<S2^ EVOLUTION « 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRAilY 
 
 FROM 
 
 A. il. Wright 
 
Cornell University Library 
 CR113 .C21 
 
 Evolution of the American "aai ,,t''°'",,,'"^* 
 
 olln 
 
 3 1924 029 797 374 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924029797374 
 
Tlif Flag Ilun-p. 
 
THE EVOLUTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN FLAG 
 
 FROM MATERIALS COLLECTED BY THE LATE 
 
 GEORGE CANBY 
 
 By LLOYD BALUERSTON, Ph.D. 
 
 Professor of Physics at the West Chester 
 State Normal School 
 
 FERRIS & LEACH 
 
 27 South Seventh Street 
 
 1909 
 
COPYBIGHT, 1909. BY FEEBIS & LeaCH. 
 
COJSTTEISrTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface ... . . 7 
 
 Intkoduction 11 
 
 Chapter I. Flags which preceded the Stars and Stripes . 15 
 
 Chaptek II. The Making of the first Star Spangled Banner 37 
 
 Chaptee III. Use of the Stars and Stripes during the 
 
 Eevolutionai-y War . . . 53 
 
 Chapter IV. The Flag since the Eevolutionary War . . 87 
 
 Appendix : 
 
 A. Washington's Coat of Arms 99 
 
 B. Biographical notes in regard to the persons concerned 
 
 in Making the first Flag . . 101 
 
 C. History of the Betsy Boss Tradition . . .108 
 
 D. Affidavits appended to AVm. J. Canby's Paper . . . 112 
 
 E. The Flag House . . . . 119 
 
 F. The Grand Union Flag . . 121 
 
 Gr. Additional Affidavits and Statements in regard to the 
 
 Making of the first Flag . 123 
 
 H. Diary of Lieutenant Digby 131 
 
ILLUSTEATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Flag House . Frontispiece 
 
 POKTRAIT OF GeOBGE CaXBY 13 
 
 Flag of Philadelphia Light House . . . . 16 
 
 GrKAND Union Flag ... 20 
 
 American Flag of the Eevolutionaky Period ... 48 
 
 Facsimile Pages from the Original Journal of Congress 
 
 Containing the Flag Resolution of June 4th, 1777 56 
 
 Diagram of Stars as they are Supposed to have been 
 Placed in First American Flag ... 59 
 
 Facsimile of Letter from the Board of War to 
 General Washington .70 
 
 Diagram of star arrangement Proposed by Captain Eeid 92 
 
 Washington Coat of Arsis ... . .99 
 
 Washington's Book Plate 99 
 
 Bill for Bunting with Signature of Elizabeth 
 Claypoole (Facsimile) . ... 106 
 
 Group op Signatures from Principles of the Free 
 Quakers (Facsimile) ... . 107 
 
niiidrations 
 
 POKTBAITS OP FOTJK DaUGHTEES OF JoHS AJfD ELIZABETH 
 
 Clatpoole ... . . 108 
 
 POKTKAIT OF WlLLIAil J. C'AJfBY . ... . . 109 
 
 PORTKAIT OF MaHGAEET EciGCS . ... 113 
 
 "BiKTHOFOUK Xation's Flag": (Haxf-tone Exgeavetg 
 OF C. H. 'Weisgeeeee's Paesttsg) 120 
 
 Flag of the Eotal Savage .... 122 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Many books have been written on the his- 
 tory of the American Flag. The subject pre- 
 sents serious difficulties, which have been 
 frankly recognized by such writers as General 
 Schuyler Hamilton, Admiral George H. Preble 
 and P. D. Harrison. Some have copied state- 
 ments from their predecessors, and where the 
 story seemed incomplete have filled in the gaps 
 with romance. The present volume adds a few 
 authenticated facts to those which have been 
 heretofore published, but does not concern itself 
 with a detailed refutation of any of the romances 
 which have been injected into the story of the 
 Stars and Stripes. 
 
 Most of the material for the book was gathered 
 by George Canby, of Philadelphia. His serious 
 work on it may be said to have begun after the 
 death in 1890 of his brother, William J. Canby, 
 who had spent much time on the subject. 
 
 George Canby was the last surviving grand- 
 son of Elizabeth Claypoole, who, when she was 
 the widow of John Ross, made the first American 
 Flag containing stars. He was a member of the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society, and brought to 
 the research a minute knowledge of the history 
 of Philadelphia and a mind well trained in his- 
 
Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 torical criticism. Many times during his investi- 
 gations liis sensitive soul was tried when he found 
 surmise masquerading as fact, conjecture substi- 
 tuted for records, and romance disguised as his- 
 tory. 
 
 He read all that had been printed about the 
 history of the flag, examined many old manu- 
 scripts, searched through all the periodical litera- 
 ture of the Revolutionary period, examined all 
 the fac-similes and printed copies of Revolution- 
 ary documents accessible in the libraries of his 
 native city, and personally scrutinized all the 
 papers in the Government archives at Washing- 
 ton which could have any bearing on the early 
 history of the Stars and Stripes. He also engaged 
 the services of a reliable firm in London who 
 make a specialty of literary research, to conduct 
 an extensive search among the Revolutionary 
 manuscripts preserved in London, and to exam- 
 ine the captured battle-flags in the museums 
 there. 
 
 After all this, the quantity of actual recorded 
 fact discovered about the Flag, down to October, 
 1777, remains very small. Most of the known 
 facts are recorded in Preble's encyclopedic work. 
 Nearly all of these have been traced to their 
 sources and verifled. George Canby had 
 arranged most of his material in chronological 
 order, and was preparing it for the press, when 
 
Preface. 
 
 his work was cut short by his death in 1907. The 
 introduction which follows is in his own words, 
 as are some parts of the body of the work. In 
 large part, however, the wording is due to the 
 present writer, a nephew of George Canby, who 
 has gone over the whole ground with minute 
 care, in the effort to put into presentable shape 
 the work which is essentially that of his uncle. 
 
 All of the many friends who have aided in the 
 researches which George Canby had so much at 
 heart should be thanked by name in this preface. 
 Most of them, however, are quite unknown to the 
 writer, Avho can therefore only extend a word of 
 thanks in this impersonal way to all who have 
 helped in clearing up some part of the obscurity 
 which surrounds the history of our beloved flag, 
 and express the hope that every one who has con- 
 trol of any manuscripts of the Revolutionary 
 period will examine them or cause them to be 
 examined, in the search for further references 
 to the flag, to the end that the obscurity may be 
 entirely removed. 
 
 L. B. 
 
 West Chester, Pa., 1909. 
 
INTEODUCTION. 
 
 At the beginning of the twentieth century 
 with our beautiful Emblem of Liberty so con- 
 spicuous on every hand, known everywhere, in 
 every land, on every sea, it is indeed hard to 
 realize that only a little more than a hundred 
 years ago, as colonists of the British Empire, our 
 forefathers were living under the Royal Flag of 
 England. 
 
 Even with this idea in our minds, it seems now 
 almost incomprehensible that those of our fore- 
 fathers who had the shaping of our destinies in 
 their hands, — that noble band of patriots, includ- 
 ing the great Washington himself, — should have 
 left us with no records which tell us precisely 
 how our flag came into existence. To this day 
 the great majority of the American people are in 
 ignorance of the real facts connected with its 
 history. 
 
 It is therefore a matter of great interest to 
 find that after a most careful and exhaustive 
 research, running through a course of many 
 years, and a thorough study of the whole subject, 
 all that is known certainly of the development 
 of the Flag of the United States, popularly 
 and quite appropriately known as the Stars and 
 Stripes, may be said to consist, in the only light 
 
Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 so far revealed to us. of just three incidents, quite 
 distinct, yet closely correlated : two '• of record," 
 and one, the central and most important, a con- 
 sistent and well-sustained family tradition. 
 
 These happenings occurred in the following 
 chronological order : 
 
 1. On January 1st, ITTfi, the display by Wash- 
 ington, over his camp at Cambridge, of the Great 
 Union, or Continental, Flag of the United Col- 
 onies. 
 
 2. On or about June 1st, 1776, the making by 
 " Betsy Ross," in Philadelphia, under the direc- 
 tion of General Washington, of a flag consisting 
 of thirteen stripes, red and white, with a union of 
 thirteen five-pointed white stars on a blue field. 
 
 3. On June 11th, 1777, the passage by Con- 
 gress of a resolution adopting the flag above 
 described as the Flag of the United States. 
 
 In the following pages a compilation of events 
 covering the period of these three incidents fur- 
 nishes them with their proper historical setting, 
 and adds all known particulars which have any 
 bearing on the subject in hand. 
 
 George Canbt. 
 
George Canby, 
 1829-1907. 
 
5Iljt Ettolutton of tljs Atttfrtran Jlag 
 
®l|p lEtmlutton nf % Amf rtran 3Flag 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FLAGS WHICH PRECEDED THE STARS AND STRIPES. 
 
 Little is known in regard to the colors carried 
 by the colonial troops in the earliest operations of 
 the Eevolutionary War. The army under General 
 Artemas Ward which was besieging Boston at 
 the beginning of June, 1775, consisted mainly 
 of New England men. They used some flags 
 belonging to the several colonies. The present 
 discussion aims only to bring together what is 
 known in regard to the origin of the flag of the 
 United States. No attempt will be made, there- 
 fore, to enumerate or describe the earlier flags 
 unless they are in some way related to the Stars 
 and Stripes. 
 
 Washington was appointed * Commander-in- 
 chief of the colonial forces by the Continental 
 Congress, sitting in Philadelphia, June 15th, 
 1775. He set out from Philadelphia on the 21st 
 of June, accompanied by Generals Lee and 
 
 * This and other matters from the proceedings of Con- 
 gress may be found under their appropriate dates in the 
 Journals of the Continental Congress, published by the 
 Government. 
 
16 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Schuyler, and escorted by the famous Light 
 Horse Troop of Philadelphia as far as Kings- 
 bridge, beyond Xew York. This troop had a ban- 
 ner or flag which was presented to them later in 
 that year by their first captain, Abraham 
 Markoe. It was made of yellow silk, double, 
 elaborately painted and gilded on both sides with 
 suggestive designs. The much-worn banner, 
 mounted between glass plates, is still preserved 
 as a precious relic by the First City Troop, in a 
 fire-proof safe at their armory in Philadelphia. 
 In its upper corner, next to the staff, is a small, 
 nearly square " canton," composed of thirteen 
 alternate blue and white stripes, the white 
 stripes being made of silver leaf. This is believed 
 to have been the first instance in which the thir- 
 teen colonies were typified by thirteen stripes. 
 ( See colored plate, facing this page. ) 
 
 Washington arrived at Boston on the 2d of 
 July (the battle of Bunker Hill having taken 
 place since his appointment as Commander-in- 
 chief ) , and proceeded to the camp in Cambridge. 
 The terms of enlistment of the men under his 
 command mostly terminated at or before the end 
 of the year. The necessity of organizing a new 
 army induced Congress to appoint a committee 
 to confer ^nith Washington. This committee, 
 consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch 
 and Benjamin Harrison, arrived in Cambridge 
 
Flag of Philadelphia Light-Horse. 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 17 
 
 on the 16th of October. The conference included 
 also several officers of the governments of the 
 New England colonies. This conference was in 
 session for about a week. Minutes of their pro- 
 ceedings are preserved in the archives of the 
 Department of State at Washington. With them 
 is also preserved a letter in the hand-writing of 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Hancock, President 
 of Congress, signed by all three members of the 
 committee, describing their work. Neither in the 
 minutes, which also recite their full instructions 
 from Congress, nor in the accompanying letter, is 
 any mention made of the subject of a flag. Erron- 
 eous statements* on this point have been repeat- 
 edly published. 
 
 Under the plan of reorganization agreed upon 
 by the conference, the new army came into exist- 
 
 * Schuyler Hamilton, in his " History of the Flag," pub- 
 lished in 1852, says in a foot-note on page 60, " We may 
 justly conclude that the Committee of Conference, com- 
 posed of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison, had 
 the subject of a flag under consideration, and that the 
 flag prepared under their supervision was the one dis- 
 played as the flag of the United Colonies, on the day the 
 army organized by them. General Washington, etc., went 
 into being." This is a very reasonable surmise, but It is 
 supported by no contemporary testimony of any kind. 
 Nevertheless, subsequent writers have generally accepted 
 this guess of Schuyler Hamilton as correct, and without 
 doubt or question attribute the Great Union Flag (see page 
 20 and Appendix F), or Grand Union Flag, or Cambridge 
 Flag, as it has been variously called, to the committee. 
 
18 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 ence, as noted in the military orders for the day 
 under Washington's own hand, in his " orderly 
 book," as follows :* 
 
 " Head Quarters, January 1st. 1776. 
 " Parole— TAe Congress. Countersign— America. 
 
 " This day, giving commencement to the new 
 " Army, which in every point of view is en- 
 " tirely Continental, the General flatters him- 
 " self that a laudable spirit of emulation will 
 " now take place, and pervade the whole of it. 
 " Without such a spirit few officers have ever 
 " arrived to any degree of Keputation, nor did 
 " any Army ever become formidable. ..." 
 
 Then follow several pages of sound advice, 
 with numerous orders to be obeyed, ending with 
 this characteristic sentence : 
 
 " This being the day of the new establish- 
 " ment, the General pardons all the offences of 
 " the old, and commands all prisoners, ( except 
 " Prisoners of War ) , to be immediately re- 
 " leased." 
 
 Some interesting circumstances attending the 
 establishment of the Continental Army are best 
 told in the following extracts from a long letter 
 written by Washington to his secretary, Joseph 
 Reed, then in Philadelphia : f 
 
 * American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. IV, p. 568. 
 t American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. IV. p. 570. 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 19 
 
 " Cambridge, January 4th, 1776. 
 
 " Dear Sir : — ... We are at length favored 
 " with a sight of His Majesty's most gracious 
 " speech, breathing sentiments of tenderness 
 " and compassion for his deluded American 
 " subjects. The echo is not yet come to hand, 
 " but we know what it must be, and as Lord 
 " North said, (and we ought to have believed 
 " and acted accordingly), we now know . . . 
 " the ultimatum of British Justice. 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 (the red-coats, I 
 " mean ) without knowing or intending it, for 
 " on that day, the day which gave being to our 
 " new Army, but before the proclamation came 
 " to hand, we had hoisted the Union Flag in 
 " compliment to the United Colonies. But be- 
 " hold, it was received in Boston as a token of 
 " the deep impression the speech had made on 
 " us, and as a signal of submission. So we 
 " learn by a person out of Boston last night. 
 " By this time I presume they think it strange 
 " that we have not made a formal surrender of 
 " our lines. ..." 
 
 Under the same date Washington writes* to 
 John Hancock, President of Congress, 
 
 " . . . As it is possible you may not yet have 
 " received His Majesty's most gracious speech, 
 
 * Sparks, Vol. Ill, p. 221. 
 
20 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " I do myself the honor to enclose one of many 
 " which was sent out of Boston. It is full of 
 " rancor and resentment, and explicitly holds 
 " forth his Royal will to be, that vigorous 
 " measures must be pursued to deprive us of 
 " our constitutional rights and liberties. 
 " These measures, whatsoever they may be, I 
 " hope will be opposed by more vigorous ones, 
 " and rendered unavailing and fruitless, 
 " though sanctified by the name of Majesty, a 
 " name which ought to promote the happiness 
 " of his people, and not their oppression. 
 " I am Sir, etc. etc. 
 
 " Geo. Washington." 
 
 It would seem that up to this time Washing- 
 ton had believed in the possibility of a 
 reconciliation with Great Britain, and that the 
 Grand Union Flag was intended to typify this 
 lingering devotion to the mother country. This 
 ensign,* sometimes quite appropriately called the 
 Cambridge flag, consisted of thirteen alternate 
 red and white stripes, representing the thirteen 
 united Colonies of North America, with the Eng- 
 lish Union f (the cross of St. George combined 
 
 * See colored plate, facing this page. 
 
 t The British Union at that time was a blue field, with 
 the red vertical cross of St. George, edged with white, and 
 the white saltire (diagonal cross) of St. Andrew. This had 
 been adopted by act of Parliament at the time of the union 
 of England and Scotland in 1707, for use on all national 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 21 
 
 with the cross of St. Andrew) in the upper cor- 
 ner. The British Union in the flag was no doubt 
 intended as an aclvuowledgment of the sov- 
 ereignty of Great Brita(in. 
 
 It must be noted that this flag was adopted 
 without any formal order or legislative authority 
 from the Continental Congress. It may, how- 
 ever, be considered official for the short time dur- 
 ing which it was in use, since it had the sanction 
 of General Washington in its adoption. Except- 
 ing Washington's letter to Eeed, already quoted, 
 careful and extensive search through govern- 
 ment and other manuscripts has discovered no 
 writing or record throwing any light on the 
 origin of the Grand Union Flag. In view of the 
 leading part Avhich Washington took in the estab- 
 lishment of the present national ensign (as will 
 appear in the second chapter ) , it seems probable 
 that he was the prime mover in the adoption of 
 
 banners and flags of every kind. James I had ordained 
 in 1606 that it should be carried by both English and 
 Scotch vessels in addition to any other flags when they 
 were upon the high seas. The British Union was changed 
 In 1801, upon the admission of Ireland, by adding the red 
 saltire of St. Patrick, placing it as a red stripe in the 
 middle of each of the white stripes of St. Andrew's cross. 
 The union is for some purposes used separately, and is 
 commonly called the Union Jack. It is also combined in 
 various ways, most commonly being placed in the corner 
 of a red field as our starry union is placed in the striped 
 field of our national ensign. 
 
22 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 the earlier form. It was natural that the Gen- 
 eral should select as the appropriate time for the 
 first unfurling of the new emblem, the day on 
 which the new armj^ came into being ; and the en- 
 thusiasm with which it was greeted was a good 
 augurj' for the success of the American cause. 
 
 Somewhat later on the same day arrived the 
 King's speech, or " proclamation," as Washing- 
 ton called it, with its " rancor and resentment," 
 and its insulting proposals. That Washington 
 was stirred to resentment by the proclamation is 
 shown by the scorn and irony with which, in the 
 letters already quoted, he refers to the overtures 
 of the King toward his " deluded American sub- 
 jects." The fate of the last petition to the King, 
 which had been rejected with disdain, the burn- 
 ing of Portland ( Falmouth ) within a short time, 
 and other outrages committed by the British, 
 were matters still fresh in the minds of the Amer- 
 icans, and now the news was confirmed that 
 twenty thousand Hessians had been hired by 
 George III to assist in their subjugation. The 
 soldiers were not in a mood to be conciliated by 
 the King's speech, and the large number of copies 
 which General Howe had sent out from Boston 
 under a flag of truce for general distribution 
 were promptly burned in the camp. 
 
 On account of the war, it was impossible to 
 procure any considerable supply of bunting or 
 
Flags which Preceded the Htars and Stripes. 23 
 
 other suitable, material, so that very few real 
 bunting flags were made at this period ; and most 
 of the few records in which mention is made of 
 a flag or standard are so indefinite that we are 
 quite at a loss to understand what kind of a flag 
 is alluded to. It is, in fact, impossible to tell 
 to what extent the Grand Union Flag was used, 
 or to determine at all accurately how long its 
 use was continued. But few instances have been 
 found in which a flag or colors are mentioned in 
 either private or official papers during the early 
 period of the war. Some of these must now be 
 considered. 
 
 In September, 1775, two floating batteries 
 made of plank, pierced near the water-line for 
 oars, carrying four swivels, and a heavy gun at 
 each end, were launched on the Charles River, 
 near Boston. They opened Are on Boston in 
 October, created great alarm and damaged sev- 
 eral houses. They carried the " Pine Tree Flag." 
 Maine was at that time a part of Massachusetts, 
 and on her admission to the Union as a State in 
 1820 continued the pine tree on her escutcheon. 
 Maine has ever since been called the " Pine Tree 
 State." 
 
 A number of schooners were also built at 
 Salem, Marblehead, and other convenient points 
 near Boston. They were fitted out as war vessels 
 by order of Washington, and commissioned by 
 
34 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 him. On October 20th, 1775, Colonel Reed, Gen- 
 eral Washington's secretary, wrote* to Colonels 
 Glover and IMoylan, who had been appointed 
 agents for fitting out the armed vessels, " Please 
 fix upon some particular color for a flag, and a 
 signal by which our vessels may know one an- 
 other. 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 float- 
 ing batteries." Colonels Glover and Moylan 
 replied the next day from Beverly, that as Cap- 
 tains Broughton and Selman, who had sailed 
 that morning, had none but their old colors, they 
 had appointed as a signal by which they would 
 be known by their friends, the ensign " at the 
 main topping lift." This correspondence took 
 place at the same time that the Committee of 
 Congress was in conference with General Wash- 
 ington upon the reorganization of the army, but 
 it will be observed that the question of the colors 
 or signals for the vessels alluded to was a matter 
 with which the committee had no concern, just 
 as it had no official connection with the adoption 
 of the Grand Union Flag. 
 
 It was in the same month ( October, 1775 ) that 
 the Continental Congress in Philadelphia took 
 steps for the establishment of a regular navy 
 for the allied colonies. Under this order several 
 
 * Washington's Letters, B, Vol. 1, p. 84. 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 25 
 
 vessels of varied capacity were soon purcliased 
 and fitted up, and on December 22d Eseli Hop- 
 kins was appointed commander-in-chief of tlie 
 fleet of five vessels tlien about ready to sail. 
 The " Alfred," formerly a merchant ship called 
 the " Black Prince," was selected hy Commander 
 Hopkins to be the flagship of the fleet, and John 
 Paul Jones, the senior of the five first-lieuten- 
 ants, was assigned to the " Alfred." 
 
 Congress seems to have made no provision for 
 colors for the fleet thus created, but there are 
 several contemporary allusions to the flags which 
 they carried. One of these is in a letter* written 
 October 10th, 1783, to Robert Morris by John 
 Paul Jones. He says that when the commander- 
 in-chief came on board, the " Flag of America " 
 was hoisted by his (J. P. J.'s) own hand, being 
 the first time it was ever displayed on a regular 
 man-of-war. He does not give the date, which 
 was probably early in January, 1776, nor does 
 he describe the flag of which he speaks. It is said 
 that a striped flag, without any union, or canton, 
 was in u.se about that time. In some instances a 
 rattlesnake was represented undulating across 
 the body of the flag, and this is supposed by some 
 to be what Jones called the " Flag of America." 
 It seems pretty certain, however, as will pres- 
 
 * Sands, " Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones," 
 pp. 304-309. New York, 1830. 
 
26 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 ently be shown, that the flag of Hopkins's fleet 
 was the Grand Union Flag. The fleet set sail 
 January 5th, 1776. 
 
 The sailing of the fleet is described in a con- 
 temporary paper found in the American 
 Archives, Volume IV, fourth series, pages 964 
 and 965. 
 
 " Newbern, North Carolina, Feb. 9th 1776. 
 
 " By a gentleman from Philadelphia 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 Western Ocean, in defence of the 
 " rights and liberties of the people of these 
 " Colonies, now suffering under the persecut- 
 " ing rod of the British Ministry, and their 
 " more than brutish tyrants in America. The 
 " fleet consists of flve sail, fitted out at Phila- 
 " delphia, which are to be joined at the Capes 
 " of Virginia by two ships more from Mary- 
 " land, and is commanded by Admiral Hop- 
 " kins a most experienced and venerable sea 
 " captain. The Admiral's ship is called the 
 " Columbus, after Christopher Columbus, the 
 " renowned discoverer of the Western World, 
 " and mounts thirty-six guns, twelve and nine 
 " pounders, on two decks, forty swivels, and 
 " five hundred men. The second ship is called 
 " the Cabot, after Sebastian Cabot, who com- 
 " pleted the discoveries of America made by 
 
Flags wliich Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 37 
 
 " Columbus, and mounts thirty-two guns. The 
 " others are smaller vessels, from twenty-four 
 " to fourteen guns. They sailed from Philadel- 
 " phia amidst the acelamations of many thou- 
 " sands assembled on the joyful occasion, 
 " under the display of a Union Flag, with thir- 
 " teen stripes in the field, emblematical of the 
 " thirteen United Colonies ; but unhappily for 
 " us, the ice in the river Delaware as yet ob- 
 " structs the passage thence, but the time will 
 " soon arrive when this fleet must come to 
 " action. Their destination is a secret, but gen- 
 " erally supposed to be against the Minis- 
 " terial Governors, those little petty Tyrants 
 " that have lately spread fire and swortl 
 " throughout these Southern Colonies. For 
 " the haijpy success of this little fleet, three 
 " millions of people offer their most earnest 
 " supplications to Heaven." 
 
 The gentleman from Philadelphia must have 
 been confused in regard to the flagship. The 
 " Columbus " was one of the five, the " Cabot " 
 another, and the " Andrea Doria " a third, but 
 the flag-ship was the " Alfred." 
 
 The fleet, being detained by ice in the river, did 
 not sail from the Capes of the Delaware until 
 February 17th, 1776. They went to the Bahama 
 Islands, and on the 1st of March anchored off the 
 island of Abaco with two captured schooners 
 belonging to New Providence. On the morning 
 
28 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 of the 17th of March, the fleet entered the harbor 
 of New Providence, and sailed away the same 
 day, taking with them nearly a hundred cannon 
 and various military stores and also the governor 
 of the islands. An account of the exploit was 
 published in the Town and Country Jlagazine, 
 London, July, 1776, from which we quote.* 
 
 " New Providence, May 13th. 
 
 " The Americans have been here, and have 
 " taken the King's guns, brass mortars, and 
 " other warlike stores. Their fleet consisted of 
 " seven sail, Commodore Hopkins, commander. 
 "... They took Governor Brown and Secre- 
 " tary Babbage prisoners, and Mr. Irvin, be- 
 " longing to Charlestown, all of whom were in 
 " the fleet when they engaged the Glasgow 
 " man-of-war. The colours of the American 
 " fleet were striped under the union with thir- 
 " teen strokes, called the thirteen united Col- 
 " onies, and their standard was a rattlesnake, 
 " motto, * Don't tread upon me ! ' " 
 
 This makes it reasonably certain that the flag 
 of the fleet was the Grand Union flag,f and the 
 
 * In Hamilton's " History of tlie Flag " this passage is 
 quoted from the " London Ladies' Magazine." It no doubt 
 appeared in both. 
 
 t It will be noticed that this fleet sailed from Philadel- 
 phia on the 5th of January, 1776, only four days after the 
 Grand Union Flag was first unfurled at Cambridge. This 
 makes it seem that notice of the adoption of the new flag 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 29 
 
 rattlesnake flag was in all probability the stand- 
 ard of the commander-in-chief. The last state- 
 ment is based on a contemporary description* of 
 a flag presented to the South Carolina Assembly 
 in February, 1776, by Colonel Gadsden : " An ele- 
 gant standard, such as is to be used by the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American Navy; being a 
 yellow flag, with a lively representation of a rat- 
 tlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of going to 
 strike, and the words underneath, ' Don't tread 
 on me.' " So far as is known, neither of these 
 flags had any sanction or authority from the Con- 
 tinental Congress. 
 
 Who first suggested that a flag of thirteen 
 alternate red and white stripes should represent 
 the thirteen united colonies cannot now be deter- 
 mined, nor at what date such a flag was first 
 used. The time must have been just before the 
 appearance of the Grand Union flag on January 
 1st, 1776. The suggestion of such a combination 
 might have come from a similar flag used by the 
 East India Company. Their ships carried 
 striped flags with nine, ten and other numbers of 
 
 must have come from Boston by letter or messenger who 
 left that city before the first of the year; otherwise the 
 flags could hardly have been ready by the time the fleet 
 sailed. Again comes up the possibility that the Franklin, 
 Harrison and Lynch committee knew about the flag. 
 
 * American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. V, p. 508. South 
 Carolina Provincial Congress. 
 
30 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 stripes. One in particular is described which 
 had thirteen stripes and a St. George cross on a 
 white ground for a canton. This flag was used 
 near the beginning of the eighteenth century. It 
 is described in a publication entitled " The Pres- 
 ent State of the Union,'' fourth edition, published 
 in London in the year 1704. It would thus 
 appear that there was nothing new in the selec- 
 tion of red and white stripes to form the distinct 
 and brilliant contrast now so familiar as the field 
 of our national emblem. The symbolic meaning 
 attached to the colors by sentimental writers 
 probably had no place in the minds of the design- 
 ers of the flag. 
 
 A flag is generally regarded as the emblem of 
 a particular nation, definitely established, and so 
 long as different members of Congress held 
 divergent views in regard to separation from the 
 mother country, it is not surprising that no 
 action was taken in the matter of a flag. We do 
 not know what may have been said on the sub- 
 ject, only that the record is silent. Jared Sparks 
 says very truly, " The eloquence and internal 
 counsels of the old Congress were never 
 recorded; we know them only by their results." 
 It does not appear whether the Cambridge flag 
 had any authority behind it except that of the 
 commanding general or not, but it is certain that 
 it continued to be used for some time. It is men- 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 31 
 
 tioned in several contemporary writings, which 
 we will examine in chronological order. 
 
 Before taking up these references to the Cam- 
 bridge or Grand Union Flag, it is worth while to 
 note a passage in regard to regimental colors in 
 Washington's orderly book.* 
 
 " Headquarters, 20tli February, 1776. 
 " Parole — Manchester. Countersign — Boyle. 
 
 " As it is necessary that every regiment 
 " should be furnished with colours, and that 
 " these colours bear some kind of similitude to 
 " the regiment to which they belong, the col- 
 " onels, with their respective brigadiers, and 
 " with the quartermaster-general, may fix 
 " upon any such as are proper and can be pro- 
 " cured. There must be for each regiment the 
 " standard for regimental colours, and colours 
 " for each grand division, the whole to be small 
 " and light. The number of the regiment is to 
 " be marked on the colours, and such motto as 
 " the colonel may choose, in fixing upon which 
 " the general advises a consultation among 
 " them. The colonels are to delay no time in 
 
 * This and other quotations from Washington's Orderly 
 Book were copied by George Canby from the original in 
 the Records and Pension Division of the War Department. 
 The Library of Congress has the abridged transcript made 
 by -Richard Varick toward the close of the Revolution. 
 Some parts have been printed in various collections of 
 archives, and references to them are given In some in- 
 stances. 
 
32 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 '■ getting the matter fixed, that the quarter- 
 " master-general may provide the colours for 
 " them as soon as possible." 
 
 " G°. Washington." 
 
 This order not only shows Washington's anx- 
 iety that the troops should be supplied with col- 
 ors, but implies that the necessary materials 
 were not to be had easily. As will appear later, 
 it is not likely that the order was carried out to 
 any extent. 
 
 The next reference inyolving the Cambridge 
 flag is the following from the Pennsylvania Col- 
 onial Eecords, Volume X, page 494 : 
 
 " 24th of February, 1776. 
 
 " The Committee of Safety at Philadelphia 
 " ordered that Captain Proctor procure a flag- 
 " staff for the fort, with a flag of the United 
 " Colonies." 
 
 The flag intended was in all probability the 
 Grand Union Flag. 
 
 On March ITth, 1T7G, the British evacuated 
 Boston, and two divisions of Continental troops, 
 under Generals Ward and Putnam, occupied the 
 city. " The flag of thirteen stripes, the standard 
 of the Union," was on this occasion carried into 
 Boston by Ensign Richards.* The safety of New 
 
 * American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. V, p. 423. 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 33 
 
 York next claimed the attention of Washington, 
 and on the 13th of April he arrived there with his 
 army, and General Putnam was placed in com- 
 mand of the city. 
 
 The next date on which the use of the Cam- 
 bridge flag is mentioned is the 15th of May, 1776. 
 The Pennsijlvania Journal and Weekly Adver- 
 tiser, published by W. & T. Bradford, in its issue 
 of May 29th, 1770, has an account of the proceed- 
 ings of the convention at Williamsburg, Virginia, 
 on May 15th, in which a resolution was adopted 
 favoring separation from Great Britain. A 
 grand celebration followed, with toasts, etc., and 
 then the account proceeds : 
 
 " The Union Flag of the American States 
 " waved upon the Capitol during the whole of 
 " this ceremony, which being ended, the sol- 
 " diers partook of the refreshments prepared 
 " for them by the affections of their country- 
 " men, and the evening concluded with illum- 
 " inations and other demonstrations of joy, 
 " every one seeming pleased that the domina- 
 " tion of Great Britain was at an end." 
 
 The next reference to the Grand Union Flag 
 is found in a letter preserved among the naval 
 records of England. It is from Capt. Chapman, 
 of H.M.S. " Shark," to Vice-Admiral Young, 
 dated July 30, 1776, in Martinico, Fort St. 
 Pierre's Bay. 
 
34 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " I saw a Sail in the Offing with Colours 
 "which I was unac(iuainted with (being red 
 " and white striped with a Union next the 
 " Staff) . . . found to be an American armed 
 '' ship, mounting IS guns, 6 pounders, and 
 " wears a Jack, Ensign and Pendant. I have 
 " since learnt her name to be the Keprizal, 
 " Capt. Weeckes."* 
 
 In order to follow the story of the Grand 
 Union Flag, we will now pass over the events of 
 the two months intervening between Mav 15th 
 and the arrival of the British before New York. 
 A letter from Ambrose Searle, confidential sec- 
 retary of Admiral Lord Howe, written to the 
 Earl of Dartmouth soon after the arrival of the 
 fleet in Xew York harbor, describes the flag car- 
 ried by the American troops, and shows that it 
 was the same that had first been displayed at 
 
 * This quotation is given on the authority of Messrs. 
 B. F. Stevens and Brown. 4 Trafalgar Square. London, 
 who wrote to George Canby. under date of October 22, 
 1902: " We proceeded in accordance with your wishes to 
 extend our search amongst the naval records for the same 
 period (June, 1776, to July, 1777) in the hope of finding 
 some description of the flas used by American ships. We 
 have examined all the likely volumes of ' Captains' Let- 
 ters ' and ' Admirals' Dispatches,' but only one specific ref- 
 erence has been found, viz,:" (See above.) The 
 " Reprizal " is the vessel which a few months later carried 
 Franklin to France. (See "Works of Franklin," Federal 
 Edition. Putnam's, 1904. Vol. VII, p. 149.) 
 
Flags which Preceded the Stars and Stripes. 35 
 
 Cambridge at the beginning of tlie year. The let- 
 ter is a long one, dated July 25th, 1T7G, and con- 
 tains the following passage : " They have set up 
 " their standard in the fort upon the southern end 
 " of the town. Their colours are thirteen stripes 
 " of red and white, alternately, with the English 
 "Union cantoned in the corner." (See manu- 
 scripts of the Earl of Dartmouth, Stephens' fac- 
 similes, in European Archives ; — American Revo- 
 lution, Vol. 24, No. 2040, p. r,. ) 
 
 Benson J. Lossing states* that he found among 
 the papers of General Schuyler, who had com- 
 mand of the Northern Department, with head- 
 quarters at Albany during this period, a water 
 color sketch of the " Royal Savage," one of the 
 little fleet on Lake Champlain in the summer and 
 fall of 1776, commanded by Benedict Arnold. 
 The drawing shows the Grand Union Flag, with 
 thirteen stripes and the English Union, flying 
 from the mast-head. 
 
 After the battle of Valcour Island, Arnold, in 
 the " Royal Savage," delayed the British vessels 
 long enough to permit some of the flotilla to 
 escape under cover of the night. He then ran the 
 vessel aground and set fire to her, her flag flying 
 from the peak until the flames brought it down. 
 That the flag used on this occasion was the 
 
 * See " Life and Times of Philip Schuyler," Benson J. 
 Lossing, edition of 1872, pp. 113 and 114, Vol. II. 
 
36 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Grand Union is shown by a manuscript pre- 
 served in the British Museum collection, Xo. 
 32,413. It is a narrative of the northern cam- 
 paign of 1776 by Lieut. William Digby, serving 
 under Sir Guy Carleton. Under date of October 
 IJrth, 1776, is the following :* 
 
 " We were very impatient for an express, and 
 " did not know well what to think, when about 
 " 3 o'clock a canoe was perceived at a great dis- 
 " tance, making all the way possible for our 
 " camp. On the nearer approach, we perceived 
 " it was Sir Francis Clarke, the General's aide- 
 " de-camp, who, waving the enemy's colours, 
 " thirteen stripes, declared the day was all our 
 " own." 
 
 The Royal Savage was burned on the night of 
 October 13th, so the two accounts agree in show- 
 ing that the Cambridge flag was in use up to that 
 time. Xo definite evidence of its use after Octo- 
 ber, 1776, has yet been found. 
 
 * Quoted in a letter to George Canby, dated 20th Septem- 
 ber, 1902, from B. F. Stevens & Brown. See Appendix H 
 for account of Digby's diary. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MAKING OF THE FIRST STAK-SPANGLED BANNEB. 
 
 That modification of tlie Grand Union Flag, 
 which has been for more than one hundred and 
 thirty years the national ensign, was adopted by 
 Congress by a resolution dated June lith, 1777. 
 The first flag of the new design was, however, 
 made a little more than a year previous to the 
 date of the resolution. Remembering that the 
 records of Congress contain no mention of the 
 Grand Union Flag, which remained in use cer- 
 tainly for the greater part of a year, it is not sur- 
 prising that this modification of that flag was in 
 existence for more than a year before any men- 
 tion of it found its way into the Congressional 
 Journal. 
 
 The time between the arrival of the army in 
 New York and the battle of Long Island wit- 
 nessed very important transactions in Congress. 
 Sentiment in favor of independence had been 
 growing rapidly, and during this period it crys- 
 tallized, first in the resolutions of May 10th and 
 15th, and finally in the great Declaration. The 
 change of sentiment on the part of Washington is 
 perhaps typical of what was going on in the gen- 
 eral mind. On October 9th, 1774, he had writ- 
 ten* to Captain Robert McKenzie, who had 
 
 * Ford's " Writings of Washington," Vol. II, p. 444. 
 
38 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 served under him in the French and Indian War, 
 '' Xo such thing " (as independence) " is desired 
 by any thinking man in America." While he was 
 in Philadelphia in May, 17TG, he received a letter 
 from his brother, John Augustine Washington, 
 announcing the action of the Virginia Assembly 
 instructing their representatives in the Conti- 
 nental Congress to support the movement toward 
 independence. Washington replied* in part as 
 
 foUoAvs : 
 
 ■■ Philadelphia, 31 May, 1776. 
 
 " Dear Brother : — -Since my arrival at this 
 " place, where I came at the request of Con- 
 " gress to settle some matters relative to the 
 " ensuing campaign, I have received your let- 
 '* ter of the ISth, from Williamsburg. 
 
 " I am very glad to find that the Virginia 
 " Convention have passed so noble a vote, and 
 " "with so much unanimity. Things have now 
 " come to such a pass as to convince us that 
 " we have nothing more to expect from the jus- 
 " tice of Great Britain." 
 
 This letter shows that Washington was in full 
 sympathy at this time with the movement toward 
 independence. The new nation must have a flag 
 entirely unlike that of the mother country, and 
 it seems that a new design was worked out dur- 
 ing Washington's stay in Philadelphia, between 
 
 * Ford's " Writings of Washington," Vol. IV., page 105. 
 
Making of the First Star-Spangled Banner. 39 
 
 May 22(1 and June 5th, 177G. No contemporary 
 account, so far as known, contains any allusion 
 to the designing and making of this flag, but in 
 order to understand the conditions as clearly aa 
 possible, we shall go over in some detail the 
 movements of Washington during this time, and 
 the correspondence relating to them. 
 
 Two letters* from Robert Morris to Washing- 
 ton will show the important place held by the 
 former in the counsels of Congress. 
 
 " Philada. May 11th 1776. 
 
 " Sir : — In compliance with an order of Con- 
 " gress, passed yesterday, we forward by the 
 " bearer hereof, Ten Tons of Gun Powder, 
 " which your Excellency will cause the proper 
 " officers to receive, and upon this and every 
 " similar occasion we beg the favor of a line 
 " from you or the Commissary acknowledging 
 " the receipt of such Powder or other stores as 
 " we may send to your department. 
 " We have the honor to be 
 
 " Your Excellency's 
 " most obd't hble servt. 
 
 " Robert Morris, 
 
 " Chairman. 
 
 " By order of the Secret Committee t of Congress. 
 
 " His Excellency, 
 
 " Gen'l Washington." 
 
 * MSS. in the Library of Congress. 
 
 t On September 18th, 1775, Congress resolved to appoint 
 
40 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " Philadelphia. May 16th. 1776. 
 
 " Sir : — The inclosed letters will discover to 
 "your Excellency that the Congress have 
 " ordered Two Hundred and forty four mus- 
 " kets to be forwarded from Khode Island to 
 " New York, for the Continental Service, and 
 " as it is probable you may think proper to give 
 " some directions about the mode of getting 
 " them safe down, we trouble you with these 
 " open letters, that you may have the opportun- 
 " ity of forwarding them and of adding thereto 
 " what you may think necessary. We have the 
 " honor to be 
 
 " Your Excellency's 
 " obdt hbl servt 
 
 " Robert Morris, Chairman. 
 
 " By order of the Secret Committee. 
 
 '• His Excellency 
 
 " Genl Washington." 
 
 In the Journal of Congress, under date of May 
 16th, 1776, occurs the following entry : — 
 
 " Resolved — That the president write to 
 " General Washington, requesting that he will 
 " repair to Philadelphia as soon as he conven- 
 " iently can, in order to consult with Congress 
 
 a committee of nine to procure powder, arms, and other 
 military stores. Robert Morris was not a member of the 
 original committee, but was appointed December 13th, 
 1775, in place of Thomas Willing. 
 
Haling of the First Star-Spangled Banner. 41 
 
 " upon such measures as may be necessary for 
 " the carrying on the ensuing campaign." 
 
 In obedience to this resolution, John Hancock 
 writes* as follows: — 
 
 " Philadelphia, May 16th 1776. 
 
 " Sir : — I do myself the Honor to enclose you 
 several Resolutions passed by Congress, to 
 which I beg leave to refer you. 
 " The Congress being of opinion that it is 
 necessary as well for your Health as the pub- 
 lic service, that you shall embrace the earliest 
 opportunity of coming to Philadelphia, have 
 directed me to write to you, and request that 
 
 ■ you will repair to Philada. as soon as you can 
 conveniently, in order to consult with Con- 
 gress upon such measures as may be neces- 
 sary for the carrying on the ensuing Cam- 
 paign. 
 " I hope the situation of the great affairs 
 
 ' with which you are intrusted will admit your 
 
 ' making the excursion which I apprehend 
 may be serviceable to your health. In which 
 case I request that you will please to honor 
 me with your and your Lady's Company at 
 my House, where I have a Bed at your service 
 during your continuance here, and where 
 every endeavor of mine and Mrs. Hancock 
 shall be extended to make your abode agree- 
 
 ' able. 
 
 * MS. in the Library of Congress. 
 
42 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " I reside in an airy, open part of the City, 
 " in Arch Street and Fourth Street. If this 
 " should be agreeable to you it will give me 
 " much pleasure. 
 
 " I am to inform you that Congress have this 
 " day appointed Horatio Gates, Esq., a Major- 
 " General, and Thomas Mifflin, Esq., a Briga- 
 " dier-General in the Continental Army. A 
 " commission for the former I transmit by this 
 " opportunity. I have delivered one to Mr. 
 " Mifflin here. 
 
 " I could wish, if consistent with the service 
 " it might be agreeable to you to direct these 
 " two gentlemen to repair to Boston. But I 
 " would not urge a Matter which entirely rests 
 " with you. I know your Disposition will 
 " prompt you to make as agreeable an arrange- 
 " ment as possible. 
 
 " I have the Honor to be with respectful 
 " sentiments and esteem 
 
 Sir, your most obt. hbl. sert. 
 
 " John Hancock, President. 
 
 " His Excellency 
 
 " General Washington. 
 
 " P. S. — Since writing the foregoing, I have 
 " been told that your Lady, not having had the 
 " Small Pox, has intentions of taking it by In- 
 " oculation in this City. I beg that that cir- 
 " cumstance may be no prevention to your 
 " making use of my house ; it is large and very 
 " Commodious, and every accommodation 
 
dialing of the First Star-Spnnglecl Banner. 43 
 
 " about it is at your service, and you may de- 
 " pend that Mrs. Hancock will give the great- 
 " est attention to your Lady, should she incline 
 " to take the Disorder. I shall be peculiarly 
 " happy if my Invitation may be found agree- 
 " able to you." 
 
 Notwithstanding this cordial invitation of 
 President Hancock, Washington did not accept 
 his hospitality. On May 22d he and Mrs. Wash- 
 ington arrived in Philadelphia and put up at the 
 City Tavern on South Second Street, which was 
 then a popular hotel. He remained in Philadel- 
 phia until June 5th, when, accompanied by Gen- 
 erals Gates and Mifflin, he set out for New York, 
 where he arrived the next day. He was not in 
 Philadelphia again until August 2d, 1777, a 
 period of more than a year. Of his doings during 
 the fifteen days of his stay in 1776 we have but 
 scanty records. 
 
 On Friday and Saturday, the 24th and 25th of 
 May, at the request of Congress he attended a 
 portion of each session. On the 25th Congress 
 appointed a committee of fourteen members " to 
 confer with General Washington, Major-General 
 Gates, and Brigadier-General Mifflin, and con- 
 cert a plan of military operations for the ensuing 
 campaign." It was also " Resolved that notice 
 be given to the Colonels of the Association that it 
 is the desire of Congress that they draw out their 
 
44 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 battalions in general review on Monday morning 
 as early as possible, and that Congress, with the 
 Generals in town, propose to attend the review at 
 9 o'clock." The Pennsylvania Gazette of May 
 29th has the following report : — 
 
 " On Monday afternoon, May 27th, General 
 " Washington, members of Congress, Gen'ls 
 " Gates and Mifflin, reviewed the four battal- 
 " ions, the Light Horse, and three artillery 
 " companies of the City Militia, amounting to 
 " 2,500 men ; also two battalions of Continental 
 " troops. The Indians who are come to town 
 " on business with Congress attended the Gen- 
 " eral in reviewing." 
 
 On May 28th Washington wrote the following 
 letter* to Major-General Putnam at New York: 
 
 " Philadelphia, May 28th 1776. 
 
 " Sir : — I received yours of the 24th inst. 
 " with its several Inclosures, and the Letters 
 " and Invoices from General Ward, giving In- 
 " telligence of the fortunate Capture made by 
 " our armed Vessels, on which event you have 
 " my congratulations. 
 
 " I have wrote Genl. Ward, as you will see 
 "by the inclosed Letter, (which having read 
 " you will send by Post ) to send forward to 
 " New York Col". Putnam's Demands, and also 
 " such articles as Col°. Knox may apply for, 
 
 * See Ford's " Writings of Washington," Vol. IV, p. 103. 
 
Making of the First Star-Spangled Banner. 45 
 
 " out of the Cargo taken. In like manner I 
 " have desired him to send me as soon as possi- 
 " ble, part of the Powder and eight hundred 
 " of the Carbines, which will greatly assist in 
 " making up the Deficiency in this Instance. 
 
 " As to the Plan for employing the Armed 
 " Vessels, I have no objection to its being 
 " adopted, provided it will not frustrate the 
 " main design for which they were fitted out. 
 " That I would by no means have injured, as it 
 " is a matter of much importance to prevent a 
 " Correspondence between the disaffected and 
 " the enemy, and the latter from getting sup- 
 " plies of Provisions ; but if this End can be 
 " answered, and the other advantages in the 
 " Plan mentioned, it is certainly an eligible 
 " one. 
 
 " The great variety of Business in which 
 " Congress are engaged, has prevented our set- 
 " tling what I was requested to attend for, 
 " tho' we have made several attempts, and a 
 " Committee has been appointed for the pur- 
 " pose Day after Day ; nor can I say with Pre- 
 " cision when I shall be at Liberty to return. 
 " I must therefore pray your attention and 
 " Vigilance to every necessary Work ; and fur- 
 " ther if you should receive, before I come, cer- 
 " tain advice and such as you can rely on, of 
 " the enemy's being on the coast or approach- 
 " ing New York, that you inform me thereon by 
 " Express, as early as possible. I do not wish 
 
46 Evolution of the Amerkan Flag. 
 
 " an alarm to be given me without Founda- 
 " tion ; but as soon as tou are certified of their 
 '• coming, that it be instantly communicated to 
 " me, and order given by the Express who 
 '• come, to bespeak at the different necessary 
 " Stages on the Eoad, as many Horses, as may 
 " be proper for facilitating my Return and that 
 " of the Gentlemen with me, with the greatest 
 " expedition. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 Yrs. &c. 
 
 " G. Washington. 
 
 " P. S. — I desire you'll speak to the several 
 " Col'^ & hurry them to get their colours done." 
 
 On receiving this letter, General Putnam had 
 the following entry placed in the orderly book, 
 under date of May 31st, 1776 :* 
 
 " Gen\ Washington has wrote to Gen'. Put- 
 " nam desiring him in the most pressing terms, 
 " to give positive orders to all colonels, to have 
 " Colours immediately completed for their 
 " respective regiments." 
 
 It would seem that the order of February 20th 
 had been disregarded, at least in part, since 
 Washington in writing to Putnam brings up 
 again the subject of regimental colors. Evi- 
 dently the subject of colors was in Washington's 
 
 * American Archives. 4th Series. Vol. TI, p. 637. 
 
Making of tlie First Star-Spangled Banner. 47 
 
 mind with special insistence just at tliis time, 
 and it appears from his remark in regard to the 
 delay of his business with Congress that he felt 
 somewhat at leisure. That some of this compar- 
 ative leisure was employed in consultation with 
 members of Congress in regard to a new flag, and 
 that the flag was designed and made during 
 Washington's stay in Philadelphia, is made clear 
 by the verbal account of the lady who was em- 
 ployed to make the sample of the new emblem. 
 This lady was Elizabeth Eoss, familiarly called 
 Betsy, widow of John Eoss, who had died in the 
 preceding January as the result of an accident 
 among some military stores which he was guard- 
 ing on the wharf. She continued to make flags 
 for about fifty years, and often told to her daugh- 
 ters and other assistants, and to her grandchil- 
 dren, some of whom are still living, the story of 
 the making of the first American Flag. 
 
 The story as told by the different hearers in- 
 cludes many particulars which vary more or 
 less in the different versions, as might be ex- 
 pected in such a case. Omitting for the pres- 
 ent all of these minor particulars, the main 
 points of the story are these: Washington, ac- 
 companied by Eobert Morris and George Eoss, 
 called at the little upholstery shop on Arch 
 Street, where she was carrying on the business 
 in which her husband and herself had been 
 
46 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 engaged, and asked her if she could make a flag. 
 She said that she had never made one, but that 
 she could try. They thereupon produced a 
 design, rather roughly drawn. She examined the 
 design, and, noticing that the stars were six- 
 pointed, suggested that they should be made with 
 five points. The gentlemen agreed with her that 
 five points would look better, but that the six- 
 pointed star would be easier to make. She then 
 showed them how a five-pointed star could be 
 made with a single clip of the scissors. General 
 Washington then and there changed the sketch, 
 and the three gentlemen left. Soon after a new 
 design was sent to her, colored by William 
 Barrett, a painter of some note. She thereupon 
 set to work to make the sample flag, which was 
 soon completed and approved. 
 
 Mrs. Eoss, afterward Mrs. Claypoole, in tell- 
 ing * the story of the first flag, always spoke of 
 Robert Morris and George Eoss as a committee 
 of Congress. There is no record in the Journal 
 of Congress of the appointment of such a com- 
 mittee, but as we have seen, Robert Morris was 
 chairman of the " Secret Committee," and it is 
 entirely possible that he and George Eoss (who 
 was an uncle of John Ross, the deceased husband 
 
 * See Appendix C for affidavits of the narrators of the 
 Betsy Ross story, and Appendix B for biographical sketch 
 of Betsy Boss. 
 
Making of the First Star-Spangled Banner. 49 
 
 of Betsy Boss) did call in an official capacity. 
 Mrs. Claypoole said that the flag was made 
 shortly before the Declaration of Independence, 
 that it was adopted by Congress, and that her 
 uncle, George Ross, commissioned her to make 
 as many flags as she could and furnished the 
 money to buy the bunting. It is a matter of 
 common observation that in narrating events 
 from memory it is easy to confuse dates and the 
 sequence of events, unless they are fixed by other 
 things happening at the same time. In this nar- 
 rative repeated by those who heard it from Eliza- 
 beth Claypoole, it is probable that the time of 
 the adoption of the flag and of the order to make 
 flags is confused. The date of the making of the 
 first flag is fixed by the condition " shortly before 
 the Declaration." That was an event which Phil- 
 adelphians did not forget or confuse. The time is 
 also fixed by the condition, " while she was the 
 widow of John Ross." She was married to 
 Joseph Ashburn the day after the adoption of the 
 flag resolution of June 14, 1777. If the flag 
 received any indorsement from Congress in 1776 
 it must have been in secret session. The supposi- 
 tion that the flag had received some kind of offi- 
 cial recognition receives support from the pro- 
 ceedings of Congress at the time of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence in regard to a seal for the 
 United States. A committee was appointed to 
 
50 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 design a seal, but nothing was said about a flag, 
 which suggests that that matter was already set- 
 tled. This, however, is mere conjecture. 
 
 At the time when the flag was made, a month 
 before the Declaration of Independence, there 
 was still occasion for secrecy in such a matter as 
 the designing of a new flag, whose use would be 
 an avowal of independence. It is quite what we 
 should expect, therefore, that Congress did not 
 openly adopt the new flag in June, midway in 
 time between the resolutions of May 15th and 
 the Declaration. And at a time when so many 
 matters of great moment were under considera- 
 tion, it is not surprising that after the Declara- 
 tion the matter of affirming a possible previous 
 decision in regard to the flag should have been 
 overlooked. The extremely small number of 
 allusions to any flags in the letters and other 
 writings of the period shows that flags were not a 
 subject of much consideration or importance. 
 
 Washington's silence on the subject was prob- 
 ably due to his well-known modesty. He had 
 in all probability an important part, perhaps 
 the leading part, in designing both the flag of 
 January, 1776, and that of June, 1776, which 
 became the national ensign. In the only mention 
 which he makes of the Cambridge flag, he says 
 nothing about his own part in its adoption, and 
 it would not be like him ever to call attention 
 
Making of the First Star-Spangled Banner. 51 
 
 to liis share in the designing of the Stars and 
 Stripes. In fact, it was not until a good many 
 years after Washington's death that the flag 
 became an object of great interest and enthusi- 
 asm on the part of Americans in general. 
 
 Another paper of interest in connection with 
 Washington's visit to Philadelphia is the follow- 
 ing letter* from John Hancock : — 
 
 " Philadelphia, June 3^. 1776. 
 
 " Sir : — I am extremely sorry it is not in my 
 " power to wait upon you in person to execute 
 " the command of Congress. But being de- 
 " prived of this pleasure by a severe Fit of the 
 " gout, I am under the Necessity of taking this 
 " Method to acquaint you that Congress have 
 " directed me in their Name to make the 
 " thanks of that Body to you, for the unremit- 
 " ted attention you have paid to your import- 
 " ant Trust ; and in particular for the Assist- 
 " ance they have derived from your military 
 " Knowledge and Experience in adopting the 
 " best plans for the defence of the United 
 " Colonies. 
 
 " To-morrow Morning I will do myself the 
 " Honor of sending you all such Resolves of 
 " Congress as anyways relate to the operations 
 " of the ensuing Campaign. 
 
 " Having therefore fully accomplished the 
 " views of Congress in requesting your attend- 
 
 * MS., Library of Congress. 
 
53 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " ance in this City, I am commanded to inform 
 " you that they submit to your choice the Time 
 " of returning to Head Quarters ; well know- 
 " ing you will repair thither, whenever the 
 " Exigency of Affairs shall render your pres- 
 " ence there necessary. 
 
 " With the most ardent wishes, that you may 
 " be crowned with Success, equal to your Merit 
 " and the Eighteousness of our Cause, 
 " I have the Honor to be with highest Esteem 
 
 and Eegard, 
 " Sir, your most obd*. and very hble Servt. 
 " John Hancock, Presdt. 
 
 " His Excellency 
 
 Geni. Washington." 
 
 The disastrous battle of Long Island and the 
 loss of New York occurred in August, and these 
 reverses, making the success of the American 
 cause very doubtful, may perhaps account for the 
 slowness with which the new national flag found 
 its way into use. Nothing is known in regard to 
 the fate of the sample flag made about the first 
 of June, 1776. 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 USE OF THE STARS AND STRIPES DURING THE 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 
 
 Two paintings by Revolutionary artists repre- 
 sent tlie new flag in use at the time of the battles 
 about Trenton at the end of 1776. The earliest 
 of these was painted about two years after the 
 event by Charles Willson Peale. It is a portrait 
 of Washington, representing him after the battle 
 of Trenton. Peale was in command of a company 
 at that battle, and therefore knew about it at 
 first hand. His son, writing to a friend in 1872, 
 as quoted in Preble's History, says : 
 
 " I have just had time to visit the Smithson- 
 " ian Institution to see the portrait of Wash- 
 " ington painted by my father, C. W. Peale, 
 ' after the battle of Trenton. It is marked in 
 ' his handwriting, 1779. The flag 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 
 
54 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " its acceptance by Congress). . . . I have 
 " no other authority, but feel assured that the 
 " flag was the flag of our army at that time, 
 " 1779. My father commanded a company at 
 " the batles of Germantown, Trenton, Prince- 
 " ton, and Monmouth, and was a soldier as 
 " well as a painter, and, I am sure, represented 
 " the flag then in use, not a regimental flag, but 
 " one to mark the new republic."* 
 
 The writer of this letter, Titian E. Peale, evi- 
 dently supposed that the painting was done in 
 the same year that the battle of Trenton was 
 fought, for he says " the flag of our army at that 
 time, 1779," evidently referring to the time of 
 the event shown in the picture. The fact that the 
 other flags in the picture were painted from the 
 actual things, and Peale's presence at the battle 
 make the presumption that the Stars and Stripes 
 were used at Trenton very strong. The painting 
 in question is now (1908) in one of the corridors 
 of the Senate wing of the national Capitol. Only 
 a small part of the flag is shown, including nine 
 stars in a circular arrangement on a blue field. 
 The remaining stars and the stripes are simply 
 out of the picture. 
 
 The other painting is by John Trumbull, who 
 as an aide-de-camp to Washington was present 
 
 * Letter to John A. McAllister, 1872. Preble's History, 
 2d ed. (1880), p. 272. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 55 
 
 at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. It is 
 a portrait of Washington before the battle of 
 Princeton,* painted sixteen years after the event, 
 in which is shown the American Flag, with its 
 thirteen stars. The value of this evidence would 
 be small if we knew the artist to be careless in 
 regard to the truthfulness of detail in his his- 
 torical paintings. But the reverse is true. He 
 says of this painting that all the small things 
 " down to the buttons and spurs were carefully 
 painted from the different objects." As further 
 illustrating his method we may cite the painting 
 made in 1790 for the City of New York, now in 
 the Mayor's office in the City Hall. It shows 
 Broadway in ruins, with the Battery, " British 
 ships leaving the shore, with the last officers and 
 troops of the evacuating army ; every part of the 
 details of the dress, houses, furniture, etc., accur- 
 ately copied from the real objects." 
 
 The date of the incident selected by Trumbull 
 was January 2, 1777. C. C. Haven, in a paper 
 read before the New Jersey Historical Society in 
 January, 1872, says that a local tradition repre- 
 sents that the Stars and Stripes were first car- 
 
 * Trumbull, in his description of this picture, quoted in 
 Appendix to Irving's " Life of Washington, ed. 1859, Vol. 
 Y, p. 340, calls it " Washington before the Battle of Tren- 
 ton," but the context shows that he means the Battle of 
 Princeton. 
 
56 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 ried in battle in tlie fight at the Assunpink Creek, 
 January 2, 1777. This supports the Trumbull 
 painting, but obviously the tradition may be 
 founded on the painting. 
 
 That the Stars and Stripes were not in use, nor 
 generally recognized as the national flag during 
 the summer and fall of 1776 is evident from the 
 following extracts from the Pennsylvania Arch- 
 ives. (Vol. V, pages 13 and 46.) Captain Wil- 
 liam Eichards, " store-keeper," approximately 
 equivalent to quartermaster, writes to the Penn- 
 sylvania Committee of Safety under date of 
 August 19th, 1776, " Gentlemen, I hope you have 
 " agreed what sort of color I am to have made for 
 " the galleys, &c., as they are much wanted." 
 Again on October 15th, he writes, " Gentlemen, 
 " the Commodore was with 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." 
 
 Whether Captain Richards' repeated request 
 produced any immediate result we have no means 
 of knowing. In Vol. I of the Pennsylvania 
 Archives, 2d series, page 164, occurs the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 " State Navy Board, May 29th, 1777. Pres- 
 " ent William Bradford, Joseph Marsh, Joseph 
 " Blewer, Paul Cox. An order on Wiliam 
 
^/fu'.^ AuZcA's, y./^.Q-^^'^i'^J^-^^- 
 \ • h'llm'u.y i^Q ^^Wf (n^< j^,f<^^^l7>7 : 
 
 jf(n fL ivit ,e^ f-ftt^ lM/fvii^4M>^ l^'^'f^^^'^'^ 
 
r^^oD TA^^M. f^-z^^n^ „^^,^ ^^ ^^j^,..^..,^ 6 
 
 i^iO>*r 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 57 
 
 " Webb to Elizabeth Ross, for fourteen pounds, 
 " twelve shillings, two pence for making Ship's 
 " Colours, &c. put into William Richards' 
 " Store. £14, 12, 2. " 
 
 Preble, in his history of the flag, suggests that 
 these " ship's colours " might have been Pennsyl- 
 vania State colors; but at that time Pennsyl- 
 vania had no State colors, and none were adopted 
 until many years later, so that it is extremely 
 probable that the colors furnished by Elizabeth 
 Ross included the new national ensign. 
 
 On June 14th, 1777, Congress finally entered 
 on its journal an official endorsement of the 
 Stars and Stripes, in a resolution worded as 
 follows : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Flag of the United 
 " States be 13 Stripes alternate red and white, 
 " that the Union be 13 stars white in a blue 
 " field representing a new constellation." 
 
 This resolution stands alone. There is nothing 
 preceding or following it to show whether it was 
 brought in as the report of a committee, or en- 
 tered as the result of discussion on the floor of 
 Congress. The photographic facsimile shows 
 that the wording was changed twice in record- 
 ing the resolution. First, the secretary, Charles 
 Thomson, wrote, " Resolved That the Flag of the 
 United States consist of." Then he erased the 
 word consist, and wrote above it be distinguished, 
 
58 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 and over the word of he wrote by, so as to make 
 it read " be distinguished by 13 stripes," etc. 
 Then he erased the words distinguished by, and 
 left the words as quoted above. If the resolution 
 had been handed in in writing as the report of a 
 committee, it would hardly have been twice 
 changed in recording it. The wording must have 
 been framed as it was written down, whether by 
 the secretary alone, or in consultation with 
 others, cannot be determined. 
 
 The next matter on the record is the suspension 
 of the captain who had been appointed to com- 
 mand the " Eanger," on information furnished 
 by the Massachusetts Council, and the appoint- 
 ment of John Paul Jones to succeed him. It has 
 been suggested with much show of reason that 
 the two matters are really connected; that Con- 
 gress realized the necessity for distinctive colors 
 in sending out a ship of war, and so adopted the 
 colors on the day on which the commander was 
 appointed. The resolution immediately preced- 
 ing that in relation to the flag also relates to 
 ships of war. Altogether the resolution seems to 
 be the belated official recognition of a fact 
 already accomplished.* 
 
 * Some writers, notably the late Augustus C. Buell, in 
 his " Life of John Paul Jones," couple the flag resolution 
 with that appointing Jones to command the " Ranger," 
 calling them one resolution. The facsimile here giveo 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 59 
 
 The resolution says nothing about the arrange- 
 ment of the stars in the field. There is a tradi- 
 tion that in the first flag made the stars were 
 placed as shown in the accompanying sketch, 
 so that they outlined the two crosses which they 
 replaced, as shown by the dotted lines in the 
 
 * • • 
 
 * — ^* - •* 
 •' • ■* 
 
 sketch. But it is also known that on some of the 
 earlier flags the stars were arranged in a circle, 
 and this form is given by both Trumbull and 
 Peale in their paintings of Eevolutionary scenes. 
 
 shows clearly that the resolutions are entirely distinct. 
 John Paul Jones was a heroic figure in the history of the 
 period, and his well-known devotion to the flag has in- 
 spired a number of romances connecting his name with 
 various flags. To discuss even one of these at all fully 
 would lead us far beyond the proper range of the present 
 account. 
 
60 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Further evidence in regard to the arrange- 
 ment of stars in flags of the Eevolutionary 
 period is to be found in a drawing reproduced 
 (facing pagf 16) in a little book by Gaillard 
 Hunt on the Great Seal of the United States, 
 published by the Department of State in 1892. 
 This is a proposed design for the Great Seal sub- 
 mitted by William Barton, of Philadelphia. One 
 of the emblems displayed in it is " the ensign of 
 the United States, proper," and this is shown on 
 the drawing as a flag of 13 stripes with 13 stars 
 in a circle. The date of the drawing is not ac- 
 curately known, but Gaillard Hunt places it in 
 1782. It must at least have been previous to 
 June 20th, 1782, for on that date the present 
 great seal was adopted. In a previous design, 
 of which no drawing * was made, also by Barton, 
 one of the emblems is " the proper standard of 
 the United States." This interchangeable use 
 of " ensign " and " standard " suggests that they 
 were used at that time in the same sense. 
 
 The newspapers of the day took no notice at 
 the time of the resolution of June 14th; nor is 
 there any mention of it in any letters, diaries or 
 other writings of the time which have come to 
 light. If we assume that the resolution refers 
 to a flag which had for some months been gradu- 
 
 * Preble, page 687, 2d edition, gives ttie drawing of Bar- 
 ton's second design and tlie description of the first. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 61 
 
 ally coming into use, this silent reception of the 
 resolution becomes more intelligible. The fact 
 that no contemporary notice of the resolution 
 has come to light is, however, quite consistent 
 with what we know in other ways of the general 
 lack of interest in the subject of flags. 
 
 On the first anniversary of the Declaration 
 of Independence, a gi'eat celebration was 
 held in Philadelphia, with a dinner, naval 
 demonstrations, military review, music, fire- 
 works, and a general illumination. The Penn- 
 sylvania Packet of July 8th, 1777, in describ- 
 ing the celebration, says : " About noon all 
 the armed ships and gallies in the river were 
 drawn up before the city, dressed in the gayest 
 manner, with the colours of the United States, 
 and streamers displayed." This was three weeks 
 after the flag resolution. There can be no reason- 
 able doubt that the colors were the Stars and 
 Stripes. And when we recall that this was only 
 five weeks after the order by the Pennsylvania 
 Naval Board to pay for " ship's colours," it 
 seems probable that the decorations now dis- 
 played by the vessels in the river included those 
 very colors for which payment had been ordered 
 on May 29th. This probability is strengthened 
 by the fact that the flag resolution of June 14th 
 immediately follows one -pertaining to the ships 
 in the Delaware. 
 
62 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 The next allusion to the national flag is more 
 definite. It occurs in the narrative of Lieuten- 
 ant William Digby, which has already been 
 quoted from. He was serving under General 
 Burgoyne at the time to which the passages 
 quoted refer. 
 
 " 1777, 30th of June. The advance corps 
 ' made their appearance before Ticonderoga. 
 ' We encamped at Three Mile Point. The Line 
 ' with the General were at Putnam's Creek, 
 ' about six miles in our rear, but expected 
 ' shortly up. We had a full view from our 
 ' Post of their works, lines, &c., and their flag 
 ' of Liberty displayed on the summit of their 
 ' fort. Our Gun boats were anchored across 
 ' the river out of the range of their Cannon." 
 ' At the engagement near Fort Ann ( Sth 
 •July) Lieut. Col. Hill of the 9th Regiment 
 ' was attacked by the Americans more than 
 ' six times his number, but whom he repulsed 
 • after a continued fire of three hours." " 24:th 
 ' July. We marched from Skeensborough, 
 ' and though but thirteen miles to Fort Ann, 
 ' were two days going it, as the Enemy had 
 ' felled large trees over the river." . . . '' Fort 
 ' Ann is a place of no great strength, having 
 ' only a Blockhouse, which though strong 
 ' against small arms is not proof against Can- 
 ' non. We saw many of their dead unburied 
 ' since the Sth. ... At that action the 9th 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 63 
 
 " took their colours which were intended as a 
 " present to their Colonel, Lord Leganeer " (sic 
 pro Ligonier). "They were very handsome, 
 " a Flag of the United States, 13 Stripes, alter- 
 " nate red and white, ( 13 Stars white* ) in a 
 " blue field representing a new constellation." 
 
 Another account f says : 
 
 " The 9th regiment acquired during this ex- 
 " pedition about thirty prisoners, some stores, 
 " and baggage, and the colours of the Second 
 " Hampshire Kegiment." J 
 
 This account indicates that the Stars and 
 Stripes were carried in battle as early as July 
 8th, 1777, and we may say that so far as now 
 known this is the first recorded instance. The 
 
 * These words in parenthesis are omitted in the manu- 
 script journal. The mention of a constellation makes it 
 so evident that the flag was the Stars and Stripes that 
 we are quite justified in believing the omission to be a 
 lapse of the pen. In the resolution of Congress, whose 
 wording the entry follows so closely, " in a blue field " 
 comes directly after the word " white." The writer put 
 them after the wrong " white." In the shape in which 
 the passage stands in the manuscript it does not make 
 sense, and the emendation printed above must, we think, 
 appear entirely reasonable. For further particulars in re- 
 gard to Lieutenant Digby's diary, see Appendix H, page 
 ]31. 
 
 f Town and Country Magazine for August, 1777, copied 
 from the London Gazette extraordinary of August 15th. 
 
 I In " Regimental Colors in the Revolution," Gherardi 
 Davis, privately printed, New York, 1907, are pictures of 
 
64 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " Flag of Liberty " of which Digby speaks was 
 also, no doubt, the Stars and Stripes, since there 
 would have been little opportunity for making or 
 procuring other colors between the 30th of June, 
 when the British appeared before Ticonderoga, 
 and the 8th of July, when the battle took place. 
 The testimony of Lieutenant Digby also makes 
 it highly probable that the flags of the garrison 
 of Ticonderoga were made before the passage of 
 the resolution, since only sixteen days had 
 elapsed since that event when the advancing 
 British found the " Flag of Liberty " flying at 
 Ticonderoga, more than three hundred miles 
 from Philadelphia. 
 
 It seems that the change from the Grand 
 Union flag to the flag with stars was not gener- 
 ally regarded as a matter of importance, or even 
 as much of a change. The field with the thirteen 
 stripes was the most conspicuous part of each, 
 and we find repeated allusions to each flag in 
 which the stripes only are mentioned. There are 
 also a number of instances in which it is impossi- 
 ble to tell which is meant. 
 
 The next well-authenticated instance of the use 
 
 two colors said to be the identical flags captured in this 
 action. They are now in the possession of Col. George W. 
 Rogers, Wykeham. Burgess Hill, Sussex, England. They 
 are of silk, about 5 feet by .5 feet, 6 inches in size, one 
 blue and one buff, with various designs and inscriptions. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 65 
 
 of the flag in the war was at Fort Schuyler, or, 
 as it is often called, Fort Stanwix. This fort 
 was on the site of the present city of Rome, at 
 the head of navigation on the Mohawk. Its old 
 name had been Fort Stanwix, but it had recently 
 been repaired and renamed Fort Schuyler, when 
 the British laid siege to it with a motley force of 
 regulars. Royalists and Indians. The beleag- 
 uered garrison had not been provided with a 
 United States Flag, and they made haste to make 
 one out of such materials as could be procured. 
 All accounts agree that the blue field was made 
 from the cloak of Captain Swartwout and the red 
 stripes from the petticoat of a soldier's wife. 
 Some accounts say that the white stripes were 
 made of ammunition bags, and some say of shirts. 
 At all events there is no doubt that they made a 
 flag, and the following extract from a contem- 
 porary manuscript gives us the date. The diary 
 of William Colbraith, kept during the siege, has, 
 under date of August 3d, 1777, this entry :* 
 
 " Early this morning a Continental Flagg 
 made by the Officers of Col. Gansevoort's Regi- 
 ment was hoisted and a Cannon Levelled at the 
 Enemies Camp was fired on the Occasion." In 
 the sortie of August 6th a quantity of spoils were 
 captured. The same writer says : " Four Colours 
 
 * Copy furnished to George Oanby by Dodd, Mead & Co., 
 New York, in whose possession the manuscript was. 
 
66 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 were also taken and Immediately hoisted on our 
 Flag Staff under the Continental Flagg as 
 Trophies of Victory." The writer of the diary 
 uses the word Continental, from habit. Of 
 course he should have called it the flag of the 
 United States. 
 
 A further confirmation of this story is found 
 in an extant letter of Capt. Swartwout, ad- 
 dressed to Colonel Gansevoort. 
 
 " Poughkeepsie, 29tli August, 1778. 
 
 " Dear Sir, The great distance which our 
 " duty calls us appart obliges me at this time 
 " to give you this trouble, which otherwise I 
 " would not. 
 
 " You may remember agreeable to your order 
 " I was to have an Order for Eight Yards of 
 " Broad Cloath, on the Commissary for Cloath- 
 " ing of this State. In lieu of my Blue Cloak, 
 " which was used for Colours at Fort Schuyler. 
 
 " An opportunity now presenting itself, I 
 " beg you to send me an Order inclosed to Mr. 
 " Jeremiah Eenseler, Pay Master at Albany, 
 " where I will receive it, and you will oblige 
 " me — who will always acknowledge the same 
 " with true gratitude. 
 
 " Please to make my Comp'ts to the other 
 " officers of the regiment. 
 " I am Dear Sir 
 
 " Your Hble Serv't 
 " Abraham Swartwout, Captain. 
 
 " Colonel Peter Ganseworth." 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 67 
 
 This letter is now in possession of Mrs. Abra- 
 ham Lansing, Albany, N. Y. 
 
 It is quite likely that the garrison of Fort 
 Schuyler knew that Fort Ticonderoga had the 
 new flag, but nothing was said about it in the 
 writings of the time thus far discovered in this 
 country, so that it was soon forgotten. The flag 
 of Fort Schuyler, however, on account of the 
 peculiar circumstances attending its history, was 
 mentioned in letters and diaries of the time, and 
 also talked about in the traditions of the place 
 where it was made and used, so that it was not 
 forgotten. Under the name of the Fort Stanwix 
 Flag, it has been regarded by many careful writ- 
 ers as the first American Flag ever used in war. 
 Some have even gone so far as to call it the first 
 American Flag ever made. The paintings of 
 Trumbull and Peale make it probable that the 
 flag had been in use in Washington's army since 
 the beginning of 1777, and Lieutenant Digby's 
 diary shows that the garrison of Ticonderoga had 
 it at least a month before the investment of Fort 
 Schuyler. It is to be hoped that as the Revolu- 
 tionary manuscripts in this country and Eng- 
 land are more and more carefully studied, new 
 light will be thrown on the early history of the 
 use of the Stars and Stripes. 
 
 In Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet, or the Gen- 
 
68 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 eral Advertizcr of Tuesday, September 2d, 1777, 
 we find the following brief advertisement : — 
 
 " In Congress June 14th. 1777— 
 
 "Resolved, — That the Flag of the United 
 " States be thirteen Stripes, alternate red and 
 " white, that the Union be thirteen Stars, 
 " white, on a blue field representing a new con- 
 " stellation. 
 
 " Extracted from the minutes, Charles Thomson 
 " Secretary." 
 
 This was printed in the same column with 
 other resolutions and Congressional proceedings 
 of the latter part of August. The recent pro- 
 ceedings are followed by the words " Published 
 by order of Congress, Charles Thomson, Secre- 
 tary." Whether this difference in stating author- 
 ity for the extracts has any significance or not 
 does not appear, but it is at least curious that the 
 delay should have occurred. We have seen that 
 the resolution itself was delayed, the flag having 
 been in existence for a year, and now we find the 
 publication of the resolution delayed, for what 
 reason we cannot determine. That the adoption 
 of the flag was known long before this publica- 
 tion, is shown by the contemporary account of 
 the making of the flag at Fort Sehnyler. 
 
 Exactly the same resolutions and proceedings 
 as the foregoing were published in the Pennsyl- 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary ]Yar. 69 
 
 vania Gazette the next day, September 3d, 1777. 
 These were both weekly papers. The proceed- 
 ings of Congress were not entirely secret, and 
 some of their decisions became known to the peo- 
 ple near at hand before they were published. 
 Preble, in a note on this point in his " History of 
 the Flag," says that a certain surgeon of the 
 army wrote in his diary under date of August 
 3d that it appeared by the papers that Congress 
 had resolved on the 14th of June last that the 
 flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, etc. 
 He may have heard the report and supposed that 
 it had been in the papers ; or it may have been in 
 some paper. 
 
 It has been assumed by many persons that the 
 publication of the flag resolution on September 
 2d, 1777, was the flrst information which the 
 public had received in regard to the new flag. 
 This seems to be the reason why it has been 
 claimed that the skirmish at Cooch's Bridge, in 
 Delaware, was the first engagement in which the 
 Stars and Stripes were displayed. The date of 
 this engagement was September 3d, 1777, and 
 it may be freely granted that it was the first en- 
 gagement in which the present American Flag 
 could have been carried after it had heeyi puhlicly 
 proclaimed as the national flag. A monument 
 was unveiled on this ground, with appropriate 
 ceremonies, on September 3d, 1901. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 71 
 
 fairly inferred from the following letter, on file 
 among the manuscripts in the Library of Con- 
 gress. Washington was at this time at Middle- 
 brook, New Jersey, where the army wag en- 
 camped during a large part of the year. The 
 War Office was in Philadelphia, whither Con- 
 gress had returned the previous summer after its 
 evacuation by the British. 
 
 " War Office May 10th 1779 
 
 "Sir:— The Officers of Col Proctor's Eegi- 
 " ment have express'd great Uneasiness on 
 " Acc't of the unsettled Situation of their 
 " Bank. They even threaten not to march 
 " without their Commissions. The Papers rel- 
 " ative to this Eegiment were a considerable 
 " Time ago sent to General Knox. We beg 
 " Leave to suggest to your Excellency the 
 " Necessity of arranging this Eegiment if it be 
 " possible as great Dissatisfaction prevails 
 " among its Officers & we are by no Means 
 " clear that they will march under their pres- 
 " ent Circumstances. 
 
 " The Board have been frequently applied to 
 " on the Subject of Drums & Colours for the 
 " several Eegiments. It is impossible to com- 
 " ply with all the Eequisitions for these 
 " Articles as we have not materials to make 
 " either in sufficient Numbers. We hope how- 
 " ever to have in a short Time a competent 
 " Number of Drums. So soon as they are made 
 
73 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " we send them to Camp, as we find many 
 " Irregularities & Inconveniencies arise from 
 " delivering them or any other Articles here. 
 " As to Colours we have refused them for 
 " another Keason. The Baron Steuben men- 
 " tioned when he was here that he would settle 
 " with your Excellency some Plan as to the 
 " Colours. It was intended that every Regi- 
 " ment should have two Colours — one the 
 " Standard of the United States which should 
 " be the same throughout the Army, & the 
 " other a Regimental Colour which should 
 " vary according to the facings of the Regi- 
 " ments. But it is not yet settled what is the 
 " Standard of the U. States. If your Excel- 
 " lency will therefore favor us with your 
 " Opinion on the Subject we will report to Con- 
 " gress & request them to establish a Standard 
 " & so soon as this is done we will endeavor 
 " to get Materials and order a Number made 
 " sufficient for the Army. Neither can we 
 " tell what should be the Regimental Colours, 
 " as the Uniforms were by a late Resolution of 
 " Congress to be settled by your Excellency. 
 
 " As we are not acquainted with the Circum- 
 " stances of the Army & it being much more 
 " proper on a variety of Accounts that you 
 " should judge of the Necessity of any Supplies 
 " demanded by the Officers, we beg you will be 
 " pleased to give it out in Orders that they 
 " shall not apply here for any Articles they are 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 73 
 
 ' in Need of for the Troops at Camp as they 
 ' will be furnished according to the Ability of 
 ' the Departments to supply them where the 
 ' Troops are stationed. "V^'e are so frequently 
 ' importuned for partial Supplies that your 
 ' Excellency's complying with the above 
 ' Eequest would ease us much. But if it will 
 ' throw a greater Burthen upon you we would 
 ' not wish you to do it, as we are perfectly will- 
 ' ing to share your Difficulties on this or any 
 ' other Occasion. Large Demands and small 
 ' Means of satisfying them are distressing as 
 ' well to the Officers as to us who are too fre- 
 ' quently incapable of granting their Requests 
 ' as well from the Scantiness of our Stores as 
 ' from a Conviction of the Impropriety of 
 ' delivering them here. Troops on their Way 
 ' to Camp & Recruits we always supply at 
 ' least with so many Articles as will enable 
 ' them to join the Army. 
 " We have the Honour to be 
 " with the greatest Respect 
 
 " your very obedient Servants. 
 " Richard Peters. 
 
 " By Order. 
 
 " His Excellency 
 
 " The Comr In Chief." 
 
 The bearing of this letter on the history of the 
 flag is indeed difficult to determine. It would 
 seem to indicate that Congress had taken no 
 
74 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 action on the subject of a standard, since we may 
 fairly presume that the Board of War, a body 
 created by Congress, would be likely to know 
 what provisions had been made in matters per- 
 taining to their department. It appears that the 
 only way to reconcile this letter with the reso- 
 lution of June 14th, 1777, is to suppose that the 
 words " flag " in the resolution and " standard " 
 here relate to different things.* The flag resolu- 
 tion was passed on the same day that a number 
 of naval matters were under consideration, and 
 it is conceivable that the Board of War supposed 
 the flag of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars to 
 be intended for naval use only. The several in- 
 stances already mentioned show that it had been 
 used in a number of places on land, but the very 
 fact that the Board of War was besieged with 
 requests for colors in May, 1779, is evidence that 
 the army was not at that time generally supplied 
 with them. We must receive with caution the 
 statements f of Preble and others that the Stars 
 and Stripes Avere without doubt used at the 
 battles of Brandywine and Germantown, Sep- 
 tember and October, 1777, unless they are backed 
 
 * The interchangeable use of ensign and standard, men- 
 tioned on page 60. both referring to the flag, suggests that 
 this explanation is not admissible. 
 
 f Preble, 2d Edition, p. 277. Harrison, 1st Edition, p. 64. 
 
Stais and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 75 
 
 up by definite evidence. Inferences are easily 
 made, but we must not call them history, how- 
 ever ingenious and reasonable they may be. 
 
 The fact that William Eichards* did not know 
 in October, 1776, what design was to be followed 
 in making flags for the vessels in the Delaware 
 has been held to prove not only that Congress 
 had not adopted a design, but that a sample flag 
 had not been made in June of the same year. 
 This letter shows that such reasoning is without 
 force, since an application of the same logic here 
 would lead us to suppose that there was no 
 national flag in May, 1779. Altogether it seems 
 reasonable to conclude that the Board of War 
 were mistaken. They say in the letter that they 
 are not acquainted with the circumstances of the 
 army; probably if they had been so acquainted 
 they would have discovered that some regiments 
 were provided with the flag of stars and stripes. 
 It is gratifying to learn that the Board were so 
 ready to share Washington's burdens, and their 
 reference to irregularities and inconveniences 
 sound like the experience of modern administra- 
 tors in handling public supplies. 
 
 It is difficult to determine just who consti- 
 tuted the Board of War at any given time. The 
 Journal of Congress contains many resolutions 
 
 * See page 5G. 
 
76 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 appointing new members, but in most instances 
 does not say whetlier they are additional mem- 
 bers or to replace others who have resigned. The 
 Board was organized June 12th, 1776, and the 
 five members chosen the next day were : John 
 Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Harrison, 
 James Wilson and Edward Rutledge. There had 
 been nine appointments between this date and 
 July 18th, 1777, when the board was reorganized, 
 three persons not members of Congress being 
 added. Richard Peters was secretary of the 
 Board when it was organized, but there appears 
 to have been at least one other secretary between 
 that time and the date of the letter, when Richard 
 Peters* was again secretary, apparently. So 
 many changes had taken place in the member- 
 ship of the Board that it is not impossible that 
 at the meeting which framed the letter of 
 May 10th, 1779, no one recalled the action of 
 Congress of June 14th, 1777, adopting the Stars 
 and Stripes. That action seems to have made 
 very little impression at the time. If the Board 
 had the flag of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars 
 in mind, it is at least surprising that the letter 
 does not mention it when speaking of a " U. 
 States standard." 
 
 * Richard Peters was a Philadelphlan. Belmont Man- 
 sion, Fairmount Park, was his residence. See Cyclopedia 
 of American Biography, Vol. XII. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 77 
 
 A surgeon in the British service,* under date 
 of April 3d, 1780, at Charleston, S. C, writes : — 
 
 " 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 history of the Stars and Stripes at sea, 
 so far as can now be determined, begins with the 
 sailing of the Ranger, under command of John 
 Paul Jones from Portsmouth,-)- N. H., on Novem- 
 ber 1st, 1777. Jones says, in a letter I to the 
 Naval Committee of Congress, dated February 
 22d, 1778, that the American flag received on the 
 14th of that month the first salute from a French 
 admiral. The most celebrated sea fight of the 
 Revolutionary War was the action between the 
 Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, on Sep- 
 tember 23d, 1779. The British vessel sur- 
 rendered, but soon after the flag-ship of Jones, 
 the Bon Homme Rirhard, sank. It is said § that 
 the flag of the Richard was saved and transferred 
 to the captured vessel, and afterward to the 
 
 *Dr. John Jeffries, of Boston. See Preble, p. 284, 2d 
 Edition. 
 
 t P. D. Harrison, pp. 114 et seq. 1st Edition, 1906. 
 
 J See " Life of Paul Jones," Mackenzie, Boston, 1841, 
 Vol. I, p. 55. 
 
 ? Preble, p. 282, 2d Edition. 
 
78 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Alliance, another of the American vessels. Dur- 
 ing the battle between the Richard and the 
 Serapis, the flag of the former was said to have 
 been shot awav, and rescued by a young man 
 named James Bayard Stafford. In 1784 a flag 
 was sent to Stafford, as specified in the following 
 letter :* 
 
 " Phil^' Monday December 13th 1784. 
 
 " James Bayard Stafford 
 
 " Sir : — I am directed by the Marine Com- 
 " mittee to inform you that on last Thursday 
 " the 9th they decided to bestow upon you for 
 " your meritorious services thro the late war — 
 " ' Paul Jone.s" Starry Flag of the Bon Homme 
 " Eichard which was transferred to the AUi- 
 " ance,' a boarding sword of said ship & a mus- 
 " quet captured from the Serapis. 
 " If you write to Captain John Brown at the 
 " yard, what ship you wish them sent by to 
 " X. Y. they will be forwarded to you. 
 Your humble ser^. 
 James Meyler, 
 
 " Secretary Pro. tem." 
 
 The flag thus bestowed had thirteen stripes 
 and but twelve stars. It was of English bunting, 
 about three and one-half by five feet in size. It 
 was kept in the Stafford family as a precious 
 
 * See Preble, 2d Edition, p. 2S1. for facsimile of this 
 letter, and p. 282 picture of the flag. 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 79 
 
 relic. A daughter of the original recipient dying 
 about 1880 bequeathed it to a brother. This flag 
 was exhibited at the great Sanitary Fair (in aid 
 of the soldiers) in Philadelphia in 1864, and on 
 various other occasions since. In 1898 it was 
 presented to the nation through President 
 McKinley. 
 
 It will be observed that in the letter written to 
 Stafford by the secretary pro tern, of the Marine 
 Committee, the words describing the flag are en- 
 closed in quotation marks, as if the writer wished 
 to disclaim any responsibility for the correctness 
 of the description. The fact that the flag is so 
 small has been taken as an evidence that it was 
 never the ensign of a war vessel. Altogether, it 
 can scarcely be regarded as certain that this flag 
 was that of the Bon Homme Richard, but it is 
 reasonably certain that it is a flag of the revolu- 
 tionary period, and one of the very few which 
 have come down to us. 
 
 In a book on " Regimental Colors in the Revo- 
 lution," by Gherardi Davis, privately printed in 
 New York in 1897, in a supplement dated 1898, 
 is a picture of a flag said to have been carriecl at 
 the battle of Cowpens. This flag is preserved in 
 the flag-room in the Capitol of Maryland at 
 Annapolis. It is five feet long and thirty-two 
 inches wide; has thirteen stripes and thirteen 
 
80 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 stars, twelve in a nearly circular ring and one 
 in the center. 
 
 This flag was presented to the State of Mary- 
 land on October 19th, 1907, by the Society of the 
 War of 1812. A pamphlet was shortly after- 
 ward issued by the Adjutant General of the 
 State, General Eiggs, in which is given the his- 
 tory of each flag displayed in the flag-room of the 
 Capitol. In this pamphlet the date of the battle 
 of Cowpens is wrongly given as January, 1778, 
 instead of 1781, and one or two other inaccurate 
 statements are made. 
 
 In February, 1908, a letter from William N. 
 Batchelor appeared in the Baltimore American, 
 casting doubt on the authenticity of the flag. 
 The Baltimore Society of the War of 1812 then 
 appointed one of its members, J. Appleton Wilson, 
 to investigate the matter. The statement in the 
 pamphlet in regard to the " Cowpens Flag " says 
 it was carried by William Batchelor at the battle 
 of Cowpens, and by his son, William Batchelor, 
 at the battle of North Point, September 12th, 
 1814. William N. Batchelor has in his posses- 
 sion the flag carried by his grandfather, William 
 Batchelor, at the battle of Xorth Point, but it 
 appears that the Cowpens flag was carried by 
 Joshua F. Batchelor, a brother of the second 
 William, at the battle of North Point. It will 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 81 
 
 be observed that the number of stars and stripes 
 on the flag assign it to the period previous to 
 1795, when the number of stars and stripes was 
 increased to fifteen, unless it were a modern 
 fraud made to imitate an old flag. The supposi- 
 tion that it is a fraud is precluded by its known 
 history, as will appear. J. Appleton Wilson 
 consulted the records of the War Department, 
 and the archives of the State of Maryland, and 
 found that William Batchelor was a member of 
 tlie Third Maryland Kegiment at the time of the 
 battle of Cowpens, and this supports the state- 
 ment that he carried the flag at that battle. He 
 also found that the minutes of a meeting of the 
 Old Defenders' Association, held in August, 1843, 
 contain the following entry : 
 
 " Wm. Batchelor " (with " Joshua F." writ- 
 ten in front of it ) " ensign of the 27th Eegi- 
 " ment ( Md. ) , presented to the Society the bat- 
 " tie flag of that Regiment, which was also the 
 " battle-flag of the 3d Regiment ( Small- 
 " wood's), which was carried by his father, 
 " William Batchelor, color sergeant in that 
 " regiment, who carried it through the flght at 
 " Cowpens, in which engagement he was 
 " wounded, returned home, and died December 
 " 10th, 1781. The flag was left in his custody, 
 " and to be carried by him in the celebrations 
 " of this Association. '^ 
 
82 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Mr. Wilson finds that Joshua F. Batchelor was 
 ensign of Captain Schwartzauer's Company of 
 the 27th Kegiment at the battle of North Point, 
 and believes that he carried this flag at that bat- 
 tle and presented it to the Association. In sup- 
 port of this he quotes from a letter written in 
 1902 to P. D. Harrison, of Manchester, X. H., 
 author of " The Stars and Stripes and Other 
 American Flags." This letter is from Dr. Hadel, 
 a member of the Society of the War of 1812, who 
 had specially studied the history of this flag. 
 After stating that the flag was carried at the bat- 
 tle of Cowpens by W'illiam Batchelor, he says : 
 
 " The flag became the property of his son, 
 " Joshua F. Batchelor, ensign of the 7th Com- 
 " pany. Captain Daniel Schwarzhauer, 27th 
 " Eegiment of Infantry, Colonel Kennedy Long, 
 " of the Maryland Militia. Ensign Batchelor 
 " carried the flag through the battle of North 
 " Point, where it was cut in many places by 
 " British bullets. After the war it was car- 
 " ried by Ensign Batchelor annually on the 
 " 12th of September. He presented the flag 
 " to the Society of the War of 1812, in whose 
 " keeping it is to remain forever. 
 
 " The flag was borne in procession when 
 " Lafayette was welcomed in 1824, and was 
 " carried by myself as a member of the Sons 
 " of the American Revolution, on October 19th, 
 " 1901, at the dedication of the monument 
 
stars and Stripes during the Revolutionary War. 83 
 
 " erected by that Society to the heroes of the 
 " American Revolution. The material of the 
 " flag is bunting, it being five feet six inches 
 " in length and two feet seven inches \\'ide. 
 " The flag is in a fair state of preservation, al- 
 " though plainly showing the holes made by 
 " bullets. It is annually, on September 12th, 
 " thrown over the back of the President's 
 " chair, and is given the place of honor on all 
 
 It thus seems fairly well established that the 
 flag displayed at Annapolis is a genuine Revolu- 
 tionary relic. J. Appleton Wilson also exam- 
 ined the flag in possession of William N. Batch- 
 elor, of Baltimore, before referred to, which his 
 grandfather, William Batchelor the second, car- 
 ried at the battle of North Point. It is a silk 
 flag, with 13 stripes, very much worn and slit, 
 and has been sewed to a backing of cambric. 
 The flag was so much folded in sewing it to the 
 cambric that Mr. Wilson could not decide how 
 many stars there were or had been. The blue of 
 the union has faded to a cream Avhite. The num- 
 ber of stripes on this flag refers it to the period 
 before 1795, and it is not at all unlikely that it 
 too is as old as the later years of the Revolution- 
 ary War. 
 
 For the foregoing particulars from the report 
 of J. Appleton Wilson on the Cowpens Flag, the 
 
84 Eiohdion of the American Flag. 
 
 writer is indebted to Colonel H. M. Hutton, As- 
 sistant Adjutant General of Maryland. 
 
 The slowness with which the flag spread over 
 the country is shown by the fact that when the 
 news of pjeace was received the following notice 
 was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette (April 
 23d, 1783) : 
 
 " Philadelphia, April 23. Last Wednesday 
 " the Sheriff, accompanied by the magistrates 
 " of the city, made Proclamation, at the Court 
 " House, of the cessation of Hostilities, amidst 
 " a vast concourse of People, who expressed 
 " their Satisfaction on the happy Occasion by 
 " repeated Shouts. At the same Time the 
 " State Flag was hoisted on Market Street 
 " Wharff, the Bells were rung, and a general 
 " Joy diffused itself throughout the City." 
 
 And after other items of neics occurs the fol- 
 lowing in the same column : 
 
 " In Congress. June 14th 1777. 
 
 " Eesolved, that the flag of the Thirteen 
 " United States be Thirteen Stripes, alternate 
 " Bed and White; That the Union be Thirteen 
 " Stars, White in a Blue Field, representing a 
 " new Constellation. 
 
 " Charles Thomson, Secretary. 
 
 " The Printers in the several States are re- 
 " quested to insert the above Resolution in 
 
stars and Stripes during the E evolutionary War. 85 
 
 " their respective News-papers, in order that 
 " the same may be generally known." 
 
 And in the same column is the following : 
 
 '' At a meeting of a great number of the 
 " respectable inhabitants of Pittsgrove and 
 " towns adjacent in Salem County, State of 
 " New Jersey, for the Celebration of Peace, 
 " the day was introduced with raising a monu- 
 " ment of great height, on which was displayed 
 " the ensign of Peace, with the thirteen 
 " Stripes ; after which the militia were drawn 
 " up, and discharged a feu de joy of thirteen 
 " rounds, when the Company partook of a 
 " cheerful Colation." 
 
 It is pretty certain that the expression " State 
 Flag," as used in the Gazette, means the flag of 
 the United States. There was no Pennsylvania 
 State flag at that time, and the republication of 
 the Congressional resolution in the same column 
 tends to show that the flag there described is the 
 one referred to in the news item. 
 
 In the memoir of John Fanning Watson in the 
 third volume of "Watson's Annals," occurs the 
 following statement attributed to him : 
 
 *" I was born in the stirring times of the 
 " Revolutionary War, on the 13th of June, 
 " 1779. My mother, wishing to identify me 
 
 * Watson's " Annals," Vol. Ill, p. 1. 
 
86 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " with the scenes of the Kevolution, when the 
 " Flag of Peace was hoisted on Market Street 
 " hill, held me up in her arms and made me see 
 " and notice that flag, so that it should be told 
 " by me in after years, she at the same time 
 " shedding many tears of joy at the glad spec- 
 " tacle." 
 
 It is certainly surprising that it should have 
 been thought necessary to republish the flag reso- 
 lution in 1783, but if any notice were necessary, 
 it seems at least to have been effective, for there 
 are many accounts from all parts of the country 
 of the raising of flags to commemorate the return 
 of peace. From this circumstance, the flag was 
 called " the Flag of Peace " in many writings of 
 the time. And such it was in the years which 
 followed, during which the trading vessels of the 
 young republic carried the Stars and Stripes all 
 over the world. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FLAG SINCE THE EBVOLUTIONAEY WAR. 
 
 The ensign of the United States of America 
 remained the same, as fixed by the resolution of 
 June 14th, 1777, until 1795. By this time Ver- 
 mont and Kentucky had been admitted into the 
 Union, and on January 13th, 1794, Congress 
 passed the following act: 
 
 " That from and after the first day of May, 
 " 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen 
 " stripes, alternate red and white ; that the 
 " union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field." 
 
 The flag thus established remained in use until 
 1818. During this period occurred the war with 
 Great Britain, commonly called the war of 1812. 
 It was during this war that " The Star Spangled 
 Banner " was written by Francis Scott Key. He 
 was at the time* aide-de-camp to General Smith, 
 who was in charge of the defense of Baltimore. 
 Key had gone on board the flag-ship of the 
 enemy's fleet under a flag of truce to endeavor to 
 secure the exchange of one of his friends who had 
 been taken prisoner by the British. Admiral 
 Cockburn detained them a day and a night, be- 
 
 * See Preble, 2d Edition, pp. 722-723. 
 
88 Evoluiion of the American Flag. 
 
 cause he was about to attack Fort Mc Henry. The 
 flag which inspired the poem had then recently 
 been made for the fort by Mrs. ilary Pickersgill. 
 The flag is still in existence, having passed from 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Armstead, who was in com- 
 mand of the fort at the time of the bombardment, 
 to his daughter, Mrs. Appleton, and at her death, 
 in Xew York, July 25th, 1878, to her son, Mr. 
 Eben Appleton, of Yonkers, X. Y. 
 
 A letter from Mrs. Caroline Purdy, of Balti- 
 more, to Mrs. Appleton, contains interesting par- 
 ticulars in regard to this flag. The letter is 
 quoted* in Preble's " History of the Flag." 
 
 " It was made by my mother, Mrs. Mary 
 ' Pickersgill, and I assisted her. My grand- 
 ' mother, Eebecca Young, made the first flag 
 ' of the Revolution, under General Washing- 
 ' ton's direction, and for this reason ray 
 ' mother was selected by Commodore Barry 
 ' and General Striker ( family connections ) to 
 ' make this Star Spangled Banner, being an 
 ' exceedingly patriotic woman. The flag being 
 ' so very large, my mother was obliged to ob- 
 ' tain permission from the proprietors of Clag- 
 ' get's brewery, which was in our neighlior- 
 ' hood, to spread it out in their malt house, 
 ' and I remember seeing my mother down on 
 
 the floor placing the stars. After the comple- 
 
 * p. 733. 2d Edition. 
 
The Flag tiince the Revolutionary War. 89 
 
 ' tion of the flag, she superintended the top- 
 ' ping ( /. €., heading ) of it, having it fastened 
 ' in the most secure manner, to prevent its 
 ' being torn away by balls. The wisdom of her 
 ' precautions was shown during the engage- 
 ' ment, many shots piercing it, but it still 
 ' remained Arm to the staff. Your father. Col. 
 ' Armstead, declared that no one but the 
 ' maker of the flag should mend it, and sug- 
 ' gested that the rents should be bound 
 ' around. . . . The flag I think contained four 
 ' hundred yards of bunting, and my mother 
 ' worked many nights until twelve o'clock to 
 complete it in a given time." 
 
 Eebecca Young, spoken of in the letter, made 
 flags in Philadelphia at a very early period, as is 
 shown by the advertisement copied below, which 
 is from a number of the Advertiser for sometime 
 in 1780. It may also be true that she made flags 
 under General Washington's direction, but the 
 account given in Chapter II and supported by the 
 affidavits in the appendix seems to show conclus- 
 ively that the first flag icith stars was the one 
 made by Mrs. Eoss. 
 
 The advertisement * referred to is as follows : 
 
 * The writer has not found this advertisement but a 
 copy in the hand-writing of George Canliy assures him that 
 there is such an advertisement in one of the Philadelphia 
 papers of the period. 
 
90 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " COLOUKS 
 
 " for the Army and Navy made and sold on the 
 " most reasonable terms 
 
 " By Rebecca Youxg ' 
 
 " in Walnut Street near Third Street, and next 
 " door but one to Mr. Samuel McLane's. 
 
 " N. B. Any person having Bunting for Sale 
 " may hear of a purchaser by applying as 
 " above." 
 
 In 1818 a further change was made in the 
 United States Flag. By this time five additional 
 States had been admitted: Tennessee, Ohio, 
 Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi. It was seen 
 that if the number of stripes was increased with 
 each increase in the number of States, the dis- 
 tinctness of the stripes when seen from a distance 
 would be impaired. Reverence for the banner 
 under which the heroes of the Revolution had 
 fought also influenced the general sentiment 
 toward a return to the thirteen stripes. The act 
 passed April 4th, 1818, provides, first, 
 
 " That from and after the 4th 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 field." 
 
The Flag Since the Revolutionary War. 91 
 
 Second, 
 
 " 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 4th of July next succeeding 
 " such admission." 
 
 This bill was brought forward by Eepresenta- 
 tive Peter H. Wendover, of New York, but the 
 plan is the suggestion of Captain Samuel C. 
 Eeid, who had distinguished himself as a sea- 
 fighter under the Stars and Stripes. Early in 
 1859 a committee of Congress was appointed to 
 consider the propriety of presenting to Captain 
 Eeid the thanks of Congress as the designer of 
 the new form of the flag. This committee, on 
 February 5th, 1859, reported their conclusion 
 that Captain Eeid was the undoubted author of 
 the suggestion embodied in the law of 1818, and 
 they included in their report a brief history of 
 the changes which had already taken place in 
 the flag. The resolution of thanks to Captain 
 Eeid was accordingly passed. 
 
 The first flag of the new design* to be made 
 was hoisted over the hall of the House of Eep- 
 resentatives on April 13th, 1818. It was made at 
 the expense of Captain Eeid for the purpose, and 
 he declined to send in a bill for it. He had rec- 
 ommended that the bill reestablishing the flag 
 * Preble, 2d Edition, p. 344. 
 
92 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 should designate the manner of arranging the 
 stars in the field. He suggested that the flag for 
 merchant ships should have the stars arranged 
 in one large star, and that for war vessels should 
 have its stars arranged in parallel rcn'S. It is 
 said that the flag furnished by Captain Reid for 
 
 • • 
 
 • • * * • • 
 
 * * 
 
 • • 
 
 ***** 
 
 the hall of Congress had the stars arranged in a 
 large star. It will be noticed that this number 
 of stars lends itself very well to such an arrange- 
 ment ( and a twenty-first could be added in the 
 middle i , btit as soon as the number was enlarged 
 beyond twenty-one, the symmetry of the large 
 star would have been marred. 
 
The Flag Since the Revolutionary War. 93 
 
 It is generally considered that the omission 
 from the bill of 1818 of any provision in regard 
 to the arrangement of the stars was a mistake. 
 It has resulted in the past in a great variety of 
 arrangements being adopted. Since the number 
 of stars has become so large, their arrangement 
 in a large star would be impracticable, since the 
 individual stars would have to be very small in 
 order to get them into such a design. In fact, the 
 problem of arrangement has practically solved 
 itself, because, with so many stars to be inserted, 
 the only feasible way is to put them symmet- 
 rically all over the field, or as nearly symmet- 
 rically as possible. The arrangement ordered by 
 the regulations of the Army and Navy depart- 
 ments is now generallj' observed in the making 
 of flags for any purpose. The forty-six stars 
 which now adorn the union of the flag are 
 arranged in horizontal rows, but not in rows ver- 
 ticalh'. 
 
 By the time the Mexican war came on, the flags 
 carried by the army and navy of the United 
 States had twenty-nine stars. Many banners are 
 preserved which saw service in the battles of that 
 war. 
 
 At the beginning of 1861 the number of stars 
 in the union of the old Flag had increased to 
 thirty-four, and it was such a flag which at Fort 
 Sumter was fired upon by the secessionists on 
 
94 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 April 12th, 1861. The hauling down of the flag 
 from Fort Sumter was hailed with acclamations 
 throughout the South, and served to unite the 
 North in enthusiastic determination to defend 
 the flag which had thus suffered at the hands of 
 its former friends. The demand for flags 
 throughout the North was unprecedented. 
 Everywhere the Stars and Stripes were dis- 
 played. Even from church steeples in many 
 places the beloved emblem of the Union floated. 
 The Northern people had differed in regard to 
 the propriety of coercing the South, but the 
 assault on the flag hushed nearly all voices of 
 protest, and the whole North rose up. Deepest 
 sorrow and indignation were manifest every- 
 where, and so universal was the resolution to 
 avenge the insult to the old Flag, that to be a 
 " peace man " was held almost equivalent to 
 being a traitor. 
 
 One of the most popular sayings of the time 
 was taken from a telegraphic message* sent by 
 Secretary of the Treasury John A. Dix to Wil- 
 liam H. Jones, who had been sent to Mobile and 
 New Orleans to try to save the revenue cutters at 
 those ports. He found that at Mobile already in 
 possession of the Confederates, and on reaching 
 New Orleans he found that the captain in com- 
 
 * See Preble, 2d Edition, p. 399, facsimile of original of 
 this message. 
 
The Flag Since the Revolviionary ^yar. 95 
 
 mand of the cutter there refused to surrender the 
 boat to the Department. Jones telegraphed to 
 General Dix for instructions, and the reply 
 which was sent him directed him to take posses- 
 sion of the boat, placing the recalcitrant captain 
 under arrest. The telegram ended with the 
 words, " If any one attempts to haul down the 
 American Flag, shoot him on the spot." The 
 telegram was withheld by some secessionist tele- 
 graph employe, so that Jones did not get his 
 orders, and the treasonable design of the captain, 
 of the cutter AAas carried out. The date of the 
 telegram is January 29th, 1861. The words of 
 General Dix were echoed by thousands of patri- 
 otic voices throughout the land. The flag of the 
 revenue cutter (the McClelland) was saved by a 
 loyal sailor, who saw where it was put when the 
 Confederates hauled it down, and was given to 
 General Butler, who sent it to General Dix, the 
 author of the celebrated telegram. 
 
 Four years to a day from the time the Stars 
 and Stripes were hauled down from Fort Sumter, 
 the very same flag was hoisted again over the 
 ruins by the same Robert Anderson, then Major, 
 now General. The ceremonies on this occasion 
 of restoring the old Flag to the place from which 
 it had first been hauled down in the face of hos- 
 tile Americans were very impressive. The war 
 was over, and the South came back to the old 
 
96 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Flag again. There ^vere two more stars now, rep- 
 resenting West Virginia and Nevada, a total of 
 thirty-six. 
 
 After the war was over, many of the loyal 
 States provided places of deposit for the flags 
 which had been used in the struggle, and the 
 public exercises on the occasion of the return of 
 the banners were of the most impressive charac- 
 ter. Altogether the effect of the Civil War was 
 strongly felt in causing increased reverence for 
 the flag. The dark days of the war had brought 
 the people nearer together, and made them feel 
 the significance of the Stars and Stripes as the 
 emblem of Liberty and Union to an extent that 
 had been before unknown. 
 
 The increase of this sentiment is shown by the 
 legislation in many States since 1897 prohibiting 
 the use of the Flag for advertising and other im- 
 proper purposes. In a number of States, also, 
 the Flag is displayed at every school-house, that 
 reverence for it may be instilled into the minds 
 of the children. Most of the school-houses in 
 some States which have no laws on the subject 
 have flag-poles from which the Flag is displayed 
 on certain occasions. The ceremony of saluting 
 the Flag is conducted at regular times in the 
 schools in many parts of the country. In the 
 schools of New York, where a large part of the 
 pupils are of foreign parentage, this ceremony 
 
The Flag Since the Revolutionary War. 97 
 
 is thought to have a large influence in helping to 
 make real American citizens out of the children 
 of people who cannot even speak our language. 
 
 One of the most interesting observances con- 
 nected with the Flag was instituted in Philadel- 
 phia in 1893 by Dr. EdAvard Brooks, who was at 
 that time superintendent of the schools of the 
 city. He directed that the 14th of June, the anni- 
 versary of the day on which the flag resolution 
 was passed by the Continental Congress, should 
 be observed as Flag Day, and marked by appro- 
 priate exercises. This custom has since been 
 observed in Philadelphia, and has spread to a 
 number of other cities and States, and it is to 
 be hoped that it will become universal. We can 
 well afford to devote a little time on one day of 
 the year in every school in the land to impressing 
 afresh on the children's minds the history and 
 symbolism of our beautiful national Flag. 
 
 The question has often been asked whether the 
 Stars and Stripes are really the most artistic 
 combination possible for a flag. It may indeed 
 be true that some other combination would be 
 viewed with more favor by a competent art critic 
 who was also an entirely unprejudiced observer. 
 But no true American spends any of his time con- 
 sidering such a possibility. Our Flag, with all 
 that it stands for, of struggle and sacriflce in the 
 past, of freedom and security in the present, and 
 
98 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 of bright promise for future progress in all that 
 makes for national righteousness, is for us the 
 most beautiful emblem that ever received the 
 homage of a brave and generous people. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
Wasliington Coat-of-Armg. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. — WASHINGTON'S COAT-OF-ARMS. 
 
 It has been suggested that the Washington 
 coat-of-arms formed the basis of the design of 
 the American Flag. It is not impossible that 
 there may be some truth in this suggestion. 
 Washington was probably acquainted with the 
 
 WASHINGTON'S BOOK-PLATE. 
 
 family coat-of-arms in his earlier life, but he did 
 not use it on his seal, book-plate, etc., until quite 
 late in life ; — not, at least, until after the close of 
 the Revolutionary War. Whether he had the 
 Washington arms in mind or not when design- 
 
100 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 ing the flags can never, in all probability, be 
 known. If he did, that fact would account for 
 his silence in regard to his part in the matter, 
 for anything like self-glorification was utterly 
 repugnant to Washington's nature. Whether or 
 not there was any connection between the two, 
 the resemblance between our national ensign and 
 the coat-of-arms of the Washington family is an 
 interesting fact. 
 
 The arms were granted in the early part of the 
 sixteenth century to Laurence Washington, of 
 Sulgrave Manor, near Banbury, in Northampton- 
 shire, near the border of Oxfordshire, about 
 seventy miles northwest from London. In 
 heraldic language, the description is as follows : 
 
 Arms — ^Argent, two bars gules, in chief three 
 mullets of the second. 
 
 Crest — A Raven with wings indorsed, proper, 
 issuing out of a ducal coronet or. 
 
 Translating this into English, we have : Shield 
 white, with two red bars. On the upper part 
 three red five-pointed spur-wheels. Crest, a 
 raven, black, with wings on back, springing out 
 of a golden ducal coronet. The spur-wheels were 
 shaped like five-pointed stars. 
 
 Joseph B. Beale, of Germantown, Philadel- 
 phia, says, in a letter dated January 24th, 1909 : 
 
 " My brother Albert once heard Mrs. Gilles- 
 " pie, a grand-daughter of Benjamin Franklin, 
 
Appendix B. 101 
 
 " say, in a speech to school-children at Inde- 
 " pendence Hall, or square, that Franklin sug- 
 " gested that Washington's stars take the place 
 " of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew 
 " that were on the flag raised at Cambridge 
 " January 1, 177G." 
 
 B. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES IN REGARD TO THE PER- 
 SONS CONCERNED IN MAKING THE FIRST FLAG. 
 
 EoBERT Morris was one of the commanding 
 figures of the Kevolution. His exertions in pro- 
 curing money for the cause are believed to have 
 been es.sential to the success of the war. He was 
 Aery conservative, and held back from the final 
 step of declaring for independence for a long 
 while. The fact that he was a member of the 
 group who were associated in ordering the 
 sample flag suggests the idea that the order may 
 have been given on behalf of the " Secret Com- 
 mittee " of Congress, of which he was chairman. 
 He was also on the Marine Committee, and the 
 fact that the resolution of June 14th, 1777, was 
 recorded between two matters which were in the 
 province of the Marine Committee may easily 
 have been more than an accident. Robert Morris 
 was one of the signers of the Declaration, and 
 several biographies of him have been written. 
 
 George Ross was also one of the signers of the 
 Declaration. It was he who suggested, as a suit- 
 
103 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 able person to make the sample flag, the widow 
 of his nephew, John Boss. His home was at Lan- 
 caster, from which place he was sent as a dele- 
 gate to the Pennsylvania Assembly. He was 
 three times chosen a member of Congress. He 
 was active in the raising of troops, and was col- 
 onel of a regiment of " associators " of Lancas- 
 ter. He was part owner of the " Mary Ann Fur- 
 nace " in York County, which furnished cannon 
 balls for the army or navy. He was a member 
 or the Congressional Committee on Military Sup- 
 plies. His activity in connection with military 
 affairs is indicated in the following minute from 
 the journal of Congress : — 
 
 "May 29th, 1776. The Committee of 
 " Claims reported that there is due . . . On 
 " several certificates for entertaining General 
 " Lee's guards, the sum of £14-4-0 = 37 78/90 
 " dollars, and that the same ought to be paid 
 " to George Ross, Esq." 
 
 He was by profession a lawyer, and in 1778 he 
 was made a judge of the admiralty for the State 
 of Pennsylvania. Before him was tried the cele- 
 brated case of the sloop Active* out of which 
 grew a controversy between the United States 
 
 * See " Pennsylvania's Defiance of the United States," 
 Hampton L. Carson, in " Harper's Magazine," October, 
 1908. 
 
Appendix B. 103 
 
 and the State of Pennsylvania, which lasted for 
 nearly thirty years and almost resulted in blood- 
 shed. Judge Ross died in 1779, aged 49 years. 
 
 Elizabeth Claypoole was the daughter of 
 Samuel Griscom, a builder. Her mother was 
 Rebecca James, a sister of Abel James, of the 
 firm of James & Drinker. She was the eighth of 
 the seventeen children of Samuel and Rebecca 
 Griscom, born* the first day of the year 1752. 
 She learned the upholstery business at 
 Webster's, the leading establishment of the kind 
 in Philadelphia. In November, 1773, she mar- 
 ried John Ross, son of the Rev. .Eneas Ross, an 
 Episcopal clergyman. In consequence of this 
 marriage she was " disowned "* from the Society 
 of Friends. John Ross had been her fellow-ap- 
 prentice at Webster's, and soon after their mar- 
 riage they opened an upholstery shop on their 
 own account on the north side of Arch Street, 
 below Third. The house is still standing, and its 
 present number is 239. At the instance of his 
 uncle George Ross, the young husband was 
 engaged about the beginning of the year 1776 as 
 one of a company to guard military stores on one 
 of the city wharves. While engaged in this ser- 
 vice he received an injury, from the effects of 
 
 * See Records of Northern District Monthly Meeting, 
 deposited at Friends' Library, 142' North Sixteenth Street, 
 Philadelphia. 
 
104 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 which he died. He was buried* in the burial 
 ground of Christ Church (of which church he 
 and Ms wife had been attenders), at Fifth and 
 Arch Streets, on January 20th, 1776. After the 
 death of her husband, the childless widow con- 
 tinued to carry on the business at the same place. 
 Here, near the beginning of June, 1776, she made 
 the first Stars and Stripes, as has already been 
 narrated. It is said that her Quaker friends 
 twitted her with the epithet " little rebel " for 
 making that first fiag. The conference took place 
 in the back room of the little house. One reason 
 for this was probably to avoid being seen and 
 heard from the street, or by any one that might 
 come in. Mrs. Ross went to a shipping merchant 
 and borrowed an old ship's color, from which to 
 learn how to make a flag. This merchant is be- 
 lieved to have been John Ross, not related to the 
 Signer, George Ross. He was a Scotchman, an 
 enthusiastic supporter of the new government, 
 and a personal friend of Robert Morris. 
 
 On June 15th, 1777, Elizabeth Ross was mar- 
 ried to Joseph Ashburn, a sea captain in the mer- 
 chant marine. She continued to carry on the 
 business of upholstery and flag-making at the 
 same place, while her husband went back and 
 forth on his dangerous business. He was flnally 
 captured by the English and confined in the mili- 
 * Records of Christ Church. 
 
Appendix B. 105 
 
 tary prison near Portsmouth, England, called 
 Mill Prison. Here he died in March, 1782. 
 Among his fellow-prisoners was a young Phila- 
 delphian named John Claypoole, who had been a 
 lieutenant in the United States service, but who 
 at the time of his capture was employed in some 
 capacity on an American merchant ship, which 
 was armed and carried letters of marque. On his 
 release from Mill Prison, after a confinement of 
 more than a year, John Claypoole returned to 
 Philadelphia, bringing to the widow of his friend 
 Joseph Ashburn her husband's last messages, and 
 his personal effects. On May 8th, 1783, Eliza- 
 beth Ashburn and John Claypoole were mar- 
 ried.* Of the two Ashburn daughters who had 
 been born, one was living, Eliza. She afterward 
 married Captain Isaac Silliman. 
 
 John Claypoole received an appointment in 
 the Custom House, which he held for a time, but 
 the upholstery business continued to be carried 
 on without interruption. In the directories of 
 the time the family is listed under the descrip- 
 tion, " John Claypoole, upholsterer." There 
 is no doubt, however, that Elizabeth Clay- 
 poole was the head of the business. Her hus- 
 band had been wounded at the Battle of 
 Oermantown, and all the hardships he had en- 
 
 * Family Bible in possession of Anne Balderston, 
 Colora, Md. 
 
106 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 dured during his imprisonment had enfeebled 
 him, so that at the age of about 45 he was a vic- 
 tim of partial paralysis, and continued a cripple 
 and invalid to the end of his life. He died in 
 1817, after about twenty years of partial help- 
 lessness. During all this time and for some ten 
 years longer, Elizabeth Claypoole, with the 
 assistance of her daughters, grand-daughters and 
 nieces, continued to make flags and do uphol- 
 stery. Four Claypoole daughters grew up and 
 married. With one of these, Susanna Satter- 
 thwaite, at Abington, Montgomery County, the 
 flagmaker lived for perhaps six years after her 
 retirement from the business. The eldest daugh- 
 ter, early widowed, Clarissa Sidney Wilson, had 
 been for some years associated with her mother 
 in the business, and continued it until 1857. 
 During all of this time they continued to make 
 flags for the government until Clarissa Wilson, a 
 few years before her retirement, from conscien- 
 tious motives, ceased to furnish flags for mili- 
 tary and naval purposes. 
 
 Elizabeth Claypoole returned to Philadelphia 
 about 1835, and the short remainder of her 
 life was spent in the family of her daughter, Jane 
 Canby. Here, on January 30th, 1886,* she died, 
 at the age of 84 years. She and her husband had 
 
 * City Records, Record Room, No. 517, City Hall, Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
' <^u^a^i^-c^ o^ 
 
 
 Wo^n^ aA (5 a^'/^z aJ^ 
 
 K 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 y/i^i.t.i.^^:t^ /y/f/^^-U^ VX'^/^^.^i^ X'T/ > 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^Xi-r^-. 
 
 jyiiEB 
 
 .^ 
 
 ■■' ■■ - . ..^..M 
 
 Page of signatures from the Declaration of Principles of the 
 Free Quakers. 
 
Appendix B. 107 
 
 joined the Society of Free Quakers soon after it 
 was established, and both of them were buried in 
 the burial ground of that denomination, on 
 South Fifth Street. Their remains were trans- 
 ferred in 1857 to a lot in Mount Moriah Ceme- 
 tery. 
 
 No portrait of Elizabeth Claypoole, who has 
 been so much talked about under the name of 
 Betsy Koss, exists. A miniature of one of her 
 daughters, by Rembrandt Peale, made about 
 1806, and one of another daughter, probably by 
 the same artist, are in existence ; but the mother, 
 it is believed, never sat for her portrait. As a 
 young woman she is described as very vivacious 
 and attractive. She was reputed to be the most 
 skilful needle- woman in the city, so that a young 
 lady from a distance who was in the city was 
 directed to her for repairs to an elaborately em- 
 broidered dress which had been torn. When 
 Elizabeth had darned it, the young lady assured 
 her that the darn was the handsomest part of the 
 dress! She was not only energetic and skilful 
 in the ordinary work of her arduous business, 
 but possessed of considerable artistic skill, so 
 that she drew the elaborate designs used in the 
 quilting work of the period with great rapidity 
 and accuracy, freehand. Not only was she a 
 skilled seamstress and upholsterer, but a thor- 
 oughly efficient housekeeper and home-maker. 
 
108 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 and a neighbor always in demand whenever there 
 was sickness or trouble. Shortly before her 
 death she became completely blind, and in this 
 condition occupied some of her time in sewing 
 carpet rags, employing her little grandsons to 
 sort out the colors for her. Altogether she was a 
 worthy instance of the patriot w^omen of the 
 Revolution, whose humble lives were so strenu- 
 ous and so self-sacrificing. 
 
 C. — HISTORY OF THE BETSY ROSS TRADITION. 
 
 Elizabeth Claypoole told the story of the mak- 
 ing of the first flag many times- to her daughters, 
 nieces, granddaughters and others. The younger 
 women who helped her in making flags naturally 
 heard it oftenest, and these included at different 
 times a considerable number of relatives. It 
 never occurred to any of these that there could 
 be any reason for publishing the story. None of 
 them had any literary tendency, and they no 
 doubt supposed that the facts in regard to the 
 making of the first flag would come out all in 
 good time from the records of the government 
 and the papers of the distinguished men to whom 
 all the facts were known. When in 1857 Clarissa 
 Sidney Wilson, the oldest Claypoole daughter of 
 Elizabeth Claypoole, and her successor in the 
 business, was retiring and removing from Phila- 
 
K9 
 
 ^Iff ' -^./J^H 
 
 SHH^r ' Am i^^^^l 
 
 
 Clarissa Sidney Wilson, 
 1785-1864. 
 
 Susan Satterthwaite, 
 1786-1875. 
 
 Racliel Fletcher, 
 1789-1873. 
 
 .Jane Caiiljy, 
 1792-1873. 
 
 The tour (laughters of John and Elizabeth Claypoole. 
 
William J. Canby, 
 
 1S25-18P0. 
 
Appendix C. 109 
 
 delphia to Fort Madison, Iowa, she asked * her 
 nephew, William J. Canby, to write at her dicta- 
 tion the story as she had so often heard it from 
 her mother. It is probable that she had in mind 
 simply a desire to perpetuate the story for the 
 sake of its interest to the descendants of the 
 maker of the first flag. 
 
 Whatever may have been her purpose in mak- 
 ing the request, he took down the story from her 
 lips. Nothing was done with the notes for some 
 years, however, and when William J. Canby 
 began to work them into shape several years 
 later, the aunt who had requested him to write 
 the story was already dead. He examined all the 
 records of the period to which he had access, in 
 the hope of finding some confirmation of the 
 story, but without success. He then went to 
 Washington, armed with letters from the officers 
 of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and 
 made a careful search among the government 
 records, but found nothing beyond the flag reso- 
 lution of June 14, 1777, already well known. In 
 March, 1870, he read before the Pennsylvania 
 Historical Society a paper f telling of his 
 fruitless search, and also narrating at some 
 length the story which had come down from his 
 
 * See letter in the "Philadelphia Times " of May 14th, 1882, 
 pages, dated "Washington, D. C, May 11th, 1882. 
 
 t This paper is preserved at the library of the Society. 
 
110 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 grandmother, whom he well remembered. In 
 order to fortify the story against cavil, he had 
 the paper copied in a book, and then read it to 
 three persons who had been assistants of Eliza- 
 beth Claypoole in the manufacture of American 
 Flags, and they severally made affidavit to the 
 correctness of the story as he had written it, and 
 each also made a separate statement, which is a 
 part of her affidavit. 
 
 The story was inserted by Preble in the second 
 edition of his " History of the Flag," and in that 
 way and by various other channels it was widely 
 disseminated. The tale seems to have caught the 
 popular fancy, for it has been retold very many 
 times, and a great number of variations have 
 been added. Of course many of the particulars 
 of these stories were wrong. Careful persons 
 hearing the stories, turned to the histories of the 
 time and found nothing about the matter, and 
 again and again the whole story was condemned 
 as a baseless fabrication. Two points in particu- 
 lar were seized upon as showing that it was false. 
 First, Betsy Eoss spoke of her visitors as a com- 
 mittee of Congress. The records of Congress 
 mention no such committee. It has been fully 
 explained why this does not condemn the story. 
 The other point was a conflict of dates. Care- 
 less narrators sometimes said that the first flag 
 
Appendix C. Ill 
 
 was made in 1777. Washington was not in 
 Philadelphia in May or June, 1777. In the affi- 
 davits accompajiying the paper of William J. 
 Canby the time given is " some time before " or 
 " shortly before " the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, at which time Washington was in Phila- 
 delphia. The fact that the new Flag had not 
 come into use in October, 1776, as shown by 
 William Eichards' letter (page 56), has been 
 held as a proof that no flag was made in June, 
 1776. The bearing of this fact has been shown, 
 and it in no way discredits the story told by Eliz- 
 abeth Claypoole to her daughters. 
 
 It has been assumed by some of the persons 
 who have called in question the truth of the tra- 
 dition that it was invented by somebody in 
 recent years, and that it has been ingeniously 
 modified to meet objections, and exploited in 
 some unexplained way for the benefit of some- 
 body. Others have supposed that Elizabeth 
 Claypoole was an unprincipled person who 
 sought to make capital out of a story which no 
 one tooli the pains to contradict. There is abso- 
 lutely no ground for either of these suspicions. 
 None of the contemporaries of Elizabeth Clay- 
 poole contradicted her story, because every one 
 who knew her knew that she was a truthful and 
 in every respect aa honorable woman, and the 
 
112 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 same character pertains to every one of her 
 daughters and other associates who have 
 vouched for the truth of the story. 
 
 D. — AFFIDAVITS APPENDED TO Wil. J. CAXBY'S 
 
 PAPER. 
 (Originals in possession of Lloyd Balderston, West 
 Chester, Pa.) 
 
 AFFIDAVIT NO. 1. BY SOPHIA B. HILDEBRANDT. 
 
 I remember to have heard my grandmother, 
 Elizabeth Claypoole, frequently narrate the cir- 
 cumstance of her having made the first Star 
 vSpangled Banner; that it was a specimen flag 
 made to the order of a committee of Congress, 
 acting in conjunction with General Washington, 
 who called upon her personally at her store in 
 Arch Street, below Third Street, Philadelphia, 
 shortly before the Declaration of Independence ; 
 that she said that General Washing-ton made a 
 redrawing of the design with his own hands after 
 some sugestions made hj her; and that this 
 specimen flag and report were approved and 
 adopted by Congress ; and she received an unlim- 
 ited order from the committee to make flags for 
 the government; and to my knowledge she con- 
 tinued to manufacture the government flags for 
 about fifty years, when my mother succeeded her 
 in the business, in which I assisted. I believe 
 the facts stated in the foregoing article, entitled 
 
Margaret Boggs, 
 1770-1870. 
 
 A Biece of P-lizabefh Claypoole, 
 who was for many years her assis- 
 tant in the upholstery and flag- 
 making business. 
 
Appendix D. 113 
 
 " The First American Flag, and Who Made It," 
 are all strictly true. 
 
 Witness my hand at Philadelphia, the twenty- 
 seventh day of May, A.D. 1870. 
 
 S. B. HiLDEBRANDT. 
 
 Affirmed and subscribed before Charles H. Evans, 
 Notary Public. 
 
 Sophia B. Hildebrandt was the daughter of 
 Clarissa S. Wilson, before mentioned, who was 
 a daughter of Elizabeth Claypoole. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT NO. 2. BY MARGARET BOGGS. 
 
 I, Margaret Boggs, of the City of Philadel- 
 phia, widow, do hereby certify that I have heard 
 my aunt, Elizabeth Claypoole, say many times 
 that she made the first Star Spangled Banner 
 that ever was made with her own hands; that 
 she made it on the order of General Washington 
 and a committee of the Continental Congress, 
 who together called personally upon her at her 
 house on the north side of Arch Street, below 
 Third Street, Philadelphia, some time previously 
 to the Declaration of Independence. That they 
 brought with them a drawing, roughly made, of 
 the proposed flag; that she said it was wrong, 
 and proposed alterations, which Washington 
 and the committee approved; that one of these 
 alterations was in regard to the number of points 
 
114 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 of the star; that she said it should be five- 
 pointed, and showed them how to fold a piece of 
 paper in the proper manner, and with one cut of 
 the scissors, to make a five-pointed star; that 
 General Washington sat at a table in her back 
 parlor, where they were, and made a drawing of 
 the flag, embodying her suggestions, and that 
 she made the flag according to this drawing, and 
 the committee carried it before Congress, by 
 whom it was approved and adopted. That she 
 then received orders to make flags for the gov- 
 ernment as fast as possible; and from that time 
 forward for upwards of fifty years she made all 
 the flags made for the United States in Phila- 
 delphia, and largely for the other naval stations. 
 I was for many years a member of her family, 
 and aided her in the business. I believe the facts 
 stated in the foregoing article, entitled '' The 
 First American Flag, and Who Made It," which 
 has now been read to me, are all strictly true. 
 
 Witness my hand at Germantown, in the City 
 of Philadelphia, this Third day of June, A.D. 
 1870. 
 
 Margaret Boggs. 
 
 ■Witnessed by Charles B. Engle and Stephen T. Beale. 
 Affirmed and subscribed before Charles B. Engle, Notary 
 Public. 
 
Appendix D. 115 
 
 AFFIDAVIT NO. 3. BY RACHEL FLETCHER. 
 
 I remember having heard my mother, Eliza- 
 beth Claypoole, say frequently that she, with her 
 own hands (while she was the widow of John 
 Boss), made the first Star Spangled Banner that 
 ever was made. I remember to have heard her 
 also say that it was made on the order of a com- 
 mittee, of whom Col. Boss was one, and that 
 Eobert Morris was also one of the committee. 
 That General Washington, acting in conference 
 with the committee, called with them at her 
 house. This house was on the north side of Arch 
 Street, a few doors below Third Street, above 
 Bread Street, a two-story house, with attic and 
 a dormer window, now standing, the only one of 
 the row left, the old number being 89; it was 
 formerly occupied by Daniel Niles, shoemaker. 
 Mother at first lived in the house next east, and 
 when the war came she moved into the house of 
 Daniel Niles. That it was in the month of June, 
 1776, or shortly before the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, that the committee called on her. 
 That the member of the committee named Ross 
 was an uncle of her deceased husband. That she 
 was previously well acquainted with Washing- 
 ton and that he had often been in her house in 
 friendly visits, as well as on business. That she 
 had embroidered ruffles for his shirt bosoms, and 
 that it was partly owing to his friendship for her 
 
116 Evolution of tlie American Flag. 
 
 that she was chosen to make the flag. That when 
 the committee (with General Washington) came 
 into her store she showed them into her parlor, 
 back of her store, and one of them asked her if 
 she could make a flag ; and that she replied that 
 she did not know, but she could try. That they 
 then showed her a drawing, roughly executed, of 
 the flag as it was proposed to be made by the 
 committee, and that she saw in it some defects in 
 its proportions and in the arrangement and 
 shape of the stars. That she said it was square, 
 and a flag should be one-third longer than its 
 width; that the stars were scattered promiscu- 
 ously over the field, and she said they should be 
 in lines, or in some adopted form, as a circle or a 
 star, and that the stars were six-pointed in the 
 drawing, and she said they should be five- 
 pointed. That the gentlemen of the committee 
 and General Washington very respectfully con- 
 sidered her suggestions and acted upon them. 
 General Washington, seating himself at a table 
 with pencil and paper, altered the drawing and 
 then made a new one according to the sugges- 
 tions of my mother. That (Teneral Washington 
 seemed to her to be the active one in making the 
 design, the others having little or nothing to do 
 with it. That the committee then requested her 
 to call on one of their number, a shipping mer- 
 chant at the wharf, and then adjourned. That 
 
Appendix D. 117 
 
 she was punctual to her appointment, and then 
 the 5^entleinan drew out of a chest an old ship's 
 color which he loaned her to show her how the 
 sewing was done, and also gave her the drawing 
 finished according to her suggestions. That this 
 drawing was done in water colors by William 
 Barrett, an artist, who lived on the north side of 
 Cherry Street, above Third Street, a large three- 
 story brick house on the west side of an alley 
 which ran back to the Pennsylvania Academy for 
 Young Ladies, kept by James A. Neal, the best 
 school of the kind in the city at that time. That 
 Barrett only did the painting, and had nothing 
 to do with the design. He was often employed 
 by mother afterward to paint coats-of-arms of 
 the United States and of the State on silk flags. 
 That other designs had also been made by the 
 committee and given to other seamstresses to 
 make, but that they were not approved. That 
 mother went diligently to work upon her flag and 
 soon finished it, and returned it, the first Star 
 Spangled Banner that ever was made, to her 
 employers ; that it was run up to the peak of one 
 of the vessels belonging to one of the committee 
 then lying at the wharf, and was received with 
 shouts of applause by the few bystanders who 
 happened to be looking on. That the committee 
 on the same day carried the flag into the Con- 
 gress, sitting in the State House, and made a 
 
118 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 report, presenting the flag with the drawing, and 
 that the next day Colonel Ross called upon my 
 mother and informed her that her work had 
 been approved and her flag adopted ; and he gave 
 orders for the purchase of all the materials, and 
 the manufacture of as many flags as she could 
 make. And that from that time forward, for 
 over fifty years, she continued to make flags for 
 the United States Government. 
 
 I believe the facts stated in the foregoing arti- 
 cle, entitled " The First American Flag, and 
 Who Made It," are all strictly true. 
 
 Rachel Fletcher. 
 
 Affirmed and subscribed before Thomas J. McEvily, 
 Notary Public for the City and County of New York, July 
 31, 18T1. 
 
 In this last aflftdavit, among so many particu- 
 lars, it is probable that some, at least, are con- 
 fused, especially in regard to order of time. It 
 is unlikely, for instance, that Mrs. Ross had any 
 familiar acquaintance with Washington before 
 the making of the flag, and if she ever made ruf- 
 fles for him, it was probably after he came to 
 Philadelphia as President. The short time be- 
 tween the making of the first flag and the issue 
 of unlimited orders for flags seems difficult to 
 accept, in the light of what has been shown. But 
 taken all together, these afiidavits show that 
 
Appendix E. 119 
 
 Elizabeth Claypoole said that she made the flag 
 about June 1st, 1776, to the order of Washing- 
 ton, Robert Morris, and George Ross; that she 
 suggested the five-pointed star, and that the flag 
 then made afterward became the national stand- 
 ard. These statements conflict in no respect 
 with any recorded facts so far discovered, and 
 may therefore be accepted as showing that Wash- 
 ington designed the flag of Stars and Stripes, 
 and that the first flag of this design was made 
 about a month before the great Deg^laration. 
 
 E. — THE FLAG HOUSE. 
 
 The house referred to in the affidavit of Rachel 
 Fletcher, page 115, is still standing. The pic- 
 ture, facing frontispiece, shows the house as it 
 now is. 
 
 On December 19th, 1898, The American Flag 
 House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association 
 was incorporated under the Laws of the State of 
 Pennsylvania for the purpose of purchasing the 
 house and preserving it from possible destruc- 
 tion and to maintain it as a place of patriotic 
 interest. The charter members were: Dr. Ed- 
 ward Brooks, Superintendent of Public Schools, 
 Philadelphia; Dr. Adam H. Fetterolf, President 
 of Girard College; Hon. John Wanamaker; Ex- 
 Governor Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania; 
 Hon. John Quincy Adams, of New York; 
 
120 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 Charles H. Weisgerber; Eev. Morgan Dix, D.D. ; 
 Superintendent John Jasper, of ZSI^ew York 
 Public Schools; General Oliver Otis Howard, 
 U.S.A.; Hon. Benj. F. Tracy; George Canbv; 
 Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan; Eabbi Joseph 
 Krauskopf; President James MacAli.ster, Ph.D., 
 of Drexel Institute, Philadelphia; Dr. Thomas 
 Egleston, of (Jolumbia Unirersity; Eev. Eussell 
 H. Con well, D.D. ; Colonel Asa Bird Gardiner; 
 Lieutenant Francis A. Adams; George Clinton 
 Batcheller; Thomas Wynne; Dr. Nathan C. 
 Sehaeffer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 State of Penn.sylvania ; Fred. H. Cozzens. of 
 Detroit; Edward Payson Cone; Hon. Lucius E. 
 Chittenden; Sidney L. Knauss; Eev. Henry C. 
 McCook, D.D.; Charles W. Smith, of Philadel- 
 phia; Judge William N. Ashman; Hon. Edwin 
 S. Stuart ; William A. Carr, and General 
 Thomas J. Stewart. 
 
 The purchase money was raised by ten-cent 
 subscriptions, a lithograph certificate of mem- 
 bership in the Association being given to each 
 subscriber. The membership certificate included 
 pictures of the house where the first flag was 
 made, the grave of Betsy Eoss in Mt. Moriah 
 Cemetery and a reproduction in colors of the 
 original painting, '• Birth of Our Nation's Flag." 
 by Charles H. Weisgerber. of which a half- 
 tone copy appears on page 122. This paint- 
 
GL'iiur;i; Wasliingtou Georgii Ross Ki^ljert Morris 
 
 Betsy Kijss 
 
 Birth of Our Nation's Flag. 
 By rhas. H. Weisgerber 
 
Appendix F. 131 
 
 ing was first exhibited at the Columbian Exposi- 
 tion in Chicago in 1893, and did much to stir up 
 interest in the subject. The picture of Betsy 
 Koss was based upon a composite portrait made 
 up from pictures of her daughters and other data 
 furnished by granddaughters and other descend- 
 ants. 
 
 The artist has taken a proper artistic liberty 
 in introducing the finished flag into the scene. 
 The three distinguished gentlemen called to 
 order the flag, but it is not probable that they 
 called to receive it. The painting depicts worth- 
 ily an event of deep interest to all Americans, 
 and it was appropriate that it should appear on 
 the certificates issued to the subscribers to the 
 fund for the preservation of the house. 
 
 Mr. Weisgerber also designed the certificates 
 of membership, seal and charter of the Associa- 
 tion, and originated the plan under which more 
 than a million people contributed to the fund 
 for purchasing the house. 
 
 F. — THE GRAND UNION FLAG. 
 
 The Grand Union Flag is commonly shown 
 with the union covering a width of seven stripes, 
 as the blue field of the United States Flag is now 
 always made. I have ventured to represent it 
 with the union only six stripes wide, and there- 
 fore resting on a red stripe, because this is more 
 
122 
 
 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 nearly like the only picture of it which is known 
 to exist that has come down from Revolutionary 
 times. Preble in his " History of the Flag " 
 (p. 219, second edition), says that the historian 
 Benson J. Lossing loaned to him a water color 
 drawing found among the papers of General 
 Schuyler, representing a schooner flying a flag 
 Avith thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, 
 
 FLAG OF THE ROYAL SAVAGE 
 
 and the British union. The inscription on this 
 drawing, in the hand-writing of General Schuy- 
 ler, shows that it was one of the flotilla on Lake 
 Champlain in the fall of 1776. This flag has 
 been mentioned on page 36. The picture, which 
 Preble reproduces, shows the union resting on 
 a red stripe, and, curiously enough, only four 
 stripes deep. It will be seen from the accom- 
 panying reproduction of Preble's picture that 
 
Appendix G. 123 
 
 the proportions are about the same as those of 
 the colored plate facing page 20. 
 
 In Lossing's " Life of Schuyler " the sketch of 
 the Royal Savage is reproduced in a wood-cut, 
 and, curiously enough, the flag is shown with the 
 union covering seven stripes and resting on a 
 white stripe. Preble, however, says distinctly 
 that his picture is a facsimile in size and shape 
 of the drawing found among the Schuyler papers. 
 
 G. — ADDITIONAL AFFIDAVITS AND STATEMENTS IN 
 REGARD TO THE JIAKING OP THE FIRST FLAG. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OP SUSAN SATTERTHWAITE NEVP'POET 
 AND ADDITIONALLY MARY SATTERTHWAITE. 
 
 I, Susan Satterthwaite Newport, of Abington 
 Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 
 wife of David Newport, of the same place, hereby 
 certify that I have heard my mother, Susanna 
 Satterthwaite, daughter of Betsy Eoss, say many 
 times that she (Betsy Ross) made the first 
 United States Flag with the Stars and Stripes, 
 after a design submitted to her by General 
 George Washington, Colonel George Ross, and 
 some other gentleman whose name I do not 
 recall, and that my mother repeated this as hav- 
 ing been told to her by her mother, Betsy ( Ross ) 
 Claypoole. That Betsy Ross suggested some 
 changes be made in the design of the flag, one 
 
124 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 being the changing of the stars from a six- 
 pointed to a five-pointed star, as being more sym- 
 metrical. These gentlemen went to see Betsy 
 Ross at her home, which was on the north side 
 of Arch Street, below Third Street ; the number 
 was then 89, but now changed to 239. In this 
 house she continued in the flag business, and 
 later was assisted by her niece, Margaret Don- 
 aldson Boggs, and the business of flag making 
 and upholstery increased to such proportions 
 that she employed a large force of girls. She 
 subsequently retired from the business, and was 
 succeeded in the work by her daughter, Clarissa 
 Claypoole Wilson, who continued it for years, 
 the exact date of which I do not remember. Sub- 
 sequently she, too, retired from the business on 
 account of conscientious scruples. 
 
 My grandmother was so outspoken, that when 
 the British ofiicers were in Philadelphia, and 
 quartered at her house, they called her the 
 " Little Eebel," by which name she became well 
 known. Her intelligence and intellect charac- 
 terized her as far above the average woman of 
 the day. Her knowledge of the science of medi- 
 cine was remarkable. She was an Anti-Rushite 
 and antagonistic to the use of calomel as a drug, 
 and to the practice of bleeding, so prevalent in 
 the early days of medicine. She investigated 
 the curative powers of drugs, made many form- 
 ulas and compounds which were eagerly sought 
 
Appendix G. 135 
 
 by her friends and neighbors, who had confidence 
 in her skill. One of her valuable formulas was 
 for an excellent eye-wash. 
 
 Betsy Ross never went back to Friends' meet- 
 ing after having been " read out " for marrying 
 John Ross, who was not a Friend, but she subse- 
 quently joined the Free Quakers, some time 
 after her marriage to John Claypoole. 
 
 Witnesses : Signed : 
 
 CLIFTON CABELL SUSAN S. NEWPORT 
 
 DAVID NEWPORT MARY SaTTERTHWAITE 
 
 CHAS. S. KINSEY 
 
 State of Pennsylvania 
 County of Delaware 
 
 Before me, Percival V. Cooper, a duly commis- 
 sioned Justice of the Peace in and for the Bor- 
 ough of Media, County and State aforesaid, per- 
 sonally appeared Susan S. Newport and addi- 
 tionally Mary Satterthwaite her sister, who, 
 being affirmed according to law, they each and 
 jointly do depose and say that the statements 
 subscribed to by them are true and accurate, and 
 so they do aflirm. 
 
 Affirmed and subscribed to before me this 12th day of 
 January, A.D. 1909. 
 
 Percival V. Cooper, Justice of the Peace. 
 
 My commission expires May 6th, 1912. 
 
 ^Original in possession of Bucks County Historical So- 
 ciety, Doylestown, Pa.) 
 
126 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF THE CHILDREN OF STEPHEN AND 
 LOUISA BOGGS PEALE. 
 
 We, the undersigned, sons and daughters of 
 the late Stephen Thomas Beale, M.D., D.D.S., 
 and his wife, Louisa Boggs Beale, of Philadel- 
 phia, Pa., hereby certify that we have often 
 heard our greataunt, Margaret Donaldson 
 Boggs, who resided with our parents for a period 
 of over thirty years, relate the history of the 
 making of the first United States Flag, by Betsy 
 Eoss. 
 
 Mrs. Margaret Donaldson Boggs was for many 
 years associated in the upholstery business with 
 her aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Claypoole, the 
 Bet.sy Eoss of history. Mrs. Boggs received 
 from Mrs. Claypoole the follo^dng facts: That 
 Mrs. Claypoole (at that time Betsy Eoss, widow 
 of John Eoss), upholsterer, received in person 
 at her house on Arch Street (north side), below 
 Third Street, General Washington, Colonel Eoss 
 and Eobert Morris, who suhmitted to her a de- 
 sign for a national flag. This design was 
 changed in some particulars, and the work of 
 making the flag was given to Mrs. Eoss. 
 
 Witnesses : Signed : 
 
 EMILY ISOLA BEALE COOPEE JOSEPH BOGGS BeALE 
 HENBY MOOEE ALBERT B. BEALE 
 
 HELEN J. SWANSON DaNIEL S. BEALE 
 
Appendix 0. 137 
 
 RICHARD SLOAN LOUISE BOGGS CULVEE 
 
 GEO. L. BOCKIUS CLARA S. BeALE BROOM 
 
 HELEN J. SWANSON EMILY J. BeALE 
 
 Sworn and subscribed to before Percival V. Cooper, 
 J. P., January 12th, 1909. 
 
 (Original in possession of Bucks County Historical 
 Society, Doylestown, Pa.) 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF SUSANNA MC CORD TURNER AND 
 MARGARET MC CORD SMITH. 
 
 We, the undersigned, Susanna McCord Turner 
 and Margaret McCord Smith, aged ninety-one 
 and eighty-six years, respectively, members of 
 the Flag-House Chapter, D.A.R., of Phila- 
 delphia, Pa., believe that Elizabeth Gris- 
 com Ross (Betsy Ross) made with her own 
 hands the first national flag of the United States, 
 according to a design submitted to her by Gen- 
 eral Washington, and afterward altered in some 
 points by him at her suggestion, at her home on 
 Arch Street, Philadelphia (present number 239 
 Arch Street). We have heard this fact stated 
 many times by our mother, Sarah Donaldson 
 McCord, who was a niece of Mrs. Ross, and for 
 years a member of her household, when she, Mrs. 
 Claypoole, carried on the upholstering business 
 and made flags for the government. Our mother 
 received directly from Mrs. Claypoole the history 
 
128 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 of the making of the first flag, and of the visit to 
 her house of General Washington, Colonel Rosa 
 and Robert Morris. 
 
 We both recollect our great-aunt, Mrs. Clay- 
 poole (Betsy Ross), I, Susanna McCord Turner, 
 having seen and tallied with her when her home 
 was on Front Street, between Walnut Street and 
 Dock, and I, Margaret McCord Smith, having 
 seen and talked with her when her home was on 
 Cherry Street, a few doors above Fifth, at the 
 corner of Cresson's Alley. 
 
 state of Pennsylvania ) 
 
 > s s 
 County of Delaware j ' ' 
 
 Before me, Percival V. Cooper, a duly com- 
 missioned Justice of the Peace, in and for the 
 borough of Media, county and State aforesaid, 
 personally appeared Susanna McCord Turner 
 and Margaret McCord Smith (full sisters), who, 
 being duly sworn according to law, they each 
 and jointly do depose and say that the facts 
 above recorded are true and accurate statements 
 told them by their mother, Sarah Donaldson 
 McCord, blood niece of Elizabeth Griscom 
 (Betsy Ross), wife of John Ross, Captain 
 Joseph Ashbum and John Claypoole, as Eliza- 
 beth Griscom was three times married. 
 
Appendix G. 129 
 
 Witnesses : Signed : 
 
 ANNIE B. GOEMLBY MaKGARBT MC COED SmITH 
 
 COEALIB EUBENS FEEEMAN SuSAN MC C. TUENEE 
 EUPBET GEISCOM BEALE 
 
 Sworn and subscribed to before me this 10th day of 
 February, A.D., 1909. 
 
 Peecival V. CooPEE, Justice of the Peace. 
 
 My commission expires May 6th, 1912. 
 (Original in possession of Lloyd Balderston, West Ches- 
 ter, Pa.) 
 
 STATEMENT OF MAEGARET MC CORD SMITH, GEAND- 
 NIECE OF ELIZABETH CLAYPOOLE. 
 
 I am the youngest daughter of David and 
 Sarah McCord. David McCord was the son of 
 Mark McCord, who served in the Eevolutionary 
 War, was wounded at the Battle of Germantown, 
 and died three weeks afterwards from the effects 
 of his wounds. He received honorable mention 
 at the time he obtained a furlough after being 
 wounded. 
 
 My mother, Sarah Donaldson McCord, was 
 the daughter of Captain William Donaldson and 
 his wife Sarah Griscom Donaldson, daughter of 
 Andrew and Sarah Griscom,* and a sister of 
 Betsy Ross. After the death of my grandmother, 
 my mother (then a child), went to live with her 
 
 • Andrew and Sarah (Dole) Griscom were not the 
 parents, but the great-grandparents of Sarah Griscom 
 Donaldson and Elizabeth Claypoole (Betsy Ross). 
 
130 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 aunt, Deborah Bolton. After Deborah Bolton 
 died, in 1793, of the fever, my mother made her 
 home with her aunt Betsy Claypoole, and stayed 
 there until her marriage. I recollect my great- 
 aunt Betsy Claypoole, very distinctly. She was 
 a beautiful little old lady, with very blue eyes. 
 When I was about ten years of age she was living 
 with her daughter, Mrs. Jane Canby, wffe of 
 Caleb Canbv. I frequently went there, because 
 my aunt, Mrs. Margaret Boggs, boarded there 
 with her aunt, Mrs. Claypoole, on Cherry Street, 
 above Fifth, at the corner of Cresson's Alley, in 
 a large double three-story brick house. I recol- 
 lect hearing my mother say, many times, that her 
 aunt, Betsy Boss, made the first American Flag, 
 in the house on Arch Street, below Third, pres- 
 ent number 239. After Betsy Boss made the 
 first flag, she had orders from Colonel Boss to 
 buy up all the bunting she could and make flags. 
 After the deAth of Mr. Boss, his widow was mar- 
 ried to Captain Ashburn. After the death of 
 Captain Ashburn, she was married to Mr. Join 
 Claypoole, a Custom House ofiicial. She still 
 carried on the upholstery business, and made 
 flags and mattresses for the ships on the Dela- 
 ware Eiver. 
 
 (Signed) Maegaeet McCoed Smith. 
 
 f Original in possession of Dr. Rupert G. Beale, 1116 
 Girard Street, Philadelpliia.) 
 
Appendix H. 131 
 
 H. — DIARY OF LIEUTENANT DIGBY (PAGE 36). 
 
 Since this description by Lieutenant Digby is, 
 so far as is now known, tlie earliest description 
 of the Stars and Stripes by an actual observer, it 
 is worth while to give the story of the discovery 
 of the passage quoted on page 62 in some detail. 
 George Canby had been in correspondence with 
 B. F. Stevens and Brown, of London, in regard 
 to allusions to the flag in contemporary papers 
 preserved in London. A letter from them dated 
 21 Jan., 1903, says :— 
 
 " The fort alluded to in our quotation of 
 30 June, 1777, was Ticonderoga, the item 
 reading thus : — 
 
 " ' 30 June. The advanced Corps made their 
 ' appearance before Ticonderoga. We en- 
 ' camped at Three-mile Point. The Line with 
 ' the General were at Putnam's Creek, about 
 ' six miles in our rear, but expected shortly 
 ' up. We had a full view from our Post of 
 ' their works, lines, &c., and their Flag of 
 ' Liberty displayed on the summit of their 
 ' Fort. Our Gunboats are anchored across 
 ' the river out of the range of their cannon.' 
 
 " Consulting again that Journal at the Brit- 
 ish Museum (Additional MSS., 32413, Jour- 
 nal or Diary of Lt. Wm. Digby, 53d Regi- 
 ment, serving under Sir Guy Carleton in the 
 campaign from 8 April to 16 November, 
 
132 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 " 1776, and under General John Burgoyne in 
 " the campaign from 6 Mar to the surrender 
 "at Saratoga, Oct., 1777), in the endeavor to 
 " trace any mention of a flag even after July, 
 " 1777, your first limit of date, we fimd the fol- 
 " lowing, with reference to the engagement 
 '• near Fort Ann, 8 July, where Lt. Col. Hill, 
 " of the 9th Regiment, was attacked by Amer- 
 " leans whom he repulsed. The Diary runs 
 " thus :— 
 
 " ' 24 July. We marched from Skeensbor- 
 " ' ough,' etc."' (See page 62 for quotation.) 
 
 Thinking that the omission of the words 
 thirteen stars might be a mistake of the copyist, 
 George Canby wrote asking that the quotation 
 be verified. The following reply was received 
 under date 18 Feb., 1903 :— 
 
 " In reply to your letter of the 2d inst., we 
 " beg to confirm our quotation from Lt. 
 " Digby's journal. We have compared it again 
 " with the original in the British Museum and 
 " find it to be correctly copied. What the 
 " writer precisely meant we do not presume to 
 " say, but there is no hiatus nor mutilation in 
 " the manuscript. In order that you may see 
 " how the words occur in the original, we give 
 " them line for line: — 
 
 " ' They were very handsome, a Flag of the 
 " ' United States, 13 Stripes, alternate red & 
 
Appendix H. 133 
 
 " ' white, in a blue field representing a new 
 " ' Constellation. 
 
 " ' In the Evening,' etc." 
 
 In order still further to establish the correct- 
 ness of this quotation. Smith Burnham, Profes- 
 sor of History at the West Chester State Normal 
 School, Pennsylvania, who was in London in the 
 fall of 1908, was asked to examine the diary. He 
 writes as follows : 
 
 " 58 Gower St., Londoo W.C., Sept. 12, 1908. 
 
 " Dear Friend : — ... This morning I ex- 
 " amined the diary kept by Lieutenant Wil- 
 "liam Digby, 'Additional MSS., British 
 " Museum, No. 32413,' to which you refer, 
 " under the three dates that you mention, with 
 " the following results : — 
 
 " Oct. 14, 1776, ' Who waveing the enemies 
 " ' colours, thirteen stripes, declared.' 
 
 " June 30, 1777, ' Their Flag of Liberty dis- 
 " ' played on the summit of the Fort.' 
 
 "July 24, 1777, 'At that Action the 9th. 
 " ' took their colours, which were intended as 
 " ' a present to their Colonel Lord Leganeer, 
 " ' they were very handsome, a Flag of the 
 " ' United States, 13 Stripes, alternate red 
 " ' and white, in a blue field representing a new 
 " ' Constellation.' 
 
 "... The whole diary seems to be the work 
 " of a keen observer, who writes out very 
 " clearly what he sees." 
 
134 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 In the hope of finding that Digby made some 
 mention of flags used at the time of Burgoyne's 
 surrender a letter was sent to the keeper of man- 
 uscripts in the British Museum, asking whether 
 the diary had been printed, and if not, how fur- 
 ther information in regard to it could be pro- 
 cured. The keeper replied that the diary had 
 been printed at Albany in 1887, giving the author 
 and title. Careful inquiry in the libraries of 
 Philadelphia * failed to give any clue whatever 
 to this book; even the publishers' lists for the 
 year do not mention it. The Library of Congress 
 being appealed to, a copy of the book was loaned 
 through the library of the West Chester State 
 Normal School, since the foregoing paragraphs 
 were in type. 
 
 The title-page of the book is as follows : 
 
 The British Invasion from the North |j The 
 Campaigns ] | of | [ Generals Carleton and Bur- 
 goyne || from Canada, 1776-1777 jl With the 
 Journal of Lieut. William Digby ' j of the 1 1 53d 
 or Shropshire Eegiment of Foot || Illustrated 
 with Historical Notes I' by |{ James Phinney 
 Baxter, A.M. \ | Albany, N. Y. 1 1 Joel Munsell's 
 Sons, 82 State Street I ' 1887. ' ! 
 
 The author gives an interesting and compre- 
 hensive account of the campaigns of Carleton 
 
 * It was aftenvard found to be in the library of the 
 Pennsvlvania Historical Societv. 
 
Appendix H. 135 
 
 and Burgoyne, and then the entire diary of Lieu- 
 tenant Digby, with biographical notes on the per- 
 sons mentioned, and other additional informa- 
 tion. In regard to Digby himself, very few par- 
 ticulars have been learned, and these are simply 
 dates of enlistment, retirement, etc., obtained 
 from the records of the War Office. He was 
 among the officers who surrendered to Gates at 
 Saratoga, October 17th, 1777. 
 
 The character of the man, as it shows in his 
 diary, has impressed J. P. Baxter very favor- 
 ably, and other readers will not fail to receive 
 a similar impression. Lieutenant Digby does 
 not complain of his superiors nor dwell at length 
 on the difficulties and hardships through which 
 he passed. He seems to have been an intelli- 
 gent and accurate observer, and a man of cheer- 
 ful and amiable disposition. He comments very 
 severely on the outrages committed by the 
 Indian auxiliaries who accompanied Burgoyne. 
 
 The clear style and placid tone of the diary 
 are perhaps partly due to the fact that it is not 
 an original draft, but a copy made by the author, 
 evidently after his return to England. In the 
 closing passage of the diary, seeking to shield 
 his commander from censure, Digby refers to 
 Burgoyne's explanatory letter from Albany, 
 dated October 20th, but makes no reference to 
 his defence in Parliament the following May. 
 
136 Evolution of the American Flag. 
 
 The date of the writing out of the diary is thus 
 fixed with reasonable certainty within six 
 months of the surrender. 
 
 The diary was written, as Digby says in his 
 preface, for the "partial eye of a particular 
 friend." It is evidently based on full and ac- 
 curate notes taken at the time, as the dates are 
 given throughout, and are all correct. The fact 
 that the copy was made after the close of the 
 campaign explains why the wording of Lieu- 
 tenant Digby' s description of the flag captured 
 at Fort Ann, follows so closely the resolution of 
 Congress. In view of the general clearness and 
 accuracy of his descriptions, the fact that the 
 diary was written out later does not discredit 
 the account which he gives of the captured flag. 
 
 Digby's story is a valuable addition to the 
 chronicles of the Eevolution, and deserves a 
 much wider reading than it seems to have had. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A. 
 
 Abaco, Island of 27 
 
 Active, Sloop 102 
 
 Adams, John Quincy 119 
 
 Adams, Lieut. Francis A 120 
 
 Affidavit of Sophia B. Hildebrandt 112 
 
 Affidavit of Margaret Bogfs 113 
 
 Affidavit of Rachel Fletcher 115 
 
 Aflidavit of Susan S. Newport and Mary Satterthwaite. . . 123 
 Affidavit of Susanna McCord Turner and Margaret McCord 
 
 Smith 127 
 
 Affidavit of Children of Stephen T. Beale 126 
 
 Albany 35 
 
 Alfred, (Ship) 25 
 
 Alliance, (Ship) 78 
 
 American Flag 55, 70, 77 
 
 American Flag, The First 48, 67 
 
 Anderson, Major Robert 95 
 
 Andrea Doria, ( Ship ) 27 
 
 Andrew, St., Cross of 21 
 
 Ann, Fort 62 
 
 Appleton, Mrs., Eben 88 
 
 Armstead, Lieut. Col 88 
 
 Arnold, Benedict 35 
 
 Ashburn, Joseph 49, 105, 130 
 
 Ashman, Judge Wm. N 120 
 
 Assunpink Creek 56 
 
 B. 
 
 Babbage, Secretary 28 
 
 Bahama Islands 27 
 
 Barrett, William 117 
 
 Barry, Commodore 88 
 
 Barton, William 60 
 
 Batcheller, George Clinton 120 
 
 Batchelor, .Joshua 80 
 
 Batchelor, William 80, 81 
 
 Batchelor, William N 80, 83 
 
 Baxter, James Phinney 134, 135 
 
138 Index 
 
 Beale, Albert B 126 
 
 Beale, Daniel A 126 
 
 Beale, Emily J 127 
 
 Beale, Joseph B 100, 126 
 
 Beale, Rupert G • . . . . 129 
 
 Beale, Stephen T 114 
 
 Blewer, Joseph 56 
 
 Board of War 74 
 
 Board of War^ Letter to Washington 71 
 
 Bockius, George L 127 
 
 Boggs, Margaret 113, 124. 126, 130 
 
 Bolton, Deborah 130 
 
 Bon Homme Richard 77 
 
 Bon Homme Richard, Flag of 78 
 
 Bradford, W. & T 33 
 
 Bradford, William 56 
 
 Brandywine, Battle of 71, 74 
 
 British iluseum 36, 133 
 
 Brooks, Dr. Edward 97, 119 
 
 Broom, Clara B 127 
 
 Brown, Captain John 78 
 
 Brown, Governor 28 
 
 Buell, Augustus C 58 
 
 Bunting scarce 22 
 
 Burgovne's Surrender 70 
 
 Burnham, Smith 133 
 
 CabeD, Gifton 125 
 
 Cabot, ( Ship ) 26 
 
 Cambridge Flag 14. 20. 30. 32. 33. 36, 50 
 
 CanbT, George 9. 10, 31, 34, 120. 131 
 
 Canby, Jane 106. 130 
 
 Canby, William J 9. 109 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guy 36 
 
 Carr, William A" 120 
 
 Carson, Hampton L 102 
 
 Champlain, Lake 35 
 
 Chapman, Captain 33 
 
 Charlestown 28 
 
 Chittenden, Lucius E 120 
 
 Christ Church 104 
 
 Clarke, Sir Francis 36 
 
 aavpoole, Elizabeth 9. 103, 106, 107. IDS. 110. 112. 113 
 
 Qaypoole, John 105. 130 
 
Index 139 
 
 Cockburn, Admiral 87 
 
 Colbraith, William 65 
 
 Colors, Regimental 31, 46 
 
 Colors, Regimental, In Revolution 63 
 
 Colors, Uncertainty About 71 
 
 Columbus, (Ship) 26 
 
 Cone, Edward Payson 120 
 
 Conference at Cambridge 17 
 
 Congress, Journal of 15, 37 
 
 Continental Army Established 18 
 
 Continental Flag 65 
 
 Conwell, Rev. Russell H 120 
 
 Cooch's Bridge 69 
 
 Cooper, Emily I. B • • 126 
 
 Cooper, Percival V 125, 129 
 
 Cowpens Flag 79 
 
 Cox, Paul 56 
 
 Cozzens, Fred. H 120 
 
 Culver, Louise B • ■ 127 
 
 D. 
 
 Dartmouth, Earl of 34 
 
 Davis, Gherardi, 63, 79 
 
 Declaration of Independence 37, 49, 50, 61, 112, 113 
 
 Digby, Lieut. Wm 36, 62 
 
 Digby, Lieut. Wm., Diary of 131 
 
 Dix, John A 94 
 
 Dix, Rev. Morgan 120 
 
 Drums for the Army 71 
 
 E. 
 
 East India Company 29 
 
 Egleston, Thomas 120 
 
 Engle, Charles B 114 
 
 Ensign 34 
 
 Ensign of the United States 60 
 
 Evans, Charles H 113 
 
 F. 
 
 Fetterolf, Dr. Adam H 119 
 
 Five-pointed Star Suggested by Mrs. Ross 116 
 
 Flag, American 55, 70, 77 
 
 Flag, American. First 47, 67 
 
 Flag at School Houses 96 
 
 Flag, Cambridge 14, 17, 30, 32, 33, 36, 50 
 
 Flag Day Observance 97 
 
140 Index 
 
 Flag, Grand Union 17,19,20,23,26,28,31,33,34,35.37,64 
 
 Flag House Association 119 
 
 Flag of America 25 
 
 Flag of the United States 63, 65, 69 
 
 Flag of East India Co 29 
 
 Flag of Fort McHenry 88 
 
 Flag of Floating Batteries 23 
 
 Flag of Fort Sumter 95 
 
 Flag of Liberty 62, 64 
 
 Flag of Philadelphia Light Horse 16 
 
 Flag of 1795 87 
 
 Flag of 1818 90 
 
 Flag, Pine Tree 23 
 
 Flag Resolution 14, 37, 57, 60, 68, 74, 76, 84, 101 
 
 Flag, Saluting the 96 
 
 Fletcher, Rachel 118 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin 16, 17, 34 
 
 Free Quakers 107, 125 
 
 Freeman, Coralie R 129 
 
 G. 
 
 Gadsden, Colonel 29 
 
 Gansevoort, Col. Peter 65, 66 
 
 Gardiner, Col. Asa B 120 
 
 Gates, General Horatio 42, 43 
 
 George, St., Cross of 20, 30 
 
 Germantown, Battle of 74 
 
 Glasgow Man-of-War 28 
 
 Gormley, Annie E 129 
 
 Grand Union Flag 
 
 17, 18, 20, 23, 26, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 64, 121, 122 
 
 Griscom, Andrew 129 
 
 Griscom, Samuel • 103 
 
 H. 
 
 Hadel, Doctor 82 
 
 Hamilton, Schuyler 9, 17 
 
 Hancock, John 19, 41, 43, 51 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin 16, 17 
 
 Harrison, Peleg D 9, 82 
 
 Haven, C. C 5.5 
 
 Hessians • • 22 
 
 Hildebrandt, Sophia B 113 
 
 Hopkins, Com. Esek 25. 26, 28 
 
 Howard, General 0. 120 
 
 Howe, General 22 
 
Index 141 
 
 Howe, Lord 34 
 
 Hunt, Gaillard ••.... 60 
 
 Hutton, Col. H. M 83 
 
 I. 
 
 Independence, Declaration of 37, 49, 50, 61, 112, 113 
 
 India Company, East 29 
 
 Irvin, Mr 28 
 
 Irving's Life of Washington 70 
 
 J. 
 
 Jack 34 
 
 James, Abel ■ ■ . . 103 
 
 James, Rebecca 103 
 
 Jasper, John 120 
 
 Jeffries, Dr. John 77 
 
 Jones, John Paul 25, 58, 77 
 
 Jones, William H 94 
 
 K. 
 
 Key, Francis Scott 87 
 
 King's Speech • ■ 19 
 
 King's Speech Burned 22 
 
 Kinsey, Charles S 125 
 
 Knauss, Sidney L 120 
 
 Knox, Colonel 44 
 
 Krauskopf, Rabbi Joseph 120 
 
 L. 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis 82 
 
 Lansing, Mrs. Abraham 66 
 
 Lee, General 15 
 
 Light Horse, Philadelphia 15 
 
 Ligonier, Lord 63 
 
 Long Island, Battle of 37, 52 
 
 Lossing, Benson J 35, 122 
 
 Lynch, Thomas 16, 17 
 
 M. 
 
 McAlister, James 120 
 
 McAllister, John A 54 
 
 McClelland (revenue cutter) , flag of the 95 
 
 McCook, Rev. Henry C 120 
 
 McCord, David. Sarah, Mark 129 
 
 McEvily, Thomas J 118 
 
 McKenzie, Capt. Robert 37 
 
 Marine Committee of Congress 101 
 
142 Index 
 
 Marsh, Joseph 56 
 
 Mexican War 93 
 
 Meyler, James 78 
 
 Middlebrook, X. J 71 
 
 Mifiain, General Thomas 42, 43 
 
 Mill Prison 105 
 
 Moore, Henry 126 
 
 Morris, Robert 25, 39, 40, 47, 101, 104, 115, 126 
 
 N. 
 
 Naval Committee of Congress 77 
 
 Navy (U. S.), beginning of 25 
 
 Keal, James A 117 
 
 Newport, David 125 
 
 Newport, Susan S 125 
 
 0. 
 
 Orderly Book (Washington's) 18, 31, 46 
 
 P. 
 
 Patrick, St., Cross of 21 
 
 Pattison, Robert E 119 
 
 Peace Celebration at Pilesgrove, N. J 85 
 
 Peace, Flag of 85, 86 
 
 Peace Proclamation 84 
 
 Peale, Charles Willson 53, 59, 67 
 
 Peale, Titian R 54 
 
 Pendant 34 
 
 Pennsylvania Xaval Board 56, 61 
 
 Pennsylvania State Colors 57 
 
 Peters, Richard 73, 76 
 
 Pickersgill, ilrs. Mary 88 
 
 Portland burned 22 
 
 Preble, George H 9, 10, 57, 69 
 
 Princeton. Battle of 55 
 
 Proctor, Captain 32 
 
 Putnam, Israel 32, 44 
 
 Quakers, Free 107, 125 
 
 E. 
 
 Ranger ( ship) 58 
 
 Reed, Joseph 18 
 
 Regimental Colors 31, 46 
 
 Regimental Colors in Revolution 63, 79 
 
 Regimental Colors, Uncertainty about 72 
 
hidex 143 
 
 Reid, Captain Samuel C 91 
 
 Rensellaer, Jeremiah 66 
 
 Reprizal ( ship ) 34 
 
 Richards, Ensign 32 
 
 Richards, William 56, 75, 111 
 
 Riggs, General 80 
 
 Rogers, Colonel George W 64 
 
 Ross, Rev. jEneas 103 
 
 Ross, Betsy 14, 47, 49, 56, 107, 110, 111, 123 
 
 Ross, George 47, 49, 101, 103, 115, 123, 126 
 
 Ross, John 9, 47, 49, 102, 103, 125 
 
 Ross, John 104 
 
 Royal, Savage 35, 36, 122 
 
 Ryan, Archbishop 120 
 
 S. 
 
 Satterthwaite, Mary 125 
 
 Satterthwaite, Susanna 106 
 
 SchaeflFer, Dr. Nathan C 120 
 
 Schuyler, Fort 65, 66, 67 
 
 Schuyler, General Philip 16, 35 
 
 Schwarzhauer, Captain 82 
 
 Seal of the United States 50, 60 
 
 Searle, Ambrose 34 
 
 Secret Committee ot Congress 39, 101 
 
 Serapis 77 
 
 Ship's Colors 57, 61 
 
 Silliman, Captain Isaac 105 
 
 Sloan, Richard 127 
 
 Smith, Charles W 120 
 
 Smith, Margaret McCord 127, 129 
 
 Society of the War of 1812 80 
 
 South Carolina Provincial Congress 29 
 
 Sparks, Jared 30 
 
 Staflford, James Bayard 78 
 
 Standard of the United States 60, 72, 76 
 
 Stanwix, Fort 65 
 
 Stars, arrangement of 59, 92 
 
 Stars and Stripes 15, 51, 55, 56, 63, 67, 68, 69, 76, 77, 131 
 
 Star-Spangled Banner 87 
 
 Stevens, B. F., & Brown 34, 131 
 
 Stewart, General Thomas J 120 
 
 Striker, General 88 
 
 Stuart, Hon. Edwin S 120 
 
 Sumter, Fort 94 
 
 Swanson, Helen J 126, 127 
 
 Swartwout, Captain Abraham 65 
 
144 Index 
 
 T. 
 
 Thomson, Charles 57, 68 
 
 Ticonderoga 62, 64, 67 
 
 Tracy, Benjamin F 120 
 
 Trenton. Battle of 53, 54 
 
 Trumbull. John 54, 55. 59, 67, 70 
 
 Turner, Susanna McCord 127, 128, 129 
 
 TJ. 
 
 Union, British 20, 34, 35 
 
 Union Flag 14, 33 
 
 Union Flag hoisted at Cambridge 19 
 
 Union Jack 21 
 
 V. 
 
 Valcour Island 35 
 
 Varick, Richard 31 
 
 W. 
 
 Wanamaker, John 119 
 
 War Office 71 
 
 War, Board of 74 
 
 Ward, General Artemas 15, 32, 44 
 
 Washington Coat-of-Arms 99 
 
 Washington, George 14, 15, etc. 
 
 Washington John Augustine 38 
 
 Watson, John F 85 
 
 Webb, William 56 
 
 Weeckes, Captain 34 
 
 Weisgerber, Charles H 120 
 
 Wendover, Peter 91 
 
 Williamsburg, Va., Convention 33, 38 
 
 Willing, Thomas 40 
 
 Wilson, J. Appleton 80. 81. 83 
 
 Wilson, Clarissa Sidney 106, 108, 113. 124 
 
 Wynne, Thomas 120 
 
 Y. 
 
 Young, Vice-Admiral 33 
 
 Young, Mrs. Rebecca 88, 89, 90