These extracts show the importance attached to colors in those times.

Pl. II.

This question, and indeed all questions, as to the flags to be used both at sea and land by the subjects of Great Britain, and the dominions thereunto belonging, were, however, set at rest, by the 1st article of the treaty of union between Scotland and England, from which fact the flags then prescribed were called Union flags.

"Act of Parliament ratifying and approving the treaty of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, Jan. 16, 1707."

"I. Article. That the two kingdoms of Scotland and England shall, upon the first day of May next, ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain; and that the ensigns armorial of the said united kingdom be such as her majesty shall appoint; and the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George be conjoined in such manner as her majesty shall think fit, and used in all flags, banners, standards, and ensigns, both at sea and land."[37]

Under the head of Union Jack, we have shown how these crosses were conjoined. We now give a portion of the proclamation of July 28, 1707, referred to in that account of the Union Jack.

In a description of Boston Harbor, in 1720, thirteen years after the date of this proclamation, we learn that, "to prevent any possible surprise from an enemy, there is a light-house built on a rock appearing above water, about three long leagues from the town, which, in time of war, makes a signal to the castle, and the castle to the town, by hoisting and lowering the Union flag so many times as there are ships approaching."[39]

After having given the first article of the treaty, and the above proclamation, this description is only useful as proving that the term "Union Flag" was the familiar one applied to describe the flags established under the union, as well in the colonies as the mother country, and explains the following note in Frothingham's Siege of Boston.

Frothingham says: "In 1774, there are frequent notices of Union flags in the newspapers, but I have not met with any description of the devices on them."[40] After the history of Union flags already given, this will not appear surprising; for who, in our day, speaking of the "Stars and Stripes," would pause to describe its devices. We, however, are inclined to the opinion that the flags spoken of in the newspapers, referred to by Mr. Frothingham, were the ensigns described in the proclamation of Queen Anne, as being the common ensign of the commercial marine of "Great Britain, and the dominions thereof." For, as such, they must have been more easily procurable than the Union Jacks, and more familiar to the people, and therefore would appeal with most force to the popular sentiment.

That this was the case in the colony of New York, we learn from the following: "In March, 1775, 'a Union flag with a red field' was hoisted at New York upon the liberty-pole, bearing the inscription 'George Rex, and the Liberties of America,' and, upon the reverse, 'No Popery.'"[41] With the exception of the mottoes, this was the same flag as is represented, Fig. 7, Plate I.

Frothingham gives us to understand that they were displayed on liberty-poles and on the famous "Liberty Tree" on Boston Common. In this connection, we will quote a few lines from a letter, dated Philadelphia, December 27, 1775, to show the temper of the public mind at that time, and to indicate the name given to the colonies, whose flag we are now about to consider.

This letter shows the importance the Union of the Colonies, lately entered into, held in the mind of the public. Prior to its being entered into, its necessity was thus forcibly indicated to the public mind. The newspapers commonly bore the device of a disjointed snake, represented as divided into thirteen portions. Each portion bearing the initials of one of the colonies, and under it the motto, "Join, or die." Thus impressed, we can readily perceive how naturally they seized upon the flag in use in the mother country and its dominions, as an emblem of union among the members of that mother country, to indicate the necessity of it among the colonies, and, by displaying it from liberty-poles, &c., indicated the object for which union was necessary, viz.: to secure the liberty of British subjects.

The first authentic account of the display of the Union flag, as the flag of the united colonies, is from the pen of General Washington, in a letter addressed to Colonel Joseph Reed, his military secretary.

[From Philadelphia Gazette], note to the above, in American Archives.

We observe, in General Washington's letter, that the Americans, "farcical enough," "without knowing or intending it," led the Boston gentry to imagine them about to surrender, because a Union flag was displayed, which was only displayed in compliment to the United Colonies on the day the army, organized under the orders of Congress, subsequent to the union of the thirteen colonies, came into being. And, in the extract from the newspaper account of this, that the flag was displayed on Prospect Hill, and that it must have been a peculiarly marked Union flag, to be called The Great Union Flag. As this was the name given to the national banner of Great Britain, this indicates this flag as the national banner of the United Colonies. Lieutenant Carter, a British officer, very naturally explains both these circumstances. He was on Charlestown Heights, and says: January 26, 1776: "The king's speech was sent by a flag to them on the 1st inst. In a short time after they received it, they hoisted an Union flag (above the continental with thirteen stripes) at Mount Pisgah; their citadel fired thirteen guns, and gave the like number of cheers."[43]

This account of the flag, from Lieut. Carter, is corroborated by the following from the captain of an English transport, to his owners in London, when taken in connection with the extract subjoined to it, taken from the British Annual Register for 1776. The captain writes:—

The Annual Register says: "The arrival of a copy of the king's speech, with an account of the fate of the petition from the Continental Congress, is said to have excited the greatest degree of rage and indignation among them; as a proof of which, the former was publicly burnt in the camp; and they are said, on this occasion, to have changed their colors from a plain red ground, which they had hitherto used, to a flag with thirteen stripes, as a symbol of the number and union of the colonies."[45]

We have already shown that the first flag spoken of in both the above accounts (Flag No. 3) in our Table, bore certain mottoes; and not being precise in the description of the flag, which for months had been displayed before their eyes, we may expect inaccuracies in the description of a flag newly presented to them, and which, even to an officer on Charlestown Heights, who, as appears, was at some pains to describe it, appeared to be two flags; and remembering that this flag was supposed to be displayed on the receipt of the king's speech, the following account of the colors of British regiments explains why it was especially regarded by the British as a token of submission.

"The kings, or first color of every regiment, is to be the Great Union throughout.

"The second color is to be the color of the facing of the regiment, with the Union in the upper canton, except those regiments which are faced with red, white, or black.

"The first standard, Guidon, or color of regiments of the line, is not to be carried by any guard but that of the King, Queen, Prince of Wales, Commander-in-chief, or Admiral of the Fleet, being of the royal family; and, except in those cases, it is always to remain with the regiment."[46]

From the above we see that, to the mind of a British officer, the Union flag, supposed to have been displayed in connection with the receipt of the king's speech, above a flag with thirteen stripes, would indicate an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the king over the United Colonies, supposed to be represented in the thirteen stripes.

Without further proof, therefore, we may conclude that the "Union" flag, displayed by General Washington, was the union of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, with thirteen stripes through the field of the flag. (See Fig. 2, Plate II.)

On the evacuation of Boston by the British, this standard was, on the entrance of the American army into Boston, carried by Ensign Richards.[47]

While we may fairly infer from General Washington's letter, that this emblem of union had presented itself to his mind as such, we may also infer from his not describing its accompanying devices, to mark the compliment to the United Colonies, that he supposed Colonel Joseph Reed, his military secretary, fully acquainted with them; and from this we may conclude Colonel Reed had something to do with its preparation. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact, that Colonel Joseph Reed was Secretary to the Committee of Conference sent by Congress to arrange with General Washington the details of the organization of the army, which went into being January 2, 1776. And, at the very time that Committee was in session at the camp at Cambridge, we find Colonel Reed having the subject of flags under consideration. To the reply to a letter written by him at that time, we may possibly trace the origin of the use of a modification of the British ensign, a drawing of which is given under Queen Anne's proclamation before quoted, as the flag of the United Colonies. And we shall give good reasons to conclude that this modification consisted in applying to its red field a sufficient number of white stripes, to divide the whole into thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, as above shown; and we will show the propriety of this by establishing the fact that a stripe was the badge of rank in the ununiformed army that assembled about Boston in defence of liberty.

Colonel Joseph Reed, Secretary to the Committee of Conference from Congress, and Military Secretary of General Washington, the Committee being then in session, wrote, October 20, 1776: "Please fix upon some particular color for a flag and a signal by which our vessels may know one another.[48] What do you think of a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto, 'Appeal to Heaven?' This is the flag of our floating batteries." To which Colonels Glover and Moylan replied, October 21, 1775: "That as Broughton and Selman, who sailed that morning, had none but their old colors, they had appointed the signal by which they could be known by their friends to be 'the ensign up to the maintopping lift."[49]

This ensign, which is called their "old colors," must have been the ensign spoken of and described in Queen Anne's proclamation. (See Fig. 7, Plate I.) Since we have seen one ensign prescribed 1707, for the merchant ships and vessels of Great Britain, and the dominions thereunto belonging, and that no change was made until 1801. This being the case, the ensign of the colonial cruisers, inasmuch as they were armed merchant vessels, must have been the British ensign displayed at the maintopping lift. There were several reasons for this; the most forcible of which were, that it being usual to have no special place for the display of the national ensign at sea, but the custom being to exhibit it in such part of the vessel from which it could be most conveniently observed by the strange sail (on which occasion only it was worn at sea), to adopt a particular place for its display would be to give it a new character; one peculiarly happy for the then state of affairs, as it would betray the English transports to the colonial cruisers, and would not betray the Colonial cruisers to the British ships of war, as "the maintopping lift" must have been such a position as would not attract the attention of those not in the secret. This reply of the gentlemen charged with the continental or colonial cruisers, would readily have suggested a modification of the British ensign for the ensign of the United Colonies of North America; for the transition, in the adoption of a flag, from a particular place for the display of a particular flag, to some modification of the same flag, was both natural and easy; especially, as a slight modification of this flag would enable them to indicate the number of colonies, while the emblem of union would happily indicate the union of those colonies, and at the same time would have justified them in saying, in their address of December 6, 1775, "Allegiance to our king. Our words have ever avowed it, our conduct has ever been in keeping with it," as having acknowledged their dependence on the mother country, even in the flag with which they were to struggle against her.

Before we proceed to consider the origin of the stripes, we shall give an account of the same flag as displayed on the fleet fitted out at Philadelphia about this time, so as to fix, beyond a doubt, this emblem of union. As a preliminary, we will give a short extract of the sailing orders given to Benedict Arnold's fleet,[50] when he set out on his expedition to Canada. They may be found at length in Major Meigs's journal of that expedition.

"1st Signal." "For speaking with the whole fleet, ensign at maintopmast head."

"2d Signal." "For chasing a sail, ensign at foretopmast head."

"6th Signal." "For boarding any vessel, Jack at maintopmast head, and the whole fleet to draw up in a line as near as possible."

The Jack, or Union, or Union Jack, as it was and is called, was and is, to this day, in the navy of Great Britain, the flag of the admiral of the fleet; and was probably, as such, worn by the vessel of the commander-in-chief of this expedition, and its use probably suggested the adoption of a standard for the commander-in-chief of the first American fleet, Flag No. 7, in our table. The date of sailing of the above fleet was Sept. 19, 1775, before the letter of Colonels Glover and Moylan, speaking of the "old colors," was written (the date of the latter was Oct. 21, 1775), and the use of the terms jack and ensign strengthens the conclusion that the term "old colors" meant British colors, for we shall find, in the orders of the first American fleet, that the ensign and jack are called the striped ensign and Jack.

In this connection, we give a few extracts from the sailing orders of the first American fleet, "given the several captains in the fleet, at sailing from the Capes of Delaware, Feb. 17, 1776."[51]

"Sir: You are hereby ordered to keep company with me, if possible, and truly observe the signals given by the ship I am in."

"In case you are in any very great danger of being taken, you are to destroy these orders and your signals."

SIGNALS FOR THE AMERICAN FLEET BY DAY.

"For chasing: For the whole fleet to chase, a red pennant at the foretopmast head." We have already said that, since the time of the Romans, a red flag has been the signal to prepare for battle.

"For seeing a strange vessel: Hoist the ensign, and lower and hoist it as many times as you see vessels, allowing two minutes between each time."

Supposing this ensign to be a Union flag, observe the similarity between this signal and that for the lighthouse and castle in Boston Harbor in 1720; "the lighthouse," as we have already stated, "in time of war makes a signal to the castle, and the castle to the town, by hoisting and lowering the Union flag so many times as there are ships approaching."

"For the Providence to chase: 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 maintopmast head, with the striped Jack and ensign at their proper places."

Now let us look at some of the descriptions of the colors of this fleet, both by American and British writers.

SAILING OF THE FIRST AMERICAN FLEET.

And the following extract from a letter, dated New Providence, West Indies, of which Island Admiral Hopkins took prisoner the governor, &c.[53]

This letter was kindly furnished by Colonel Peter Force, editor of the American Archives, and may be found in the London Ladies' Magazine, vol. vii. July 1776, p. 390.

The following extract was furnished by the same gentleman, to whom I cannot too warmly return my thanks for the facilities and assistance he has afforded me.

Reference to this letter not obtained, but in support of its correctness, see affidavit of Mr. Barry, master's mate, ship Grace, captured by the Roebuck, to be found in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, June 20, 1776, vol. ii. No. 221.

It is unnecessary to multiply proof on this subject. The term union, in these accounts, both by American and British writers, at sea and land, by the interpretation we give it, explains and harmonizes all of them. We therefore proceed to consider the other and what may be called the distinctive devices—we mean the stripes on this Continental Union Flag.

Under the head of Ensign (Brande's Dictionary), we are told: "Men of war carry a red, white, or blue ensign, according to the color of the flag of the admiral." By the 1st Article of the union between England and Scotland, we have seen that the ensigns, both "at sea and land," were to embody the union of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew conjoined; hence the colors, red, white, &c., only apply to the field of the ensign.

In the extract from the King's Regulations for the British Army, we have shown that the ensign of the different regiments differed in color according as the facings of the uniforms of the particular regiments to which they belonged differed. We have seen, in the Crusades, the different nations were distinguished by different colored crosses on their surcoats, from which the particular colored cross was transferred to the national banners of at least Scotland and England. Here the striking distinction was color. The same practice prevailed at the time of the Revolution in the colonies.—See the Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of Connecticut, "July 1, 1775. One standard for each regiment, distinguished by their color, as follows, viz.: For the seventh, blue; for the eighth, orange."[54]

With this practice of nations, then, before them, and evidently applied by them, viz.: that of applying some badge of distinction in use in their armies to their national banner, combined with that of indicating different portions of their armies by different colors for their flags; and of two nations, when uniting, adopting as a common ensign something to indicate their union, and still preserve the original banners (both as to devices and color), under which they had respectively achieved signal triumphs, especially as this last example was that of the mother country, we may expect to see the colonies carrying out this practice in their Union flag.

They were British colonies: and, as we have shown, they used the British Union, but now, they were to distinguish their flag by its color from other British ensigns, preserve a trace of the colors under which they had previously fought with success, and, at the same time, represent this combination in some form peculiar to themselves.

The mode of distinction by color could not well be applied by the United Colonies in a single color, as the simpler and most striking were exhausted in application to British ensigns; but, if applied, must have been used in a complex form or combination of colors. This being the case, stripes of color would naturally be suggested as being striking, as enabling them to show the number and union of the colonies, as preserving the colors of the flags previously used by them; and also the badge of distinction, which, at the time of the adoption of this flag, marked the different grades in the ununiformed army before Boston. Hence, probably, the name, The Great Union Flag, given to it by the writer in the Philadelphia Gazette, before quoted, doubtless Colonel Joseph Reed, inasmuch as this flag indicated, as respected the Colonies, precisely what the Great Union Flag of Great Britain indicated respecting the mother country.

The only point that now remains for us to establish is, that a stripe or ribbon was the badge in common use in the army of the colonists before Boston. In proof of this, we quote the following extracts from the orders of General Washington.

THE RATTLESNAKE UNION FLAG.

The letter previously quoted, dated New Providence, May 13, 1776, says: "And their standard, a rattlesnake;" motto—"Don't tread on me." This standard is thus described, viz.:—

Before I proceed, I shall offer one or two remarks on this device of the rattlesnake, to show that it also, as well as the British crosses, was an emblem of union, and that it was seized upon as one then (December, 1775) in use, and familiar.

In 1754, in the Philadelphia Gazette, when Benjamin Franklin was editor of that paper, an article appeared, urging union among the colonies as a means of insuring safety from attacks of the French. This article closed with a wood-cut of a snake divided into parts, with the initials of one colony on each division, and the motto, "Join, or die," underneath, in capital letters.[58] (See Fig. 3, Plate II.)

When union among the colonies was urged, in 1774-6, as a mode of securing their liberties, this device, a disjointed snake, divided into thirteen parts, with the initials of a colony on each division, and the motto, "Join, or die," was adopted as the head-piece of many of the newspapers. When the union of the colonies took place, this was changed, for the head-pieces of the newspapers, into the device adopted on the standard, viz.: a rattlesnake in the attitude of going to strike, and into an united snake. (Under both forms of this device, was the motto, "Don't tread on me.")

The seal of the War Department is the only public instrument in use, exhibiting evidence of the rattlesnake's having played an important part as a device in the American Revolution. The old seal of 1778, and the more modern seal now in use, both bear the rattlesnake (with its rattles as the emblem of union), and a liberty cap in contiguity with it; the liberty cap enveloped by the body, so that the opened mouth may defend the rattles, and liberty cap, or union and liberty, with the motto, "This we'll defend." (See Fig. 4, Plate II.)

The following account of this device, supposed to be from the pen of Benjamin Franklin, indicates fully why it was adopted, and will be found in the American Archives, vol. iv. p. 468.

The yellow flag, with the rattlesnake in the middle, and the words underneath, "Don't tread on me," (see Fig. 5, Plate II.,) the standard for the Commander-in-chief of the American Navy, was probably the flag referred to by Paul Jones, in his journal.

Paul Jones was commissioned first of the first lieutenants in the continental navy. "This commission, under the United Colonies, is dated the 7th of December, 1775, as first lieutenant of the Alfred. On board that ship, before Philadelphia, Mr. Jones hoisted the flag of America, with his own hands, the first time it was ever displayed, as the commander-in-chief embarked on board the Alfred." (Page 34, Life and Correspondence of Paul Jones.)

From the foregoing account, it will be perceived that the first flag adopted by the army of the colonists before Boston, was a red flag, with the mottoes, Qui transtulit sustinet, and "An Appeal to Heaven." By the combination of these mottoes, the union of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in defence of their outraged liberties, was doubtless intimated; and, taken in connection with those mottoes, the color of the flag indicated that, trusting in the God of battles, they defied the power of the mother country. About this time, too, the floating batteries, the germ of the navy subsequently organized, bore a white flag, with a green pine-tree, and the motto, "Appeal to Heaven." These flags were adopted before the union of the thirteen colonies was effected.

After that union, and upon the organization of the army and fleet, these flags were supplanted by one calculated to show to the world the union of the North American colonies among themselves, and as an integral part of the British Empire, and as such demanding the rights and liberties of British subjects. And a flag combining the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew united (the distinctive emblem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain), with a field composed of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, the combination of the flags previously used in the camp, on the cruisers, and the floating batteries of the colonies, was adopted for this purpose, and called The Great Union Flag.

The union implied both the union of the colonies represented in the striped field, which was dependent upon it, and the nationality of those colonies. The thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, constituting the field of the flag, represented the body of that union, the number of the members which composed it, as well as the union of the flags, which had preceded this Great Union Flag.

We assume that the colors of those stripes were alternate red and white, inasmuch as those were the colors in the first flag of the United States, and we presume no change, not absolutely necessary, was made, in altering the flag of the United Colonies to that of the United States. There is no evidence of their being of that color, except the universally received tradition that such was the case.

The colors of those stripes, alternate red and white, indicated on the part of the colonies, thus represented as united, the defiance to oppression, symbolized by the red color of the flag of the army, and red field of the flag of the continental cruisers together, with the purity implied by the white flag of the floating batteries, of which the motto was, "Appeal to Heaven."

Lest these conclusions should seem far fetched, we would again advert to the fact, that in the present Union, or national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, not only are the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick united, but the colors of the fields of the banners of St. George, of England, St. Andrew, of Scotland, and St. Patrick, of Ireland, are preserved.

In the case of the colonies, everything that tended to call to mind previous triumphs would have been studiously preserved, and the red and white flags were identified with the successes of Bunker Hill, (for tradition says the flag on that occasion was red, and that a Whig told General Gage that the motto was, "Come, if you dare,")[59] and the various successes of the siege of Boston, prior to Jan. 2, 1776.

The use of the stripes, besides indicating the union of the above flags, for the purpose before indicated, would, as a badge of distinction for the Great Union Flag of the colonies, have carried the minds of those who were marshalled under it back to the moment when the tocsin of war sounded at Lexington—called them, "generals" as well as "private men,"—in the garbs in which they were pursuing their peaceful avocations, to arms in defence of liberty. And we of the present day should regard them as hallowed, by having been employed by General Washington as the first step towards introducing subordination into the army, which achieved our independence. In those stripes we may perceive the necessity indicated of the subordination of each State to the Union, while their equality under the Union is also intimated, by there being nothing to indicate that any particular State was represented by any particular stripe. There being seven red stripes, doubtless arose from that being the color of the principal flags represented in the combination of colors, for certainly the flags of the army and cruisers must have had pre-eminence over that of the floating batteries.

The striped Union flag was the colonial colors, both at sea and land, but there was also, as we have seen, a standard such as was used by the commander-in-chief of the American navy, being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike, and the words underneath, "Don't tread on me." The color of the snake, as represented, was dark. This circumstance goes strongly to prove the correctness of our conclusion, that the example of the mother country was followed in the preparation of the flags of this period—for the quarantine flag of the mother country was a yellow flag with a dark spot, a representation of the plague-spot in the middle—those colors were, doubtless, chosen for the rattlesnake flag, to indicate the deadly character of the venom of the rattlesnake, and the danger of treading on it.

But we have before stated that the rattlesnake first appeared as a snake divided into thirteen parts, each part marked with the initials of the colony to which it corresponded, and beneath them the motto, "Join, or die," indicating the necessity of union. And that, the union being effected, the initials on the parts were dropped (thus indicating the equality of the colonies under the Union), and the parts were united in the form indicated in this standard, and beneath it the words, "Don't tread on me," implying the consciousness of strength derived from that union, of which, we have seen, the rattlesnake was an emblem indigenous to America, while at the same time the serpent implies eternal duration. This, then, may properly be called the Rattlesnake Union Standard, and the other, the Great Union, or Striped Union Flag; and together they indicated that existence as a people was inseparable from union—the strength resulting from that union—the necessary subordination of each colony to the whole Union, the intimate connection of the colonies composing the Union, their equality and perpetuity under it, and the power of fascination in the Union and harmony in the colonies, which would draw everybody to America, and cause those who had once tasted the liberty and blessings she enjoys, never to leave her, but to "spend their lives with her."

Having thus described the flags of the United Colonies, and shown that they were emblematic of union, and hence called Union flags, in imitation of the prevailing custom of the mother country, we now proceed to consider the Flag of the United States, described in the following Resolution of Congress, passed June 14, 1777:—