he would have chosen its devices for the banner of his own Life Guard ; but that had no such device.^ A British antiquarian ^ supports the idea that Washington's arms furnished the device for " our flag." " Like Oliver Cromwell, the American patriot was fond of gene alogy, and corresponded with our heralds on the subject of his own pedigree.' Yes! that George Washington, who gave sanction if not birth to that most democratical of all sentiments, ' that all men are free and equal,' * was, as the phrase goes, a gentleman of blood, of ancient time, and coat-armor, nor was he slow to acknowledge the fact.^ When the Americans, in their most righteous revolt against the tyranny of the mother country, cast about for an ensign with which to distinguish themselves from their English oppressors, what did they ultimately adopt? 'WTiy! nothing more nor less than a gentleman's badge, a modification of the old English coat of arms borne by their leader and deliverer. A few stars had, in the old chivalrous times, distinguished his ancestors from their compeers in the tournament and upon the battle-field; more stars and additional stripes, denoting the number of States that Joined in the struggle, now became the standard around which the patriots of the West so successfully rallied. It is not a little curious that the poor worn-out ray of feudalism, as so many would count it, should have expanded into the bright and ample banner that now waves from every sea." The assumption of this writer finds denial in this,— that Washing ton, in his correspondence or writings, has not mentioned any con nection of his arms with our flag, as he would have been likely to have done had there been any, for he would certainly have been proud of the ' See illustration, p. 10. ^ Lowes. ^ Not until 1792. * He gives to Washington credit due to Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of' Independence, in v/hich all men are declared to be created equal ; or rather to Hon. George Mason, of Virginia, who wrote, May, 1776, " that all men are created equally free and Independent, " the commencing words of the Declaration of Rights, on a copy of which he indorsed, " Tbe flrst declaration of the kind in America." The document can be found in Niles's ' American Revolution.' "Washington to Sir Isaac Heard, "Philadelphia, May 2, 1792," in answer to his queries about the genealogy, &e., of the Washington family, says : " This is a subject to which I confess I have paid very little attention." " The arms enclosed In your letter are the same that are held by the family here." Mrs. Lewis, of Woodlawn, Va., has the little robe in which Washington was bap tized. It is made of white silk lined with red (crimson) silk, and trimmed with blue ribbon, our national colors, red, white, blue.^ — Lossing's Hist. Record, March, 1872. 262 Origin and Progress of the connection; and there is no allusion to the subject in the published correspondence of his contemporaries. Mr. Haven favors the supposition that the devices of our flag were taken from the arms of the Washington family, and were used out of respect to the commander-in-chief. He thought, also, the stars on the Washington shield might be of Eoman origin. " Virgil speaks of re turning to the stars, redire ad astra, implying a home of peace and hap piness; and the Eomans worshipped the stars, which bore the name of their gods. They also used scourges, producing stripes on the bodies of those they punished." From these symbolic antecedents we may, he says, "derive our star-bearing banner, the heaven-sent ensign of our union, freedom, and independence, the stripes only to be used as a scourge to our enemies." ^ A correspondent of the ' New York Inquirer ' beautifully said : " Every nation has its symbolic ensign, — some have beasts, some birds, some flshes, some reptiles, in their banners. Our fathers chose the stars and stripes,— the red telling of the blood shed by them for their country ; the blue, of the heavens and their protection ; and the stars of the separate States embodied in one nationality, ' E Pluribus Unum.' " Alfred B. Street, alluding to our flag as first unfurled at the sur render of Burgoyne, says: — • " The stars of the new flag represent a constellation of States rising in the West. The idea was taken from the constellation Lyra, which in the hands of Orpheus signified harmony. The blue of the field was taken from the edges of the Covenanters' banner in Scotland, " signifi cant also of the league and covenant of the United Colonies against oppression, and involving the virtues of vigilance, perseverance, and Justice. The stars were disposed in a circle, symbolizing the perpetuity of the union ; the ring, like the circling serpent of the Egyptians, sig nifying eternity. The thirteen stripes showed with the stars the num ber of the United Colonies, and denoted the subordination of the States to the Union, as well as equality among themselves. The whole was a blending of the various flags, previous to the union flag, — the red flag of the army and the white one of the floating batteries. The red color, which in Eoman days was the signal of deflance,' denotes daring, and the white purity." 1 Paper read before the New Jersey Historical Society, January, 1872. ' See p. 139 for description of the Covenanters' banner. " Admiral Farragut used the old Roman signal when he designated two red lights as a signal for battle previous to passing the forts below New Orleans. In ancient military history, a gilded shield hung out of the admiral's galley was a signal for Flag of the United States. 263 " What eloquence do the stars breathe when their full significance is known! a new constellation, union, perpetuity, a covenant against oppression, Justice, equality, subordination, courage, and purity." I have been unable to find that his poetic and fanciful description is supported by contemporaneous proof, or that it was ever required the stars should be arranged in a circle, though in Trumbull's painting of the ' Surrender of Burgoyne,' and Peale's portrait of Washington, the stars are so arranged by those artists. The resolution of June 14, 1777, does not direct as to their arrangement in the union. It does say, however, that they represent, not ' Lyra,' or any known heavenly cluster of stars, but ' a new constellation.' The idea that the new constellation was a representation of Lyra is advocated in Schuyler Hamilton's 'History of the Flag;' but I cannot deem the evidence conclusive. The constellation of Lyra is a symbol of harmony and unity, and consists of the required number of stars; but to represent it in the union of a flag would be difficult and objectionable. John Adams is said to have proposed Lyra as the emblem of union ; and when John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State, in 1830, he gave color to the idea by removing the United States arms from the United States pass ports, and substituting in place of them a circle of thirteen stars, sur rounding an eagle holding in his beak the constellation Lyra and the motto, " Nunc sidera ducit." Our Eevolutionary fathers, when originating a national flag, un doubtedly met with difficulty in finding a device at once simple, taste ful, inspiriting, and easily manufactured. The number of States whose unity was to be symbolized was a stumbling-block. The stripes repre sented them ; but what could be found to replace the crosses emblem atic of the union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, whose authority they had renounced ? The rattlesnake, which had been used for a time as a symbol of the necessity of union and defiance, rather than of union itself, was repulsive to many, from being akin to the tempter of our first parents, and the cause of their expulsion from Paradise, bearing also the curse of the Almighty. battle. * Sometimes It was a red garment or banner. During the elevation of this signal, the flght continued, and by its depression or inclination to the right or left, the ships were directed how to attack their enemies or to retreat from them. In matters of military parade, probably derived from this ancient custom, it Is usual to flx a red flag, called a ' signal-staff,' somewhat larger than a camp color, to point out the spot where the general or oflScer commanding takes his station. — London Encyclopedia, vol. xx. A red flag Is the danger-signal on all modern railroads. 264 Origin and Progress of the One of the best of the devices suggested for a union was a circle of thirteen mailed hands, issuing from a cloud, and grasping as many links of an endless chain. An instance of this device exists in the flag or color of a Newburyport company, which was on exhi bition in the National Museum in Phila delphia, in 1876. It had the addition of a pine-tree in the centre of the surrounding links. A mailed hand grasping a bundle of thirteen arrows had been a device for pri- A Union Device, 1776. vateers ; but that was a symbol of war and deflance rather than of union. A round knot with thirteen floating ends was the beautiful device, signifying strength in union, of the standard of the Philadelphia Light Horse. A checkered union of blue and white or blue and red squares might have answered, but the odd number of the colonies prevented that or any similar device. Thir teen terrestrial objects, such as eagles, bears, trees, would have been absurd, and equally so would have been thirteen suns or moons; be sides, the crescent was the chosen emblem of Mohammedanism, and therefore unfitted to represent a Christian people. Thirteen crosses would have shocked the sentiments of a portion of the people, who looked upon the cross as an emblem of popish idolatry. There re mained then only the stars, and the creation of a new constellation to represent the birth of the rising republic.^ No other object, heavenly or terrestrial, could have been more appropriate. They were of like ' An English writer, a few years later, thus ridicules the fondness of the Ameri can colonists for the number thirteen : — " Thirteen is a number peculiarly belonging to the rebels. A party of naval prisoners lately returned from Jersey say that the rations, among the rebels are thirteen dried clams per day ; that the titular Lord Stirling takes thirteen glasses of grog every morninp, has thirteen enormous rum bunches on his nose, and that (when duly Impregnated) he always makes thii;;teen attempts before he can walk; that Mr. Washington has thirteen toes to his feet (the extra ones having grown since the Declaration of Independence), and the same number of teeth In each jaw; that the Sachem Schuyler has a topknot of diirteen stiff hairs, which erect themselves on the crown of his head when he grows mad ; that old Putnam had thirteen pounds of his posterior bit ofl! in an encounter with a Connecticut bear ('twas then he lost the balance of his mind) ; that it takes thirteen Congress paper dollars to equal one penny sterling; that Polly Wayne was just thirteen hours in subduing Stony Point, and as many seconds in leaving It ; that a well-organized rei?el household has thir teen children, all of wbom expect to be generals and members of the high and mighty Congress of the 'thirteen united States' when they attain thirteen years; that Mrs. Washington has a mottled tomcat (which she calls in a complimentary way Hamilton) with thirteen yellow rings around his tall, and that his flaunting it suggested to the Congress tbe adoption of the same number of stripes for th'e rebel flag." — Journal of Captain Smythe, R. A., January, 1780. Flag of the United States. 265 form and size, typifying the similarity of the several States, and, grouped in a constellation, represented their unity. It will probably never be known who designed our union of stars. The records of Congress being silent upon the subject, and there being no mention or suggestion of it in any of the voluminous correspondence or diaries of the time, public or private, which have been published. It has been asked why the stars on our banner are five-pointed, wliile those on our coins are, and always have been, six-pointed. The answer is, that the designer of our early coins followed the English, and the designer of our flag the European, custom. "^ In the heraldic language of England, the star has six points; in the heraldry of Hol land, France, and Germany, the star is five-pointed. Mr. William J. Canby, in 1870, read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania a paper on the American Flag, in which he claimed that his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Eoss,^ was the maker and partial designer of the first flag combining the stars and stripes. The house where this flag was made is now No. 239 Arch Street, below Third; it is a small two-storied and attic tenement, formerly No. 89, and was occupied by Mrs. Boss after the death of her first husband. The illustration is from a pho tograph furnished by Mr. Canby. A committee of Con gress, he asserts, accompa nied by General Washing ton, in June, 1776,^^called upon Mrs. Eoss, who was House where the flrst Stars and Stripes are said to have heen made. ' Editor Historical Magazine. ^ Mrs. Ross's maiden name was Griscom. After the death of Mr. Ross, she mar ried, second, Ashbum, who died a prisoner of war in the Mill Prison, England ; and, third, John Claypole, a lineal descendant of Oliver Ci-omwell. Mrs. Ross's first husband was the nephew of Colonel George "Ross, one of the signers of the Declara tion of Independence. "Washington was called from New York to Philadelphia, June, 1776, to advise with Congress oh the state of affairs just previous to the Declaration of Independ ence, and was absent from Kew York flfteen days. — Sparks's Washington, p.' 177. 266 Origin and Progress of the an upholsterer, and engaged her to make the fiag from a rough draw ing, which, at her suggestion, was redrawn by General Washington in pencil in her back parlor. The flag thus designed was adopted by Con gress, and was, according to Mr. Canby, the flrst star-spangled banner which ever floated on the breeze. Mrs. Eoss received the employment of flag-making for govemment, and continued in it for many years. Three of Mrs. Eoss's daughters were living when Mr. Canby wrote his paper, and confirm its state ments, founding their belief upon what their mother had told them concerning it. A niece. Miss Margaret Boggs, then living at German- town, aged ninety-five, was also cognizant of the fact. As related by them. Colonel George Eoss and General Washington visited Mrs. Eoss and asked her to make the flag. She said, " I don't know whether I can, but I'll try ; " and directly suggested to the gentlemen that the design was wrong, the stars being six-cornered and not five-cornered [pointed], as they should be. This was altered, and other changes made'. Mr. Canby, in a letter written soon after reading his paper, says : ^ " It is not tradition, it is report from the lips of the principal partici pator in the transaction, directly told not to one or two, but a dozen or more living witnesses, of whom I myself am one, though but a little boy when I heard it. I was eleven years old when Mrs. Eoss died in our house, and well remember her telling the story. My mother and two of her sisters are living, and in good memory. I have the narrative from the lips of the oldest one of my aunts, now deceased, reduced to writing in 1857. This aunt, Mrs. Clarissa Wil son, succeeded to the business, and continued making flags for the navy-yard and arsenals and for the mercantile marine for many years, until, being conscientious on the subject of war, she gave up the government business, but continued the mercantile until 1857. Washington was a frequent visitor at my grandmother's house before receiving command of the army. She embroidered his shirt ruifles, and did many other things for him. He knew her skill with the needle. Colonel Eoss, with Eobert Morris and General Washington, called upon Mrs. Eoss, and told her they were a committee of Con gress, and wanted her to make the flag from the drawing, a rough one, which, upon her suggestions, was redrawn by General Washington in pencil in her back parlor. This was prior to the Declaration of Independence. I fix the date to be during AVashington's visit to Congress from New York in June, 1776, when he came to confer 1 Letters from W. J. Canby, March 29, 1870 ; Nov. 9, 1871. Flag of the United States. 267 upon the affairs of the army, the flag being, no doubt, one of these affairs." ^ Mr. Canby contends that the stars and stripes were 'in common if not general use soon after the Declaration of Independence, nearly a year before the resolution of Congress proclaiming them the flag of the United States of America ; but I cannot agree with him. He finds evidence of this in the fact that regiments were allowed compensation for altering their colors after July 4, 1776, and that Indian tribes during that year petitioned Congress for a flag of the United States. He probably refers to the following, which is dated eleven days earlier than the resolve giving birth to the new constel lation : " Philadelphia, June 3, 1777, Colonial Eecords, vol. xi., p. 212. The President laid before the council three strings of wampum, which had been delivered to him some time before by Thomas Green, a nominal Indian of the nation, requesting that a flag of tlie United States might be delivered to him to take to the chiefs of the nation, to be used by them for their security and protection, when they may have occasion to visit us their brethren, and that his Excellency had referred him to Congress for an answer to his request." ^ He also re gards as evidence the statements of Miss Montgomery,^ that her father. Captain Hugh Montgomery, early in July, 1776, hoisted the stars and stripes. Her statement is- that Eobert Morris, in the winter of 1775, chartered thg.brig Nancy, commanded by her father, who was one of the owners of the brig. In March, 1776, she sailed for Porto Eico under English colors, thence to other West India islands, and finally to St. Thomas, where, when her cargo was nearly completed, information was received that independence was declared, with a de scription of the colors adopted. " This was cheering intelligence to the captain, and would divest him of acting clandestinely. Now they '¦ A ridiculous pamphlet has been published entitled ' The History of the First United States Flag and the Patriotism of Betsy Ross, the immortal heroine that originated the First Flag of the Union. Dedicated to the Ladies of the United States. By Colonel J. Franklin Eeigart, author of the " Life of Robert Fulton." Harrlsburg, Pa. ; Lane S. Hart, Printer and Binder, 1878.' It is a handsome 4to of twenty-flve pages. Illustrated with a pretended portrait of Mrs. Betsy Ross (printed in colors) mCiking the flrst flag, but which is really the portrait of a (Juaker lady of Lancaster, now living, and taken from a photograph ! His fact.s and dates and assumptions are equally unreliable. Mr. Canby repudiates the book, and says it does not correctly present the modest Quaker lady (his grandmother) or her claim. The book is a literary curiosity. ' In the orderly book of the army at Williamsburg, under date April 8, 1776, the colonels are desired to provide themselves with colors, but " it doeth not signify of what sort they are." ' Reminiscences of Wilmington, in Familiar Village Tales, Ancient and New, by Elizabeth Montgomery, pp. 176-179. Philadelphia: T. K. Collins, Jr., 1851. 268 Origin and Progress, of the could show their true colors. The material was at once procured, and a young man on board set to work privately to make them." He was well known in after years as Captain Thomas Mendenhall. The num ber of men was increased, the brig armed for defence, and all things put in order. The day they sailed, the captain invited the governor and his suite, with twenty other gentlemen, on board to dine. A sumptuous dinner was cooked; and a sea-turtle being prepared, gave it the usual name of a turtle feast. " As the custom-house barges approached with the company, they were ordered to lay on their oars while a salute of thirteen guns waa fired. Amid this firing Mendenhall was ordered to haul down the English flag and hoist the first American stars ever seen in a foreign port.^ Cheers for the national congress ; cries of ' Down with the lion, up with the stars and stripes ! ' were shouted. This caused great ex citement to the numberless vessels then lying in the harbor, and to the distinguished guests was a most animating scene. After the. en tertainment was hurried over, they returned in their boats, and the brig was soon under full sail." Miss Montgomery then narrates the Nancy's approach to our coast, and her being run ashore and blown up to avoid capture by a British fleet, and says, " One tottering mast, with the national flag fiying, seemed only left to guess her fate. StiU a quantity of powder and merchandise was left below, and it was re solved, ere she was abandoned, to prevent thesQ stores from falling into the hands of the enemy by blowing her up. The pl&n was ar ranged so that the men could have time to leave, and the captain and four hands were the last to quit. As the boat distanced the wreck, one man, John Hancock, Jumped overboard, as he said, ' to save the beloved banner or perish in the attempt.' His movement was so sudden that no chance was afforded to prevent his boldness, and they looked on with terror to see him ascend the shivering mast, and de liberately unfasten the flag, then plunge into the sea and bear it to the shore." The enemy, taking this act as a signal of surrender, hastened in their boats " to take possession of the prize, and was involved in the subsequent explosion." Miss Montgomery's narrative proves, if any thing, not that her father hoisted the stars and stripes, but the conti nental flag; for the Nancy was blown up on the 29th of June, 1776, five days before the Declaration of Independence, and before a draw ing of Mrs. Eoss's flag, in accordance with Mr. Canby's theory, could have reached her in the West Indies, as will be seen by the 1 A beautiful mezzotinto engraving of the Nancy flying the stars and stripes ( !) furnishes a frontispiece to Miss Montgomery's ' Reminiscences.' Flag of the United States. 269 following statement in a newspaper, dated "Philadelphia, June 29, 1776. The brig Nancy, Captain Montgomery, of six 3-pounders and eleven men, from St. Croix and St. Thomas, for this port, with three hundred and eighty-six barrels of gunpowder, fifty firelocks, one hundred and one hogsheads of rum, and sixty-two hogsheads of sugar, &c., on board, in the morning of the 29th of June, when standing for Cape May, discovered six sail of men-of-war, tenders, &c., making towards him, as also a row-boat. The boat and tenders he soon after engaged and beat off, stood close alongshore, and got assistance from Captains Wickes and Barry, when it was agreed to run the brig ashore, which was done; and, under favor of a fog, they saved two hundred and sixty-eight barrels of powder, fifty arms, and some dry-goods, when the fog clearing away. Captain Montgomery discovered the enemy's ships very near him, and five boats coming to board the brig, on which he started a quantity of powder in the cabin, and fifty pounds in the mainsail, in the folds of which he put fire, and then quitted her. The men-of-war's boats (some say two, some three) boarded the brig, and took possession of her, with three cheers; soon after wMch the fire took the desired effect, and blew the pirates forty or fifty yards into the air and much shattered one of their boats under^ her stern; eleven dead bodies have since come on shore, with two gold-laced hats and a leg with a garter. From the number of limbs floating and driven ashore, it is supposed thirty or forty of them were destroyed by the explosion. A number of people from on board our ships of war, and a number of the inhabitants of Cape May, mounted a gun on shore, with which they kept up a flre at the barges, which the men-of-war, &c., retumed, and killed Mr. Wickes, third lieutenant of the continental ship Eeprisal, and wounded a boy in the thigh." ^ Although the flag of thirteen stripes had been displayed Jan. 2, 1776, the following order shows conclusively that no common flag had been adopted for the continental army in February : ^ " Head-QUARTees, 20th February, 177(i. " Parole, ' Manchester.' Countersign, ' Boyle.' " As it is necessary that every regiment should be furnished with colors, and that those colors bear some Idnd of similitude to the regiment to which they belong, the colonels^ with their respective brigadiers and with the quartermaster-general, may fix upon any such as are proper and can be pro cured. There must t)e for each regimenti the standard for regimental colors, and colors for each grand division, — th© whole to be small and light. The ' American Archives, 4th series, vol. vl. p. 1132. 2 See note, ante, p. 226, letter and order on same siibjeet dated May 28 and 31, 1776. 270 Origin and Progress of the number of the regiment is to be marked on the colors, and such motto as the colonels may choose, in fixing upon which the general advises a consulta tion among them. Tlie colonels are to delay no time in getting the matter fixed, that the quartermaster-general may provide the colors for them as soon as possible. " Gto. Washington." Washington's first requisition on arriving in camp was for one hundred axes, and bunting for colors. At the battle of Long Island, fought August, 1776, a regimental color of red damask, having only the word ' Liberty ' on the field, was captured by the British. On the 24th of February, 1776, the Committee of Safety at Phila delphia ordered " that Captain Proctor procure a flag-staff for the fort, with a flag of the United Colonies," ^ and that Commodore Caldwell and Captain Proctor flx upon proper signals for the fleet, merchantmen, and battery. Under date Aug. J9, 1776, Captain William Eichards writes to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety: — " Gentlemen, I hope you have agreed what sort of color I am to have made for the galleys, &c., as they are much wanted; " and under date " Oct. 15, 1776 : Gentlemen, the commodore was witi^ me this morning, and says the fleet has not any colors to hoist if they should be called to duty. It is not in my power to get them done, until there is a design to make the colors by." ^ The colors he asked a design for were State colors, but the request shows that no national colors had been adopted, and the continental flag was still in use. The first colours made for this fleet, of which there is record, were made )jy Mrs. Elizabeth Eoss, as is shown by the following, extracted from the minutes of the Navy Board : — " State Navy Board, May 29, .1777. "Present: William Bradford, Joseph Marsh, Joseph Blewer, Paul (3ox. "An order on William Webb to Elizabeth Ross for fourteen pounds, twelve shillings, and two pence, for making ship's colours, &c., put into Wil liam Richards store. £14. 12.2." ^ » Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 494. ^Pennsylvania Archives, vol. v. pp. 13, 14. ' Pennsylvania Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 46. Joseph Webb was paid by thc Massachusetts Board of War, May 5, 1777. " To mending an ensign and sewing in a pine tree, 6s. " State of Mass. Bay to Jos. Webb, Dr. " Aug. 20, 1777. To making a suit of Colours, 44s. ; thread, 12s. ; painting Pine Trees, &c., 24s. — £4. 0. 0. " John Consign. "State Armed Brig Freedom." Flag of the United States. 271 When the Declaration of Independence was received at Easton, Penn., July 8, the colonel and all the other field-officers of the first battalion repaired to the court-house, the light infantry company marching there with their drums beating, fifes playing, " and the standard (the device for which is the thirteen United Colonies), which was ordered to be displayed." ^ The Declaration was read in New York in the presence of Wash ington by one of his aids, on the 9th of July, 1776, in the centre of a hollow square of the troops, drawn up on the Park near where there is now a fountain, and the " grand union " flag of Cambridge was then, if it had not been earlier, unfurled in New York. On the 10th the Declaration was read at the head of the several brigades. On the 9th it was proclaimed from the old State House in Phila delphia, by the Committee of Safety, and the king's arms were taken from the court-house and committed to a bonfire in front of it. Thursday, July 18, 1776, it was proclaimed from the balcony of the State House in Boston, and the king's arms and every sign of them taken down and burnt, bells rung, &c. It was not until Sept. 9, 1776, that Congress ordered " all conti nental commissions and instruments should be made to read ' United States,' where heretofore the words ' United Colonies ' had been used." The first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1777, was celebrated in Philadelphia, with demonstrations of joy and festivity. About noon, all the armed ships and galleys in the river were drawn up before the city, dressed in the gayest manner, with the colors of the United States and streamers flying. At one o'clock, the yards being manned, they celebrated the day by a discharge of thir teen cannon from each ship, and one from each of the thirteen galleys, in honor of the thirteen United States. In the afternoon, an elegant dinner was provided by Congress, when toasts were drank and feu-de- joies were fired. The troops were reviewed by Congress and the General Officers, and the day closed with the ringing of bells and exhibition of fireworks, which began and ended with thirteen rockets. The city was beautifully illuminated.^ At Charleston, 8. C, at sunrise the same day, American colors were displayed from all the forts, batteries, and vessels in the harbor,' and at one o'clock the forts discharged seventy-six pieces, alluding to the glorious year 1776. » Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 11, 1776 ; New England Chronicle, vol. vill. • No. 414, July 25, 1776. ' Pennsylvania Journal, July 9, 1777. ' Independent Chronicle, July 31, 1777. 272 Origin and Progress of the Similar rejoicings and displays of the ' United States ' colors were had all over the country. The portrait of Washington at the battle of Trenton, Dec. 26-27, 1776, painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1779, represents the union jack, with the thirteen stars arranged in a circle; but it affords only presumptive proof that such a flag was carried. Mr. Peale's son, Titian E. Peale, writing a friend in 1870, says: "Whether the union jack was my father's design, original or not, I cannot say, but I suppose it was, because he has somewhat marred the artistic effect by showing the stars, and flattening the field to show their ar rangement;" and in another letter he says: "I have just had time to visit the Smithsonian Institution to see the portrait of Washington painted by my father, C. W. Peale, after the battle of Trenton. It is marked in his handwriting, 1779. The fiag represented is a blue field with white stars arranged in a circle. I don't know that I ever heard my father speak of that flag, but the trophies at Washington's feet I know he painted from the flags then captured, and which were left with him for the purpose. He was always very particular in matters of historic record in his pictures (the service sword in that picture is an instance, and probably caused its acceptance by Congress). The blue ribbon has also excited comment, — ^the badge -of a field-marshal of France in that day.^ I have no other authority, but feeL assured that flag was the flag of our army at the time, 1779.^ My father com manded a company at the battles -of Germantown, Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth, and was soldier as well as painter, and, I am sure, represented the flag then in use, not a regimental flag, but one to mark the new republic." ' An unfinished sketch of the battle of Princeton, Jan. 3, 1777, in the Trumbull Gallery at New Haven, represents the American flag with thirteen white stars on a blue field, arranged as in the d.iagram,— and with thirteen stripes, red and white alternately. As Colonel Trum bull was in active service until February, 1777, his representation of the flag carried by the troops, with which he must have been familiar, is worthy of attention.^ Arthur Ijee, one of our commissioners to France, writing Henry Laurens, the President of the Continental Congress, Sept. 20, 1778, a •Washington's general order, July 24, 1775, prescribes a broad purple ribbon as the distinguishing mark of a major-general. See note, ante, p. 224. 2 Possibly in 1779 ; but in December, 1776, or in January, 1777, the stars had no place on our flag. See ante, p. 198. » Letter to John A. McAllister, 1872. Flag of the United States. 273 year after the public promulgation of the law of June, 1777, which prescribed the thirteen stripes to be red and white alternately, says: " The ship's colors should be white, red, and blue alternately, to thir teen, and in the upper angle [canton] next the staff a blue field with thirteen white stars." I am indebted to Miss Sarah Smith Stafford for the following ac count of the presentation of the first star-gemmed banner by ladies of Philadelphia to Paul Jones. This story she received from Mrs. Patrick Hayes, who had it from her aunt. Miss Sarah Austin, one of the donors. Miss Austin became later the second wife of Commodorfe John Barry, U. S. N. " The patriotic ladies of Philadelphia met at the Swedes' Church in that city, and under the direction of John mi\ Swedes' Church, Philadelphia. Brown, Esq., secretary of the new Board of Marine, formed or arranged a flag, which was presented to Jones by Misses Mary and Sarah Aus tin in behalf of the patriotic ladies of Philadelphia. Captain Jones was so delighted and enthusiastic, that after the presentation he pro cured a small boat, and, unfurling the flag, sailed up and down the river before Philadelphia, showing it to thousands on shore." ^ Paul Jones claimed it was his good fortune to be the flrst to dis play the stars and stripes on a naval vessel, as it had been his to hoist iMlss Sarah Smith Staftprd, Letter, Jan. 15, 1873. I can flnd no notice of this event in the church records or In the newspapers of the time, and the fact, if fact it be rests upon the statement of Miss Stafford and her informants. 18 274 Origin and Progress of Th£ with his own hand the " fiag of America " for the first time on board the Alfred. He also claimed to have obtained and received for our star-spangled banner the first salute granted to it in Europe. The day that Congress passed the resolve in relation to the flag of the thirteen United States, June 14, 1777, it also " Resolved, That Paul Jones be appointed to the command of the Eanger ; " and soon after he hoisted the new flag on board of that vessel at Portsmouth. The Eanger, however, did not get to sea until the 1st of November, nearly five months later. Her battery of sixteen 6-pounders, throwing only- forty-eight pounds of shot from a broadside, excites a smile of contempt in these days of heavy guns; otherwise, she was poorly equipped. Among her deficiencies Jones laments having only thirty gallons of rum for the crew to drink on their passage to Nantes. He also rep resented her as slow and crank, but nevertheless managed to capture two prizes on his passage to Europe, and reached Nantes in thirty days from Portsmouth, N. H. From Nantes Jones sailed to Quiberon Bay, convoying some Ameri can vessels, and placing them under the protection and convoy of the French fleet commanded by Admiral La Motte Piquet. From him, after some correspondence, Jones succeeded in obtaining the first sa lute ever paid by a foreign naval power to the stars and stripes. The story is best told in Jones's letter to the Naval Committee, dated Feb. 22, 1778 :— " I am happy," he says, " to have it in my power to congratulate on my having seen the American flag, for the first time, recognized in the fullest and completest manner by the flag of France. I was off this bay on the 13th inst., and sent my boat in the next day to know if the admiral would return my salute. He answered that he would return to me as the senior American continental officer in Europe the same salute as he was authorized to return to an admiral of Holland or any other republic, which was four guns less than the salute given. I hesitated at this, for I had demanded gun for gun. " Therefore I anchored in the entrance of the bay at a distance from the French fleet; but after a very particular inquiry on tlie 14th, finding- that he really told the truth, I was induced to accept his offer, the more as it was an acknowledgment of American Independence. " The wind being contrary and blowing hard, it was after sunset before the Eanger ^ was near enough to salute La Motte Piquet with thirteen guns, which he returned with nine. However, to put the ^ Jones, in his letter to the American commissioners at Paris, dated Brest, May 27, 1778, mentions that In the action between the Ranger and the Drake on the 24th of Flag of the United States. 275 matter beyond a doubt, I did not suffer the Independence to salute until the next morning, when I sent word to the admiral that I would sail through his fleet in the brig, and would salute him in open day. He was exceedingly pleasant, and returned the compliment also with nine guns." ^ As if Providence delighted to honor Jones over all others in con nection with our flag, and was determined to entwine his name with its early history, was assigned to him the honorable duty of displaying it for the first time on board the first ship of the line built for the United States, and fitly named ' The .America.' This ship, like the Eanger, was built at Portsmouth, N. H., and Jones appointed to command her. Before she could be launched, the Magnifique, one of the finest ships of the line of the French navy, was stranded near Boston harbor, and to replace her, the America, by a resolve of the American Congress, was presented to our ally, the sovereign of France. Jones, however, was retained in command, and superintended her construction; and on the 5th of November, 1782, displaying "the French and American flags from her stern, he launched her into the waters of Portsmouth harbor, and delivered her to the Chevalier Martigne, who had commanded the Magnifique. It seems probable that Jones hoisted the stars and stripes over her the preceding summer, when, at his own expense, he celebrated the birthday of the Dauphin of France, as it is recorded the ship on that occasion was decorated with the flags- of different nations, that of France being in front, and that salutes were fired, and at night the ship brilliantly illuminated, &c. April preceding, when the latter hoisted the English colors, " the American stars were displayed on board the Ranger." — Sherburne's Life of Jones. This is the first recorded action under the new flag. The Ranger was taken with other vessels in the port of Charleston, S. C, on the surrender of that city to the British. — Charnoek's Biographic Navalis, vol. vl. p. 5. "The continental colors" home on the General MifBln, Captain William McNeil, had been saluted at Brest, August, 1777, much to the indignation of the English ambassador. Lord Stormont, and had been saluted at St. Eustatia by the Dutch governor, De Graff, Nov. 16, 1776, In acknowledgment of a salute from the brig Andrea Doria, Captain Robertson. See ante, p. 244. The evidence of the pamphlet proves the striped continental flag was saluted at St. Eustatia. 1 Dr. Ezra Green, the surgeon of the Ranger, mentions the salute In hl^ diary, under date " Saturday, 14th. Feb. Very squally weather, came to saU at 4 o'clock P.M. Saluted the trench Admiral, & rec'd nine guns in retum. This Is the flrst salute ever pay'd the American flagg. " Sunday 15th Feb'y. Brig Independence saluted the french Flagg, which was returned." • 276 Origin and Progress of the The first military incident connected with the new fiag occurred on the 2d of August, 1777, when Lieutenants Bird and Brant invested Fort Stanwix,^ then commanded by Colonel Peter Gansevoort. The garrison was without a fiag when the enemy appeared, but their patriot ism and ingenuity soon supplied one in conformity to the pattern just adopted by the Continental Congress. Shirts were cut up to form the white stripes, bits of scarlet cloth were joined for the red, and the blue ground for the stars was composed of a cloth cloak belonging to Captain Abraham Swartwout, of Dutchess County, who was then in the fort. Before sunset, this curious mosaic standard, as precious to the beleaguered garrison as the most beautiful wrought flag of silk and needle-work, was floating over one of the bastions. The" siege was raised on the 22d of August, but we are not told what became of the improvised flag. The narrative of Colonel Marinus Willett presents a different ver sion of this story. He says, " The fort had never been supplied with a flag. The necessity of having one, upon the arrival of the enemy, taxed the invention of the garrison, and a decent one was soon con trived. The white stripes were cut out of ammunition shirts fur nished by the soldiers ; the blue out of the camlet cloak taken from the enemy at Peekskill ; while the red stripes were made of different pieces of stuff procured from one and another of the garrison." In his statement to Governor Trumbull, Aug. 21, 1777, of the occur rences at and near Fort Stanwix, Colonel Willett mentions as one of the results of his sally from the fort on the 6th, preceding, that he captured and brought off five of the enemy's colors, the whole of which on his return to the fort were displayed on the flag-staff under the impromptu made continental flag.^ Mr. Haven, in a paper read before the New Jersey Historical Society, says : " Prom traditional reports in circulation here, the first time that our national flag was used affer the enactment con cerning it by Congress was by General Washington, in the hurried and critical stand made by him on the banks of the Assanpink, when he repulsed Cornwallis, Jan. 2, 1777. As this confiict was the turning- point, in connection with what succeeded at Princeton, of the struggle for independence, and the glorious consequences which followed, does 1 Port Stanwlr was built in 1758 by an English general of that name, and was renamed ' Schuyler ' by Colonel Dayton in 1777. In ' Harper's Magazine ' for July, 1877, there Is a picture of the site of Fort Schuyler, and portraits of Colonels Ganse voort and Willett. The present town of Rome covers the site of Fort Schuyler. ' Lossing's Field-Book of American Revolution, vol. 1. p. 242. Flag of the United States. 277 not this signal baptism of the stars and stripes, with the hope and confidence regenerated by it, seem providential? Freedom's vital spark was then rekindled, and our own country and the whole civil ized world are now illumined with its beams." But this occurrence took place six months before the stars and stripes were adopted, and tradition m,ust be mistaken. It is true, Leutze, in his great picture of Washington crossing the Delaware, has painted Colonel Munroe in the boat holding the stars and stripes, but it is with an artist's license.^ Beyond a doubt, the thirteen stars and thirteen stripes were un furled at the battle of Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777, eight days after the official promulgation of them at Philadelphia, and at Germantown on the 4th of October following ; they witnessed the operations against and the surrender of Burgoyne, after the battle of Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777; and the sight of this new constellation helped to cheer the patriots of the army amid their sufferings around the camp fires at Valley Forge the ensuing winter. They waved triumphant at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Sept. 19, 1781; looked down upon the evacuation of New York, Nov. 25, 1783; and shared in all the glories of the latter days of the Eevolution. A monument which is to be erected in commemoration of the battle of Saratoga will cover the exact spot where the marquee of General Gates was situated, which witnessed the formal surrender of Burgoyne, and the formal unfurling of the stars and stripes. On the 28th of January, 1778, the stars and stripes for the first time waved over a foreign fortress. About eleven o'clock the night pre vious, the American sloop-of-war Providence,^ Captain John Eath- burne, mounting twelve 4-pounders, with a crew of fifty men, landed twenty-five of her crew on the island of New Providence. They were joined by about eighteen or twenty Americans escaped from British prison-ships, and who were waiting an opportunity to return home. This small body of men took possession of Fort Nassau, with the can non, ammunition, and three hundred stand of small-arms, and hoisted the stars and stripes. In the port lay a 16-gun ship* with a crew of forty-five men, and five vessels, all prizes to the British sloop Grayton. At daybreak, four men were sent on board the 16-gun ship to take possession of her, and send the officers and crew into the fort. Her prize captain was shown the American flag hoisted on the fort, and informed his ship would be 1 See ante, p. 198. 2 The Providence was^captured when Charleston was taken, 178ft. 278 Origin and Progress of the instantly sunk should he hesitate to surrender. Thus intimidated, he gave her up, and the five prize vessels were secured in a similar man ner. Possession was also taken of the westem fort, its cannon spiked, and its powder and small-arms removed to Fort Nassau. About twelve o'clock, some two hundred armed people assembled and threatened to attack the fort; but, on being informed if they fired a single gun the town would be laid in ashes, they dispersed. Soon after the Provi-" dence had anchored, the British ship Grayton hove in sight. The American colors were immediately taken down, and the guns of the Providence housed, hoping the Grayton would come to anchor. But the inhabitants signalled to her the state of affairs, and she stood off. The fort opened fire upon her, but she made her escape. About three o'clock the next morning, some five hundred men with several pieces of artillery marched within sight of the fort, and sum moned it to surrender, threatening at the same time to storm the place and put all to the sword without mercy. The Americans, however, in the presence of the messenger, nailed their colors to the flag-staff, and returned answer that, while a man of them survived, they would not surrender. The following morning the prizes were manned, the guns of the fort spiked, the ammunition and small-arms conveyed on board the Provi dence, and the whole American garrison was embarked and put to sea, after having held possession of the fort two days. Two of the prizes, being of little value, were burnt, the others were sent to the United States. When the news that the treaty of alliance with France (the flrst treaty of our new republic with a foreign power) which had been signed at Paris, Feb. 6, 1778,^ was received. General Washington, from his head-quarters at Valley Forge, ordered, on May 2d, that the following day should be set apart "for gratefully acknowledging the divine goodness and celebrating the important event which we owe to his benign interposition." Aecordingly, the army was reviewed by the commander-in-chief, with banners waving, and at given signals, after the discharge of thirteen cannon and a running fire of infantry, the whole army huzzaed, " Long live the* King of France ! " then, after a like salute of thirteen guns and a second general discharge of musketry, "Huzza! long live the friendly European powers!" then a final discharge of thirteen pieces of artillery, followed by a general running fire and " Huzza for the American States ! " ^ ^ Pennsylvania Packet, March 28, 1778. 2 The French alliance was looked upon as a wonderful interposition of Provl- Flag of the United States. 279 The officers approached the place of entertainment thirteen abreast and closely linked in each other's arms, thus signifying the thirteen American States, and the interweaving of arms a complete union and most perfect confederation.^ The next interesting incident connected with the new constellation occurred on the 7th of March, 1778, when the continental ship Ean- dolph, 32, Captain Nicholas Biddle, was blown up in an engagement with the Yarmouth, 64, Captain Vincent. dence, and every measure that could be, was taken to extend a sentiment of con fidence in the result of the struggle after this happy event. As one means of effecting this end, the following curious statement was published throughout the United States: — " Wonderful Appearances o«d Omens. " 1. After the surrender of Burgoyne, and while the treaty of alliance with France was on the carpet, the American heavens were illuminated at intervals for whole months together. The aurora horealis, or northern lights, were the greatest ever seen In America. " 2. When the fleet of his most Christian majesty, twelve ships of the line, and by the capture of a British ship of force, thirteen, and commanded by the admiral, the Illustrious D'EIstaing, hove in sight of our capes, the artillery of the skies was discharged, and thirteen thunders were distinctly heard on the coast of the Delaware. " 3. On the morning after the arrival of his plenipotentiary, the Illustrious Gerard, being the thirteenth of the month, an aloe-tree — the only one In this State — immediately shot forth its spire, which It never does but once in its existence, and in some other climates only once in a hundred years. It has been planted forty years in the neighborhood of this city, and previously only produced four leaves a year, until this year, when it produced thirteen^ The spire is remarkable, being thirteen inches round, and having grown thirteen feet in the first thirteen days. The Scotch talk much of the thistle, and the South Britons of the Glastonbury thorn. Much finer things may be said of the aloe of America and the fleur-de-lis of France." — Westcott's History of Philadelphia, published in Sunday Dispatch, April, 1872. In 1781, on the occasion of Washington's visit to Philadelphia, among other devices was a painting representing the Britisli lion lying exhausted, wounded with thirteen arrows, a cock, emblem of France, standing on his body, with the motto, " Qallus victa super leonem cantet." At another window was the Genius of America trampling on discord, clothed In white, covered by a purple mantle strewed with stars, a flllet on her head with the word "Perseverance." In one hand a banner of thirteen stripes, with the words, "Equal Rights." On the left-hand corner of the membership certificate of the Society of the Cin cinnati, Issued in 1785, is represented a strong armed man, bearing in one hand a union flag, and in the other a naked sword. Beneath his feet are British flags, a broken spear, shield, and chain. Hovering by his side is the eagle, our national emblem, from whose talons the lightning of destruction is flashing upon the British lion, and Britannia, with the crown falling from her head, is hastening to make her escape in a boat to the fleet. The union flag of this certificate is composed of thirteen alternate red and white stripes and a white union. In which is painted the present arms of the United States, adopted In 1782. A flag of this kind may have been In use in the army earUer. 1 A full account of this joyful occasion can be found In the ' New Jersey Gazette,' May 13, 1778, ' New. York Journal,' June 15, and is copied In Frank Moore's ' Diary 0( tbe Revolution,' vol. ii. pp. 48-52, 280 Origin and Progress of the The Eandolph, built in Philadelphia in 1775-76, sailed from Charleston, S. C, on her last cruise, early in February, 1778. ' On the afternoon of March 7, when about fifty leagues to the eastward of Bar- badoes, being in company with the General Moultrie, of 18 gims, she discovered a ship, which proved to be the Yarmouth, 64. The Ean dolph and Moultrie hove to and allowed the stranger to come within hail about eight p.m., when several questions and answers passed be tween the vessels. Lieutenant Barnes, of the Eandolph, at last called out, " This is the Eandolph," hoisted her colors, and gave the Yarmouth a broadside. The action was continued about twenty minutes, and the surgeon was engaged in examining Captain Biddle's wound when the Eandolph blew up. The two ships were in such close action that many fragments of the Eandolph struck the Yarmouth, and among other things an American ensign, rolled up, was blown in upon the forecastle of the Yarmouth.^ The flag was not singed. Cooper, in his novel, ' Le Feu Foiled,' seizes upon this incident, when he describes the flag of that rover after her sudden disappearance as washed upon the forecastle of the ship in chase. Five days after the engagement, the Yarmouth discovered a piece of the wreck with four men on it, the only survivors of a crew of three hundred and fifteen who had so gallantly sustained the action. A model of the Eandolph has been preserved, and in 1842 was to be seen in the hall of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. In the agreement (June, 1779) between John Paul Jones, captain of the Bon Homme Eichard, Pierre Landais, captain of the Alliance, Dennis Nicolas Cottineaux, captain of the Pallas, Joseph Varage, cap tain of the Le Cerf, and Philip Nicolas Eecot, captain of the Ven geance, it was stipulated the Franco-American squadron should fiy " the fiag of the United States," and that it should be commanded by the oldest officer of the highest grade, and so in succession in case of death or retreat. The frigate Alliance, named in honor of the treaty with France, and commanded by the obstinate, ill-tempered Frenchman, Landais, was the only American-built vessel of the squadron. At a meeting of the New Jersey Historical Society, January, 1872, Mr. C. C. Haven made some interesting remarks concerning the origin ' It was fortunate for us that we were to windward of her ; as it was, our ship wa« in a manner covered with parts of her. A great piece of a top timber, six feet long, fell on our poop ; another piece of timber stuck in our foretop-gallantsail (then upon the cap) ; an American ensign, rolled up, blown upon the forecastle, not so much as singed."— Poptaitt Vincent to Admiral Young, March 17, 1778. Flag of the United States. 281 of our fiag, and said that, in the confiict between the Bon Homme Eichard and Serapis, " James Bayard Stafford was cut down by a Brit ish officer, but rescued and rehoisted her flag, which probably had no stars or stripes." As that action was fought Sept. 23, 1779, two and a half years after their establishment, and the agreement above recited stipulates that the American squadron should fly " the flag of the United States," Mr. Haven was evidently in error. Moreover, Fre- neau, in his poem on " that memorable victory of Paul Jono,';,"' thus alludes to the flag: — " Go on, great man, to scourge the foe. And bid the haughty Britons know They to our thirteen stars shall bend: The stars tliat, clad in darlj attire, Long glimmered ^vitll a feeble fire. But radiant now ascend." And Jones, when in command of the Eanger, had received a salute to the stars and stripes on the 14th of February, 1778. Placing the matter beyond a doubt, Miss Sarah Smith Stafford, of Trenton, N. J., has in her possession the following letter : ^- — ¦ P€ay^^Ax.^eC(^c<.cUx:(^yto6e*tc Miss Stafford died at Trenton, N. J., .Tan. 6, 1880, and the flag was willed by her to her brother, Samuel Bayard Stafford. The autography is half the size of the original. 282 Origin and Progress of the of that frigate at the Texal Our illustration showing twelve stars and thirteen stripes, is from a photograph of the flag taken in 1872. Miss Stafford's story of the flag is this : — " About ten days before the battle between the Bon Homme Eich ard and Serapis, Paul Jones captured a British vessel of war* and her prize, an armed ship called the Kitty, commanded by Captain Philip Stafford. The Englishman had put the Kitty's crew in irons, which were now transferred to them. The crew of the Kitty vol unteered to serve on board the Serapis. Among these volunteers was James Bayard Stafford, a nephew of the -captain of the Kitty, and the father of the present owner of the flag. Being educated, he was made an officer on board the Eichard. During the battle, her flag was shot away, and young Stafford jumped into the sea and recovered it, and was engaged in replacing it when he was cut down by an officer of the Serapis. When the Bon Homme Eichard was sinking, the flag was seized by a sailor and transferred by Jones to the Serapis, and accompanied him to the Alliance, when he assumed the command After the sale of the Alliance, the flag was sent to Stafford, as the letter we have given shows. This relic was preserved by Lieutenant Stafford, and by his widow until her death, Aug. 9, 1861, when it came into the possession of their daughter, whose death has been recently announced. Miss Staf ford states that her father exhibited this cherished flag to several of the crew of the Bon Homme Eich ard who called upon him, for which they expressed the deepest reverence. Miss Stafford's earliest recollection of the flag is in 1806, when she was not quite four years old, when, on the occasion of a family moving, as a great favor she was permitted to carry it across the street. snag of the Bon Homme Richard, said to have been worn during her Action with the Serapis, Sept. 23, 1779. Flag of the United States. 283 Why so small a flag was used — scarcely larger than a boat ensign of the present day — may perhaps be explained by the action having been fought at night, and because of the high cost of the English material and the difficulty in procuring it. The flag has been loaned to fairs and festivals. It was exhibited at the sanitary fairs in Philadel phia and New Y<)rk, and at the great fair in Trenton in 1862, and was at the Centennial Exhibition. A piece (shown in the illustration) cut from the head of it at the beginning of our civil war, was, by direc tion of Mrs. Stafford, sent to President Lincoln. The flag is of English bunting, and about eight and one-half yards long and one yard five inches wide. It is sewed with flax thread, and contains twelve white stars in a blue union, and thirteen wide stripes, alternately red and white. The stars are arranged in four horizontal Unes, three stars in each line. Why its union has only twelve stars, unless they could find no symmetrical place for the odd star, is a mystery. It has been sug gested that only twelve of the colonies had consented to the con federation at the date of its manufacture; but all the colonies had confederated before the adoption of the stars in 1777, and the consent of Georgia, the last to assent, was symbolized in the flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, at Cambridge, as early as Jan. 1, 1776. In the agreement signed by Jones and the captains of his Franco-American squadron, June, 1779, it was stipulated the squadron should fly the " flag of the United States." So we may be sure the stars and stripes were flown in the fight between the Eichard and Serapis, as they had been in the fight between the Eanger and Drake six months before, as Jones himself stated. The remarkable action between the Bon Homtme Eichard and the Serapis, fought within sight of the shores of England, exercised as important an influence upon our affairs in Europe as did the fight between the Kearsarge and Alabama in recent times. At the 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia, 1788, consequent upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, there was in the pro cession a Federal ship called "the Union," thirty-three feet in length, the bottom of which was made from the barge of the frigate Alliance, and which was also the barge of Serapis when she was captured by the Bon Homme Eichard. This little vessel is described in the news paper of the day " as a masterpiece of elegant workmanship, perfectly proportioned and complete throughout, and decorated with emblemat ical carving," and, what was " truly astonishing, she was begun and fully completed in less than four days, fully prepared to join the 284 Origin and Progress of the grand procession. She was subsequently placed in the State House yard, and, later, removed to Gray's Ferry. Her ultimate fate is un known." How slowly the new flags came into general use is shown by the following notices: A manuscript written by an officer on board the privateer Cumberland, Captain John Manly, early in 1779, says, alluding to the flag, in particular, of that vessel, "At this time we had no national colors, and every ship had the right, or took it, to wear what kind of fancy flag the captain pleased." ^ The diary of a surgeon of the British forces in Charleston harbor, under date 1780, April 3, says : " In the evening I walked across James Island to the mouth of Wapoo Creek, in Ashley Eiver; saw the American thirteen-striped flag displayed on the works opposite the short redoubts commanded by Major Mackleroth, and two other flags displayed in their new works opposite our forces on Charleston Neck, — while there they cannon aded our working party on the Neck, — their great battery fronting Charleston harbor had the American flag of thirteen stripes displayed. This, up to this day, had, been a blue flag with field and thirteen stars. The other flag never hoisted until to-day." ^ The striped flag then hoisted was destined soon to come down, for in a private letter dated " Broad Street, Charlestown, May 22, 1780," the writer says : " On the memorable 12th of this month I had the pleasure to see the thirteen stripes with several white pendants lev elled to the ground, and the gates of Charlestown opened to receive our conquering heroes. General Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuth- not." And another letter, dated " May 19, 1780," says : " May 7, they [the continentals] marched out, and Captain Hudson of the navy marched in [to Fort Moultrie], took possession, levelled the thirteen stripes with the dust, and the triumphant English flag was raised on the staff." 3 The ' Pennsylvania Gazette' of April 23, 1783, contains the resolve respecting the flag of June 14, 1777, and requests that the printers insert the resolution in their respective newspapers in order that it 1 1. J. Greenwood, on Revolutionary Uniforms and Flags, in Potter's American Monthly, 1876, vol. vi. p. 34. 2 Extract from the MS. d^ary of Dr. John Jeffries, now in the possession of his grandson, Dr. B. Joy Jeffries, of Boston, Mass. Dr. John Jeffries was a graduate of Harvard, and, Jan. 7, 1785, in furtherance of his experiments in atmospheric temperature, made a remarkable balloon voyage from Dover Cliffs over the English Channel, alighting In the forest of Guienne, France. In 1789, he returned to Bos ton, where he was born In 1744, and where his descendants reside. 3 From the Siege of Charleston, S. C, published by J. Munsell, 1867. Flag of the United States. 285 may be generally known. The same paper states that " at a meeting of the respectable inhabitants of Pittsgrove and the town adjacent, in Salem County, State of New Jersey, for the celebration of peace, thc day was introduced with the raising of a monument of great height, on which was displayed the ensign of peace with thirteen stripes." Another number of the ' Gazette ' ^ says : " It is positively asserted that the flag of the thirteen United States of America has been grossly insulted in New York, and not permitted to be hoisted on board any American vessel in that port. Congress should demand immediate reparation for the indignity wantonly offered to all America, and, un less satisfactory concessions are instantly made, the British flag, which now streams without interruption in our harbor, Philadelphia, should be torn down, and treated with every mark of indignation and con tempt." The 25th of November, 1783, is memorable in the history of our flag as the day of the evacuation of New York by the British troops. On the morning of that day, — a cold, frosty, clear but brilliant morn ing, — General Knox marched to the Bowery Lane, and remained until one P.M., when the British left their posts and marched to Whitehall. The American troops followed, and before three p.m. General Knox took possession of Fort George. The British claimed the right of pos session until noon. Mr. Day, who kept a tavern at the lower end of Mur ray Street, run up the American flag in the morning, the first displayed in the city. Cunningham, the British provost-marshal, ordered it down, and, on the man's refusal to take it down, attempted to pull it down himself. He was met at the door by the proprietor's wife, a stout woman, fair, fat, and forty, who came at and beat Cunningham so vigorously over the head with her broomstick, that he was obliged to decamp amid the jeers and laughter of the few spectators, and leave the star-spangled banner waving. Dr. Alexander Anderson, well known, as the flrst wood engraver in America, and who died in 1870, remembered seeing the powder fly from Cunningham's wig, and re lated the story to Mr. Bushnell in 1863, when eighty-nine years of . age.^ The flag hoisted on the evacuation of the city was for a long time ^preserved in the American Museum at New York, and was destroyed when that building was burnt. Mr. Barnum informs me that the flag was well authenticated when presented to Mr. Scudder, founder of the Museum, in 1810. The flag was of bunting, about nine or ten > Pennsylvania Gazette, May 28, 1783. " Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Levi Hanford, a soldier of the Revolu tion. By Charles J. Bushnell, New York. Svo. Privately printed, 1863, p. 72. 286 Origin and Progress of the feet wide by twelve or fifteen in length, and had the thirteen stars and stripes; the arrangement of the stars is not remembered. It was always run out in front of the Museum on the anniversaries of Evacuation Day and 4th of July, and was always saluted by the mili tary when passing.^ The British left their flag nailed to its staff on the batterj', and removed the halyards and greased the pole. There are several stories as to how the flag was removed, but it is generally be lieved John Van Orsdell, or Arsdale, a sailor, procuring a number of cleats, climbed the pole, nailing the cleats as he went, and tearing down the British flag, nailed up the stars and stripes in its place. He died in 1836, and was buried with military honors by the veteran corps of artillery, of which he was the first lieutenant. His son, David Van Arsdale, Nov. 25, 1879, aged eighty-four, hoisted the stars and stripes over the battery, — a ceremony he had performed for many years. After raising the flag, the veteran proposed " three cheers for our flag, three cheers for the day we celebrate, and three more for the wives and daughters of our country ! " which were given with a will. The old gentleman was then presented with a portrait of himself, elegantly framed, and in his endeavor to reply broke down completely. At the conclusion of the revolutionary struggle on the 28th of February, 1784, the officers of the line of the Ehode Island con tinental battalion presented to the assembly the colors they had so gallantly borne, with the following address : — " To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhodei Island and Providence Plantations: " The officers of the line of this State beg liberty to approach this hon orable assembly witli the warmest gratitude, upon exchanging their military employment for the rank of citizens; the glorious objects of the late con troversy witli Great Britain being happily accomplished, they resume their former conditions with a satisfaction peculiar to freemen. If they have de served the approbation of their country; if they have gained the confidence of the States ; if they have endured hardships and encountered difficulties, — • they feel themselves still indebted for your constant attention in every period of the war. If their conduct in the fleld; if their wounds, and the blood of their companions wlio have nobly fallen by their side, — have entitled them to any share in the laurels of their countrymen, they are fully rewarded in surrendering to your Honors, upon this occasion, the standards of their corps, which have often been distinguished by the bravery of your soldiers upon the most critical and important occasions. They beg you will be pleased » Letter of P. T. Barnum, Nov. 22, 1871. Flag of the United States. 287 to accept them with their most cordial aclcnowledgments, and be assured of the profound deference with which they have the honor to be " Your most obedient humble servants, " Jeeemiah Qlnet. " Providence, Feb. 28, a.d. 1784. In behalf of the officers." The committee to whom this addreSs was referred prepared the fol lowing answer, which the assembly voted should be engrossed in a fair copy by the secretary, and signed by his excellency the governor and the honorable the speaker in behalf of the assembly, and pre sented by the secretary to Colonel Jeremiah Olney ; and that the standards should be carefully preserved under the immediate care of the governor, to perpetuate the noble exploits of the brave corps: — " Gentlemen, — The govemor and company, in general assembly con vened, with the most pleasing sensations receive your affectionate and polite address. They congratulate you upon the happy termination of a glorious war, and upon y&ur return to participate with citizens and free men in the blessings of peace. With peculiar satisfaction, they recollect the bravery and good conduct of the officers of the line of this State, who, after Buffering all the toils and fatigues of a long and bloody contest, crowned with laurels have reassumed domestic life. " They are happy in receiving those standards, which have been often displayed with glory and bravery in the face of very powerful enemies, and will carefully preserve the same, to commemorate the achievements of so brave a corps. " We are, gentlemen, in behalf of both houses of assembly, '¦ With respect and esteem, your very humble servants, " WniiAM Greene, Oovernor. " Feb. 28, A.D. 1784. William Beadfoed, Speaker. " To the Officers of the Line of this State's late Continental Battalion." ' These colors are preserved in the office of the Secretary of State of, Ehode Island, and from a recent examination of them I obtain the following description : - — No. 1 is of white silk, ninety inches long and sixty-five inches wide, and contains thirteen gilt stars in the corner, on a very light blue ground (probably faded with time) . The outline of each star is marked with a darker shade of blue, with a shadow on the left side, thereby maldng the gilt star more prominent. The relative position of the stars in parallel lines is shown in Fig. 15, Plate V. In the ' Rhode Island Colonial Records, vol. x. pp. 14, 15. " Letters from Hon. J. R. Bartlett, Secretary of State of Rhode Island, Dec. 26, 1871, and Jan. 4, 1872. 288 Origin and Progress of the centre of the flag is an anchor and a piece of rope twining around it, of light blue silk, the same shade as the blue union, sewed on. Above the anchor is a scroll painted in oil colors, inscribed " Hope," the motto of this State. The oil and paint have so rotted the silk that this part of the flag is gone; otherwise, save a little of the edge which is torn and worn away, the flag is entire. At the commencement of the War of the Eebellion, this flag was taken to Washington by the Second Ehode Island Eegiment, but was soon returned. Flag No. 2 is of white silk, fifty-one inches in width, and its pres ent length forty-five inches; but a portion of the fly is gone, and the flag is much torn. It contains a light blue corner or canton of silk sewed on to a white field of silk. The canton contains thirteen white five-pointed stars or mullets painted on the silk and, arranged in parallel linos as in No. 1, though not so well formed. In the centre of the field of the fiag, painted on both sides, there is a scroll upon which was painted " E. Island Eegt." Both these flags are regiinental, and not blazoned with stripes. The date of their presentation to the regiments has not been preserved. It has been asserted that Madame Wooster and Mrs. Eoger Sher- man gave to the Connecticut troops the first national flag ever used in that State, and that it was composed of portions of their dresses. Mrs. Ellet ^ says that they made the flag is certain, but it could not have ' Ellet's Women of the American Revolution. Flag of the United States. 289 been the first one, nor did they heroically rob their own persons to furnish it. The flag made by them was displayed at New Haven on the public rejoicing for the peace, and is thus described and illustrated in the Diary of President Ezra Stiles, of Yale College, preserved in the coUege library : — " April 24, 1783. Public Eejoicing for the Peace in New Haven. At sunrise 13 cannon discharged in the Green, and the continental flag displayed, being a grand silk flag presented by the ladies, cost 120 dollars. The stripes red and white, with an azure fleld in the upper part charged with 13 stars. On the same field and among the stars was the arms of the United States, the field of which contained a ship, a plough, and 3 sheaves of wheat; the crest an eagle volant; the sup porters two white horses. The arms were put on with paint and gilding. It took yards. When displayed it appeared well." It will be seen that the good man's drawing is a rude attempt to depict the flag, and that it has the Pennsjdvania motto, "Virtue, Liberty, Independence," not mentioned in his description. The fact being, according to Mrs. Ellet, that the ladies, unacquainted with the arms of the United States adopted the year before, turned in unsuspecting confidence to a family Bible published in Philadelphia, and took as their guide the arms emblazoned on its title-page, which were those of Pennsylvania. The mistake was rectified when Eoger Sherman returned from Congress. Dr. Eodney King, of Eoxboro, Philadelphia, wrote me, in 1875, that he had in his possession a bill, found among the papers of his grand father, the Hon. Daniel Eodney, ex-Governor of the State of Delaware, dated 1783, for " materials for a Continental Flag," one of the items of which was " for a piece of Green silk." Was green, excepting for the branches of a pine-tree, ever any part of a ' continental flag ' ? Accord ing to the ' Port Folio,' on the 4th of July, 1807, the Volunteer Com pany of Eangers of Georgia were presented with an elegant standard, the field of which was of white lustring, with the accustomed devices, the stripes formed of alternate green and white, affording a charming contrast. The words "E Pluribus Unum" above, the "Augusta Volunteer Eangers " below, the eagle, which was incomparably finished, as well as the stars. 19 290 Origin and Progress of the THE STAES AND STEIPES, FEOM THE PEACE OF 1783 TO 1795. The Political Magazine. Barnard's History of England (p. 705), a somewhat rare book, contains the same account. The American and British Chronicle of War and Politics, under date " Feh. 7, 1783," also records, " First American ship In the Thames, from Nantucket." 292 Origin and Progress of the Another London newspaper of the same date reports the Bedford " as the first vessel that has entered the river belonging to the United States." And an original letter from Peter Van Schaack, dated Lon don, Feb. 19, 1783, contains this paragraph : " One or two vessels with the thirteen stripes fiying are now in the river Thames, and their crews caressed." The 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1783 corroborates these state ments, and says: "Monday, Feb. 3, 1783: Two vessels were entered at the custom-house from Nantucket, an American island near Ehode Island; a third ship is in the river. They are entirely laden with oil, and come under a pass from Admiral Digby, the inhabitants having agreed to remain neutral during the war. In further confirmation of the Bedford's being the first to display the stars and stripes in the Thames, we have the following letter from William Eotch, Jr., one of her owners. There is a discrepancy as to the date of her arrival; but as his letter was written nearly sixty years after the event he narrates, it may be presumed the contem poraneous accounts are right in that respect, and that he is wrong. " New Bedford, 8th mo. 3d, 1842. " Deab Friend, — In my reply to thy letter of the 21st ult., received last evening, according to the best of my recollection, my father had a vessel built hy Ichabod Tliomas, at North River, just before the Revolution, for himself and Championi & Dioiiason, of London, for the London trade. After the war commenced, she laid at Nantucl Life and Reminiscences of Elkanah Watson. Svo. Through the kindness of D. Appleton & Co. we are able to give an engraving of this historic portrait, which was attached to the ' Reminiscences.' Greville, in his ' Memoirs,' relates that at a naval review the Duke of Richmond, who hated George III., when Lord Lieutenant of Sus sex, during the American war, sailed in a yacht through the fleet where the king was with American colors at his masthead. The date of this transaction is not given and it is not certain the stars and stripes were the American colors hoisted. 298 Origin and Progress of the States which had at that time ratifled the Constitution. On the cen tre of the floating bridge \t Grey's Ferry was raised an American ensign ; and on another part of the bridge was a high pole, which bore a striped liberty cap ornamented with stars, and beneath it a blue flag, with the device of a rattlesnake, and motto, "Don't tread on me." Amid many conflicting claims, there seems little doubt that to the ship Empress, of China, 360 tons, Captain John Green, the honor be longs of being the flrst vessel to carry our flag into the Chinese sea. She sailed from New York on the 33d of February, 1784, touched at Cape de Verde on her outward voyage, arrived at Macao August 33, and at Whampoa August 38, where she saluted the shipping with thir teen gups. On the 13th of September she was visited with great cere mony by Hoppo, or chief of customs, who was saluted with nine guns on his arriving on board, and thirteen guns on his leaving the ship. She returned to New York the 11th of May, 1785, having made the round voyage in less than fifteen months.^ She was wrecked off Dublin Bay, Feb. 32, 1791, then bearing the name of ' Clara.' = When the thirteen stripes and stars first appeared at Canton much curiosity was excited among the people. News was circulated that a strange ship had arrived from the farther end of the world, bearing a flag as beautiful as a flower. Everybody went to see the Kaw-kee- cheun, or flower-flag ship. This name at once established itself in the language, and America is now called Kaw-kee-koh, the flower-flag country, and an American, Kaw-kee-koch-yin, flower-flag country man, — a more complimentary designation than that of red-headed barba rian, the name flrst bestowed on the Dutch. Foreign names, however unmeaning originally, when written in Chinese acquire a signiflcance which is often strikingly curious. Thus, the two Chinese characters, Yong-kee (Yankee), signify the flag of the ocean, and AVashington, or Wo-shing-tung, as it would be written, sig nifies rescue and glory at last.* The young prefect of I-ton-hien said : " We call the In-hi-li (Eng lish) '' Houng-mao-jin,' that is, ' men of red hair,' because it is said they have hair of that color; and we give to the Ya^mely-kien (Amer icans) the name of the ' men of the gaudy banner,' because it is said that they carry at the masts of their vessels a flag striped with various colors." * The ship Franklin, of Salem, Captain James Devereaux, is believed to have been the flrst to carry our flag to Japan. She sailed from Boston Dec. 11, 1798, arrived at Batavia April 28, 1799, reached ' Shaw's .Toumal. " New York Evening Gazette of April 2, 1791. ' American newspaper. ' M. Hue's Journey through the Chinese Empire. Flag of the United States. 299 Japan July 19, 1799, and arrived home May 20, 1800. Her log-book is preserved in the library of the Essex Institute at Salem. The second vessel to carry our flag direct to Eastern seas was the appropriately named sloop Enterprise, Captain Stewart Dean, a little sloop-rigged vessel of eighty tons, built at Albany, N. Y., and like the ordinary North Eiver craft. She sailed in 1785, and returned home within the year. The English factory at Canton, notwithstanding the jealousies and interests of trade, struck with the boldness of the ex periment, received these adventurers with kindness and hospitality. The next vessel to make the adventure to China was the Canton, of Philadelphia, Captain Thomas Truxton, which sailed from that port early in 1786, and returned to the same port May, 1787, after a suc cessful voyage. Congress granted a sea-letter to this vessel, which was addressed to the " Most serene and most puissant, high, illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, wise, and prudent emperors, kings, repub lics, princes, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgomasters, counsellors, as also judges, officers, justiciaries, and regents of all the good cities and plflees, whether ecclesiastical or secular, who shall see these presents or hear them read," — which would seem to be sufficiently comprehen sive for her protection. The frigate Alliance, the last of the continental frigates retained by government, was sold at Philadelphia, June, 1785, and converted into an Indiaman. She sailed from Philadelphia for Canton in June, 1785, owned by Eobert Monis, and under command of Captain Thomas Eeed, and was the second vessel from Philadelphia to China. She retumed to Philadelphia Sept. 17, 1788. The Alliance, taking soundings off the Cape of Good Hope, steered southeast and encircled all the eastern and southern islands of the Indian Ocean. Passing the south cape of New Holland in the course northward to Canton, between the latitudes of 7° and 4° S., and between longitudes 156° and 162° E., they discovered a number of islands, the inhabitants of which were black, and had woolly, curled hair. The islands were also inhabited by brown people, with straight black hair. Captain Eeed believed himself to be the discoverer of these islands, and named the principal one Morris Island, and another Alliance Island.^ The honor of being the first to carry our flag around the world is assigned to the auspiciously and appropriately named ship Columbia, >In 1786, at an entertainment given to the Americans hy the Portuguese resi dents of Macao, at dessert the tables were ornamented with gilded paper castles, pagodas, and other Chinese edifices, in which were confined numerous small birds. The first ^oast was " Liberty," and at the word the doors of these paper prisons were set open and the Uttle captive^ released, and, flying about in every direction, seemed to enjoy their liberty.— S7iaw's Journal. 300 Origin and Progress of the which, under command of Captains Kendrick and Gray, circumnavi gated the globe in 1789-90.^ The Columbia, Captain John Kendrick, and sloop Washington, Cap tain Eobert Gray, sailed from Boston Sept. 30, 1787,- and proceeded to the Cape de Verde, and thence to the Falkland Islands. January, 1788, they doubled Cape Horn, and immediately after were separated in a violent gale. The Washington, continuing her course through the Paciflc, made the northwest coast in Aiigust near latitude 46° N. Here Captain Gray thought he perceived indications of the mouth of a river, but was unable to ascertain the fact, in consequence of his vessel grounding and his being attacked by savages. With the loss of one man killed and the mate wounded, the Washington arrived at Nootka Sound on the 17th of September, where, some days later, she was joined by the Columbia. The two vessels spent the winter in the Sound; and the Columbia lay there during the following summer, while Captain Gray, in the Washington, explored the adjacent waters. On his return to Nootka, it was agreed by the two captains that Kendrick should take command of the sloop and remain upon the coast, while Captain Gray, in the Columbia, should carry to Canton the furs which had been collected by both vessels. This was done; and Gray arrived on the 6th of December at Canton, where he sold his furs, and took a cargo of tea, with which he entered Boston on the 10th of August, 1790, having carried the thirteen stars and thirteen stripes for the first time around the world. ^ Kendrick, immediately on parting with the Columbia, proceeded with the Washington to the Straits of Fuca, which he sailed through to its issue in the Pacific in latitude 51° N. To him belongs the credit of ascertaining that Nootka and the parts adjacent are an island, to which the name of ' Vancouver Island ' has since been given. Vancouver was the British commander who followed in the track of the Americans a year later. The injustice done to Kendrick is but one of many simi lar instances, — the greatest of all being that our continent bears the name, not of Columbus or Cabot, but of a subsequent navigator. Captain Kendrick, during the time occupied by Gray on his return voyage, besides collecting furs, engaged in various speculations, one of which was the collection and transportation to China of sandal -wood, 1 Bulfinch's Oregon and Eldorado. ^ " I find the ship Columbia has been arrived some days. The concerned in that enterprise have sunk fifty per cent of their capital. This is a heavy disappoint ment to them, as they calculated every owner to make an Independent fortune." — MS. Letter, General Henry Jackson, dated Boston, 22d August, 1790. Flag of the United States. 301 which grows on many of the tropical islands of the Pacific, and is in great demand throughout the Celestial Empire for ornamental fabrics and medicinal purposes. Captain Kendrick was killed* in exchanging salutes with a Spanish vessel at the Sandwich Islands. The wad from one of the Spaniard's guns struck him as he stood on the deck of his vessel in dress-coat and cocked hat, as the commander of the expedition, and was in stantly fatal. The Columbia, as has been stated, returned to Boston under the command of Gray. Her cargo of Chinese articles did not cover the expense of the voyage; nevertheless, her owners refitted her for a similar cruise. Again, under the command of Gray, she sailed from Boston on the 28th of September, 1790, and arrived at Clyoquot, near the Straits of Fuca, June 5, 1791. There and in neighboring waters she remained through the following summer and winter, trading with the natives and exploring. Early in 1792, Gray sailed on a cruise southward along the coast, bent on ascertaining the truth of the ap pearances which on his former voyage led him to suspect the existence of a river discharging its waters at or about the latitude of 46°. Dur ing this cruise he met with Vancouver. On the 29th of April, Van couver writes in his journal : " At four o'clock, a sail was discovered at the westward, standing in shore. This was a very great novelty, not having seen any vessel but our consort during the last eight months. She soon hoisted American colors, and fired a gun to leeward. At six we spoke her. She proved to be the ship Columbia, commanded by Captain Eobert Gray, belonging to Boston, whence she had been absent nineteen months. I sent two of my officers on board to acquire such information as might be serviceable in our future operations. Captain Gray informed them of his having been off the mouth of a river, in latitude 46° 10 north, for nine days; but the outset or reflux was so strong as to prevent his entering." Vancouver gave no credit to Captain Gray's statement, and re marks : " I was thoroughly persuaded, as were most persons of observa tion on board, that we could not have passed any safe navigable open ing, harbor, or place of security for shipping, from Cape Mendocino to Luca's Strait." After parting with the -English ship. Gray sailed along the coast southward, and on the 7th of May, 1792, " saw an entrance which had a very good appearance of a harbor." Passing through this entrance, he found himself in a bay, " well sheltered from the sea by long sand bars and spits," where he remained three days trading with the natives, and then resumed his voyage, bestowing on the place thus discovered 302 Origin and Progress of the the name of ' Bulfinch's Harbor,' in honor of one of the owners of the ship. This is now known as ' Gray's Harbor.' At daybreak on the 11th, after laaving Bulfinch's Harbor, Gray observed the entrance of his desired port, bearing east-southeast, dis tant six leagues, and running into it with all sails set, between the breakers, he anchored at one o'clock in a large river of fresh water ten miles above its mouth. At this spot he remained three days, engaged in trading with the natives and filEng his casks with water ; and then sailed up the river about twelve miles along its northern shore, where, finding he could proceed no farther, from having taken the wrong channel, he came to anchor. On the 20th, he recrossed the bar at the mouth of the river and regained the Pacific. On leaving the river. Gray gave it the name of his ship, the Colum bia, the name it still bears. He called the southern point of land at the entrance ' Cape Adams,' and the northern, ' Cape Hancock.' The first of these retains its name on our maps, but the latter promontory is known as ' Cape Disappointment,' a name given to it by Lieutenant Meares, an English navigator, who, like Captain Gray, judged from appearances there was the outlet of a river at that point, but failed finding one, and so recorded his failure in the name of this conspicuous headland, which marked the place of his fruitless search. From the mouth of Columbia, Gray sailed to Nootka Sound, where he communicated his discoveries to the Spanish commandant. Quadra ; to whom he also gave charts, with descriptions of Bulfinch's Harbor and the mouth of the Columbia. He departed for Canton in Septem ber, and sailed thence for the United States. The following medal was struck in commemoration of these events. The voyages of Kendrick and Gray were not profitable to the ad venturers, yet of benefit to the country. They opened the way to enter prises in the same region which were eminently successful. In another Flag of the United States. 303 point of view, these expe(iitions were fraught with consequences of the utmost importance. Gray's discovery of the Columbia was the point most relied upon by our negotiators for establishing the claim of the United States to the part of the continent through which it flows ; and it is in a great measure owing to his discovery that the State of Oregon is now a part of the American Eepublic. From the date of the discovery of the Columbia Eiver to the war of 1812-14, the direct trade between the American coast and China was almost entirely in the hands of citizens of the United States. The British merchants were restrained from pursuing it by the opposition of their East India Company; the Eussians were not admitted into Chinese ports, and few ships of any other nation were seen in that part of the -ocean.^ The whaling-ship Washington, of Nantucket, under command of Captain George Bunker, was the first to show the American flag in a Spanish Pacific port. About a year after the Columbia had completed her voyage around the world, in the summer of 1791, six ships, three of them new and three old, were sent out from Nantucket to cruise for whales in that ocean. All sailed under the new-born " Flag of the free." The new ships were the Bearce, Hector, and Washington ; the old, the Eebecca, Favorite, and Warren. None of them exceeded two hundred and fifty tons in burthen, and all were heavy, dull sailers, without copper on their bottoms, and poorly and scantily fitted; but they were manned by men of an iron nerve and an energy that knew no turning. They all passed around Cape Horn, and a part went down the coast while the others remained on the coast of Chili. The Washington went to Callao, on the coast of Peru, and on the 4th of July, 1793, two months after the discovery of the Columbia Eiver by Gray, displayed the stars and stripes in that port. Lying there was an English whaling vessel, and a French brig, both manned by Nantucket men, who assisted Captain Bunker in his commemora tion of the day.^ In 1790, a rather singular incident in connection with the stars and stripes happened at Londonderry, in Ireland. Mr. Lemuel Cox, who had gained considerable reputation as the builder of the bridge con necting Boston with Charlestpwn, Mass.," went to England, where he » Bulfinch's Oregon and Eldorado, and Vancouver's Voyage. The Spanish silver dollars with which the trade was conducted received the name of ' Boston dollars ' trom the natives, a name they are still known by. 2 Letter F. C. Sanford, of Nantucket. ' See ante, p. 293. 304 Origin and Progress of the contracted for and built several bridges on the same general plan; among others, for a bridge across the Foyle, at Londonderry, where the river was near one thousand feet wide, and the water forty feet deep at high water, — an engineering feat which had been pronounced by English engineers impracticable. However, with twenty Bostoni- ans and a few laborers Mr. Cox set to work and completed this bridge, consisting of fifty-eight arches, all of American oak, in four months. Not a log of the wood was imported before the I'st of May, and the bridge was completed in November. The cost was about £15,000.1 " The bridge being completed, or nearly so, on the 33d of November, 1790, Mr. Cox gave the people leave to pass over free, in order to save them the expense of ferriage; and the first day that persons were admitted to pass over, with the consent of the authorities he hoisted the American flag in the midst of it, without the smallest inten tion of giving the least offence. This proceeding was looked upon by every person in an innocent point of view, until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when detachments from the Fortieth Eegiment, under the command of the mayor, marched to the bridge, and a desperate affray ensued, the American flag flying all the time. The workmen were all Bostonians, who, in the very teeth of the magis tracy and soldiery, cut, with their axes, the entrance to the bridge open, in order to let the people pass. Three men, jiz. Cunning ham, of Dollartown, a master weaver, Alexander Eeed, weaver, and McLaughlin, a laborer, were killed, and several severely wounded. , During the whole action the army fought under the thir teen stripes ; and, what is very extraordinary, an officer flred the first shot." - This was undoubtedly the first action fought in Ireland under the stars and stripes, and probably the last. Mr. Cox was talcen to the jail for safe-keeping from the fury of the populace, and that the dis turbance lasted several days is evident from the following notice issued by the mayor three days later : — ' British Chronicle or Union Gazette, Kelso, Oct. 15, 1790. Murray's Handbook of Ireland says : " It was a great curiosity, being 1,068 feet long and 40 feet wide, and laid on oak piles, the pieces of which were 16 feet asunder, bound together by thirteen string pieces equally divided and transversely bolted. It is now superseded by a new bridge, costing £100,000, which serves both for the Northern Counties Railway and a public road. In Hall's Ireland, vol. ill. p. 212, Cox's bridge is described, and a view of It given. 2 Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, March 17, 1791, and Colum bian Centinel, March 19, 1791, under heading 'Londonderry,' Nov. 23, 1790. Flag of the United States. 305 __ " Common Hali.. " The mayor requests the citizens of 'Derry may meet him this day at twelve o'clodc, in the town-hall, in order to consider of such measures as may be deemed necessary to maintain the laws, and preserve the public tran quillity. " Tuesday Moening, Nov. 25, 1790." The cause of the riot is not so clear, as there are several versions of it, though all agree that the American flag was hoisted -over the bridge, and in the number of killed and wounded. It seems to have been an Irish shindy. The ' Columbian Centinel,' in commenting upon it, says : " Upon inquiry, we find Mr. Cox received orders from the mayor and corporation of 'Derry to open the bridge on the day men tioned, for the benefit of the people, and, as the workmen and timber were American, permitted him. to display upon the bridge the Ameri can flag. The novelty of these circumstances drew together a large concourse of people. The watermen who were thus thrown out of business, collected in numbers to oppose the passing and repassing of the people ; this occasioned a fracas," &c.^ Later, the Centinel contains extracts from an English paper, assign ing the following as the causes of the disturbances, and which probably is a correct account of them. " From the day that the communication was opened by means of the bridge, an idea prevailed among the lower orders of the people that the passage was to be entirely free, and that no toll would be exacted. . . . For the first week, the corporation did not think it necessary to assert their right, and permitted a free passage. Unfortunately, this indulgence was misconstrued, and the populace confirmed' in their opinion that there was no power to oblige them to pay toll. Under this idea, when the gate was erected for the purpose of collecting toll, the multitude, as they came to market, were discontented, and many, heated with liquor, refused to pay any toll. The mayor, sheriff, and several magistrates endeavored to persuade them from their illegal opposition; but the numbers increased, and they boldly proceeded down the toll-gate in spite of the magistrates, who were obliged to call for a guard of soldiers, and, the riot increas ing, to bring to their support nearly the whole of the Fortieth Eegi ment. The military, charging their bayonets, drove the rioters across the bridge to the water-side, but they had no sooner got upon the street than they turned about and gave battle to the soldiers with repeated volleys of stones and brickbats. Again the magistrates entreated the rioters to disperse, and warned them of the fatal consequences of their 1 Columbian Centinel, March 19, 1791. 20 306 Origin and Progress of the outrages; but they continued the attack. At first, the military were ordered to fire in the air, then at the tops of houses ; but the despera tion of the mob increasing, the soldiers were ordered to level their muskets. About five in the evening the mob dispersed." ^ Mr. Cox returned to the United States, where he pursued his me chanical tastes, and in 1796 was granted one thousand acres of land in Maine by the legislature of Massachusetts, for his various inventions, and died at Charlestown, Mass., Feb. 18, 1806. The rude woodcut at the head of the ' broadside ' circulated at the opening of the Charles town bridge was executed "by that masterpiece of ingenuity, Mr. Lemuel Cox." - On Monday, May 3, 1791, H. B. M. ship Alligator, 28, Isaac Coffin, Esq., commander, from Halifax, arrived at Boston, and on passing the Castle saluted the flag of the United States with thirteen guns, which was immediately returned by the fortress. " This mutual attention in powers," says the ' Columbian Centinel,' " who were lately hostile to each other, shows the superior liberality of the age in which we live, and proclaims to the world the verification of that memorable instru ment, the Declaration of Independence, in which our political fathers declared that they ' should hold the king and subjects of Great Britain as they did the rest of the world, — ^enemies in war; in peace, friends.' " ^ This was probably the first salute in Boston to our flag by a British vessel of war, and it will be observed her commander was an American by birth. The vessel had recently left England, only stopping at Halifax on her passage out. FIFTEEN STAES AND FIFTEEN STEIPES. 1795-1818; Early in 1794, in conseqi^ence of the admission of Vermont, March 4, 1791, and Kentucky, June 1, 1793, into the sisterhood of the Union, an act was passed increasing the stars and stripes on our flag from thir teen tc»^ fifteen, but not to take effect until May, 1795. The act for this alteration originated in the Senate, and when it 1 Columbian Centinel, April 2, 1791. Letter from Londonderry, Nov. 30, 1790. " See Francis S. Drake's American Biographical Dictionary, and Samuel Adams Drake's Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex. " Columbian Centinel, May 3, 1791. Flag of the United States. 307 came down to the House was the occasion of considerable debate and opposition, illustrating the temper of the time as well as the design of the flag. "Jan. 7, 1794. The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole House on the bill sent from the Senate, entitled, 'An Act making an alteration in the flag of the United States.' " Mr. Goodhue though^ it a trifling business, which ought not to engross the attention of the House, when it was its duty to discuss matters of inflnitely greater consequence. If we alter the flag from thirteen to fifteen stripes, and two additional stars, because Vermont and Kentucky have been added, we may go on adding and altering at this rate for one hundred years to come. It is very likely before fifteen years elapse we shall consist of twenty St!i>tes. The flag ought to be permanent." In almost literal fulfllment of this opinion, when the flag was re modelled, in 1818, twenty-four years later, the new union contained twenty stars, representatives of as many States. ' " Mr. Lj'man differed in opinion with Mr. Goodhue. He thought it of the greatest importance not to offend new States. " Mr. Thatcher ridiculed the idea of being at so much trouble on a consummate piece of frivolity. At this rate, every State should alter its public seal when an additional county or township was formed. He was sorry to see the House take up their time with such trifles. " Mr. Greenup considered it "of very great consequence to inform the rest of the world we had added two additional States. " Mr. Niles was very sorry such a matter should for a moment have hindered the House from going into more important matters. He did not think the alteration either worth the trouble of adopting or reject ing, but he supposed the shortest way to get rid of it was to agree to it; and for that reason, and no other, he advised to pass it as soon as possible." The committee having agreed upon the alteration, the chairman reported the biU, and the House took it up. " Mr. Boudinot said he thought it of consequence to keep the citizens of Vermont and Kentucky in good humor. They might be affronted at our rejecting the bill. " Mr. Goodhue, continuing his opposition, said he felt for the honor of the House when spending their time in such sort of business ; ^ but since it must be passed, he had only to beg as a favor that it might not ^ What would he say to the business habits of our modern Congresses, and the time wasted in frivolous debates and buncombe speeches. 308 Origin and Progress of The appear upon the journal and go into the world as the flrst bill passed this session. " Mr. Madison was for the bill passing. " Mr. Giles thought it proper that the idea should be preserved of the number of our States and the number of stripes corresponding. The expense was but trifling, compared with that of forming the gov ernment of a new State. " Mr. Smith said that this alteration would cost him five hundred dollars, and every vessel in the Union sixty dollars. He could not conceive what the Senate meant by sending them such bills. He sup posed it was for want of something better to do. He should indulge them, but let us have no more alterations of the sort. Let the flag be permanent." The bill thus debated was finally passed and approved on the 13th day of January, 1794. It was the first bill completed at that session of Congress, and reads as follows : — " Be it enacted, &c.. That from and after the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the fiag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field." The same Congress, on the 27th of March, 1794, authorized the building of the frigate Constitution and five other frigates, the com mencement of a new navy. The new flag floated over her and all of our vessels of war throughout the war of 1813-14. When Mr. Monroe, the United States minister, presented his cre dentials on the 14th of August, 1794, to the French Eepublic, and communicated to the National Convention the wish of his fellow- citizens for the prosperity of the nation, the convention, on the report of the Committee of Public Safety, to whom his credentials had been referred, decreed that he should be introduced into the bosom of the convention, and the president should give him the fraternal embrace, as a symbol of the friendship which united the American and French people. In the National Convention, Aug. 15, 1794, the discussions on the organization of the several committees were commenced, but the de- Uberation was soon after interrupted by the arrival of the minister plenipotentiary from the United States. He was conducted into the. centre of the hall, and the secretary read the translation of his dis course and credential letters, signed by George Washington, President of-the United States, and Edmund Eandolph, Secretary of State, at Philadelphia, May 38. The reading of this was accompanied by Flag of the United States. 309 repeated shouts of " Vive la Republique! Vive les Republiques! and unusual acclamations of applause." The discourse was ordered to be printed in the French and American languages, and was, in part, as follows : — " Among other things, Mr. Monroe observed that as a certain proof of the great desire of his countrymen for the freedom, prosperity, and happiness of the French Eepublic, he assured them that the Conti nental Congress had requested the President to make known to them this sentiment, and while acting agreeably to the desire of the two Houses, the President enjoined him to declare the congeniality of his sentiment with theirs." The secretary then read the letter of credentials, and the president of the convention replied : — " The French people have never forgotten that they owe to the Americans the imitation of liberty. They admired the sublime insur rection of the American people against Albion of old, so proud and now so disgraced. They sent their armies to assist the Americans, and in strengthening the independence of that country, the Ftench, at the same time, leamed to break the sceptre of their own tyranny, and erect a statue of liberty on the ruins of a throne founded upon the corruption and the crimes of fourscore centuries." The President proceeded to remark " that the alliance between the two republics was not merely a diplomatic transaction, but an alliance of cordial friendship." He hoped that this alliance would be indis soluble, and prove the scourge of tyrants and the protection of the rights of man. He observed how differently an American ambas sador would have been received in France six years before, by the usurper of the liberty of the people ; and how much merit he would have claimed for having graciously condescended to take the United States under his protection. "At this day," he said, "it is the sovereign people itself, represented by its faithful deputies, that receives the ambassador with real attachment, while affected mortality { ?) is at an end." He longed to crown it with the fraternal embrace. "I am charged," said he, " to give it in the name of the nation. Come and receive it in the name of the American nation, and let this scene de stroy the last hope of the impious coalition of tyrants." The President then gave the fraternal kiss and embrace to the minister, and declared that he recognized James Monroe in this quaUty. " It was then decreed, on the motion of Mons. Bayle, that the colors of both nations should be suspended at the vault of the hall, as a sign 310 Origin and Progress of the of perpetual alliance and union." The Minister took his seat on the mountain on the left of the President, and received the fraternal kiss from several deputies. The sitting of the convention was suspended. On the 25 Fructidor (September 35th), about a month after this scene, the President " Bernard of Saints " announced to the conven tion the receipt of a stand of colors by the hands of an officer of the United States from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States, to be placed in the hall of the National Convention at the side of the French colors, accompanied by the following letter: — " The Minister of the United States of America to the President of the National Convention: " Citizen President, — The convention having decreed that the colors of the American and French republics should b«S united and" stream together in the place of its sittings, as a testimony of the union and friendship which ought to subsist for ever between the two nations, I thought that I could not better manifest tlie deep impression which this decree has made on me, and express the thanlcful sensations of my constituents, than by procuring their colors to be carefully executed, and in offering them in the name of the American people to the representatives of the French nation. " I have had them made in the form lately decreed by Congress [fifteen stripes and fifteen stars], and have trusted them to Captain Barney, an ofB cer of distinguished merit, who has rendered us great services by sea, in the course of our revolution. He is charged to present and) to deposit them on the spot which you shall judge proper to appoint for them. Accept, citizen president, this standard as a new pledge of the sensibility with which the American people always receive the interest and friendship which their good and brave allies give them; as also of the pleasure and ardor with which they seize every opportunity of cementing and— consolidating the union and good imderstanding between the two nations." Captain Barney being ordered to be admitted, entered the bar with the standard, amidst universal shouts of applause, which also accom panied the reading of Mr. Monroe's letter. In delivering the standard. Captain Barney said : — " Citizen President : Having been directed by the minister plen ipotentiary of the United States of America to present the National Convention the flag asked of him, — ^the flag under the auspices of which I have had the honor to fight against our common enemy during the war which has assured liberty and independence, — I discharge the duty with the most lively satisfaction, and deliver it to you. Hence forth, suspended on the side of that of the French Eepublic, it will become the symbol of the union which subsists between the two nations. Flag of the United States. 3 1 ! and last, I hope, as long as the freedom which they have so bravely acquired aud so wisely consolidated." A member said r " The citizen who has just spoke at the bar is one of the most distinguished sea-officers of America. He has rendered great service to the liberty of his country, and he could render the same to the liberty of France. I demand that this observation be referred to the examination of the Committee of Public Safety, and that the fraternal embrace be given to this brave ofiicer." This proposition was received with applause. Several voices cried, " The fraternal embrace ! " which was decreed ; and Barney went up to the chair of the President and received the fraternal embrace, amidst unanimous acclamation and applause. The fraternal embrace con sisted of a hug, and a kiss upon each cheek. A member arose in his place (a Matthieu) and proposed that their new brother, citoyen Bar ney, should be employed in the navy of the republic. The resolution passed unanimously; but Barney was at the time, from his other en gagements, obliged to decline the honor. Subsequently he received and accepted the rank of cajAtaine de vaisseau du premier, and a com mission as chef de division des armees navales, answering to the rank of commodore in our service. When the grand ceremony decreed by the National Convention in honor of Jean Jacques Eousseau, on depositing his remains in the Pantheon, took place, Mr. Monroe and all the Americans at Paris were especially invited to be present. The population of Paris united in one moving mass to honor them. The urn containing the ashes of Jean Jacques was placed on a platform erected over the centre of the basin of the principal jet d'eau in the Garden of the Tuileries, where it remained until the procession was formed and prepared to advance ; it was then taken down, and, surrounded by the trappings of mourn ing, removed to the place assigned it in the procession. The Ameri can minister, and the citizens of the United States who accompanied him, were placed immediately in front of the members of the National Convention, who appeared in official, costumes. The American fiag, so recently presented to the convention by Mr. Monroe, borne by Captain Joshua Barney and a nephew of Mr. Monroe, preceded the column of Americans, an honor which the National Convention ap pointed to them. A tricolored cordon, supported by the orphan sons of revolutionary soldiers, " les Sieves de la nation," crossed the front, and led down each fiank of the two columns composed of Americans and the members of the National Convention. These youths were dressed in blue jackets and trousers, and scarlet vests, and were several hundreds in number. The procession moved from the Palace of the 312 Origin and Progress of the Tuileries down the principal avenue of the garden, to the Place de la Eevolution, thence, by the boulevards, through Eue St. Honore and other principal streets to the Pont Neuf, and thence to the Pantheon. The windows of every house from top to bottom, on either hand, throughout the whole extent of the march, were crowded with full- dressed females waving handkerchiefs and small tricolored flags, while from every story of each house a large flag of the same description permanently projected. The distance from the Palace of the Tuileries to the Pantheon, computing the meandering of the procession, was about two miles. Arrived at the Pantheon, Mr. Monroe and his suite were the only persons permitted to enter the National Convention, to witness the conclusion of the ceremony.^ It is a little singular that, after all these ceremonies, Mr. Monroe omitted to make any mention of them in his official despatches. In a postscript to a despatch to the Secretary of State, dated March 6, 1795,^ six months after these occurrences, he says he had " forgotten to notify him officially of his having presented the French National Convention with our flag," and adds : " It was done in consequence of an order of its body, for its suspension in its halls, and an intimation from the Pres ident himself that they had none, and were ignorant of the model." In return, on the 1st of January, 1796,' the minister of the French Eepublic to the United States presented the colors of France * to the United States, and addressed the President as follows: — " Me. President : I come to acquit myself of a duty very dear to my heart. I come to deposit in your hands, and in the midst of a ' Life of Commodore Joshua Barney. -' American State Papers, vol. i. 1832 edition, p. 698. ^ Washington received a communication from the French minister on the 22d of December, and proposed to receive the colors on the flrst day of the new year, a day of general joy and congratulation. * These colors were the tricolor which had been established by the following de cree, and succeeded the colors, &c., decreed by the National Assembly, Oct. 21, 1790, and were hoisted over the fleet at Brest with ceremonies and festivity, ,Tan. 11, 1T91. Feb. 15, 1793. The National Convention of Prance, in consequence of the report of St. Andrfi, passed the following decree : — " 1st. The maritime flag decreed by the National Constitutional Assembly is suppressed. " 2d. The national flag shall henceforth be formed of the three national colors disposed in three equal hands, put in a vertical direction, In such a manner that the blue be affixed to the staff of the flag, the white in the middle, and the red floating in the air. " 3d. The flag caHed the ' .lack,' and the flag on thc stern of the ships, shall be disposed in the same manner, observing the usu.il proportion of size. "4th. The streamers (pennants) shall likewise be formed of three colors; of which one-fifth shall be blue, one-flfth white, and three-flfths red. " 5th. The national flag shall be hoisted in all the ships of the republic on the :^Uth of May ; and the minister of marine shall give the necessary orders for that purpose." Flag of the United States. 313 people justly renowned for their courage and their love of liberty, the symbol of the triumphs and of the enfranchisement of my nation. . . . The National Convention, the organ of the will of the French nation, have more than once expressed their sentiments to the American people; but, above all, these burst forth on that august day, when the minister of the United States presented to the national representation the colors of his country. Desiring never to lose recollections so dear to Frenchmen, as they must be to Americans, the convention ordered that these colors should be placed in the hall of their sittings. They had experienced sensations too agreeable not to cause them to be par taken of by their allies, and decreed that to them the national colors should be presented. " Mr. President : I do not doubt their expectations will be fulflUed, and I am convinced that every citizen .will receive, with pleasing emotion, this flag, elsewhere the terror of the enemies of liberty, here the certain pledge of faithful friendship; especially when they recol lect that it guides to combat men who have shared their toils, and who were prepared for liberty, by aiding them to acquire their own." General Washington, in his reply the same day to this address, after expressing his congratulations on the formation and establish ment of the French Eepublic, said : " I receive, sir, with lively sensi bility, the symbol of the triumphs and of the enfranchisement of your nation, the colors of Prance, which you have now presented to the United States. The transaction will be announced to Congress, and the colors will be deposited with those archives of the United States which are at once the evidence and the memorial of their freedom and independence. May these be perpetual! and may the friendship of the two republics be commensurate with their existence ! " ^ The House proceeded at once to consider the above, and "Resolved, unanimously. That the President be requested to make known to the representatives of the French people that this House had received with the most sincere and lively sensibility the commu nication of the Committee of Public Safety, dated the 21st of October, 1794, accompanied by the colors of the French Eepublic; and to assure them that the presentation of the colors of the French Eepub lic to the Congress of the Uniteii States is deemed the most honorable testimonial of the existing sympathies and affections of the two repub lics founded upon their solid and reciprocal interests; and that this House rejoices in the opportunity thereby afforded to congratulate the French nation upon the brilliant and glorious achievements which ' American State Papers, 3d ed., vol. 11. p. 100. 3 1 4 Origin and Progress of the ' / have been accomplished under their influence during the present affiicting war, and confidently hopes that those achievements will be attended with the perfect attainment of their object, — the permanent establishment of the liberties and happiness of a great and magnani mous people." Mr. Giles and Mr. Smith were appointed a committee to wait upon the President with this resolution.^ Mr. Adet, the French minister to the United States, was not satis fied with this disposition of the tricolor, and nine days later writes to Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, thus: " When theJi]"ational Conven tion decreed that the French flag should be presented by its minister to the United States, there was but one opinion as to the place in which it should be deposited. A decree had placed yours in the hall of the legislative body. Every one thought that the French flag would with you receive the same honor; all my fellow-citizens have, one after another, contemplated that pledge of your friendship, and each one believed that the Americans would also have the same eager ness to view the symbol of the enfranchisement of a friendly nation, who, like' them, had purchased their liberty at the price of blood. This expectation has not been fulfilled, and it has been decided that the French flag shall be shut up among the axchives. Whatever may be the expression of friendship in the answer of the President, how ever amicable, also, are the resolutions of the House of Eepresenta- tives, I cannot doubt, sir, that the order made for preserving a flag which the republic sent only to the United States will be looked upon by it as a mark of contempt or indifference. Pride, sir, you know, is the portion of a free people ; and it is never wounded but at the expense of friendship. The present, circumstances are extremely delicate ; and when I am convinced the American government had no intention of leading the French Eepublic to think that the gift of her flag is worth nothing in its eyes, should it not give her authentic proof of it ? Would it not be convenient to flx this flag in a similar place to that which yours occupies in France, and where the national honor expected to see it ? " Mr. Pickering, in his reply, dated Jan. 15, 1796, regrets that the real and essential friendship of two free people should he wounded by a circunistance of this kind, resulting from the different ideas they entertain of the mode most proper for preserving the sign of their lib- '¦ American State Papers, 3d ed., vol. li.- p. 100. It would be Interesting to know the further history of these colors thus ofliclally received, as also of the stars and stripes presented to t^e National , Convention by, Mr. Monroe. Is the French flag still "shut up among the archives" of the State Pepartrntat? Flag of the United States. 315 erty, and of the victories and triumphs by which it was acquired, .and calls to mind that the representatives of the French people assembled in one room, and that their own colors were exhibited there when 'it was decreed the colors of the United States should be. That, on the contrary, the people of the United States were represented by the President or Plxecutive, the Senate, and the House of Eepresentatives, the President being the sole constitutional organ of communication with foreign nations. "When, therefore, the colors of France were delivered to the President, they were in the only proper manner pre sented to the people of the United States of America, for whom the President is the only constitutional depositary of foreign communica tions. Of these, the President transmits to the two Houses of Con gress such as he thinks proper for their information; and thus the colors of France were exhibited to their view. But the United States have never made a public display of their own colors, except in their ships and in their military establishments." "Under these circum stances, what honor could.be shown to the colors of France more respectful than to deposit them with the evidences and memorials of our own freedom and independence ? If to the United States only the colors of Prance had been presented, I answer that the colors of Prance alone have been deposited with our national archives, that both may be preserved with equal care." He closes with this digni fied rebuke to the minister for dictating the proper place for the deposit of the French flag : " I must also remark that the people of the United States have exhibited nowhere in their deliberative assemblies any public spectacles as the tokens of their victories, the symbols of their triumphs, or the monuments of their freedom. Understanding in what true liberty consists, contented with its enjoyment, and know ing how to preserve it, they reverence their own customs, while they respect those of their sister republic. This I conceive, sir, is the way to maintain peace and good harmony between France and the United States, and not by demanding an adoption of the manners of the other : in these we must be mutually free." " This explanation, sir, I hope will be satisfactory to you and to your govemment, and in concur rence with the manner of receiving the French colors, and. the unani mous gentiments of affection and good wishes expressed on the occasion by the President, the Senate, and the House of Eepresenta tives, effectually repel every idea that could wound the friendship subsisting between the two nations." ^ 1 American State Papers, 1832, vol. i. p. 656. This captious Frenchman, a few iuonths later, made oflScial complaint that the ' Philadelphia Directory ' for 1796 gave precedence on its list of foreign ministers to the minister of Great Britain over 316 Origin and Progress of the In 1797, the little ship-rigged boat Betsey, of only ninety tons, Captain Edmund Fanning, sailed from New York, and carried the stars and stripes around the world; she returned at the end of two years with a valuable cargo of silks, teas, china, and nankeens, and with a healthy crew of young fellows all decked in China silk jackets and blanched chip hats trimmed with blue ribbons. The ship presented a daily sight at the Flymarket wharf, where hundreds were daily vis itors to see a ship of war in beautiful miniature, with a battery tier of' guns fore and aft. The voyage was a successful one, and resulted in one thousand dollars apiece to the seamen, and gifts of silk, nan keen, &c. The Betsey was at flrst intended for a New York and Charleston packet, and rigged as a brig. She was built in New York, in 1792, and so far up town as to be launched across three streets, her master-builder having a fancy to build her before his own door in Cheapside Street. She is probably the smallest ship that ever com pleted the circumnavigation of the globe: Every thing connected with the frigate Constitution, of glorious memories and victories, still existing to stimulate the patriotism of our naval aspirants, is of interest, and we are happy to be able to record the name of the person who flrst hoisted our flag over her, with no conception of the glorious history she would make for it. Her keel was laid in 1794, but she was not launched until October 21, 1797. It was intended she should be the flrst vessel of the new and permanent navy. But two of the six frigates ordered to be built under the same law were launched before her; viz.. The United States, launched July 10, 1797, and destroyed at Norfolk, April 20, 1861 ; and the Constel lation, launched Sept. 7, 1797, broken up in 1854, and now repre sented by a razee ship of the same name. The Constitution, better known as ' Old Ironsides,' often repaired and rebuilt, remains of the same model, and is of the same tonnage and general appearance as when launched. She was modelled by Joshua Humphries, and built by George Claghorne and Mr. Hartt, of Boston. When ready to be launched. Commodore Samuel Nicholson, who had the superintendence of her construction, left the ship-yard to get his breakfast, leaving express orders not to hoist any flag over her until his return, intending to reserve that honor to himself.,. Among the workmen upon her was a shipwright and caulker named Samuel Bentley, who, with the assistance of Harris, another -workman, bent those of France and Spain. Mr. Pickering, of course, replies that the United States has no control over the publication of almanacs and directories. Flag of the United States. 317 on and hoisted the stars and stripes during the commodore's ab sence. When the commodore returned and saw the flag floating over her, he was very wrathy, and expressed himself to the offending workmen in words more strong than polite. Could he have foreseen the future of the noble frigate, he would have been still more excited at Bentley's little coup d'etat. He had, however, the satisfaction of being the flrst to command her, and she was the flrst of the new frigates to carry the flfteen stars and flfteen stripes under canvas upon the deep blue sea. Bentley died in Boston, in 1853. The fifteen stars and fifteen stripes were worn by the Constitution before Tripoli, and throughout the war of 1813. It was the flag worn by the Constellation in her actions with I/Insurgente and La Ven geance; the flag that waved over Derne; the flag of Lake Erie, Fort McHenry, and New Orleans, and of our naval victories on the Atlan tic; and which was carried around both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in the Essex, the first United States vessel of war to show a pennant beyond either. On the 6th of January, 1800, the Essex, Captain Edward Preble, sailed from New York for Batavia, in company with the Congress. When six days out, the Congress was dismasted, and the Essex, knowing nothing of the disaster, proceeded on her voyage alone. On the 38th of March, 1800, she doubled the Cape of Good Hope on her outward voyage, and on the 27th of August, 1800, repassed it after a tempestuous passage on her return home, and thus was the first vessel of the United States navy to pass and repass that stormy barrier, rightly named by its discoverer " Cabo de las Tormentas." It was also the good fortune of the Essex, under Commodore David Porter, on her last and most celebrated cruise, to be the flrst vessel of our navy to pass around Cape Horn. The Essex left St. Catharine's, Brazil, on the 26th of January, 1813, passed the Cape on the 14th of February, and, after a most stormy and tempestuous time in weather ing it, encountered a pleasant southwest breeze in the Paciflc Ocean on the 5th, and arrived off Valparaiso on the 13th of March, where she anchored on the 15th of the same month. The Cape was made on the 14th of February imder the promising auspices of a tolerable clear horizon, a moderate wind from the west ward, and a bright sun. Every man was exulting in their escape from the dreaded terrors of Cape Horn, when suddenly a tempest burst upon the ship which raised an irregular and dangerous sea, and reduced her flowing canvas to storm staysails. Storm succeeded storm, with intervals of deceitful calm, which encouraged the making 318 Origin and Progress of the of sail, and added to the labor of the hard-working crew, who were immediately forced to reef again, to meet the coming blast. On the last day of February, being in latitude 50° S., Captain Porter, as his ship glided on a smooth sea before a moderate breeze, congratulated himself upon the cheering prospect, and made prepara tions for flne weather, thinking the dangers and disagreeable attend ants of a passage around the Cape all over. The wind, however, soon freshened to a gale, and blew with a fury exceeding any thing before experienced during the voyage. It was hoped, from the excessive violence of the wind, that it would soon blow out its strength. This hope failing, all on board, worn out with fatigue and anxiety, alarmed by the terrors of a lee-shore, and in momentary expectation of the loss of the masts and bowsprit, began to consider their safety hopeless. The ship, with her water-ways gaping and her timbers separating widely from the heavy and continued straining to which she had been so long exposed, now made a great deal of water, and, to add to the tearfulness of the danger, the pumps had become choked. The sea meantinie had arisen to a great height, threatening to swallow the ship at every roll. For two days the storm continued unabated, but as the good ship had resisted its violence, "to.the.a^tonishinent of all, without receiving any considerable injury," it was hoped from her excellent qualities she might be able to weather the storm. Before the third day had passed, however, an enormous sea broke over the ship, and for an instant destroyed all hope. The gun-deck ports were burst in, both boats on the quarter stove, the spare spars washed from the chains, the head-rails swept away, the hammock stanchion crushed, and the ship perfectly deluged and water-logged. One man, an old sailor, the boatswain, who had been taken from an English packet, was so appalled that he cried out in his despair that the ship's broad side was stove in, and that she was sinking. The alarm ran through out the vessel from the spar-deck to the gun-deck, and was caught, up by those below on the berth-deck, who, deluged by the torrents of water rushing down the hatchways, and swept by huge seas out of their hammocks, believed that the Essex was about to plunge for ever into the depths of the ocean. The men at the wheel, how ever, who were only able to keep to their post" by clinging with all their might, distinguished themselves by their cool intrepidity, and were rewarded by Captain Porter after the storm by advancement in rank, while others, who shrank from the terrors of the scene, were rebuked for their timidity. Flag of the United States. 319 Leaving this tempestuous weather behind, the Essex quickly passed the inhospitable coasts of Patagonia and Lower Chili, and sailed into smoother seas and pleasant weather. The Essex cruise furnishes one of the most remarkable chapters in our naval history. On the 19th of November, 1813, Captain Porter hoisted our flag and took possession of Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific, setting forth his claims to its possession in the following declaration, which was signed by himself and attested by fifteen of his officers as witnesses: — " DECtAEATION. " It is hereby made linown to the world, that I, David Porter, a captain in the navy of the United States of America, and now in command of the United States frigate ' Essex,' have, on the part of the said United States, talcen possession of tlie island called by the natives ' Noolcahiva,' generally Icnown by the name of ' Sir Henry Martin's Island,' but now called ' Madison Island.' That by the request and assistance of the friendly tribes residing in the valley of Tienhoi, as well as of the tribes residing on the mounitains, whom w^ have conquered and rendered tributary to our flag, I have caused the village of Madison to be built, consisting of six convenient houses, a rope-wallc, bakery, and other appurtenances, and for the protection of the same, as well as for that of the friendly natives, I have constructed a fort, calculated for mounting sixteen guns, whereon I have mounted four, and called the same ' Fort Madison.' " Our right to this island, being founded on priority of discovery, con quest, and possession, cannot be disputed; but the natives, to secure to themselves that friendly protection which their defenceless situation so much required, have requested to be admitted into the great American family, whose pure republican policy approaches so near their own; and, in order to encourage these views to their own interest and happiness, as well as to render secure our claim to an island valuable on many considerations, I have talien on myself to promise them that they shall be so adopted; that our chief shall be their chief, and they have given assurances that such of their brethren as may hereafter visit them from the United States shall enjoy a welcome and hospitable reception among themi, and be fumished with whatever refreshments and supplies the island may afford; that they will protect them against all their enemies, and that, as far as lies in their power, they will prevent the subjects of Great Britain (Itnowing them to be auch) from coming among them until peace shall have talien place between the two nations. " Presents, consisting of the produce of the island to a great amount, have been brought in by every tribe in the island, not excepting the most remote, and have been enumerated as follows: [Here follows the enumera tion of thirty-one trilses.] Most of the a.have have requested to be talcen under the protection of our flag; and all have been willing to purchase, on any terms, a friendship which promises them so many advantages. 320 Origin and Progress of the " Influenced by these considerations of humanity, which promise civilization to those who enjoy every mental and bodily endowment which nature can bestow, and whidi requires only art to perfect, as well as by views of policy, which secures to my country a fruitful and populous island, pos sessing every advantage of security and supplies for vessels, and which of all others is most happily situated as respects climate and local position, I declare that I have, in the most solemn manner, imder the Amerioan flag displayed in Fort Madison, and in the presence of numerous witnesses, taken possession of said island, called ' Madison Island,' for the use of the United States, whereof I am a citizen, and that the act of taking possession was announced by a salute of seventeen guns from the artillery of Fort Madison, and returned by the shipping in the Ijarbor, which is hereafter to be called 'Massachusetts Bay.' And that our claim to this island may not hereafter he disputed, I have buried in a bottle at the foot of the flag-staff in Fort Madison a copy of this instrument, together with several pieces of money, the coin of the United States. " In witness whereof, I have hereunto afiixed my signature, this 19th day of November, 1813. " David Poeteb." As the Marquesas Islands were discovered by the American cap tains, Ingraham and Eoberts, we had an undoubted claim to them from priority of discovery, and Porter, in taking possession as he did of Nukahiva, only followed the custom of other maritime powers. The revenue flag of the United States was created by an act of ¦ Congress approved March 2, 1799, which reads as follows : — " Section 102. And be it further enacted. That the cutters and boats employed in the service of the revenue shall be distinguished from other vessels by an ensign and pendant, with such marks thereon as shall be prescribed and directed by the President of the United States; and in case any ship or vessel liable to seizure or examination shall not bring to, on being required, or being chased by any cutter or boat having displayed the pendant and ensign prescribed for vessels in the revenue service, it shall be lawful for the captain, master, or other person having command of such cutter or boat to fire at or into such vessel which shall not bring to, after such pendant and ensign shall be hoisted, and a gun shall have been fired by such cutter or boat as a signal, and such captain, master, or other person as aforesaid, and all persons acting by or under his directions, shall be indemnified from any penalties or actions for damages for so doing; and if any person shall be killed or wounded by such firing, and the captain or master or other person aforesaid shall be prosecuted and arrested Flag of the United States. 321, therefor, such captain, master, or other person shall be forthwith ad mitted to bail. And if any ship, vessel, or boat not employed in the service of the revenue, shall, within the jurisdiction of the United States, carry or hoist any ensign or pendant prescribed for vessels in the service aforesaid, the master or commander of the ship or vessel so offending shall forfeit and pay one hundred dollars." In accordance with this act, the Secretary of the Treasury, Aug. 1, 1799, prescribed the revenue flag as follows: — " The ensign and pendant directed by the President under the act of 2d March, 1799, consists of sixteen perpendicular stripes alternate red and white, the union of the ensign bearing the arms of the United States in dark blue on a white field." ¦'' The stripes represent the number of States admitted to the union when the flag was adopted, and the ensign has undergone no change since. In 1871, thirteen blue stars in a white fleld were substituted for the eagle in the union of the pendant. Whenever revenue vessels are employed beyond our coast, or in conjunction with the navy, they are allowed to wear the national in place of the revenue ensign. The revenue ensign is always displayed over the custom-houses of the United States, and over the other buildings appertaining to the Treasury Department of the United States. Our stars and stripes were first displayed in a Japanese port in 1797. The annual ship sent that year by the Dutch from Batavia to~- trade with Japan fiew our flag, to avoid capture by the British. The vessel was named the Eliza, of New York, and her captain was an Englishman. AU the so-called Dutch traders to Japan from 1799 to 1809 were really American. In 1807, the Boston ship EcEpse, chartered at Canton by the Eus sian American Company, entered the harbor of Nagasaki under Eussian colors. Mr. John Lee claims the honor of having first displayed our flag in the Oriental city of Smyrna. In a letter to a naval friend, dated 1837, he says : " In 1797, 1 caused to be waved on board the American vessel Ann, of Boston, Captain Daniel Sawyer, the American starry flag, the first that. appeared in Smyrna, and just after a greater part of the city, my house among the rest, had been bTirnt. She came hither ih 127 days from the Danish settlement of Ttanquebar, on the Coromandel Coast, and brought to my house a valuable cargo, which I sold to a good profit." 21 322 Origin and Progre^ss of the Our fiag was, however, so little known at Smyrna, that nineteen years after, in August, 1812, two American vessels arriving in that port, and the United States having no treaty with the Porte, they were obliged to hoislp English colors in order to obtain admission. The English factors were displeased on seeing a foreigner use their flag and obtain privileges under it, and by their representation the British consul forbade the Americans using it, and informed the custom-house the vessels were not of his nation. This subjected the Americans to six per cent additional duty; but on their threatening to leave with out breaking bulk, they were permitted to land their cargo by paying a duty of four per cent, — one per cent more than was paid by Eng lish vessels. After they had cleared their holds, however, the custom house officers seized six barrels of indigo, for which they could obtain no redress.^ Up to Oct. 30, 1795, the State of Mississippi had been a Spanish province. On that day, a treaty was signed at Madrid relinquishing the Spanish claim to all territory above 31° north latitude, and com missioners were appointed by both governments to determine the boundary. Andrew Ellicott, of Pennsylvania, was appointed by the President commissioner on the part of the United Stg.tes to determine the boundary between the United States and the territories of his Catholic Majesty, beginning at the 31° north latitude, on the Mis sissippi Eiver, and running to the head of St. Mary's Eiver in Florida. The American commissioners arrived at Natchez on the 39tli of February, 1797; and the stars and stripes were then for the first time displayed. On the 34th of April, 1797, Lieutenant Pope, U. S. A., with a com pany of infantry, arrived at Natchez, and the next day, attended by an escort from Bacon's Landing, with music and colors displayed, marched up and deployed in front of the town, saluted the Spanish flag, and pitched tents on the bluff in view of the fort and the governor's residence, and planted our flag on the bluff, where it now floats. EUicott's party landed at Natchez, then occupied and garrisoned by the Spaniards, Nov. 34, 1797, communicaiied his credentials to Govemor Gayoss, and on the 27th proceeded from his boats to the bluff, pitched his tents, &c., at the upper end of the bluff, a quarter of a mile from.the Spanish fort, and on the 39th he hoisted the flag of the United States. 1 Select Review. Flag of the United States. 323 In the spring of 1797, Captain Isaac Guion, with two hundred in fantry and fifteen pieces of artillery, proceeded down the Mississippi under orders, and halted at Chickasaw Bluffs, now Memphis, to de liver the Chickasaw annuity. The Spaniards had abandoned the position and destroyed their works, and Captain Guion erected a fort, called 'Fort Adams,' at the lower Chickasaw Bluff, — afterwards known as Fort Pickering, — ^and displayed there, for the first time, the American flag. Towards the end of 1797, Major William Hersey, Third United States Artillery, took possession of Fort Nogales (now Vicksburg) , and unfurled the flag. In a few months. Colonel John F. Hamtremack, Pirst Eegiment United States Artillery, concentrated the garrisons of Nogales and Natchez at Loftus Heights, and built Fort Adams, still known by that name. There the flag was displayed, and it was seen at no point on the river below that until Dec. 20, 1803, when the standard of France was lowered on the Place des Armees in the city of New Orleans, and the American colors" hoisted by Governor William C. C. Claiborne and General James Wilkinson, the United States commissioners. The flag of the United States was first hoisted at the Bay of St. Louis, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, on the seaboard of Mississippi, January, 1811, by order of Governor Claiborne; in Mobile, April 15, 1813, when that place was captured by General Wilkinson from the Spaniards.^ In 1797, a schooner was launched at Erie, Penn. She was the first vessel under our flag to invade the waters of the Great Lake, and the parent of the extensive commerce which now sails over those inland seas. She was soon lost, and' the enterprise was not followed up for several years.^ 1 Letter, Hon. W. I. H. Claiborne, 1879. = In 1678, a brigantine of ten tons was built for the use of the French on Lake Ontario. On the 7th of August, 1G79, a small vessel left her anchorage and ascended the strong rapids of the Niag'ara River Into Lake Erie. She was a peculiar .craft, of foreign model, full rigged and equipped, having many of the appointments of a man- of-war. A battery of seven small cannon, with some musketry, constituted her armament. A flag bearing the device of an eagle floated at her masthead, and her bow was ornamented with a carved griffin. In honor of the arms of Count Frontenac, Governor-General of Canada. The vessel was the Griffon, and her projector and builder the adventurous Chevalier de la Salle. She was named ' Le Griffon ' In com pliment of Count Frontenac, on whose escutcheon two winged ' grlflins were em blazoned as supporters. Being unable to stem the current, a dozen men were landed on the eastern shore, and drew her up the stream. ,A group of Senecas watched her movements and shouted their admiration. When the vessel had reached the lake, the men on shore embarked, a Te Deum was chanted, the artillery and firearms were discharged, and the vessel boldly ploughed, without chart or guide, the untried waters of the lake. Three manuscript maps In the archives of the MlnlstSre de la Marine in Paris furnish Indisputable evidence that this vessel was built at the mouth of the Cayuga- 324 Origin and Progress of the In 1800, our constellation of stars was first displayed before the crescent under the walls of Constantinople by the frigate George Washington, Captain William Bainbridge, when she carried the trib ute of the Dey of Algiers to the Sultan. When the nationality of the frigate was reported to the authorities, they returned answer that the government had never heard of the United States of America. On its being explained that the frigate came from the new world discov ered by Columbus, a bunch of flowers and a lamp were sent on board, — ^the one as a welcome, the other as a token of amity. Captain Bainbridge passed the forts and castles of the Bosphorus by a stratagem; as his ship approached the castles, he shortened sail, and made the usual preparations for anchoring. When nearly abreast of the anchorage, he comtaenced a salute, which was instantly returned from the shore. Under cover of the friendly smoke, sail was made, and before-the Turks had recovered from their surprise at so unusual an occurrence the ship was beyond their batteries, pursuing her way to Constantinople. At an entertainment subsequently given by Captain Bainbridge to the minister of the Sublime Porte, decanters of water were placed upon the table (the Mussulmans not drinking wine) from the four quarters of the globe, — some of the casks filled in America and Africa being still full, and the frigate then anchored between the shores of Europe and Asia. This incident, as unique as pleasing, attracted so much notice in the diplomatic circle of Constantinople, that the lady of the British ambassador borrowed the four decanters to grace her own table at an entertainment the following day. Creek., When she was launched, a salute was flred and the Te Deum was chanted; the Frenchmen cheered as she entered the water. The Iroquois were unable to re press their astonishment, and the Senecas Joined In celebrating the launch by par taking of the brandy which was liberally and freely distributed. The Griffon sailed through Lakes Eric, Huron, St. Clair (which they named), and Michigan, or Illinois, as It Was then called, bearing the flag of B^ance, and started on her retum well loaded with a valuable cargo of furs on the 18th of September. On the second day after she sailed, a storm arose which lasted flve days. She is reported to have been seen among the Islands In the northerly end of Lake Michigan two days after sailing by some Pottawatomies, who advised the pilot to wait for more favorable weather. They last saw her half a lelague from the shore, helplessly driven by the storm upon a sandbar, where she probably foundered. A hatchway, a clabtn-door, the trunk of a flag-staff, and a few other articles were subsequently found and recognized as relics of the Ill-fated ship, — the first vessel of size to traverse the Great Lakes. — The Building and Voyage of the Griffon in 1679, a paper read before the Buffalo Historical Society, by C. H. Marshall, in 1863, revised by the author, and printed in the publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, vol. 1. No. 7, Aug. 1879; also in pamphlet form, p. 34, Svo. Flag of the United States. 325 On the 27th of April, 1805, Lieutenant O'Bannon of the marines and Mr. Mann hauled down the Tripolitan colors displayed over the fortress of Derne, and unfolded " our flag " of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes in their place, — the first American flag planted upon a fortress of the Old World.i On the 17th of March, 1807, a squadron of United States vessels of war, consisting of the bomb ketchs Etna and Vesuvius, and gun boats Nos. 11, 12, 13, and 14, and barge Victory, under the command of Commodore Shaw, anchored in the Mississippi Ei^er opposite Natchez, and was the flrst naval squadron to display our flag there. They came at the request of General Wilkinson, with orders to cap ture or sink , Burr's flotilla, said to be very formidable, and daily expected down the river. Previous to the declaration of war, in 1812, against Great Britain, it was determined at a cabinet council that our vessels of waf^should be placed in ordinary, it -being thought unwise to jeopardize our few frigates and sloops of war in a contest with the gigantic navy of the enemy.^ Captain William Bainbridge, who was in Washington the day after war was declared, consulted with Captain Charles Stewart, who was also there, on the propriety of remonstrating against the measure. They accordingly wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, stat ing, in forcible language, that such a course would have a chilling and unhappy effect on the spirit of the navy. Even if we were to lose some of our vessels of war, it would be better to do so, they argued, than that they should be ingloriously laid up in harbor, while other branches of the service were gallantly contending in the fleld. From the high discipline of our navy, and the eagerness of the officers and crews to engage in the contest, they felt perfectly assured that if our vessels did not prove invariably triumphant, they would certainly never disgrace themselves or the nation. Their letter had its effect : our men -of-war were permitted to cruise, and the result showed the truth of their predictions. One of the earliest triumphs for our flag was the capture of H. B. M. frigate Macedonian by the frigate United States off Madeira on the 25th of October. When the United States and her prize arrived at New London, Decatur sent his report of the action and the colors of the Macedo- 1 Jnly 4, 1820, at the celebration of the day at Brlmfleld, Mass., this flag was displayed and toasted. — Boston Gazette, 1820. ' Life of Bainbridge ; Life of Stewart ; Commodore Stewart's Letter to th'e U. S. Nautical Magazine, 1846, vol. 11. pp. 172-185. Our entire naval force capable of going to sea consisted of but 412 guns, viz. ; 274 In frigates, 62 in sloops of war, and 78 In brigs and schooners. — Stewart's Letter. 326 Origin and Progress of the nian to Washington by Lieutenant Hamilton, a son of the Secretary of the Navy. With them he arrived in Washington on the evening of the 8th of December, while a ball given to the officers of the navy, and particularly to Captain Charles Stewart, of the Constellation, in acknowledgment of his recent civilities to the citizens of Washing ton, was in progress. The occasion was graced by the presence of Captain Isaac Hull, the gallant victor of the Guerriere, by many public functionaries, and by those most distinguished in the society of the capital. The Secretary of the Navy being present. Lieutenant Hamilton proceeded to the ball-room with his , despatches. He was received with acclamations, and, having acquitted himself of his errand, was welcomed by the embraces of his father, mother, and sisters, happily present to exult in the safety and success of a beloved son and brother. The ball-room had been decorated with the trophies of our recent naval victories. A desire was expressed that the colors of the Mace donian should be added to those of the Constitution and Alert. They were accordingly borne in by Captains Stewart and Hull, and pre sented to Mrs. Madison, the wife of the President, amidst inspiring strains of music; while acclamations of patriotic exultation broke from the lips of the fair and the brave. Enthusiasm was at its height when, at the supper-table, " the health of Commodore Decatui* and the officers and crew of the United States " was proposed and drank with all the honors.^' After the usual congratulations on this the third naval victory gained in a few months over the enemy, Mr. Hamilton, the secretary of the navy, said to Captain Stewart, " We are indebted to Bainbridge and yourself for these flags and victories. Had it not been for your strong remonstrance, not a vessel of war belonging to the government would have left its anchorage." " When Yankee meets the Briton Whose blood congenial flows, By Heaven created to be friends, By fortune rendered foes. Hard must be the battle fray Ere well the flght is o'er." ' The flag worn by the United States brig Enterprise in her action with the British brig Boxer, Sept. 4, 1813, and afterwards the pall 1 McKenzle's Life of Decatur, pp. 181, 1S2. " L. M. Sargent's ode, sung at a dinner given to Captain Hull by the citizens of Boston, after the capture of the Guerriere. Flag of the United States. 327 Flag of the United States Brig Enterprise, Sept. 5, 1813. which covered the body of Captain Burrows at his funeral, had flfteen stripes and fifteen stars, the latter arranged in parallel lines. This fiag, which was an old one on the day of the engagement, and patched with a still older one, is now in the posses sion of H. G. Quincy, of Portland, and was exhibited at the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable Fair, in Boston, I HI liiiSPia,"^ on ^'^*°^^^' ^^^^- ^^*sr tlie action, it "11 l^iliiTT^l'*W8i ^°^^ *^® 1-aa.Tks of fifty-nine shot-holes, I I f m.J~-i I i'lffl I chi'^fly musketry. The illustration is ll h"'5^(' t^.i'l III I ¦'¦™'^ ^ photograph taken in 1873, when what was left of the venerable relic was stitched on canvas, in order that it might be photographed.^ Another interesting relic of the war of 1812 is the flag worn at Stonington when bombarded by the British fleet, Aug. 10, 1814. The bombardment was opened on that day by the Terror, Despatch, and Pactolus. The town was wholly defenceless, the supply of ammunition having given out, and at the mercy of the invader, when a timid citizen proposed a formal surrender by lowering this ensign, which was fly ing over a one gun 18-pounder battery. " No ! " shouted Captain Holmes, indig nantly, " the flag shall never come down while I am alive !" and when the wind died away and it hung drooping from its staff, the brave captain held it out on the point of a bayonet, that the British Stonington Flag. might SCO it. In that position several shots passed through it, and a companion of Holmes was held up on his shoulders, while he nailed it to the staff.- The engraving is a sketch of its appearance in 1860, carefully taken at the house of its owner. Captain Almy, by Mr. Lossing. It will be observed that the flag has sixteen stars and thirteen stripes, one star more and two stripes less than the legal number at that time. The flag 1 See Three Historic Flags and Three September Victories, by G. II. P. = Lossing's War of 1812-14. 328 Origin and Progress of the was about three and one half yards long by three in width. The en graver, not understanding the heraldry of lines, has in our illustration made the field of the union red and the dark stripes, blue, while the reverse is the case in the fiag. The close of the war with Great Britain created an interest in the trophies which had been gathered by our flag on land and on the sea ; and in answer to a call from the House of Eepresentatives inquiring into the present condition and disposition of the flags, standards, and colors taken by the forces of the United States from their enemies, John Armstrong, secretary of war, on the 14th of January, 1814, reported that of the standards and colors taken by the army of the United States during the Eevolution, only six flags remained in the War Department. Others, it was understood, were deposited in Philadelphia, while Congress sat in that city, but whether they had been moved with the public offices to Washington, he did not know.^ Mr. Seybert, chairman of the comipittee to whom the preserva tion of these flags and trophies had been referred, reported, Feb. 4, 1814, " That the collection, preservation, and exhibition of such flags, standards, and colors as have been taken by the land and naval forces of the United States from their enemies is sanctioned by the prac tice of European nations, and more especially by the proceedings of the Congress of our Eevolution. It is believed there cannot be a difference of opinion on this subject; it is natural to rejoice at the victories and glory of our country. In Europe, the trophies which have been gained in war are preserved with uncommon care. As monuments of national power, they have ever been cherished by all civilized nations. In England they are highly prized. Not content that they should constitute the ornaments of military institutions, such standards are deemed proper subjects for the decorations of temples which have been consecrated to the purposes of religious worship. The sacred chapels, in common with the royal palaces, are the places in which the banners which the British forces have won from their enemies are displayed to every subject and traveller. It must be recollected that the standard of our Fourth Eegiment of Infantry, which the enemy received at the lamentable surrender of 1 " Four standards were taken at Trenton."' — Major-General Heath to Oovernor Trumbull, Dec. 30, 1776. Two flags out of the six which were captured from the Hessian division of the British army at Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776, are in the department on the hill at Harrls burg. — Letter, WilUam Buehler to G^ H. P., Nov. 18, 1871. > Twenty-four standards of colors taken from the British army under Cornwallis arrived at Philadelphia, Saturday, Nov. 3, 1781. — Westcott's History of Philadelphia. Flag of the United States. 329 Detroit, was, in haste, conveyed to Europe.^ Immediately after its arrival in London the public prints informed us that it was triumph antly displayed in the council chamber at Whitehall. Such is the British practice." " In France, the galleries of Notre Dame are blazoned with these splendid trophies; the chapel of "the Hotel of the Invalids is richly embellished, and exhibits to the numerous visitors the many stand ards which that gigantic power has at different times taken from its enemies.^ The trophies of war ornament the places of worship in Prussia, Bohemia, and Austria. It affords no common satisfaction to the disabled tar or the superannuated soldier when he informs the inquisitive stranger that he gloriously fought in the battle which may _ have gained some of them ; for the time he forgets his former suffer ings and his present disabled condition; his consolation rests upon the power and glory of his country, so fully demonstrated by the sight of numerous ensigns which have been taken from other nations. Other instances in favor of the practice could have been furnished, but your cominittee are persuaded that the ardor of the illustrious congress of our Eevolution alone will justify the proposition which they submit for legislative consideration. As early as the 23d of June, 1778, it was 'Resolved, That the board of war be directed to collect the standards and colors taken from the enemy by the army of the United States since the commencement of the war.' Had this order been strictly observed, and somewhat extended, the present proceedings would be unnecessary. Far from any regulation having been adopted in pursuance of the recited resolutions, your committee laments the peculiar negligence which ensued. The Secretary of War now tells us that only six remain in his office; he cannot give any information concerning others ; even their place of deposit is unknown to the department! The Navy Department possesses no knowledge of any flags which were taken ' anterior to the declaration of the present war.' Such as have been captured with the public armed ships of the enemy subsequent to the 18th of June, 1813, 'have been care fully preserved ; ' thirteen of them have been already received, as will more fully appear by the annexed statement;' of these, three belonged to the heavy frigates of the enemy, viz. the Guerriere, Mace donian, and Java. The Navy Department is also in possession of a royal standard of Great Britain, which was taken at York, and a union ^ Now preserved In Chelsea Hospital, see p. 154. ^ See page 116. 'For the statement, see American State Papers (naval atfalrsl, 1814, Doc. No. 108, 2d Session, 13th Congress, p. 299. 330 Origin and Progress of the jack and flag, which were captured at Fort George; the flags of flve small vessels which were captured have not been received. Your, committee regret that the journals of Congress do not exhibit state ments of all the standards and colors which were taken during our Eevolution by the army and navy of the United States; the early attention of the legislature to this subject inclines them to believe they were very numerous. The capture of Earl Cornwallis alone fur nished twenty-four of them ! In all probability, as many were taken from General Burgoyne." ^ " By some, the exhibitions which are contemplated may be consid ered as too trivial for legislative provision. Your committee would coincide with them in this opinion, did the practice only afford a momentary gratiflcation to the curious. Experience must have taught European governments that national beneflts were derived from the . course which they have adopted, or it would long since have been discontinued. It is presumed that essential consequences proceed from the practice, more especially when a nation shall be engaged in war, such trophies excite the spirit of a nation, — the result is na tional character. The arrival of an enemy's flag is sufficient to rouse the population of London or Paris. On such occasions the flnest na tional feelings are developed; and, to the honor of our fellow-citizens be it said, they have not been found to want this species of national sensibility, when the flags of the Guerriere, Macedonian, Java, &c., were exhibited to them. It was indifferent whether they consid ered themselves of the war or the peace party; each was ambitious 1 " General Eledesel commanded that the colors should not be surrendered with the arms at Saratoga, but, on the contrary, that the staffs should be burnt and the flags carefully packed up ; this was done as ordered, so that each of the German regiments really kept possession of their colors." — Memoirs Baroness Riedesel. On Saturday, Nov. 3, 1781, between three and four o'clock In the afternoon, th'Sre arrived at Philadelphia twenty-four standards of colors taken with the British army under the command of Earl Cornwallis. The volunteer cavalry of the city received these trophies of victory at Schuylkill, from whence they escorted and ushered them into town amidst the declamations of a numerous concourse of people. Continental and BYench colors at a distance preceded the British, and thus they were paraded down Market Street to the State House. They were then carried Into Congress and " laid at their feet." A newspaper account of this ceremony says : — " The crowd, exulting, fills with shouts the sky ; The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. Base Britons ! Tyrant Britons ! Knock under. Taken 's your earl, soldiers, and plunder. Huzza ! what colors of the bloody foe ! Twenty-four in number at the State House door ! Look ! they are British standards, how they fall At the President's feet. Congress and all !" Westcott's History\if Philadelphia. Flag of the United States. 331 to rank the victor with himself! The national taste and propensity ^s strongly marked by the eagerness with which all view representa tions of dur late unparalleled naval victories ! If, then, the art and the geniuA of the painter can thus excite our natures, may we not look for lAiich more when we have the physical facts placed before us, instead 6f fancy? These flags, the trophies won by our gallant tars, demonlslrate to us and the world that the invincibility of the British naval power has been very much exaggerated. In battle will the recoUectiOli of them sustain our sailors and our soldiers, and im part additiond.1 skill and valor in support of the cause of our country ! The value of standards does not depend upon the gaudy colors which they exhibit, no more than upon the nature of the stuff of which they may be fabricated. They have been at all times regarded as the insignia of :^amfe and power; their surrender is the act of submission. The last wish oi the proud bearer is the preservation of his eagle ; too often is the loss of it sealed with the loss of life. In Europe, where military operatiohs are on a large scale, though the result of a battle should prove destructive to thousands of those who were engaged, the capture of a single standard constitutes a prominent feature in the details of the acti6n, and adds much to the brilliancy of the achieve ment. Colors taken from the enemy were considered a present worthy of the natioju to General Washington, for his signal services in the capture of pari Cornwallis 1 The records of the proceedings of Con gress, during our whole Eevolution, mention but two instances where this higljly honorable and distinguishing mark of approbation was noted! In fine, we have declared the fiag shall guarantee the safety of our citizens. Can a higher value be set upon it? Can we attach more honor to it? " It may be asked. What will be the effects of a public display of the flags which have been taken from our enemies? This view is con sidered important. No one can doubt that the government and the people of England would rather we had taken millions of their mer chandise, than that we should have it in our power to exhibit the flag of a single sloop of war, which was gained by equal force. If the enemy will expose to the view of the British nation, and every trav eller who may visit them, the one or two flags which they have cap tured from us, shall we conceal the many we have taken from them, and thus lead others to doubt our possessing any? Shall we permit the numerous trophies of our Eevolution to moulder into dust by a voluntary concealment, without any effort for their preservation? If 332 Origin and Progress of the this shall have happened to the proud monuments of our indepen dence, shall the fate of those which are now perfect, and which have been so lately won on our own coast, on that of South America, off the Azores, on the lakes, in short, in all latitudes where our tars have come in contact with the enemy, be the same? Is not the preserva tion of these flags a duty which we owe to the people of the United States ? ^ Are the achievements of that gallant little navj', which a few months ago was the object of derision with the statesmen and people of England, but now the cause of their fears, to be buried in oblivion? Shall we put at rest the inquiry which the glorious deeds of our sailors have excited in the Parliament of Great Britain ? Shall we, at our expense, approve the labored calculations of the enemy? with her, confound reason and common sense, and attribute simple truths to fallacious causes, or shall we give in to a practice so gener ally cherished by other nations? Our successes on the ocean consti tute the pride of our country; they have secured to us the respect of foreign nations. In Europe we again hold that rank which our an cestors had obtained by their many hard-fought conflicts, which we had nearly forfeited. Have we not accomplished more than Spain did with her ' invincible armadas ; ' than did Holland with her De Witts, Van Tromps, and De Euyters; than Prance could achieve, when she was in the zenith of her naval power; than did Great Britain with her Nelsons, Eodneys, Howes, and St. Vincents? The naval annals of England furnish no instance in which every vessel belonging to a hostile fleet was captured." " Some may doubt our possessing a number of standards sufficient to, warrant their public exhibition. Had we but few of them, we should not deny our sanction to the principle. Your committee re gret that special order had not been taken by Congress immediately after the receipt of the flrst present of this kind : we alluded to the colors which were taken by General Montgomery from the Seventh British Eegiment at Chamblee, on the 18th of October, 1775.. ^ " The French pride themselves on their ability to exhibit the two which they have taken from our present enemy; for so lately as the 1 The flags of the following British vessels of war are preserved in the gunnery- room of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, viz. : Alert, 20 ; Beresford, 1; Boxer, 14; Chlppaway, 1; Chubb, 11; Confiance, 37 : Cyane, 24; Detroit, 20; Dominica, 16 ; Duke of Gloucester, 14 ; Epervier, 18 ; Frolic, 22 ; Guerriere, 38 ; Hunter, 10 ; Java, 18 ; Lady Provost, 13 ; Levant, 20 ; Little Belt, 3 ; Linnet, 16 ; Macedonian, 38 ; Peacock, 20 ; Penguin, 18 ; Reindeer, 18 ; St. Lawrence, 1.5 ; and a royal standard captured at York, Canada. There is also preserved there the flags of the French vessels of war : La Berceau, 24 ; L'Insurgente, 40 ; Algerlne frigate Mezoura, 46 ; and brig Estudis, 22 guns ; also several flags captured from the Mexicans in 1845-48. Flag of the United States. 333 year 1800 they had only two of the naval flags of Great .Britain! -Though the War and Navy Departments can immediately furnish but twenty or twenty-flve of these flags, it is probable the place of deposit will be ascertained, so as to put within our power many of those which were gained during our Eevolution. Where are those which were won during the dispute with France in 1798 ? » The same may be asked of those which the defeats of Derne and Tripoli should furnish. " The only project which now remains for consideration is the place most proper for their exhibition. This should be public, and easy of access; at the same time, it should be properly secure from villainous attempts. These flags should be placed so as to be seen by every citizen who might wish to observe them. It will be of advantage that they should be noticed by every foreigner who may visit the United States. Can any objection be made to the spacious national apartments which are devoted to legislative purposes? -What orna ments can be more suitable ? Go abroad, and you may see the walls of the British House of Lords decorated with representations of some of the celebrated battles which were fought by the troops of Great Britain. At home we find the principle already established by one branch of the legislature of the United States. In the senate cham ber observe engravings of some of the battles of our Eevolution; and, had time allowed the execution of the original design of the architect, the precedent would have had existence in the chamber of the repre sentatives of the United States. It was contemplated that the frieze over the capitals of the Corinthian columns which sustain the dome should present, in relievo, a regular series of battles which secured our independence. Such decorations might gratify the artist, and afford an opportunity to display his talents ; but, in a national point of view, little or no effect would be produced. It must be conceded that much more will be communicated to the spectators by the dis play of the captured standards. " No one can pretend that any difference exists between the repre sentations which we have noticed, and the standards which have been taken from the enemy, as will warrant the public exhibition of the one, and preclude that of the other ; these subjects are most inti mately connected, and their tendency must be the same. The public exhibition of, these trophies is due to the very superior skill and valor which achieved them. The sight of them will bring to recollection every circumstance of cause and effect. They wilJ constitute valuable iThe colors of tbe Berceau and Insurgente are (1880) In the gunnery-room of the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. 334 Origin and Progress of the records of illustrious portions of our history; they will form a collec tion of the proudest monuments to commemorate the brilliant deeds of a rising nation." ^ The result of this exhaustive and interesting paper was the enact ment of the following law, approved April 18, 1814, a fortnight after the report: — " An Act to provide for the collection and preservation of such flags, standards, amd colors as shall have heen or may hereafter be talcen hy the land and naval forces of the United States from their enemies.' " Section 1. Tliat the secretaries of the War and Navy Departments be, and they are herehy, directed to cause to be collected and transmitted to them, at the seat of the government of the United States, all such flags, standards, and colors as shall have been or may hereafter be taken by the army and navy of the United States from' their enemies. " Sect. 2. That all the flags, standards, and colors of the description afore said, and such as may be hereafter transmitted to them, be, with all con venient despatch, delivered to the President of the United States, for the purpose of being, under his direction, preserved and displayed in such public place as he shall deem proper. "Sect. 3. [$500 appropriated]." Forty years later, on the 3d of March, 1855, the subject was re vived, and one of the provisions of an act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the government directed the Secretary of War " to cause to be constructed in a central position on the public grounds in Washington a suitable building for the care and preservation of the arms, &c., of the militia of the District of Columbia, and for the care and preservation of the military tr'ophies of the Revolutionary and other wars, and for the deposit of newly invented and model arms," &c., and thirty thousand dollars was appropriated for carrying the act into effect. Neither of these laws have been: very strictly enforced; for, on inquiry of the War Department, I learn that " no building has been erected as a place of general deposit for flags, and that all the flags captured by the army prior to the War of the Eebellion have been sent to West Point, including one or two British flags." Noo printed list of them is in the possession of the War Department.' All flags captured by the navy which have been preserved are now deposited in the gunnery-room of the Naval Academy, Annapolis. •American State Papers, folio 1832, vol. 1. pp. 488-490. "Laws of the United States, vol. iii. p. 133. \ " Letter from Secretary of War, Dec. 21, 1871, enclosing memorandum from the Adjutant-General U. S. Army. Flag of the United States. 335 Hon. William L. Marcy, afterwards governor of the State of New Yofk and Secretary of State for the United States, but in the war of 1812-14 a young lieutenant in Captain Lewis's company of militia, on the 14th of October, 1813, captured the flrst British flag talcen in the war, — the flag that waved over a block-house at St. Eegis, in Can ada. He bore it in triumph to French Mills, and it was presented to the people of the State of New York in the Capitol at Albany. In June, 1815, a few days before the corner-stone of the Washing ton monument at Baltimore was laid, Mr. Custis, accompanied by Messrs. Lewis and Grymes, sailed from Alexandria for Pope's Creek in the Lady of the Lake, a small vessel belonging to Mr. Custis, for the purpose of placing a freestone slab over the birthplace of Wash ington, with this simple inscription, — "Here the 11th op Febkdary [O. S.] 1732, George Washington was born." Arrived at the hallowed spot, they proceeded to deposit the in scribed tablet in the proper place. "Desirous of making the ceremonial as imposing as circumstances would permit," says Mr. Custis, " we enveloped the stone in the Star Spangled Banner of our country, and it was borne to its resting- place in the arms of the descendants of four revolutionary patriots and soldiers, — Samuel Lewis, a captain in Baylor's regiment of horse, and a nephew of Washington ; William Grymes, the son of a gallant and distinguished ofiBcer of the Life Guards ; the captain of the vessel, the son of a soldier wounded in the battle of Guilford; and George Washington Park Custis, the son of John Parke Custis, aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief before Cambridge and Yorktown. We gathered the bricks of the ancient chimney which once formed the hearthstone where in infancy Washington had played, and constructed a rude kind of pedestal, on which we reverently placed the first stone, commending it to the respect and protection of the American people in general, and the citizens of Westmoreland in particular." ^ » Lossing's Field-Bo<>k, vol. 11. p. 218, which has an engraving of the monumental stone. PART IV. THE STARS AND STRIPES. A.D. 1818-1861. THE FLAG OE THIETEEN STEIPES, AND A STAE FOE BACH STATE OF THE UNION. CHEONICLES OF THE FLAG. 1818-1861. 22 the heraldry of the AMERICAN FLAG. By Chaeles J. Lukens, of Philadelphia. ' When kingly presumption loosed war's desolation. To sweep o'er Columbia and sully her charms. Our fathers united, to found a new nation. And symboled It well In our blazon of arms. Their homes were thirteen, so they followed that number. Seven red and six white. In a series of bars ; And — painting love's vigilance, foreign to slumber — They chose a bine quarter with thirteen white stars. ' Thirteen blazed at once in their new constellation, The Daughters of Freedom, a star for each mate: A new silver star is the flne augmentation Of honor they granted for every new State. They named no abatement. In view of secession. But hound us, their children, to foster the trust. ' Thc white of the fleld proved their hate of oppression. Their passion for peace and abhorrence of war ; The red, in excess, warned o'erweening aggression It aye should be met and repulsed from their shore. Truth shines in the quarter thus tinctured of Heaven ; Youth and strength light the stars, that have ne'er paled or set : Year by year they increase — may God grant that their tevin. Extending, shall re-youth the continents yet I ' So fashioned our fathers the Flag of the Union, Which glads every wave of the world-lashing seas, — Revered by each man In our patriot communion, — The handsomest banner that rides on the breeze. With this sign they conquered. 'Midst cannon and mortar. Sword, musket, and rifle, still glitters this shield ; A quarter that stoops to no nation for quarter, A fleld present ever where foes are afleld. ' As the stars Jind the stripes are our States interwoven. Having grown thus from weakness to far-spreading might, Then perish the villain who, wanting thgrn-cloven. Would quench their resplendence in treachery's night !" Newburyport Daily Evening Union, March 11, 1850. PART IV. THE STARS AND STRIPES. 1818-1861. THE FLAG OF THIETEEN STEIPES, AND A STAE FOE EACH STATE OP THE UNION. " Hail to our banner brave, All o'er the land and wave. To-day unfurled! No folds to us so fair, Thrown on the summer air, None can with thee compare, In all the world." —W. P. Tilden. The admission of the States of Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, and In diana made some change in the flag desirable. Accordingly, on the adpiission of Indiana, in 1816, the Hon. Peter Wendover, of New York, offered a resolution " that a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of altering the flag of the United States." Consequently a committee was ap pointed, and reported a bill on the 2d of January, 1817, which was not acted upon. While this committee had the matter under consideration, Mr. Wendover called upon Captain S. C. Eeid, then in Washington, and famous for his defence of the priva teer General Armstrong, in Fayal Eoads, and asked him to make a design for our flag, which would represent the increase of the States, without destroying its distinctive character, the committee being dis posed to increase both stars and stripes to twenty, the whole number of States then existing in the Union. 340 Origin and Progress of the Captain Eeid, thus called upon, recommended reducing the stripes to thirteen, to represent the original States, and the stars to be in creased to the number of all the States, formed into one great star, whose brilliancy should represent their union, and thus symbolize in the flag the origin and progress of the country, and its motto, 'E Pluribus UrwCim.' He also proposed there should be the addition of a star for each new State admitted. The flag thus designed he in tended for merchant vessels, and proposed as a distinction that the stars on the ensigns of vessels of war should be placed in parallel lines. Conformably to Captain Eeid's suggestions, the committee re ported : — " That they have maturely examined the subject submitted to their consideration, and we are well aware that any proposition essentially to alter the flag' of the United States, either in the general form or in the distribution of its parts, would be as unacceptable to the legisla ture and to the people, as it would be uncongenial with the views of the committee. " Fully persuaded that the form selected for the American flag was truly emblematical of our origin and existence as an independent nation, and that, as such, it has received the approbation and support of the citizens of the Union, it ought to undergo no change that would decrease its conspicuity or tend to deprive it of its representative char acter. The committee, however, believe that a change in the number of States in the Union sufficiently indicates the propriety of such a change in the arrangement of the flag as shall best accord with the reason that led to its adoption, and sufficiently points to important periods in our history." " The original flag of the United States was composed of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, and was adopted by a resolution of the Con tinental Congress on the 14th of June, 1777. On the 13th of Jan uary, 1794, after two new States had been admitted into the Union, the national legislature passed an act, that the stripes and stars should, on a day fixed, be increased to fifteen each, to comport with the then independent States. The accession of new States since that altera tion, and the certain prospect that at no distant period the number of States will be considerably multiplied, render it, in the opinion of the committee, highly inexpedient to increase the number of stripes, aa every flag must, in some measure, be limited in its size, from the cir cumstance of convenience to the place on which it is to be displayed, while such an increase would necessarily decrease their magnitude, and Flag of the United States. 341 render them proportionally less distinct to distant observation. This consideration has induced many to retain only the general form of the flag, while there actually exists a great want of uniformity in its adjustment, particularly when used on small private vessels. " The national flag being in general use by vessels of almost every description, it appears to the committee of considerable importance to adopt some arrangement calculated to prevent, in future, great or extensive alterations. Under these impressions, they are led to believe no alteration could be made more emblematical of our origin and present existence, as composed of a number of independent and united States, than to reduce the stripes to the original thirteen, representing the number of States then contending for and happily achieving their independence, and to increase the stars to correspond with the number of States now in the Union, and hereafter to add one star to the flag whenever a new State shall be fully admitted. " These slight alterations will, in the opinion of the committee, meet the general approbation, as well of those who may have regretted a former departure from the original flag, as of such as are solicitous to see in it a representation of every Statp in the Union. " The committee cannot believe that, in retaining only thirteen stripes, it necessarily follows they should be distinctly considered in reference to certain individual States, inasmuch as nearly all the new States were a component part of, and represented in, the original; and inasmuch, also, as the flag is intended to signify numbers, and not local and particular sections of the Union. " The committee respectively report a bill accordingly." ^ The bill, through pressure of other business before Congress, re mained unacted upon; but on the reassembling of Congress, on the 16th of December, 1817, Mr. Wendover renewed his resolution, " that a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of altering the flag of the United States, and that they have leave to report, by bill or otherwise." Mr. Wendover said he would make but few remarks, the subject not being a novel one, a bill relative thereto having been submitted at the last session. Had the flag never under gone alteration, he should not propose to make a further alteration now. Having once been altered, he thought it could be improved. It was his impression, and he thought it was generally believed, that the flag never would be essentially injured by an alteration on the same principle of increasing both stripes and stars. > The ' British Naval Chronicle ' for 1817 publishes this report in full, and calls it " a curious historical document." 342 Origin and Progress of the Mr. Wendover then stated the incongruity of the flags in general ,use (except those of the navy) not agreeing with the law, and gen erally greatly varying from each other. He instanced the flags then flying over the building in which Congress sat, and that at the navy- yard, one of which contained only nine stripes, the other eighteen, and neither conforming to the law. It was of some importance, he conceived, that the flag of the nation should be designated with precision, and that the practice under the law should be conformed to its requisitions. On the 6th of January, 1818, the committee of which Mr. Wendover was chairman reported that, having maturely considered the subject referred to them, they have adopted substantially the report of the committee on the-same subject at the last session. The committee are fully persuaded that the form selected for the American flag was truly emblematical of our origin and existence as an independent nation ; and that, as such, it having met the approbation and received the support of the citizens of the Union, it ought to undergo no change that would decrease its conspicuity or tend to deprive it of its representative character. The committee believe, however, that an increase in the number of States in the Union since the flag was altered by law sufficiently indi cates the propriety of such a change in the arrangement of the flag as shall best accord with the reasons that led to its original adoption, and sufficiently point to important periods in our history. The original flag of the United States was composed of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, and the committee cannot view the proposed inconsiderable addition of a star for each new State, in the light of a departure from the permanenpy of form which should characterize the flag of the nation. In connection with this alteration of the flag, Mr. Wendover wrote to Captain Reid : — " Washington, Feb. 13, 1817. " Deab Sib, — ... The flag is yet on the table. I know not when it will get to the anvil. I received the flag from Mr. Jarvis, and would have presented him my thanks for his polite attention to my request, but I am so oppressed with letter writing that I have no time to take exercise, and but little to sleep. Please present my thanks to Mr. Jarvis for hia kindness to me and the standard addressed to you accompanying it. " I flnd the flag proposition is almost universally approved of, but fear the standard vrill have to lie over until next session." Flag of the United States. 343 a Design for a National Standard. His letter refers to a design for a national standard, which, however, was not adopted, composed of the emblematic representations of our escutcheon quartered upon it: viz., the stars, white on a blue field on the upper left-hand quarter; the Goddess of lib erty on a white field under the stars; the eagle in the upper right-hand quar ter or fly of the standard on a white fleld ; and the thirteen alternate stripes of red and white under the eagle. He proposed this standard should be hoisted over the halls of Congress, at our navy-yards and arsenals, and at other public places visited by the Pres ident of the United States, during his presence. On the 17th of January, 1818, Mr. Wendover wrote Captain Reid :— "As I am not a military man, I leave to others to regulate the cockade. I shall attend to the ' star-spangled banner,' though I wish the other changed from British to American." He wrote again, — " Washington, March 24, 1818. ..." This day the first call on the docket was the star-spangled ban ner. I moved to go in committee on the bill. Greneral Smith moved to discharge the committee of the whole, and postpone the bill indefinitely. I appealed to that gentleman and the House, if they were willing thus to neglect the banner of freedom. " General Smith's motion was negatived by almost a unanimous vote, and we hoisted the striped bunting in oommdtteel of the whole. After I had made a few observations, and sat down, Mr. Poindexter moved to strike out twenty stars and insert seven, witli a view to have stripes for the old and stars for the new States. Motion rejected nearly unanimously. Mr. Folger then moved to strike out twenty and insert thirteen, ta restore the original flag; his motion was also negatived by a similar vote. Mr. Roberston then expressed a wish to flx an arbitrary number of stripes, say nine or eleven; but no one seemed to approve of his idea, and the committee rose and reported the bill without amendment, and the House ordered it to be engrossed for a third reading to-morrow by almost a unanimous vote. It was remarked by many that the) subject came up in good time, as our flag almost blew away with the severe storm which on Saturday was almost a hurricane. It is now completely ' ragged bunting,' and I fear we shall 344 Origin and Progress of the have to sit a part of the session without the ' star-spangled banner ' over our heads. " Yours, " Pr. H. Wendover. " P. S. March 25th. Having written the within after the close of the last mail, I kept this open to inform you further as to the 'star-spangled banner.' The bill had its third reading this day, a little Iwfore twelve o'clock, and passed with perhaps two or three noes;i after which Mr. Taylor moved to amend the title of the bill, and instead of alter, it is now ' a bill to establish the flag of the United States,' which goes so much further in approbation of your plan, as the bill ia now considered by our House aa fixing permanently the flag, except so far as to admit in every new planet that may be seen in our political horizon. " I this day had our flag measured up and down the staff. It is four teen feet and four inches, but it ought to be eighteen feet hoist, and floating in the air in proportion say twenty-seven feet; all this you know better than I do. Now, Jack, I ask as a favor that you will be pleased to inform me, as soon as convenient, what a flag of that size will cost in New York, made for the purpose, with thirteen stripes, and twenty stars forming one great luminary, as per pasteboard plan you, handed me. And if the bill passes the Senate soon, it is probable I shall request the captain of the late General Armstrong to have a flag made for Congress Hall under his direction. Please inquire as to the cost of materials, &e., and write me soon, that Congress, for their firm support of the bill, may, before they adjourn, see the banner raised." He wrote again, — " Washington, Hall of Represbntatiybs, "April 9, 1818, 2 P.M. ..." This morning a message was received from the President that on the 4th inst., among other bills, he approved and signed the ' bill to estabUsh the flag of the United States,' so that, notwithstanding the cant and flings of Coleman, Hanson, &a, in the ' Evening Post ' and ' Baltimore Telegraph,' the proposition for the alteration of the flag has met the support of the House of Representatives, and passed as first suggested. In the Senate the bill passed unanimously. ... On the subject of the standard, and distinctions between public and private vessels, we will! have a confabulation when I see you." Again he wrote, — " Washington, April 13, 1818. " I^E Sir, — I have just time to inform you that the new flag for Con gress Hall arrived here per mail thia day, and was hoisted to replace the old one at two o clock and has given much satisaction) to all who have seen it, hive no donwT Tt / ^"^ ^'"''""'^ ^'*^ "« f°™ ^"-l proportions, and nave no doubt it will satisfy the public mind. Flag of the United States. 345 "Mr. Clay (the spealcer of the House) says it is wrong that there should be no charge in your bill for making the flag. If pay for that will be accepta ble, on iDeing informed I will procure it. Do not understand me as intend ing to wound the feelings of Mrs. Reid, nor others who may have given aid in the business, and please present my thanks to her and them, and accept the same for yourself. " In haste, yours with esteem, " Pr. H. Wendover." The law which, agreeably to Captain Eeid's suggestion and the re ports of the committees, was by Mr. Wendover's exertions enacted, reads as follows : — "An Act to establish the Flag of the United States. " Sect. 1. Be it enacted, &o., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue fleld. " Sect. 2. And be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission." Approved April 4, 1818. A newspaper of the time ^ says : " By this regulation the thirteen stripes will represent the number of States whose valor and resources originally effected American independence; and the additional stars — the idea of which has been borrowed from the science of astronomy — will mark the increase of the States since the adoption of the present constitution. " This is the second alteration which has taken place in the flag of the United States, and we trust it will be the last. There is a manifest inconvenience in altering a national flag; and in the present instance it may, in some degree, prove injurious to our navigation, considering the number of licentious privateers that are abroad. Our merchants and navigatotg would do well to attend to the alteration in time. " The time allowed for the alteration contemplated by the act of the 4th inst. is, we fear, too short. It does not allow three months to persons interested to prepare themselves for the change; and it will take one month at least before the provisions of the act will be known at Ifew Orleans.'' • Washington Gazette, also the American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, April 10, 1818. 2 One month, sixty years ago, was required to convey news to New Orleans that is now flashed over the wires In one second. 346 Origin and Progress of the " In the case of the flrst alteration, nearly sixteen months were al lowed, so that American vessels employed in distant parts of the world had an opportunity of providing themselves with a proper flag. ' Under this law, rather mor§ than half a century ago, our present flag was established, during which cycle its constellation of twenty has in creased to a glorious galaxy of thirty-eight stars, and the borders of its dominion have been extended across the continent. It was certainly an omission that the law did not designate the man ner of placing the stars in the union, as, in consequence, its simplicity and uniformity have been frequently destroyed by the conceits of ship owners and others. Captain Eeid suggested that for the halls of Congress and for public buildings and on land the stars should be arranged to form one large star ; and on the flag made by Mrs. Eeid the stars were so placed, while for the flags of our ships of war he proposed they should be set in parallel lines. For the sake of uniformity, it will not be disputed the law of 1818 should in this respect be amended. Yet when, in 1859, Con gress voted its thanks to Captain Eeid, the designer of the flag, al though a friend of his wrote to a prominent member from New York, requesting a clause might be inserted which would flx by law the mode Philadelphia Printed In the Year of our Lord 1785. Pr of arranging the stars in their blue firmament, the resolutions were passed without the desired addition. The early custom, as shown by numerous engravings, undoubtedly was to insert the stars in parallel rows. Flag of the United States. 347 In the illustration, — the fac-simile of a copper-plate published in 178-5, — ^tiie stars, thirteen in number, are arranged in the ensigns of the ships in parallel lines. An engraving of Xew York in the ' British Xaval Chronicle,' 1805, has in the foreground a pilot-boat carrying at her main a union Jack studded with thirteen stars, arranged in three parallel lines. I have also seen a water-color painting of the frigate United State?. whe^ commanded by Commodore -John Barry, which represents the ship dressed in the flags of all nations, duly numbered and indexed in ovals and diamonds on the surrounding border. Many of these flags are obsolete. The ship carries an American ensign of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes on a staff at the stem, and has a blue jack with fifteen white stars at the bowsprit. A white Jack with fifteen red stars at the fore, and a red Jack with fifteen blue stars at the mizzen masthead. At the mainmast, under the coach-whip pennant, is displayed a white flag bearing the United States arms, — evidently designed to represent the stand ard of the United States. The stars in the ensign and Jacks are ar ranged as in the diagram.^ On the 4th of July, 1857. a gentleman " amused himself by noting the various designs displayed on vessels, hotels, and public buildings in Xew York. The majority of the ships had the stars arranged in five horizontal rows of six stars each, making thirty stars in all, — thirty-one being the proper number at that date. Most of the foreign vessels, including the Cimard steamers, had them arranged, as herald- ists would say, semee, that is, .?trewn over the union. Some had one large star farmed of thirt}"-one small .~tar=, and this st^le prevailed at places of public amusement and over the hotels of Xew York and Jersey City. Other vessels had them in a lozenge, a diamond, or a circle. One vessel had one large star composed of smaller ones, within a border of the latter : another carried the thirty-one stars in the form of an anchor: and yet another had this anchor embellished with a circle of small stars. Here were nine specimens of the flag alike in the thirteen stripes. but varying in the design of the union. In addition to these forms, 'This interesting drawing was painted hy Midshipman Thomas Hayes, a son of Captain Patrick Hayes, who presented it to Commodore George C. Read, Jnly 4, 1852, and In 1876 it was in the possession of WiUiam C. Parsons, maU-messenger at the League Island Navy Taid. On the back Is written, in the handwriting of Cap tain Hayes, " Six copies for Captain Patrick Hayes." 'Mr. S. Alofsen. 348 Origin and Progress of the I have seen the stars arranged in the letters ' U. S.,' and in the initials of the owner or company to which the vessel belonged. It was such a dissimilarity that led the Dutch government, twentj' years earlier, to inquire, " What is. the American fiag? " The act of 1818 was approved of by the President on the 4th of April, and the new flag hoisted over the House of Eepresentatives on the 13th of the same month, though the law provided the act was not to take effect until the 4th of July. Yesterday, says the 'Xational Intelligencer' of April 14th, about two o'clock, the new flag of the United States was hoisted on the flag staff of the House of Eepresentatives. This is the flrst flag that has been made since the passage of the act for altering the banner of the nation. It was made in New York, under the direction of the gallant Captain Eeid, late commander of the privateer General Armstrong. The stars are twenty in number, and so disposed as to form one great star in the centre of a blue field. The stripes are thirteen. The law on this subject goes into operation the 4th of July next.^ This, the first fiag of the kind put together or hoisted, was made at New York by Mrs. S. C. Eeid, under the direction of her gallant husband, and the twenty stars in its union, representing as many States (Mississippi having been admitted Dec. 16, 1817), were ar ranged to form one great star. The unions of the flags which wave over our fortresses, and in use by the Military Department of the government, are generally, if not always, so arranged. In the navy flags, the stars have always been set in parallel lines. This had been the custom long before the flag of 1818 was adopted, as has been shown; but after that law they were officially directed to > " On the 21st of February, 1866, the Hon. Ben.iamln F. Butler, of Massachu setts, Introduced to the offlcers of the Senate Mr. D. W. C. Farrlngton, agent of the United States Bunting Company at Lowell, Mass., who presented to them, for the use of the Senate, a flag manufactured by that company, twenty-one feet fly by twelve feet hoist. It Is believed to be the first real American flag ever raised over the Capitol of the United States. • Heretofore all our flags have been manufactured from English bunting, and every effort made to substitute a domestic texture capable of resisting the wind and the air has signally failed. General Butler having ascer tained this fact at the Navy Department, and having an interest In the United States Bunting Company in his own town, informed Captain Fox that he believed that company had produced a fabric that would^ be superior to the foreign article. A test was accordingly ordered by the Navy Department, fully realizing the con fldent anticipations of General Butler, and ptovlng the American bunting to be better in color and in quality than the English product. The General wrote to the secre tary of the Senate for authority to make a present of one of these flagg, to be raised over that body. That officer having consulted Mr. Forster, president pro tem pore, the General's proposition was accepted, and to^day the flag was placed In the hands of the sergeant-at-arms. To-morrow morning it will be hoisted to the sen atorial flag-stafT, and unfutled to the breeze." — Philadelphia Press, Feb. 23, 1866. Flag OF the United States. 349 be so placed by the following order, issued by direction of the President of the United States :— [Circular.] " Navy Commis.sioner.s' Office, May 18, 1818. " Sib, — The Navy Commissioners have to inform you that agreeably to the act of Congress of the 4th of April, 1818, entitled, ' An Act to estabUsh the Flag of the United States,' our national fiag is, from and after the 4th day of July next, to be : Thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white. The union to be twenty stars, white in a blue field, one star to be added on the admission into the Union of every new State; such addition to be made from and after the 4th of July next succeeding the date of such admis sion. " The size of the flag must be in the propor tion of fourteen feet in vridth and twenty-four feet in length, the field of the union must be one-third of the length of the flag, and seven-thirteenths of its-depth> so that from the top to the bottom of the union there will be seven stripes, and six stripes from the bottom of the xmion to the bottom of the flag. The man ner of arranging the stars you will perceive by the subjoined slcetch. " The upper and the lower stripes to be red. " Respectfully, " Jno. Rodqebs, President. ' To the officer commanding, " Navy Yakd, Poetsmodth, N. H." This was amended by the following circular : — [Oircular.] " Navy Commissionhbs' Office, Sept 18, 1818. " Sir. — Since our circular of the 18tli of May last, relatively to the flag to he worn by the vessels of the United States and at our naval stations, it has been determined by the Pkesident of the Unitkd States that the arrangement of the stars shall correspond with the pattern stated lielow, and the relative proportions of the flag to continue as stated in our circular. You will govern yourself accordingly. " On the first hoisting the flag, you are to fire a salute of twenty guns. " I am, respectfully, " Your obedient servant, " Jno. Rodgebs, ' Captain Mobeis, Portsmouth." President of the Navy Board. 350 Origin and Progress of the It will be noticed that although the new flag had a legal existence on the 4thi of July preceding, yet up to the date of this circular, Sept. 18, it had not been hoisted at our naval stations, the circular directing " it shall be saluted when first hoisted." Captain S. 0. Eeid, who designed " Our Flag," was the commander of the privateer General Armstrong, and his gallant defence of her in Fayal Eoads, against the attack of a British squadron of boats, in breach of the neutrality of that port, is a matter of history. He died in 1861, a master in the United States navy, aged seventy-seven. In the Eebellion, his son proved recreant to the flag which his father had so gallantly served and defended, and was so successful to establish in a permanent form. The first State to add a star to the constellation of the new flag was Illinois, admitted Dee. 3, 1818 ; then followed Alabama, admitted Dec. 14, 1819 ; Maine, March 15, 1820 ; Missouri, Aug. 10, 1831 ; Arkan sas, June 15, 1836 ; Michigan, Jan. 26, 1837 ; Florida, March 3, 1845 ; Texas, Dec. 29, 1845; Iowa, Dee. 28, 1846; Wisconsin, May 29,1848; California, Sept. 9, 1850; Minnesota, Feb. 12, 1858; Oregon, April, 1859 ; Kansas, March, 1861 ; West Virginia, February, 1863 ; Nevada, Oct. 31, 1864; Nebraska, March 1, 1867; Colorado, July, 1876.^ The last increasing the brilliancy of the original constellation to thirty- eight stars, its present number; and there are ten Territories waiting admission, viz. New Mexico, Washington, Utah, Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Indian Territory, Wyoming, and Alaska. Wheii all these and others yet to come are admitted, it will render some change in the union, or disposition of its constellation, necessary, as even now the stars, from their number, are indistinct and confusing. It has been proposed to enlarge the union by extending it to the bottom of the flag; but that would be objectionable, since the flag could not be re versed as a signal of distress. » The ' Colorado Miner,' of Aug. 21, 1876, with big head letters, " Colorado in thb Union," surmounted by a rooster, thus exulted In doggerel : — " Colorado, youngest, fairest State In the union cluster, Number 38 ! Step to the front, assume your station. Equal to that of any in the nation ! Robed In golden vesture grand As any sister in the land ; Silver chaplets crown her head. As she ^walks with stately tread To assume her proper place, — • Peer of any in the race!" Flag of the United States. 351 CHEONICLES OF THB FLAG. 1818-1861. " Ne'er waved beneath the golden sun A lovelier banner for the brave Than that our bleeding fathers won, And proudly to their children gave. " Its glorious stars in azure shine. The radiant heraldry of heaven; Its stripes in beauteous order twine. The emblems of our Union given. "Around the globe, through every clime Where commerce wafts or man hath trod. It floats aloft, imstained with crime, But hallowed by heroic blood." — Anonymous. When the Hon. Joel E. Poinsett, of South Carolina, was the United States Minister to Mexico, 1825-39; the power of our flag to protect its citizens abroad was strikingly illustrated, as related by Mr. Poinsett himself.^ The election of Gomez Pedraza to the presidentship of Mexico was not acquiesced in by the people, and from discontent and murmurs they proceeded to open revolt. At night they took possession of the Artillery Barracks, and established batteries along the streets. One of these was situated about three hundred yards from Mr. Poinsett's house. After several ineffectual attempts to carry this work by infantry in front, a squadron of cavalry succeeded in turning the flank of the battery, and sabred the men at their guns. The convent of St. Augus tine, situated in the rear of Mr. Poinsett's house, was the last to yield to the besiegers. While the firing was going on at St. Augustine, Madame Yturrigaray, widow of the viceroy of Mexico, who lived in the adjoining house, rushed in frantic with fear, and implored Mr. Poinsett to protect her house. While giving her assurances of protection, a shot was fired at him which passed through his cloak and buried itself in the shutter of the balcony window. He retired into the house, and soon the besieg ers were heard approaching. When they reached the house, one wild shout arose, and desperate efEorts were made to burst open the door. *Mr. Poinsett's speech at Charleston. The Illustration on the next page Is a fac-simlle of one in an old magazine. A flne painting of the scene, by White, was made for the State of South Carolina, It Is believed. 352 Origin and Progress of the The massive gates resisted ; a cry arose to fire in the window ; to bring cannon; to burst open the gates; and imprecations were uttered against the owner of the house for sheltering their enemies, the Euro pean Spaniards, many of whom had sought refuge under Mr. Poinsett's roof. At this moment Mr. Poinsett directed Mr. Ma son, the secretary of the legation, to throw out the flag of the United States and they both stood on the balcony beneath its waving folds. The shouts were hushed, and the soldiers slowly dropped the muzzles of their guns, which were levelled at the balcony and windows. Mr. Poin sett seized this opportunity to tell them who he was, and what flag waved over him, and to claim protection for those who had sought security under it. Perceiving the crowd was awed and began to consult together, he retired to write and despatch a note to the commander .of the besieging force. The servant in trusted with the note returned and reported the crowd was so great that the porter was afraid to open the gate for fear the mob of insurgents would rush in. Mr. Poinsett then resolved to go himself, and was joined by Mr. Mason. They pro ceeded to the door, which the porter was ordered to open, and as they stepped over the threshold the crowd rolled back like a wave on the ocean. They were accompanied by a native servant, who mingled with the mob, and before it had recovered from its astonishment the two gentlemen had returned to the court-yard, and the door was closed by the porter. Before they reached the front of the house they heard the advance of the cavalry, commanded by a friend of the legation. The gates were thrown open, and the horsemen rode into the court-yard. Their commander stationed sentinels before the door, and Mr. Poinsett had the satisfaction to redeem his promise of protection to Madame Yturrigaray. His house was respected amidst the wildest disorder. Flag of the United States. 353 and those who sought an asylum under the flag of the United States remained in safety until tranquillity was restored.^ In 1820, N. B. Palmer, in a little sloop of forty tons, called the Hero, of Stonington, Conn., discovered the island south of Cape Horn, known as Palmer's Land. While coasting along its shore in a dense fog, he fell in with a Eussian squadron under Admiral Krusenstern, who was felicitating himself on his discovery of the same land. Palmer hailed and told him if he pursued the course he was steering he would be on shore in less than an hour. He was asked who he was, I am the sloop Hero, from the United States of America, was his reply. The admiral at first doubted, but, convinced by Palmer's papers that he had before him a real live Yankee, suffered himself to be piloted by him into an anchorage in this island which he had discovered. Captain Palmer was then twenty-one years of age. He died a few years since in California. Aug. 24, 1824, the stars and stripes were raised for the first time over the cupola of the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, on the occasion of the visit of Lafayette to Boston, and under them he re ceived the citizens, who thronged to do him homage, in the lower hall.* In 1826, Captain Tyler Parsons arrived at Quebec from New York in the auspiciously named ship Washington, and was the first to dis play our flag in that harbor. In 1836, previous to what is known as " the Aroostook War," a Mr. Baker, who lived on the disputed territory, hoisted the stars and stripes over his house on the 4th of July. The flag was made by his wife. Mr. Baker was indicted for high treason, carried to Fredericton, and tried ; after being imprisoned ten months, he was flned two hun dred dollars, and allowed to go free on payment of the flne. Mr. Baker's neighbors, when he, was in prison, concluding his prop erty would be conflscated, put themselves in possession; but Mrs. Baker, with a broojnstick, drove them from the premises. During the NuUiflcation excitement of 1832-33, in South Carolina, happily repressed by the firmness of the President, Andrew Jackson, > A similar Incident occurred a few years later In Portugal. Upon the capture of Lisbon by Dora Pedro, his brother, Dom Miguel, encamped with his army before the capital. The residence of Mr. Brent, the American Chargfi d' Affaires, was situ ated upon the banks of the river Tagus. During the absence of Mr. Brent, a com pany of the troops of Dom Miguel having appeared on a height near by. a battle ensued with some armed boats of Dom Pedro's, and the shot endangered the safety of the family ; whereupon Mrs. Brent rushed forward, and with her own hands unfurled " the star-spangled banner," and waved it from the window. The flring on both sides Instantaneously ceased, and Mrs. Brent retired from the window, satisfled of her security while under the protection of the American flag. — American Daily Advertiser, PhUadelphla, Jan. 12, 1836. 2 Drake's I^andmarks of Boston. 23 354 Origin and Progress of the in January, 1833, the ensign of the steamer William Seabrook, with Governor Hamilton on board, was accidentally hoisted union down on her leaving Augusta for Charleston, S. C. It was seen from shore, and great was the indignation of the people, until her commander, Captain Dubois, explained that " the blunder was committed by one of the men in hoisting the fiag, and was immediately corrected on discovery, before the boat was out of sight of the city. Neither myself nor any one connected with that boat are capable of offering an indignity to the American fiag." The ' Augusta (Ga.) Courier,' in speaking of the event previous to the captain's explanation, said : " The indignation we feel in common with an insulted community does not allow us to speak another word concerning such an outrage." Jackson's opinion of nullification is best shown iij the following memorandum furnished Amos Kendall, in his own handwriting: — ^^ >5i>^C.--^- ^ _^ — -,. »-«- >^4^ :£z^fe^^ 1 The autography is one-half the size of the original. The original manuscript is in the possession of the Ohio Historical Society. It reads : " Nullification is revolu tion — and if a State attempts to nullify the laws of the United States by force, it is Flag of the United States. 355 The following extract from a letter dated Richmond, Va., Feb. 23, 1833, shows something of the spirit of the time : " The Governor of Virginia had, at some trouble and expense, caused a superb State fiag to be prepared and painted, with the intention of having it hoisted at the quarters of the State Guard on the 22d. Knowledge of its existence and of his intention was obtained on Thursday, the 21st, and a good deal of excitement manifested itself among the representatives and the people. Either dissuaded by his- party friends, or prompted by his own fears of the consequences that would issue from displaying the fiag, his Excellency determined to let it remain in the painter's shop; and fortunate it was that he did so, for, had the banner been exposed to public gaze, it would have been torn down and prostrated by the people, and in all probability with some bloodshed. Scarce a voice was heard in favor of raising it; and numbers were heard to express their determination to rally under the star-spangled banner of the Union. It was supposed by some that, had the State fiag been hoisted on the day, the flag of the Union would not have been, at least by order of the commanding chief. As it was, the union flag, flxed on a pole, was poked out of a hole in the southern end of the Capitol loft, and in this half-erect and awkward situation, flapping on the end of the ridge of the building, and repeatedly hooked on the point of one of the lightning-rods, it was torn in many places, and pieces were flying in every direction over the heads of the military and citizens assembled on the pubUc square." ^ " The citizens of Savannah celebrated the inauguration of General Jackson on the 4th of January, 1833, in the most patriotic style. The citizens formed a procession, the military paraded. Judge Charlton de livered an appropriate oration, the flag we all delight to honor streamed from every masthead, and the evening was closed by a splen did ball. The ball-room was tastefully ornamented, and over each window was a silver star, with the name of one of the States in gold rebellion, and if she possesses the physical power to resist successfully, then she has the right to establish her own government, and If the balance of the States have the physical power, they have a perfect right under this confederation of perpetual & perfect Union, to coerce her to obedience. For a State to go out of the Union peaceably she must obtain the consent of that number of the States which the Con stitution gives the power to alter & amend it. The people being the fountain of all sovereign power have a right to alter & change their government ; and the confed erated and perpetual union formed by themselves, upon which the more perfect union, the Constitution of the United States, is based, provides how It can be altered or desolved — any other mode to alter It, Is, revolution d war." 1 Philadelphia Newspaper. 356 Origin and Progress of the ) letters on a handsome scroll, and the curtain was the flag of the Union. We counted them, — all the States were there." ^ On the suppression of the Nullification heresy, and the restoration of the star-spangled banner to its honors in Charleston, S. C, June 28, 1833, a correspondent of the ' Boston Centinel' (J. E. D.) wrote: — "Hail, banner of glory! Hail, banner of light! Wlipse fame lives in story, whose folds cheer my sight; Not a star is supprest, not a stripe has been torn From the flag of the West, which our fathers have borne. Our Union is fast, and our homes ever sure. Our freedom shall last while the world shall endure. Then hail to the banner whose folds wave in glory. Let the free breezes fan her, and whisper her story. The tumult has ended, the storm's died away, The fiend has descended that led us astray, The sons of the West are our brothers again. And the flag of the blest floats from Texas to Maine.'' In 1839, the pilot-boat Flying Pish, of ninety tons. Lieutenant W. M. Walker, attached to the Wilkes United States Exploring Expedi tion, carried our flag farther south than any other vessel of the expe dition, and penetrated the Antarctic Circle farther than the keel of any other nation had furrowed it, excepting that of Captain Weddell's vessel, in 1823, which attained the latitude of -73° S. This little vessel had been a New York pilot-'boat, and was sent on the expedition without Jlny addition to the strength of her frame ; so that her security among the ice was dependent on her good qualities as a sea boat. After some necessary repairs at Orange Harbor, Cape Horn, she put to sea, with a complement of thirteen souls, under com mand of Lieutenant William M. Walker, U. S. N.,- whose friends took leave of him, with the ominous congratulation that " she would at least make him an honorable coffin."' Encountering a variety of stormy and tempestuous weather, during which " the very creatures of the brine seemed to know the vessel's helpless plight; for a large whale came up from the deep and rubbed his vast sides against her, while the albatross flapped his wings in their faces and mocked them with his bright black eyes." On the 10th of March, which was spent at the pumps, the sea toppled over 1 Georgia Courier. 2 William M. Walker died at New York, Nov. 19, 1866, a captain in the United States navy. A sister pilot-boat, the Sea Gull, put to sea from Orange Harbor, and was never heard from. * I am Indebted to a diary appended to ' Thulia, a Tale of the Antai^ctic,' by J. C. -Palmer, Surgeon U. S. N., for the graphic description which follows. Flag of the United States. 357 the schooner and threatened to engulf her. Every seam leaked, every stitch of clothes was wet, and every bed inundated. The men had to swathe their feet in blankets lest they should freeze; and as the driving sleet fell on their gai'uients, it congealed there, and incased them in ice. When the gale abated, after a dark and dismal night, they found the foresail split, and the jib washed from its gaskets, hanging to the stay by a single hank. They had now made the sec ond rendezvous, in lat. 64° S., lon. 90° W., ; but as there was no sign of the Peacock, advantage was taken of the fair wind to pro ceed on their course. The condition of the men forbade all delays. Five out of a crew of ten were almost disabled by ulcerated hands and swollen limbs, while the rest suff^rec\ cruellj' from rheumatics and catarrh. On the 13th, a mild and sunny day, — the second in that bright suc cession, — ^the theatre of their ambition opened to their view. Two icebergs stood like warders at the gate of the Antarctic ; and the little vessel passed between these huge columnar masses, white as the raiment that no fuller bleached, and which shone like palaces. The Warders of the Antarctic. " With opal towers and battlements adorned. Of living sapphire." .Soon, however, as if Nature, incensed to be tracked by man to her last inclement solitude, had let loose all her furies, the tempest drew a veil of snow over the frozen city, and the vessel became the centre of a little area, walled by the piling seas. It is impossible for any one to fancy the awful interest of such a scene, without the pent-up feelings of the spectators, standing where human foot, never before intruded, an unwelcome guest in the very den of storms. They waited some time at the next rendezvous, in hopes of obtain ing surgical aid from the Peacock for three men who were quite dis abled. This delay lost them a fair wind, but the time was well em ployed in repairing their boats ; after which, though they despaired of rejoining their consort, Mr. Wallcer proceeded to the fourth and last place assigned in his orders, which were thus fulfilled to the letter. They had attained the longitude of 105° W. Ice or discovery was 358 Origin and Progress of the to prescribe the bounds of their latitude; and with feelings in whose enthusiasm past sufferings were forgotten they turned their faces to^ the south. Icebergs soon accumulated fast, and the sea was studded with fragments detached from the large island. The water was much discolored during the day, and very luminous at night. Penguins appeared in prodigious numbers, and the air swarmed with birds. Whales were numerous beyond the experience of the oldest sailor on board, lashing the sea into foam with their gigantic flukes, and often in mad career passing so close to the schooner as to excite serious apprehensions for safety. A fin-back once kept them company for sev eral hours, and a monstrous right whale, of greater size than the vessel herself, lay so obstinately in Iter track that the men stood by with boajt- hooks to bear him off. Every hour now increased the interest of their situation. A track less waste lay between them and all human sympathies, and each step removed them further from society. On the 19th of March they passed between two icebergs eight hundred and thirty feet high, and hove to near"- one of them to fill their water-casks. Encompassed by these icy walls, the schooner looked like a mere skiff in the moat of a giant's castle; and the visions of old romance were recalled by the gorgeous blue and purple lights that streamed through the pearly fabrics. The very grandeur of the scene, however, made it joyless. The voice had no resonance; words fell from the lip, and seemed to freeze before they reached the ear; and as the waves surged with a lazy undulation, the caverns sent back a fitful roar-like moan from some deep dungeon. The atmosphere was always hazy, and the alternation of mist and snow gave the sky a leaden complexion. When the sun appeared at all, it was near his meridian height, and they called it " pleasant weather " if the stars peeped out but for a moment. Except when it blew with great violence, the ice broke off the sea; but their nights were so pitchy dark, that the officer of the deck kept his watch in the forecastle, and depended upon his ear to warn him of danger. On the 30th of March, in lat. 69° 5' 43" S., and lon. 96° 21' 30" W., many appearances indicated the vicinity of land. The ice be came dense and black, and much of it streaked with dirt; the water, too, was very turbid, and colder than usual, though they got no bottom at a hundred fathoms line. When the mist cleared, they found them selves near a long wall of ice. On the afternoon of the 21st, the sea was clear as far as the eye could reach, and their hopes began to brighten at the thought that they had passed the French and Eussian Flag of the United States. 359 limits, and were on the heels of Cook.^ As long as a glimpse of day remained, they pressed toward the goal under every rag of sail Night set m with mist and rain, and by nine p.m. it grew so pitchy dark that they were obliged to heave to with a fair wind from the north At midnight It blew -a gale. The vessel was beset with ice, and morning found them m an amphitheatre of sublime architecture. As the ice bergs changed their places like a shifting scene, the prospect beyond them seemed to reach the pole. Day came upon this boundless plain. The eye ached for some limit to a space which the mind could hardly grasp. iMountam against mountain blended with a sky whose very whiteness was horrible. The vessel looked like a mere snowbank, every rope a long icicle; the masts hung down like stalactites from a dome of mist, and the sail fiapped as white a wing as the spotless pigeon above them. The stillness M^as oppressive; but AA'hen they spoke, their voices had a hollow sound, more painful even than silence. The schooner had become thus involved by drifting at an imperceptible rate within the barrier, while the passage behind her was gradually closed by ice returning from the north. There was no alternative but to buffet her through, or be carried to the south; and by nine a.m. (March 22d) they reached a place of com parative safety, in lat. 70° S., lon. 100° W. -. • On the 24th of March, the schooner was obliged to force a passage out of the ice under cir- The Flying Pish beset. cumstances truly appalling. The waves began to be stilled by the large snow-flakes that fell unmelted on their surface, and as the breeze died away into a murmur, a low crepitation, like the clicking of a death-watch, announced that the sea was- freezing. Never did fond, ear strain for the sigh of love more anxiously than those devoted men listened to each gasp of wind, whose breath was now their life. The looks .of the crew reproached their commander with having doomed them to a lingering death, and many an, eye wandered over the lielpless vessel to estimate how long she might last for fuel. Preparations were hastily made to sheathe the bow with planks torn up from cabin berths, but the congelation was too rapid tO' permit the sacriflce of time to this precaution. All sail 1 Captain Weddell, in 1823, attained the latitude of 73° S. 360 Origin and Progress of the was accordingly crowded on the vessel, and after a hard struggle of four hours' duration they had occasion to thank Heaven for another signal deliverance. " With straining oars and bending spars ¦ They dash their icy chains asunder; Force frozen doors, burst crystal bars. And drive the sparkling fragments under!" They now had attained the latitude of 70° 14' S., and established the impossibility of penetrating further between 90° and 105° W. The season was exhausted ; the sun already declined towards the north ; day dwindled to a few hours; and nothing was to be expected from moon or stars. Under these circumstances, Mr. Walker, after thanking his crew for their zealous co-operation, announced his resolution to return without delay. On the next afternoon (March 25) they descried and exchanged cheers with the United States ship Peacock. Both vessels stood northward for several days, when the Flying Fish was ordered to return to Orange Harljor, where, on the 11th of April, Lieutenant Walker gave up his command. The vessels of Wilkes's expedition consisted of the sloops-of-war Vincennes and Peacock, brig Porpoise, pilot-boat tenders Sea Gull and Flying Fish, and store-ship Belief. On the 26th of December, 1839, the Vincennes, Peacock, Porpoise, and Flying Pish turned toward the extreme south, which forbids man's approach by the savage frown of nature and the gloomy reign of death, while enticing him by the chances of discovery and renown amid her unknown wonders. Com modore Wilkes directed each vessel to act independently of her con sort when arrived in the region of the designed explorations. The Flying Fish consequently parted company on the 2d, and the Peacock on the 3d of January, 1840. The Vincennes and Porpoise remained in company until the 13th. The day previous they came in sight of the solid barrier of ice in lat. 64° 11' S., long. 164° 13' E. The Pea cock came up with the ice on the 15th, and the Flying Fish on the 21st, both more to the westward of the former vessels. No doubt now remains of the existence of land within the Antarctic Circle. The testimony of both French and English exploring expedi tions confirms the fact which it is claimed the American expedition first established as a part of geographical knowledge. This fact is determined by repeated and continuous observations made separately on board the Vincennes, Peacock, and Porpoise, and the discovery was made some days before the French expedition claim to have made Flag of the United States. 361 the same. The American vessels coasted some sixty-five degrees of longitude along the impenetrable barrier of ice, observing throughout most of this distance highlands evidently reaching thousands of feet in altitude, and covered with perpetual snow. They met, also, other decisive signs of contiguous land. All the evidence sustains the claim that these elevated points of land are not portions of mere detached islands enclosed within a frozen sea, but are visible parts of a vast Antarctic continent, the main extent undistinguishable from the re splendent snow fringe skirting its ocean boundary. No human beings inhabit these regions, and the representatives of any animal tribes are very few. On the 30th of January, 1840, the Porpoise discovered two vessels, which proved to be the French discovery ships under Captain D'Urville, and closed with them, passing within a short musket shot, when, says Lieutenant-Commanding Eingold, " I saw, with surprise, sail made on board the flag-ship, and, without a moment's delay, I hauled down my colors and bore up on my course." ^ . On the morning of the 11th of January, 1841, says Captain Eoss, " when in lat. 70° 41' S., and lon. 172° 36', land was discovered at the distance, as it was afterwards proved, of nearly a hundred miles, di rectly in the course we were steering, and therefore directly between us and the pole." " This restored to England the honor of the dis covery of the southernmost known land, which had been nobly won, and for more than twenty years possessed by Eussia. Continuing our course towards this land, for many hours we seemed scarcely to approach it : it rose in lofty, moHntainous peaks, of from nine thousand to twelve thousand feet in height, perpetually covered with eternal snow. The glaciers that descended from the mountain summit pro jected many miles into the ocean, and presented a perpendicular face of lofty cliffs. . . . Steering towards a promising-looking point, to the south, we observed several islands, and on the morning of the 12th, accompanied by Commander Crozier and a number of the officers of each ship, I landed and took possession of the country in the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. The island on which we landed is comprised wholly of igneous rocks, numerous specimens of which, with other embedded minerals, were procured. It is in lat. 71° 56' S., and lon. 171° 7' E. Following a course along this mag nificent land to the sea, on the 23d of January, 1841, we reached 74° 14' S., the highest southern latitude that had ever been attained by any preceding navigator, and on the 27th again landed on an 1 Cooper's Naval History, ed. 1856, vol. ill. pp. 43, 44. 362 Origin and Progress of the island, in lat. 76° 8' S., lon. 168° 12' E.; and still steering to the southward, early the next morning a mountain of twelve thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea was seen emitting flame and smoke in splendid confusion. This magniflcent volcano 'received the name of ' Mount Erebus.' It is in lat. 77° 33' S., and lon. 167° B. An extinct crater to the eastward of Mount Erebus, of somewhat less ele vation, was called ' Mount Terror.' Finally, on the 2d of February, the two vessels reached the latitude of 78° 4' S., and on the 9th had traced the continuity of the land to lon. 191° 23' E., in lat. 78°. This great southern land which Captain Eoss traced from 70° S. to 79° S., and between the longitudes of 167^ and 179° E., he named ''Victoria Land." ^ As it has been sneeringly said that Eoss sailed over the continent dis covered by Wilkes, it will be observed that Wilkes skirted along the land between the longitudes of 100° and 165° E., on a nearly east and west course, and in about the latitude of 66°, a distance of three thou sand eight hundred miles of thq|t latitude; in, other words, he discov ered the northern coast of the Antarctic continent, while Eoss appears to have turned its eastern cape, in 173°, three hundred miles to the eastward, and run down along its eastern coast. It is strange that, while so many Arctic expeditions have been undertaken, no subsequent attempt has been made to verify or extend these discoveries. Eng land's flag is still in advance of all others towards both poles. The little Flying Fish was sold in China, and became an opium trader and smuggler on that coast. She established the impossibility of penetrating farther south than Ifrt. 70 °j between the lon. of 90° and 105° E. The flrst merchant vessel to carry the stars and stripes through the Straits of Magellan was the Endeavor, of Salem, Captain David Elwell, in 1824. He was living in Salem in 1868, being then eighty years old. The first vessel of war to carry our fiag from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan, though many little sealing schooners under our fiag had ,preceded her, was the United States schooner Shark, Lieutenant-Commanding A. Bigelow. She passed Cape Virgin Nov. 28, 1839, and took her departure from Cape Pillar, on the west coast, Dec. 31, 1839, commencing the new year in the Pacific, having been in the Straits thirty-three days and a half, of which two hundred and forty-eight hours were passed under way, and five hundred and twenty-five ' at anchor. ' Extract from a letter from Captain Eoss, dated H. M. S. Erebus, Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, 7th April, 1841. Flag of the United States. 363 m^;U\^ yi'j^. ^ ¦i>m.L»i'iiii^'' .AiUntttlr rcmtiiw^t nf wem tif a UNf HI 4t Reduced from the Map of Wilkes's EzploriQ^ Expedition. Flag of the United States. 365 An account of her passage, officially communicated by Captain Bigelow to the Secretary of the Navy,^ says: "I have been thus minute in describing the passage of the Shark through the Straits of Magellan, I beHeve the first public vessel of the United States which has passed through them, thinking that you. Sir, in common with the officers of the navy, might feel some interest in the narration. It has long been a disputed question whether it be advisable for small vessels to pass through the Straits from east to west, in preference to doubling the Cape. My experience would tend to discourage a stran ger to the route from attempting it, in the month of December at least, though it is quite probable that the winds may have been as adverse to the southward of the Cape as in the Strait, and that we were peculiarly unfortunate in our weather. Steam has now made the passage through the Straits, either way, easy and common. My conclusion, from the experience of a single passage only, is that, for small vessels, the passage from west to east is preferable to going round, as wood and water can be obtained, and the distance shortened. At any time while we were in the Straits a passage to the eastward could easily have been made in four days, and sooner, were the navi gator acquainted wilh the channel, so as not to fear being under way in the night. No vessel would be likely, however, to pass without touching to wood and water; and a week might be profitably occu pied, even with a fair wind, in getting through. I should doubt the policy of making the passage either way with large vessels, though our whaling-ships frequently pass both ways. No vessel could be better calculated to pass through the Straits than the Shark, with the exception of her being a dull sailer. This, however, is in a measure compensated by her great capacity to bear sail. I doubt if a large, or e^n moderate-sized, square-rigged vessel could have made the passage, under similar circumstances, in double the time." ^ > Army and Navy Chronicle, April 30, 1840i 2 Fernfio Magalhaens, as called In Portuguese, but known to English readers as Ferdinand Magellan, the first to pass through these Straits, which have immortalized his name, entered them on the 21st of October, 1020, and, consulting the calendar for a name, caUed it. In honor of the day, ' The Strait of the Eleven Thousand Vir gins ;' and on the 28th of November his squadron left the Strait and launched Into the great south sea, to which, from the gentle winds that propelled them over waters almost unruffled, MageUan gave the name of ' Pacific' On leaving Cabo Deseado (Wlshed-for Cape) at th« westem entrance, he re-named the strait the ' Strait of the Patagonlans.' He was thirty-eight days in passing through. Cavendish, In 1587, entered the Straits early in January, and left them late in February, and was, there fore, nearly or quite two months in making their passage. In 1599, on the 6th of April, a fleet of seven ships of Holland, under the command of Admiral Simon de Cordes, after a summer spent on the coast of Africa, reached the Straits of Magellan. Five 366 Origin and Progress of the The twin screw steam schooner Midas, Captain William Poor, owned by E. B. Forbes and others, was the first American steamer to carry our fiag around the Cape of Good Hope for China, in 1844. She left New York on the 4th of November of that year, and was the first American steamer to ply in Chinese waters. She returned from China, under sail, to New York via Rio Janeiro, where she took a China cargo. Her- machinery was taken out, and she ran out of Savannah for some time, owned by Messrs. Paddleford & Fay. The bark Edith, four hundred tons, Forbes rig, and owned by E. B. Forbes and T. H. Perkins, Jr., was the first auxiliary screw steamer under the American flag that went to the British Indies, and she was the first American square-rigged screw steamer to visit China. She was launched in 1844, sailed from New York, Jan. 18, 1845, for Bom bay, commanded by Captain George W. Lewis, and returned via Eio Janeiro, like the Midas, under sail, with a China cargo. She was next chartered to the War Department; took stores to Brazos San tiago; was employed in the Gulf of -Mexico during our war with Mexico ; and finally sold to the War Department and sent to California, where she was transferred to the navy, and lost off* Santa Barbara. The first American propeller packet ship to carry our flag to Eng land was the Massachusetts, of seven hundred and thirty-four tons, owned by E. B. Forbes, and having engines designed by Ericsson. She was launched at Bast Boston, July 23, 1845, and sailed from New York, commanded by Captain A. H. White, Sept. 17, 1845. months longer the fleet struggled in these Straits, where, as if in the home of Bolus, all tbe winds of heaven seemed to be holding their revel. An Incident which marked their departure from the Straits deserves to be remembered. Admiral De Cordes raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial, with an inscription that the Netherlanders were the flrst to effect this dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. On the following day. In commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. The chief ofiicers of the squadron were the knights commanders, and the most deserving of the crews were the knights brethren^ The members of the fraternity made solemn oath to De Cordes, as general, and to . each other, that " by no danger, no necessity, nor by fear of death, would they ever be moved to undertake any thing prejudicial to their honor, to the welfare of the Fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which they were engaged, pledging themselves to stake their lives iu order,, consistently with honor, to Inflict every possible damage on the hereditary enemy, and- to plant the banner of Holland in all those territories whence the King of Spain gathered the treasures with which he carried on his perpetual war against the Netherlands." Thus was instituted on the desolate shores of Terra del Fuego (the Flreland) the order of the " Knights of the Unchained Lion," with such rude ceremonies as were possible in those solitudes. The harbor where the fleet anchored was called ' Cheva lier's Bay,' but it would be vain to look on modern maps for the heroic appellation. Of all the seven ships, only one returned to Holland. Flag of the United States. 367 She made a second voyage to Liverpool, under Captain David Wood, and, after her return, was chartered to the government, and carried General Scott's flag to Vera Cruz, was transferred to the Navy Department, and went through the Strait of Magellan to California. During the Civil War her engines were taken out, and she was re fitted as a store-ship, and renamed the ' Farralones.' She was for some time stationed at Panama, for the protection of the isthmus. After the war, she was sold in San Francisco, and renamed the ' Alaska,' and was engaged in carrying wheat from that port to Liverpool.^ The Mar mora, Captain Page, a propeller, preceded the Massachusetts to England, but she was not a packet. She ended her days in the Mediterranean. The schooner Evening Edition, of eighty tons, built in Baltimore for a news-boat for the ' New York Journal of Commerce,' had an eventful history. She was successively owned by an editor, a king, and emperor, and bore at times our flag and that of Portugal and Morocco. In 1836 she had visited South America, Asia, and Africa; had run an express of four thousand miles in a single voyage; had been run away with by insurgents, their hands yet reeking with human blood ; and been engaged in collecting slaves as well as news. The pilot-boat William J. Romer, of about one hundred tons bur then, February, 1846, sailed from New York for Liverpool on a special mission, and after a boisterous passage anchored at Cork on the 6th ol March. On her arrival she was boarded by an officer of H. M. S. Vanguard, with orders from the admiral to haul down her pen nant, which her captain, McGuire, refused to do. Soon the officer returned with an apology from the admiral, stating that from her small size he had taken her for an English pilot-boat. Leaving Cork harbor on the 13th of March, she arrived at New York on the 11th of April, bringing flve days later news from Europe, making the round trip in sixty days. These vessels were the pioneers of several small vessels or boats to carry the stars and stripes across the Atlantic. In 1857, the Charter Oak, a small boat navigated by her builder and a single companion, ar rived at Liverpool, and in 1858 the same adventurous navigator, whose name was Chfltles R. Webb, accomplished a second enterprise of the same kind in a cutter of f orty-flve tons, called Christopher Columbus. In 1864, a yawl called the Vision sailed from Boston, but was never heard from. In 1866, the Red, White, and Blue, a ship-rigged boat 'Portraits of both the Massachusetts and Edith, presented by R. B. Forbes, Esq., are in the Naval Library and Institute at Charlestown. 368 Origin and Progress of the of two and a half tons, crossed from New York to the Thames. In 1867, the Nonpareil, a life-raft of extraordinary construction, started from New York and arrived safely at Liverpool. In 1870, the City of Ragusa, a life-boat, 31 feet long and 3 feet 6 inches wide, crossed from Liverpool to Boston, and was eighty days making the passage. In 1876, the Centennial, a dory 16 feet long, 5I/2 feet wide, and 2^^ feet deep, made the voyage from Gloucester to Liverpool in sixty-six days. In 1877, the schooner-rigged whale-boat New Bedford, 30 feet long. Captain Crapo, accompanied by his wife, made the voyage from New Bedford to Penzance, and thence to London. In 1878, the Nautilus, a small boat, sailed from Beverly, Mass., and arrived at Mount's Bay, Land's End, coast of Cornwall, England, in forty-flve days. She was ex^ffited at the Paris Exhibition. On the 31st of May, 1770, the packet San Antonio, commanded by Don Juan Perez, arrived from San Diego and anchored in the port of Monterey, after a painful voyage of a month and a half. A land expedition had arrived eight days before. " On the 3d of June, being the holy day of Pentecost, the whole of the officers of sea and land and all the people assembled on a bank at the foot of an oak," where, writes Tr. Junepera Serra, " we caused an altar to be raised, and the bells rung; we then chanted the Veni Creator, blessed the water, erected and blessed a grand cross, hoisted the royal standard, and chanted the flrst mass that was ever performed in this place; we afterwards sung the salve to Our Lady before, an image of the most illus trious Virgin, which occupied the altar ; and at the same time preached a sermon, concluding the whole with a Te Deum. After this, the offi cers took possession of the country in. the name of the king our Lord (whom God preserve). We then all dined together in a shady place on the beach; the whole ceremony being accompanied by many vol leys and salutes by the troops and vessels." In 1775, when Father Garges was traveling on a crusading and proselyting expedition from Sonora to California, he carried a painted, banner, on one side of which was represented the blessed Virgin Mary, and on the other the devil in the flames of hell. " This banner with the strange devices" was the earliest we have notice of as car ried through California. Others, doubtless, had been, raised by the Spaniards on its coast. On his arrival at an Indian settlement) the holy father took his first step in conversion. As the travelling mounte bank blows his horn and fiutters his fiag on approaching a village of likely gulls, so did our good father hoist his standard and cry aloud ; when, as he naively observes, the fascinated Indians, on seeing the Flag of the United States. 369 Virgin, usually exclaimed, " Good ! " but when they observed the devil, they often said, " Bad ! " The stars and stripes were first raised in California by Captain James P. Arther, a native of Holland, but a resident of Plymouth, Mass. He was assisted by Mr. George W. Greene,^ a young man of Milton, Mass., and afterwards a member of the Massachusetts legislature. Captain Arther was up and down the coast of California as early as 1835, in the brig Harbinger, Captain Steel; but he did not raise the stars and stripes until 1829, when a mate, of the ship Brookline, Captain Locke, in the employ of Messrs. Bryant & Sturgis. Mr. Arther and his little party were sent ashore at San Diego to cure hides. They had a barn-like structure of wood, which answered the purposes of storehouse, curing-shop, and residence. The life was lone some. Upon the wide expanse of the Pacific they occasionally dis cerned a distant ship. Sometimes a vessel sailed near the lower offing. Thus the idea of preparing and raising a fiag, for the purpose of at tracting attention, occurred. The flag was manufactured from shirts, and Captain Arther writes, with the accuracy of a historian, that " Mr. Greene's calico shirt furnished the blue, while he fumished the red and white." " It was completed and first raised on the arrival of the schooner Washington, Captain Thompson, of the Sandwich Islands," but sailing under the American fiag. "It was in the latter part of 1829, in San Diego," writes honest Captain Arther, who further states that the same flag was afterwards frequently raised at Santa Barbara, whenever, in fact, there was a vessel coming into port. These men raised our national ensign, not in bravado, or for war and conquestj but as honest men, to show they were American citizens, and wanted company. While the act cannot be regarded as a claim to sover eignty, it is interesting as an unconscious indication of manifest destiny.'' In 1842, Commodore Jones, of the United States navy, impressed that the United States were at war with Mexico, took possession of Monterey, hoisted ' the stars and stripes ' there, and proclaimed Cali fornia a Territory of the United States. Discovering his mistalce the next day, he hauled down our flag, and made such apology as the cir cumstances would admit. ' 'Mr. Greene died Sept. 10, 1877, aged 77. He was the son of Benjamin Greene, of Boston, Mass. 2 Boston Daily Advertiser. 2 The Discovery of Gold in California, by Ed. E. Dunbar. 24 370 Origin and Progress of the The bear flag which was raised at Sonoma, California, June 14, 1846, is now in the possession of the Pioneer Society at San Fran cisco. It was made of white cotton and red flannel, the skirts of an old lady, and had painted on it the semblance of a grizzly bear. The artist was so unfortunate in his effort that the Spaniards called it the ' Bandera Colchis,' or ' hog flag.' The army which raised this flag and undertook to revolutionize a State consisted of fourteen Americans. At this time. General John C. Fremont was encamped at So noma with an exploring party with which he had just crossed the plains, the Rocky Mountains, the desert, and Sierra Nevada^. Over his head-quarters at Sutter's— Fort there floated a flag with one star! On the 4th of July, 1846, he called a meeting of the Americans at Sonoma, and under his advice they proclaimed the independence of California and declared war against Mexico. General Fremont did not know at the time that the United States was actually at war with Mexico, or that, on the 8th and 9th of May preceding. General Taylor had gained his victories at Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma, on the banks of the Eio Bravo. He was therefore unp-repared to hear of the raising of the stars and stripes on the 7th of July, three" days later, at Monterey, by Commodore Sloat, commanding a United States squadron, consisting of his flag-ship, the frigate Savannah, and sloops-of-war Cyane and Levant. During the drawing up of the proclamation by the commodore and consul, an armed launch ar rived in Monterey from San Francisco with news of the taking of Sonoma by the 'bear flag' party of flfty to sixty men, under Com mandant Ide.^ Captain Montgomery,^ of the United States sloop-of-war Ports- . mouth, then lying in San Francisco Bay, raised the United States flag on the Plaza of Yerba Buena, now Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, under a salute of twenty-one guns from the Portsmouth, on the next day, or 8th of July.^ Two days previous. Commodore Sloat sent a message to Captain Montgomery, informing him he was about to raise the stars and stripes over Monterey, and commanding him to do the same to the northward and around the bay of San Francisco. The flag was hoisted by Cap tain Montgomery on the Plaza, henceforth named ' Portsmouth > Annals of San Francisco. ' Afterward Rear-Admiral John B. Montgomery, U. S. N. Montgomery Street, San Francisco, is named for him, and Portsmouth Square for his ship. ' Log of the Savannah. Flag of the United States. 371 Square,' and, the principal street lying along the beach received at the same time the name of ' Montgomery Street.' Since that date, the flag of our nation has constantly waved over California. On the 14th of July, the British man-of-war Collingwood, Sir George Seymour commanding, arrived at Monterey for the purpose of doing what Commodore Sloat had already accomplished. The Brit ish were too late : the Yankees, already in possession, were not to be displaced, save at the cost of a war between the two nations. The name of ' San Francisco ' was given to the new American town rising at Yerba Buena, Jan. 4, 1847, by Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett, U. S. N., a native of Portiand, Maine, who was the flrst alcalde. The honor of having been the flrst to raise our flag in California has been claimed for Commodore Eobert F. Stockton; but he did not arrive from Honolulu at Monterey, in the frigate Congress, until the 15th of July, the day after the English admiral, when, to his surprise, he heard of these occurrences, and found ' our flag ' waving over the custom-house, and in the Plaza, where the Savannah men were quar tered. On the 38th of August, 1846, Commodore Stockton' wrote the Navy Department : " I have now the honor to inform you that the flag of the United States is flying from every, commanding position in the Territory of California, and that this rich and beautiful country belongs to the United States, and is for ever free from Mexican dominion." Lieutenant Lynch, in 1848, made an exifloration of the river Jor dan and the Dead Sea. In his narrative he describes the first unfurl ing of our flag over the solitary waters of the Lake of Galilee and the Dead Sea, upon which, according to the popular belief, it was certain death to be borne.^ After describing his voyage from the United States in the store- ship Supply and the two metallic boats designed for the expedition, named by him ' Fanny Skinner ' and ' Fanny Mason,' after two bloom ing children, Lieutenant Lynch says: — ¦ " Friday, March 31, 1848. Sent to Acre for horses and hoisted out the two Fannies, and landed with our effects. Pitched our tents for the flrst time upon the beach without the walls of Haifa ; a grave yard behind, an old grotto looking well on one side, and a carob tree on the other. For the flrst time, perhaps, without the consular pre cincts the American flag has been raised in Palestine : may it be the harbinger of a'regeneration to a new and hapless people ! " ^The' EJngUsh flag was flrst unfurled over these waters in 1873, wh«m Lieutenant Mollneaux, R. N., launched' upon the Dead Sea the dingey of H. M. S. Spartan. 372 Origin and Progress of the The boats were re-embarked, taken to another point of the coast, and again landed on the 5th of April, 1848. From this new point the start of the caravan for the interior is thus described : — " The metal boats with the flags flying, mounted on carriages drawn by huge camels, ourselves, the mounted sailors in single flle, the loaded camels, the sheriff and the sheikh with their tufted spears and followers, presented a glorious sight. It looked like a triumphal march." Thus organized, the party arrived at Tiberias, upon the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the boats were launched upon its sacred waters on Saturday, the 8th of April, 1848. Under that date Lieu tenant Lynch says : " Took all hands up the mountains to bring the boats down. Many times we thought that, like the herd of swine, they would rush precipitately into the sea. Every one did his best, and at length success crowned our efforts. With their flags flying, we carried them triumphantly beyond the walls uninjured, and, amid a crowd of spectators, launched them upon the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, the Arabs singing, clapping their hands to the time, and crying for bakshish; ^ but we neither shouted nor cheered : from Christian lips it would have sounded like profanation. A look upon that lake ever brought to remembrance the words, ' Peace ! be still.' " " Buoyantly it floated, 'the. two Fannies bearing the stars and stripes, the noblest flag of freedom now waving. Since the times of Josephus and the Eomans no vessel of any size has sailed upon this sea, and for many, many years but a solitary keel has furrowed its surface." On the 18th of April, in passing down the river Jordan, at the Fountain of Pilgrims, where more than eight thousand pilgrims ar rived to behold them as they bathed. Lynch was gladdened by meet ing two of his countrymen, who were gratifled at seeing the stars and stripes floating above the consecrated river, and the boats which bore them ready, if necessary, to rescue a drowning pilgrim. On the 19th of April, the Dead Sea was entered and our flag dis played for the flrst time upon its waters. Nine days later (the 28th), news having been received from Beyrout of the death of John Quincy Adams, the flags were displayed at halfmast, and at noon the next day twenty-one minute, guns from the heavy blunderbuss on the bow of the Fanny Mason were flred in honor of the illustrious ex- President. On the 9th of May, having employed the previous day in its con struction, he pulled out in the Fanny Skinner and moored a large float, with the American ensign flying, in eighty fathoms of water, '¦ Presents. Flag of the United States. 373 abjeast of Ain G'huivier, at too long a distance from the shore to be disturbed by the Arabs. As the party approached Damascus on its return, they were ad vised to furl our flag before entering the city, assured that no foreign flag had ever been tolerated within its walls. The British consul's ^ was torn dovm on the flrst attempt to raise it, and the appearance of ours, it was thought, would excite commotion, and lead, perhaps, to serious consequences. As they had carried it to every place visited, they determined to take their chance and keep it flying. Angry com ments were made by the populace at this presumption; but as they did not choose to understand what their toorgeman was too wary to interpret, they were unmolested. Once more unfurling the stars and stripes at their camp over against Jerusalem, they finally re-embarked our flag at Jaffa, the ancient Joppa., After all this display of devotion "to the stars and stripes, the noblest flag of freedom now waving," which Captain Lynch has so carefully recorded, it is a matter of regret that, from a false sense of a paramount duty to his State, he deserted its folds a dozen years later, in the hour of its trial and danger, and identifled himself with the Rebellion. There has been controversy as to who first raised an American flag on the heights of Chapultepec. Some one having incautiously said that General Read performed the gallant act, several claimants for the honor came forward. The fact that the lion-hearted Read did not flrst plant the colors of his regiment on Chapultepec robs him of none of the laurels he won in Mexico. It was Captain Barnard, of Philadelphia, who seized the flag of the Voltigeurs, and placed it triumphantly on the captured works of the enemy. Eead, while gallantly bearing the colors un furled in the charge, was dangerously wounded, and his name appeared on the first list of the killed. No man who knew him doubts but for this Eead would have done all that Barnard accomplished. •The flag of* the Voltigeujs, first planted at Chapultepec, is now in Louisville, in the possession of Isaac, a brother of Colonel George Alfred Caldwell, who, with lieutenant-Colonel Joseph E. Johnston,^ led the assault. It is shattered and battle-torn, and the staff shows marks of the fierce storm through which it was carried. The reports of Generals Scott and Pillow, and Colonel Andrews, the commander of the Voltigeurs, and Ripley's History, all give to Captain > Afteriward a rebel general, and now a member of the United States House of Representatives, 46th Congress, from the third district, of Virginia. 374 Origin and Progress of the Barnard the honor of first planting the regimental colors on Chapulte pec. General Pillow, in his report, says : — " Colonel Andrews, whose regiment so distinguished itself and com mander by this brilliant charge, as also Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston and Major Caldwell, whose activity enabled them to lead the assault, have greatly distinguished themselves by their gallantry and daring. Captain Barnard, with distinguished gallantry, seized the colors of his regiment upon the fall of the color-bearer, scaled the wall with them unfurled, and has the honor of planting the first American standard in the works." When the Voltigeurs were disbanded at Baltimore, a number of the interesting properties of the regiment were forwarded by Lieutenant- Colonel Johnston to Colonel Caldwell. Among these was the regi mental flag.^ Colonel Caldwell was drafted in 1863. The law required he should personally appear before the board of enrolment for release. Know ing his physical disability, from age and chronic rheumatism, the board wrote him, if he had reason to fear he could not get exempted, he might bring his Chapultepec flag with him, and carry it out to fhe Taylor barracks. A party of twenty-flve American officers, four or flve civilians, thirty-flve dragoons, and forty infantry of the United States army in Mexico, April, 1848, attempted the ascent of Popocatepetl, which, after Mount St. Elias, is the highest eminence of North America, hav ing an estimated altitude of from 17,720 to 18,362 feet.^ Only six of the one hundred and fourteen of the ascending party succeeded in reaching its summit, and raising the stars and stripes. . A Spanish officer in 1519 was the flrst human being to reach its summit, and in commemoration of his success was permitted to as sume for his coat of arms the figure of a burning mountain. Several eminent travellers have since succeeded in reaching the summit; viz., Glennie in 1827, Von Gerolt, Baron Gross, and Sonntag and others. On reaching the final slope, our adventurers directed their steps toward a black rock near the edge of the crater, about the middle of the south side, and at ten minutes past ten a.m., April 11, 1848, Lieu tenant Stone, standing on the edge of the crater, and before the other 1 Louisville Courier. ''Humboldt, measuring from the valley of Tetlmba In 1804, estimated it at 17,^ 728 feet. Glennie found it 17,884 ; but his calculations, corrected by Burekhardt, made it 18,014. Within a few years, French savans had taken careful observations from the level country at its base, which yield a height of 18,362 feet, and two sets of measurements are said to have produced several hundred feet more. ' Flag of the United States. 375 five had arrived, fastened the stars and stripes to his staff, and planted them on the very loftiest peak of the mountain, raising loud huzzas at his complete success. Mr. Baggely, an Englishman and a professor in a Mexican college, arrived soon after, and placed close beside it the Cross of St. George. The effect of the gases did not permit the little party to remain on the edge of the crater. The fumes of the sulphur caused headache and nausea; their throats became dry and swollen, and compelled them to hasten their return. The strange sensations passed off as they descended, and when at two p.m. they reached the camp only a headache remained. The Indians would not believe they had reached the top, and ex amined their .heads, saying, " It was impossible for any one to go there without having horns grow from the head." Others asked " what the mountain said to them." No money or entreaty could persuade the guides to go further than the region of perpetual snow, which in that latitude is about 14,000 feet. In 1865, another party of two Americans and one Frenchman, viz., E. J. McCane, of Pennsylvania, and William V. Wells, and Antoine Kieffer, of Strasburg, ascended Popocatepetl, and peered into its crater.^ October, 1874, Popocatepetl was again ascended by three American gentlemen and three American ladies; viz., Messrs. George Skilton, John Blackmore, and John Willson, of New York, Miss Saw yer, of Massachusetts, Miss Terry, of New York, and Mrs. Richardson. They descended into its crater, but failed to plant the stars and stripes on its summit. They slid down over 4,000 feet returning, and the ladies had a ball given to them in honor of their bravery. Mount Orizaba, whose snow-clad summit is seen every clear day from Vera Cruz, though seventy miles distant, and the sight of whose symmetrical cone often cheers the mariner when more than a hundred miles distant at sea, was ascended in May, 1848, by a party of United States army and navy officers, who planted our banner upon the highest peak of its frozen summits. Humboldt tried to ascend this mountain, but, with all his enthusiasm, failed, and pronounced the feat impracti cable. The party who were successful in raising our flag where foot of man had never before trod consisted of nine officers, thirty soldiers, 1 An Illustrated narrative of this ascent by Mr. Wells Is given in ' Harper's Magazine ' for November, 1865. 376 Origin and Progress of the and two sailors, who all encamped on the second day 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, with the thermometer considerably below the freezing-point. At early daylight the morning of the third day the party again set out, and were soon among the snow and ice ; the air became rarefied at every step, rendering it necessary for them to stop and pant for breath. When they had attained the elevation of 15,000 feet, with a few exceptions, all were seized with nausea and vomiting, and the ascending party was gradually diminished, until, when the summit was reached, only three army and two navy officers could congratulate themselves on having reached the goal of their endeavor. Arrived at the summit, the little party shook hands and sat down to rest and enjoy the glorious prospect before them, — Puebla, Jalapa, Cordova, the sea ninety miles ^way, and a liost of villages on the plain. They descended a short distance into the crater, and brought up some beau tiful specimens of crystal and lava, and large quantities of the most beautiful specimens of sulphur. After this the navy officers set up the American fiag on the summit, an honor to which they were fairly entitled, as it was made overnight of the red and blue shirts of the sailors, Passed-Midshipman Robert Clay Rogers furnishing his white one to complete it. This flag had but thirteen stars. It was left fly ing, with a bottle beside it, in which was a paper containing the names of the successful few. The barometer ceased to indicate after they had reached an altitude of 17,300 feet, when they were at least 1,000 feet from the summit, according to their estimate. This would make the height of Orizaba over 18,300 feet, instead of 17,500, as had been estimated. When the party returned, they slid down on the snow and ice.^ A correspondent of the ' New Orleans Delta' wrote to that journal concerning this feat : — • " On the highest pinnacle of the frozen summit of Orizaba waves the star-spangled banner! So you may tell Mr. Polk, his Cabinet, and all Congress assembled, that they mav pass what laws they please, malce treaties, and the Mexican issue pronunciamentos, but still will the American flag wave over their country; for who will go up to pull it down ? " ^ f 1 The party was composed of Major Manlgault and Lieutenant RevnoIfl= tt o Army, Lieutenant R. C. Rogers, U. S. Navy, Captains Lomax and Hit • Alabama Volunteers, Captain White, Dr. Banks, Adjutant Hardway thi?t"^' °' *"^^ and two sailors of the naval battery. ' ^ soldiers. * * * * ¦^ * * * ^ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Flag of the United States. 377 In February, 1877, Mr. D. S. Eichardson, then Secretary of the United States Legation at Mexico, accompanied by Mr. Eustace Mer- phy, succeeded in making the ascent, and planted our flag on its top most pinnacle. After the war with Mexico (1848), it was unanimously resolved by the Senate of the United States " That the Vice-President be requested to have the flag of the United States first erected by the American army upon the palace in the capital of Mexico deposited for safe keeping in the Department of State of the United States." In answer to my inquiries, the Department of State wrote me, Sept. 33, 1871, " This Department is unable to give you the informa tion which you desire, as it does not have the fiag referred to in its keeping. It is most likely in the charge of the War Department." Eeferring them, in another letter, to the law con-* corning it, it was found to be deposited in the State Department, and described as " an ordinary United States fiag of small size, tattered and moth-eaten, con taining in its union twenty-eight stars, arranged in four rows, each row containing seven; the rows of seven stars parallel with the white stripes." The city of Charleston, S. C, presented a palmetto regimental flag to the South Carolina Volunteers, on their departure for Mexico, on the 24th of December, 1846. Colonel Pierce Butler received the colors, and a son of General Cantey, the State adjutant-general, was the color-sergeant. The flag was of thick blue silk, with the coat of arms of the State on one side, and the United States arms and a pal metto-tree on the other, with the inscription, " Presented by the City of Charleston," &c. The mayor, in his presentation address, said, " The motto that glitters in the sunlight from this banner — ' Not for ourselves we conquer, but o.ur country,' — covers every heart here pres ent, and the palmetto device of our State, now quivering its mimic leaves above us, finds in this serried array men like itself, — rigid, firm, enduring." This^fiag, riddled with shot and shell, was carried at Contreras and Churubusco, when Colonel Butler was killed while carrying it, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson wounded. It was the first flag hoisted in side the city of Mexico, as fully shown in a report of a committee of the ¦ Senate of the United States, detailing the circumstances of the hoist ing of the United States flag over the palace. On the return of the 378 Origin and Progress of the regiment, the flag was preserved under a glass case, in the State House at -Columbia, until Feb. 17, 1865, when it was destroyed in the flre that burned that building.^ A fragment of this flag, — two small pieces of silk and gold fringe, — presented to Lieutenant Eobertson, of Company F, is preserved in the armory of the Washington Light Infantry Company, in Charles ton. In May, 1848, when the Italian tri-colored banner, — " Eed, for tlie patriot's blood ; Green, for the martyr's crown; Wliite, for tlie dew and tlie rime, When the morning of God oomes down,"' was consecrated by the Patriarch of Venice, in that city, the American consul was the only foreign diplomat invited to be present. In the course of the ceremonies, the commander of the troops called, " Atten tion ! Honor to the flag of the United States of America ! " at which the multitude shouted their applause with cries of " Long live our sis ter republic ! " The people of all classes and conditions, soldiers and civilians, nearest, embraced the consul, and, kissing the star-spangled banner, pressed it to their hearts; while the many, with moistened eyes, reached their hats through the crowd merely to touch it, ex claiming, "Viva il Console!" "Viva gli Stite UniK!" "Viva la gran Republica!" In the evening, at the theatre, there was a repe tition of the enthusiasm, when the consul entered his box with his wife.^ The uncertainty attending the fate of Sir John Franklin and his companions elicited the interest and warmest sympathy of the Ameri can people, and was the moving cause of an expedition organized under authority of a joint resolution of Congress, May 2, 1850, which authorized the President to accept " and attach to the navy two ves- 'sels offered by Henry Grinnell, of New York, to be sent to the 1 In consequence of its heroic history and dilapidated condition. General Butler, of Kentucky, presented the regiment in Mexico with another flag, which Is thus desci'ibed : — The flag is of one thickness of blue silk, embroidered with yellow and red silk floss, and bordered with a yellow fringe about two Inches wide. The embroidery consists of the coat of arras of the United States, with the motto, "S Pluribus Unum," and underneath the eagle is worked, "Palmetto Regt. 8. C. Volunteers;" two rows of stars, flfteen in each row, extend across the top of the flag above the eagle. The embroidery being the same on both sidea The staff Is ornamented with a silver-plated spear-head. Dimensions of the flag, flve feet three inches next the staff, and six feet long. It was carried by the regiment at the centennial of the battle of Fort Moultrie, .June 28, 1876. ? >Irs, Browning. " Newspaper account. Flag of the United States. 379 Arctic Seas in search of the British commander. Sir John Franklin, 'and his companions." The vessels furnished by Mr. Grinnell were the brigantines Ad vance and Eescue, and the command of the expedition was intrusted to Lieutenant Edwin J. De Haven, who commanded the Advance in person. The command of the Eescue was assigned to -Passed-Mid shipman S. P. Griffin, the second officer of the expedition. The instructions, full and complete, were issued by William B. Preston, Secretary of the Navy. The expedition sailed from New York, May 26, 1850, and returned to that port about Oct. 1, 1851. Only supposed traces of the objects of search were discovered, and the real fate of Sir John and his com panions was still left in doubt. The vessels were caught in the ice, and frozen up for nine months. They drifted to and fro more than a thousand miles. Not a man was lost on the expedition. These ves sels went up Wellington Channel, searching its shores, and discovered Grinnell Land. The railroad across the Isthmus of Panama, from Aspinwall, or Colon, as the authorities of the United States of Columbia call it, to the city of Panama, begun May, 1850, and completed in 1859, is a triumph of American skill, perseverance, and engineering. The first great obstacle, the bridging, so to speak, of bottomless swamps, was overcome, and a train of cars passed from Aspinwall to Barbacoas on the 4th of July, 1852. The second great obstacle, tiie crossing of the Chagres River, which during the wet season is liable to rise fifty feet in from six to ten hours, was accomplished in 1853. November 34 of that year was a day of more than ordinary inter est to American residents on the Isthmus, when the bridge across the Chagres at Barbacoas was tested by the passage over it of the first train of cars and locomotive. Notice was given that all who wished would be passed free, and six passenger-cars were early filled with foreign and native residents. The bridge on the Barbacoas side was tastefully decorated, and on its corners waved the fiag of New Grenada side by side with the stars and stripes. About eleven a.m., Messrs. Ball and Baldwin, on the top of the first car, supported by the officers and attaches of the company, bearing the flag of our country above their heads, gave the signal, and, with a warning cry, the iron steed, built in Portland, Maine, started with the train across the arches of the noble structure, and five hundred voices, collected on the banks of the river sent up a shout, which was echoed back from as many on the cars as the train moved smoothly across. After running a mile or 380 Origin and Progress of the so beyond, the train returned and recrossed the bridge, when a few hours were spent in the festivities of a dinner, and there was a ball at old Joe Prince's in the evening. A large amount of gunpowder was burnt in the course of the day. Among the toasts given at the dinner was, " The Panama Railroad, the index-finger of ' Young America's ' right hand." In December, 1853, passengers were conveyed by the railroad to Gorgona, and on the opening of the dry season the road was in running order to Matashin, seventeen miles from Panama. The near completion of the Panama railroad, and the discovery of gold in and the settlement of California, were two great inducements to our successful treaty with Japan in 1854.^ The American ensign first displayed in Japan on the landing of Commodore J\I. C. Perry at Uraga, on the bay of Jeddo, in July, 1853, and which was unfolded at the treaty of Yoka- hama, March, 1854, opening Japan to the world after two hundred years of seclusion, counted on its cluster twenty-nine stars, and is now preserved at the Naval Academy, Annapolis. In 1855, during the cruise of the Ameri can whaler George and Henry, of New Lon don, Captain Buddington, a vessel was discovered in a vast field of ice and drifting oceanward. Lowering a whale-boat. Captain Buddington, with a picked crew, pulled to the floe, and leaving their boat, after a perilous journey of a mile over immense hum mocks of ice, reached the vessel. Clambering up her sides, to their astonishment they discovered her to be H. B. M. ship Resolute, which had sailed from England the year before, under command of Captain Keppel, in search of Sir John Franklin and party. It appeared that, being ice-bound in Baffin's Bay, running short of provisions, and without hope of relief or of releasing the vessel, the offi cers and crew, consisting of one hundred and sixty men, with supplies and instruments, abandoned her, and! after a dangerous sledge-journey joined another ship of the expedition. When the Resolute was boarded by Captain Buddington, she had drifted into the Atlantic Ocean nine hundred miles from the point at which she had been abandoned. Captain Buddington took possession of the vessel, and at once began operations to release her. After many days of arduous labor of • his men, they had the vessel afloat in open waters, and, placing a crew on board, safely brought her into New London. 1 This I learned in Japan, at the time of the treaty. ^ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * .* * * * Flag of the United States. 381 The facts of the rescue being brought to the attention of our gov ernment. Congress appropriated $30,000 for her purchase from the salvors. She was then taken to the New York Navy Yard and re fitted, every thing on board being restored as nearly as possible to its condition when she was manned by British tars. By direction of the President of the United States, under the authority of Congress, a crew was placed on board of her, with sailing orders for Ports mouth, England, and directions to her commanding officer, in the name of the United States, to restore the ship to her Majesty's government. She was commanded by Commander. Henry J. Hartstene, of South Carolina.^ The ship sailed from New York, and twenty-five 'days after reached Portsmouth, early in December, 1855. The British government, officially advised of this act of friendship on the part of the United States, prepared for the consummation of this purpose with becoming formality. The day set apart for the cere mony at Portsmouth was Dec. 10, 1855. The harbor was in full array. Her Majesty's ships in port fioated the royal standard of England from their mastheads, and the flag of the United States, and were gayly dressed with flags and streamers. For the better accommodation of the royal personages who were to participate in the ceremony, the Resolute was hauled alongside the dock. At noon, amid the booming of guns ashore and afloat, her Majesty, accompanied by the Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Eoyal, and Princess Alice, Lady Cathcart, and the Duchess of Athol (the most beautiful woman in England), attending maids of honor, and accompanied by Sir Francis Seymour, commandant of the Ports mouth Navy Yard, went aboard the Resolute. Captain Hartstene, surrounded by his officers in full dress, wel comed the Queen, and addressing her, said : " Your Majesty, it affords me pleasure, in behalf of the President of the United States, to present to you the ship Resolute, not only as the evidence of good-will of the people of the United States, but out of the great respect which they feel toward you personally." The Queen, in person, thanked the government of the United States through Captain Hartstene for the consideration thus sho^vn herself and her government. Having evinced a deep interest in viewing the shfp, she visited every part of her, and asked numerous questions. > Captain Hartstene united his fortunes with the Southern Rebellion, and died shortly after its commencement. 382 Origin and Progress of the A fine large painting was executed, by order of the Queen, repre senting the scene on the deck of the Resolute. This painting, which has been engraved, now hangs in the royal gallery at Windsor.^ In 1856, after the cloud of war had rolled away from the Crimea, and Sebastopol was opened to all nations, the first vessel to enter its closed port was an American ship, the Troy, with the stars and stripes at her peak. The iron yacht Edith, owned by R. B. Forbes, sailed from Boston in 1858, for the Rio de la Platte. She was the first, and it is believed is the only, vessel of the New York yacht squadron that has carried the United States flag into south latitude. The yacht Edith was only forty-seven days in making the passage from Provincetown, though delayed by the loss of her main-mast close to the deck, in lat. 36° S. A letter from her in the 'Boston Courier,' dated "Rio Uruguay, lat. 33° r S., lon. 58° 11' W., March 8, 1859," says: "At Con- cepcion we found the Fulton and Water Witch, vessels celebrated in history, — ^the last as the origin of the Paraguay expedition, and the leader of that memorable squadron which went to Cuba to protect ^& United States flag from British aggression. . . . We get on admir ably with bur 'squadron,' consisting of the yacht Edith and steamer Alpha; sometimes she tows us and sometimes we tow her, and always excite the curiosity of the natives. No other yacht of the New York squadron has been so far from home, and no other steamer of any na tion has been so far up the Rio Negro; at this point she deserves to be called the Alpha, aiid for a long time to come will be the Omega." The Alpha was a small iron steamer, which was taken out to South America on the deck of the brig Nankin. Some asked, on seeing her on deck, whether she was built on the way out, or whether the brig was built around her. On arriving at Montevideo, the Nankin was hauled alongside the United States store-ship Supply, and with the tackles used to hoist out 10-inch guns the little steamer was suspended in air, the brig was hauled from under her, and just when all was ready to launch her, the main-yard tackles pennant parted, and down she went ten or twelve feet into the water, the fore-sling slipping off at the same time, but no harm was done, and not a rivet was started. 1 Lately, orders have been issued from the admiralty to break up this historic ship, and in these orders it is stated she was built of teak from the East Indies, Is bark-rigged, and about flve hundred tons burthen ; and it is stated seml-ofliclally that her Majesty's government has directed that a dining set shall be made from her teak timbers for presentation to the government of the United States, as a souvenir of an Interesting event which occurred just one-quarter of a century ago. The vessel was never employed In active service after her rendition. Flag of the United States. 383 The captain of the little steamer went to the custom-house, and en tered her as a new arrival, she having been regularly cleared at the Boston custom-house. The collector opened his eyes very 'wide, seeing that she was only twenty tons, and asked if she came by sea, how many days she had been on the voyage, and how many ports had been touched at for fuel, and whether she had shipped any water or incurred any danger from gales of wind on the way. Captain Bessie honestly replied that he came by sea in flfty-flve days ; had put in nowhere for fuel, having been mostly propelled by sails ; that he had shipped many small sprays, but no large seas, and that she was as dry and safe as a brig of three hundred tons all the way out; that he had encountered one severe gale and several smaller ones, but that she ' lay to ' like a duck. The collector made note of these facts, and said it was ' muy currioso,' and opened his eyes again. The Alpha may be considered the pioneer and parent of our naval steam launches, those efficient tenders to our ships of war and survey ing vessels. Throughout the trials, sufferings, and famine of lieutenant Isaac N. . Strain's unfortunate Darien exploring expedition in 1854, so graphic ally described in Mr. Head^ey's narrative, " our flag was sacredly preserved." ^ After their rescue, and while pursuing their course down river, as they approached the Virago's paddle-box boat. Strain desir&d to hoist an American ensign, and asked if the one they started with had been preserved. Yes, answered McGinness, who was intrusted with it, and who had carried it to the last. The only emblem of their nation ality that remained to them, he had wrapped it around his breast; and though weapons, haversacks, and blankets had been thrown away, he would not part with it. Wounded feet that needed bandaging, and ulcerated limbs and tattered garments, could not induce him to devote that cherished symbol to his own use. Without reflection. Strain ordered McGinness to place it in his boat. The poor fellow hung back for a moment, and cast such an appealing look on Strain that the latter asked what was the matter. His eyes filled with tears, and he replied, " Captain Strain, I have never parted with that ensign a single instant since you intrusted it to my care on the Atlantic coast, and don't take it from me now." Touched by the devotion of the man. Strain said, " By no means shall it be taken from you, my brave fellow ; display it yourself." His face beamed with a smile of thankfulness, and unbinding it with his ' See Harper's Magazine. 384 Origin and Progress of the skeleton hand from the rags that hardly covered him, he gave it, tat tered and torn, to the wind, and three cheers went up from the little fieet. There is a whole poem, says Headley, in this little incident. That fiag, first displayed when they marched from the beach of Cale donia Bay, was unrolled to announce their deliverance, and then once more only, — to shroud the coffin of one of the expedition. The generosity of Mr. Grinnell did not cease with the unsuccessful termination of the first humane expedition to the Arctic, which had failed to accomplish its purposes, so far as the finding of the missing explorers, and promptly offered the vessels fo;r a second cruise, should the necessary authority be obtained from Congress ; and in the fall of 1853, in compliance with the wishes of Lady Franklin, Passed-Assist- ant-Surgeon E. K. Kane, who had accompanied the previous expe dition, was given permission to engage in special service, and go in search of Sir John Franklin. Under instructions from Sec retary J. P. Kennedy, he sailed from New York in the brigantine Advance, May 31, 1853. Dr. I. I. Hayes was an officer of this expe dition, comprising in all seventeen persons; and the next year, 1854, Dr. Kane carried our fiag to the land nearest the pole yet discovered, . and his companion Morton hoisted the :Qrst fiag that ever waved over that solitude.^ Dr. Kane, narrating the event, says, " As he [Morton] neared the northern land at the east shore, which led to Cape Constitution, the termination of his labors, he found only a very small ice-float under the lee of the head-land, and crushed up against the side of the rock. He went on, but the strip of ice-land broke more and more, until about a mile off the Cape it terminated altogether, the waves breaking into a cross-sea directly against the Cape. The wind had 1 In the ' Boston Gazette ' or ' Weekly Advertiser,' May 22, 1753, there Is the following notice of an " Early American Expedition for the discovery of the North west Passage V'^ — ¦ " Philadelphia, May 10. " We hear that the schooner Argo, Captain Swaine, who was fitted out from this port by a number of merchants of this and the neighboring provinces, and sailed hence on the 4th of March last for Hudson's Bay, on the discovery of the Northwest Passage, having touched at the Hiannas near Cape Cod, and at Portsmouth In New England, to take in her complement of hands and some particular necessaries, took her departure from the latter place on the 15th of April, all well on board, and in high spirits." This vessel was fltted out at an expense of £1,500, by subscription, a chief mover In the ¦ enterprise being Benjamin Franklin. On her return she was refltted, and sailed the following spring on another expedition, and returned in October, as appears by the Pennsylvania ' Journal and Advertiser ' of Oct. 24, 1754 : " On Sunday last, arrived here the schooner Argo, Captain Swaine, who was fltted out in the spring on the discovery of the Northwest Passage, but having three of his men killed on the Ijabrador coast, returned without success." Flag of the United States. 385 moderated, but was still from the north, and the current ran very fast, — four or five knots, perhaps. " The cliffs were here very high,— at a short distance they seemed about two thousand feet; but the crags were so overhanging that Morton could not see the tops as he drew closer. The echoes were con fusing, and the clamor of half a dozen ivory gulls, who were frightened .from their sheltered nooks, were multiplied a hundred-fold. The '^fcollemoks were still numerous, but he saw no ducks. " He tried to pass around the Cape. It was in vain. There was no ice-foot, and, trying his best to ascend the cliffs, he could get up but a few hundred feet. Here he fastened to his walking-pole the Grinnell flag of the Antarctic, a well cherished little relic, which had now fol lowed me on two polar voyages. This flag had been saved from the United States - sloop-of-war Peacock, when she stranded off Colum bia River. It had accompanied Commodore Wilkes in his far southern discovery of the Antarctic continent. It was now its strange destiny to float over the highest northern land, not only of America, but of our globe. Side by side with this were our masonic emblems of the com pass and square. He let them fly for an hour and a half from the black cliffs over the dark rock-shadowed waters, which rolled up and broke in white caps at its base." This flag was again used by Dx. Hayes in his North Pole expedi tion, and again unfurled by Captain Hall, of the Polaris, when he took possession of the land, 82° 26' north latitude, "in the name of God and the United States," and was brought back by Captain Buddington. It may be said of this historic flag, which was. the property of Henry Grinnell, that it has been farther north and fartlier south than any flag in the world- It is of ordinary bunting, about eight by three feet, and has twenty-four stars of white muslin sewed in the union. The words " Peacock flag " are stamped on the left-hand corner, in black ink. Although much soiled from long use, the flag was free from rents in 1874. It was again carried to the Arctic in the schooner Flor ence by Captain Howgate, and returned in her in a good state of preservation in 1878. The long absence of the second Grinnell 'expedition, of nearly three years, without information of its movements or fate, fllled the hearts of the people with solicitude, and the subject received the attention and action of Congress. On the 3d of February, 1855, a joint resolu tion was adopted authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to provide and despatch a suitable naval or other steamer, and if necessary a ten der, to the Arctic seas for the purpose of rescuing or affording relief to 25- 386 Origin and Progress of the Passed- Assistant-Surgeon E. K. Kane, and the officers and men under his command, provided that such steamer and tender should be offi cered and manned by volunteers from the navy, and others who declared their willingness to be so engaged. The vessels selected and fitted for this service were the bark Re lease and steamer Arctic, and the command of the expedition was committed by Secretary Dobbin to Commander H. J. Hartstene, who commanded the Release in person. The second officer of the expedition was Lieutenant Charles S. Simms, who commanded the Arctic. The vessels sailed from New York June 4, 1855, and returned to that port Oct. 11, 1855. In four months which intervened they sailed four thousand miles, circumnavigated Baffin's Bay, passed farther into Smith's Sound than any one save Kane himself, found that missing explorer and his party at Disco Island, and returned .them safely to their country and friends. In 1859, during the war between Austria and Sardinia, the imperial government ordered Trieste placed under martial law, the French being daily expected to make an attack upon that city. Under this circumstance the United States consul suspended a large United States flag from his balcony, which remained there night and day while the war lasted. From the moment of its display, the common people congregated opposite at the Palace Demetrio Carciotte, gazing at it with delight. This concourse gathered every day for about a week, when the President of the imperial maritime government called on the consul and asked, " What does all this mean? " " What about this crowd in a state of siege ? " The consul replied, that he claimed the protection of his flag, and that the local authorities were bound to furnish sufficient force to preserve the peace and sustain his privileges. The official retired, the flag was undisturbed, and people who had never seen it came from the neighboring villages to see " la candiera Americana." Theodore de Sabla, who had been the United States vice-consul at Panama, being a native of Louisiana, sympathized with the Rebellion. Writing from Panama to a former navy friend on the 18th of July, 1861, he related the following curious incident, the augury of which was happily unfulfilled, unless on the principle of dreams, by contra ries. After alluding to matters of a business nature, he says : " We had a glorious fourth here at my house, rather on the secess side, though, as you may easily believe. Captain Mitchell, Shryock,^ and 1 These were offlcers of the United States steamship Wyoming, attached to the Paciflc squadron, who had resigned. Flag of the United States. 387 'other Southern friends late of, and now off, the navy, were there, and we had a grand time of it. Sorry to say that on that day, when they were drinking the 'Union' at the United States consulate, about two P.M., the flag-staff of old Corwine (the United States consul) was struck by lightning and shivered from top to bottom, and the flag torn to pieces. Bad omen that ! for you ! " The fourth expedition from the United States to the polar seas was organized and despatched under private auspices, and had no connec tion with the government. Dr. I. I. Hayes, who had been attached to Dr. Kane's expedition, conducted it. The name of his vessel, the Spring Hill, was changed to United States, and she sailed from Boston July 7, 1860. Her departure was preceded by an interesting demon stration on the 4th of July, in which many distinguished persons par ticipated. The schooner was of one hundred and thirty-three tons burthen. Her officers and crew, including Dr. Hayes, numbered fifteen persons. It was designed the vessel should sail on the 4th of July, but the weather proved unpropitious, and her departure was delayed. On the fourth day of March; 1861, Dr. Hayes hoisted a flag in honor of Abraham Lincoln, who was supposed to be the President of the United States, though the fact was not known until August 14, when the expedition ar rived at Upperna- vick on its return. The flag was made by F. L. Harris, and a curious circum- stance connected with it is, that it was made with only eighteen stars, from Expedition Flag of the Schooner United States, 1861. , , • , . , lack of material. When the news of the election of Lincoln was received, flve months afterwards, it was found that a rebellion had broken out in the Southern States, leaving only about eighteen States true to the Union. Dr. Hayes had accompanied Kane on the expedition of 1854, when Morton caught sight of what was thought to be the open polar sea. 388 Origin and Progress of the During the winter of 1860-61 he took up his quarters at Port Foulke.^ In April, 1861, he left his ship and proceeded up Smith's Strait in sleighs, but, having traversed about half the channel, was obliged to send back to the ship most of his exhausted crew. Keeping with himself only three hardy companions, he left the strait and pro ceeded along the coast on the ice. On the 18th of May, 1861, injat. 81° 30', and at a distance of 835 kilometers from the pole, Hayes saw before him a vast sheet of water. Every Ihing, says he, " was to me evident proof that I had reached the shores of the polar basin, and that the large ocean was rolling at my feet. At some distance from where he stood, the waves sweeping along the coast were breaking to pieces the ice, which finally disappeared." There Dr. Hayes built a cairn, and planted the Ameri can flag upon the most northern point ever reached by man. Having named the headland where the flags were raised ' Cape Lieber,' aud the extreme point of the world in sight to the northward ' Cape Union,' he retraced his steps to Port Foulke. (See map.) We will let him describe this interesting incident : — ¦ " The Open Polar Sea. — Standing against the dark sky at the north, there was seen in dim outline the white sloping summit of a noble headland, the most northern known land upon the globe. I judged it to be in latitude 83° 30', or four hundred and fifty miles from the north pole." " Nearer, another bold cape stood forth ; and nearer still the head land, for which I had been steering my course the day before, rose majestically from the sea, as if pushing up into the very skies a lofty mountain peak, upon which the winter had dropped its diadem of snows. There was no land visible except the coast upon which I stood. " The sea beneath me was a mottled sheet of white and dark patches, these latter being either soft decaying ice, or places where the ice had wholly disappeared. These spots were heightened in intensity of shade and multiplied in size as they receded, until the belt of the water-sky blended them all together into one uniform color of dark blue. The old and solid floes (some a quarter of a mile and others a mile across), and the massive ridges and wastes of hummocked ice, which lay piled between ihem and around their margins, were the only parts of the sea which retained the whiteness and solidity of winter. 1 So named by Dr. Hayes for William Parker Foulke, of Philadelphia, who aided In fltting out the expedition, and died before its return, Dr, Hayes dedicates bis narrative to his memory. Flag of the United States. 389 " All the evidences showed that I stood upon the shores of the polar basin, and that the broad ocean lay at my feet; that the land upon which I stood, culminating in the distant cape before me, was but a point of land projecting far into it, like the Ceverro Vostochnoi Noss of the opposite coast of Siberia ; and that the little margin of ice which lined the shore was being steadily worn away, and within a month the whole sea would be as free from ice as I had seen the north water of Baffin's Bay, interrupted only by a moving pack, drifting to and fro at the will of the winds and currents. 390 Origin and Progress of the " It now only remained for us to plant our flag in token of our dis covery, and to deposit a record in proof of our presence. The flags were tied to the whip-lash, and suspended between two tall rocks, and while we were building a cairn they were allowed to flutter in the breeze; then, tearing a leaf from my note-book, I wrote on it as fol lows : — " ' This point (the most northern land that has ever been reached) was visited by the undersigned. May 18, 19, 1861, accompanied by George F. Knorr, travelling with a dog-sledge. We arrived here after a toilsome march of forty-six days from my winter harbor near Cape Alexander, at the mouth of Smith Sound. My observations place us in lat. 81° 35', lon. 70° 30' W. Olir further progress was stopped by rotten ice and cracks. Kennedy Channel appears to expand into the polar basin, and, satisfied that it is navigable, at least during the months of July, August, and September, I go hence to my winter har bor, to make another trial to get through Smith Sound with my vessel after ice toreaks up this summer. 'L I. Hatis. "'Mat 19, 1861.' " This record, carefully secured in a small glass vial, was deposited beneath the cairn; then our faces were turned homewards. But I quitted the place with reluctance." The flags planted upon the crag were a small United States boat- ensign, which had been carried in the South Sea exploring expedition of Captain Wilkes, and afterwards in the arctic expeditions of Lieu tenant-Commanding De Haven and Dr. Kane, a little United States flag, which had been committed to I>r. Sontag by the ladies of the Albany Academy, two diminutive masonic flags, intrusted to Dr. Hayes, — one by the Kane Lodge of New York, the other by the Columbia Lodge of Boston, — and the expedition signal flag, bearing a crimson star on a white fleld. Dr. Hayes says, " Being under the obligation of a sacred promise to unfurl all these flags at the most northern point attained, it was my pleasing duty to carry them with me, — a duty rendered none the less pleasing by the circumstance that together they did not weigh three pounds." The highest point attained by him he called ' Cape Lieber,' a remark able peak rising above Church's monument, and the bay below it he named for Lady Franklin. The conspicuous headland, which he vainly attempted to reach on the last day of his northward journey, was named ' Cape Eugenie,' for the Empress of the French, in appreciation Flag of the United States. 391 of the kindness of French citizens to the expedition ; another promi nent headland he named ' Cape Frederick VII.,' in honor of the king of Denmark, to whose Greenland subjects he was indebted for many serviceable attentions. The noble headland which, in faint outline, stood against the dark sky of the open sea, " the most northern known land upon the globe," he named ' 'Cape Union,' " in remembrance of a compact which has given prosperity to a people and founded a nation," uiiknowing that at that very time fratricidal hands were endeavoring to rend that glorious Union, and dissolve the compact which had re sulted in such national prosperity. The bay lying between Cape Union and Cape Frederick VII. he named for Admiral Wrangel, whose fame in connection with arctic discovery is second only to that of Sir Edward Parry, and the lofty peak behind Cape Eugenie, overlooking the polar sea, he named ' Parry Mountain.' With that eminent ex plorer he must divide the honors of extreme northern travel; for, if Parry carried the British flag upon the sea nearer to the north pole than any flag had been carried hitherto, Hayes planted the American flag farther north upon the land than any flag had been or has since been planted.^ ' Commander James Clarke Ross, R. N., had thirty years before, viz. May, 1831, fixed the British flag on the north magnetic pole, more than eleven degrees to the southward, and took possession of it and the adjoining territory In the name of Great Britain and King WUliam IV. He erected a cairn, under which he burled a canister containing' a record of the fact, regretting he had not the means of con structing a pyramid of size and strength sufficient to withstand the assaults of time and the Esquimaux. The latitude of the spot was 70° 5' 15" N., longitude 96° 46' 4" S., west of Greenwich. The latitude of the magnetic pole is unchange able, but the lohgitude varies with every succeeding year. It Is sufficient honor for Ross that he actually stood upon the magnetic pole of 1831, and in 1841 approached the south pole nearer than any other preceding navigator. On May 12, 1876, Commander Markham, E. N., planted the British flag in lati tude 83° 2(y 26" N., a point nearer the north pole than was ever reached by a European. He reported that the site of the supposed " open polar sea " was found occupied by a sea of ice from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet In thickness, which he named the ' Paleo Crystie,' or ' Sea of Ancient Ice.' On the grave of Captain C. T. Hall he flxed a brass tablet, inscribed, " Sacred to the memory of Captain C. T. Hall, of the U. S. S. Polaris, who sacriflced his life to the advance ment of science on November 8, 1871. This tablet has been erected by the British Polar Expedition of 1875, who, following in his footsteps, have proflted by his experience." VALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 02172 8861