Chapter XV: The Jacks in the Thirteen Colonies of North America

We now turn to the history of the Jacks in the country to the south of Canada, where immigration from England had been building up the thirteen English colonies which subsequently became the United States of America. The Spanish flag had been planted in 1492 by Columbus upon San Salvador in the Bahamas. In 1497, Cabot had placed the St. George cross, the English Jack of Henry VII., on the North Atlantic shores, and the English claim by right of first discovery was thereafter laid to Newfoundland, Labrador, and the coast of America, from Cape Breton to Maine. Under Elizabeth, Raleigh, in 1584, expanded the claim of the St. George cross in Virginia far to the south, and in 1602, under the same flag, Bartholomew Gosnold, sailing out for the merchant adventurers of Bristol, exploited the shores of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Elizabeth, which still retain the names he then gave them. Other adventurers, too, there were, who were searching the unknown resources of the new continent. Jacques Cartier, in his second voyage, had, in 1535, occupied Stadacona (Quebec), and the French flag had been established on the shores of the St. Lawrence, the permanent settlement at Quebec being founded by Champlain, in 1608. For more than two hundred years the cross of St. George had been prospecting along the Atlantic coasts and laying claim to their possession, but no settlements were permanently established on these shores by any except the Frenchman, De Monts, who raised the white flag of France at Port Royal, on the Bay of Fundy, and laid the foundations of the town in 1605, and from this time on began the contest for their final ownership.

The sovereigns of France and England had with profuse liberality given royal grants of American territory to their venturesome merchant seamen, and in this manner James I., in 1605, partitioned off the larger part of these shores to the two merchant-adventurer companies of London and Plymouth.

The Plymouth Company was granted the country between what is now known as New Brunswick and Long Island, to be called Northern Virginia, and the London Company from the Potomac to Cape Fear in Carolina, to be called Southern Virginia--the two hundred miles intervening between them being left unoccupied in order to separate their boundaries, and so ensure peace between the rival companies, each company being warned not to make any occupation beyond the limits of the territory so allotted to them.

The London Company in 1607 established themselves in Virginia, where their Capt. Newport, after a weary and wave-tossed voyage, named their first shelter and landing place "Point Comfort," and the river the "James," and their settlement "Jamestown," in honour of his King.

It was into this interval between the two English companies that Hendrick Hudson sailed in 1609, and planted the Dutch flag, with its three lengthwise stripes of orange, white and blue, the orange being the uppermost, over New Amsterdam (now New York).

To these English colonists fell the honour of the first contest for the flag.

The French had occupied Acadia, and were quietly extending southward, when, in 1613, Commander Samuel Argall, of Southern Virginia,[81] finding them trading off Mount Desert, in what is now Maine, captured and destroyed their new shore settlement of St. Sauveur, and next year, heading an expedition sent out by his Colony, advanced farther northward, and destroyed their headquarters at Port Royal. Thus the colonists of Virginia, acting for their nation, defended the English claim, and repelled the interference made with the cross of St. George in its rights of prior discovery under Cabot.

[81] Afterwards Governor of Virginia in 1618.

The Plymouth Company had not been so energetic as were the London Company in the occupying of their "plantations," but, in 1614, Captain John Smith, on their behalf, settled a port which he called "New Plymouth," and gave the name of "New England" to the surrounding country.

While these things were going on in America the migration of the Puritans from England to Holland had taken place. These non-conforming Independents left their homes in England, in 1609, not from any disloyalty to their native land, but because their religious views forbade them to bend to what they considered were the unbiblical Church requirements of James I. To his ritual regulations they would not conform, so they removed themselves and their families to Holland. Strong in their English nationality they remained for ten years at Leyden, an isolated and unsettled colony in a foreign land. To England they could not return, no place in Europe was open to them for settlement without losing their language and changing their flag, and they must, therefore, leave Holland and seek the New World lands across the ocean. The Dutch offered them assistance and favourable arrangements for colonization in their Dutch possessions in America. They were also offered inducements by the London Company to settle on the Delaware, in their colony of Virginia. As it was considered that complications might arise if an English colony were to proceed across the seas under the Dutch flag, they declined the offer of Holland and accepted the English proposition, and the consent of King James was obtained to their repatriation in the English territory in America without conforming to the religious conditions to which they had so devotedly objected in the Old Land.

Thus they sought the new land, not as rebels, but as loyalists returning in gladness to their nation's flag.

Forming the "Pilgrim Company," in which they all took shares, a vessel named the _Speedwell_ was purchased at Delft-Haven in Holland, and another named the _Mayflower_ in London. The two parties joined at Southampton. After leaving the shores of England the _Speedwell_ was found to be unseaworthy, and the two vessels, therefore, returned to England, when it was determined that the _Mayflower_ should proceed alone. There not being sufficient accommodation on the one ship for the combined expeditions, a number were left behind. The _Mayflower_, a vessel of only 180 tons, sailed from Plymouth with about 100 of the "Pilgrims" crowded on board. On reaching the shores of America in November, 1620, after a voyage of two months and five days, they found that they were far to the north of the Virginia Colony to which they had been commissioned. Tired of the sea, but being hopeful that they would receive, as they subsequently did, a grant of land from the Plymouth Company, and being without a charter for the territory on which they were about to land, it became necessary to make a new agreement between themselves for the government of their colony. A "_compact_" was accordingly drawn up on board the _Mayflower_ "off Cap-Codd," and signed by all the heads of families. In this document they described themselves as

" ... the loyall subjects of our dread Soveraigne Lord King James by the grace of God of Gt. Britaine, France and Ireland, King-defender of ye faith, &c., having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of ye Christian faith and honour of our King & Countrie a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia,"

and the date of the year is given as

"the eighteenth of 'Our Soveraigne Lord King James.'"[82]

[82] Macdonald: "Charters Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775."

As the _Mayflower_ was an English ship she would carry the St. George cross flag on the foremast, and as they declared themselves to be loyal subjects of King James it is most probable that the "additional" Union Jack of James I. was also displayed at the main.

Such was the beginning of the migration of the Puritans from England, which, following this first colony, continued during the remainder of the century.

That the Pilgrims carried the English Jack is plainly shown by the controversies which arose from time to time in this "New England" district upon the subject of the use of the cross of St. George, not for want of any loyalty to it, but from their strict religious views.

John Endicott, and the Puritans who subsequently settled at Salem, objected to the cross in the flag as being an "_idolatrous emblem_," and, in 1634, "_defaced the ensign by taking out one part of the red cross_."[83]

[83] _Winthrop's Journal_, November 5, 1634, Vol. I., p. 175.

Much discussion ensued upon these conscientious scruples, and the offenders were summoned to appear before the Court of Assistants, but decision was deferred for several meetings, "_because the Court could not agree about the thing, whether the ensigns should be laid by, in regard that many refused to follow them_." It was, however, ordered by the Commissioners for military affairs that all the ensigns should in the meantime be laid aside.

Endicott was finally tried at a general court held at Newtown, and "_his offence found great; he judging the cross to be a sin, did not content himself to have it reformed at Salem, not taking care that others might be brought out of it; also laying a blemish on the other magistrates, as if they would suffer idolatry, and giving occasion to England to think ill of us_." He was, however, lightly sentenced by suspension for one year of right to hold civil office, because "_he did it out of tenderness of conscience and not of any evil intent_."[84]

[84] _Winthrop's Journal_, March, 1635.

A suggestion was made that red and white roses should be inserted in the flag, instead of the cross, as being English emblems, and the ministers were "_to write to England and consult the most wise and godly_;" but nothing came of this suggestion.

Opinions must have continued strong in the controversy, for at the close of the year the commissioners appointed colours for the military companies, but left out the cross in them all, leaving the space blank, but they ordered that the King's arms were to be inserted in the flag which was to be used on the fort on Castle Island, at Boston.[85]

[85] _Winthrop's Journal_, December, 1635.

In the following year (1636) much heart-burning was occasioned by the masters of several ships trading to Boston declaring that because the King's colours were not displayed at the fort the colonists were all traitors and rebels. This imputation was most warmly resented by the people, and the captains were promptly tried by the Massachusetts court for this defamation of the loyalty of the colony.

The offenders acknowledged their error and made humble apology in open court, but in doing so suggested that the King's colours ought to be shown on the fort. To this answer was made, "_that 'we had not the King's colours'; thereupon two of them did offer them freely to us. We replied that, for our part, we were fully persuaded that the cross in the ensign was idolatrous, and, therefore, might not set it in our ensign, but because the fort was the King's and maintained in his name, we thought that his own colours might be spread there._"[86]

[86] _Winthrop's Journal_, March, 1636.

The King's own colours would be the two-crossed Jack of James, which Charles I. had, in 1634, declared as His Majesty's Jack to be the "ornament proper for our owne ships." This Jack was ordered to be thereafter displayed at the fort, lest it might again be thought that the colony had abated its allegiance.

In 1643, the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut formed themselves for defence against the French and the Dutch into an alliance as the "United Colonies of New England."

That their forces had continued to use the two-crossed "King's Jack" of Charles I. is proved by the fact that they found it necessary, owing to the change of sovereignty in the Mother Country, to pass an order authorizing a change in their own flag. The Commonwealth of England had, in 1648, abolished the use of the two-crossed Jack. In 1651, the fleet of Cromwell which crossed the Atlantic was to be seen flying the single English Jack of St. George and the new Commonwealth Ensign at Barbadoes and in Virginia. Following the action of the Home Government, the General Court of Massachusetts overcame their local scruples and passed an order adopting the English ensign:

"Forasmuch as this Court conceives the old English colours now used by the Parliament of England to be a necessary badge of distinction between the English and other nations in all places in the world, till the State of England shall alter the same, which we much desire, we being of the same nation, have therefore ordered that the Captain of the Castle shall presently advance the aforesaid colours of England upon the Castle upon all necessary occasions."[87]

[87] Massachusetts Records, Vol. I. Order of General Court at Boston, May 7, 1651.

So the English Jack took the place of the Jack of James in America.

Under this St. George Jack, with its red cross and white ground, the colonists not only organized and defended their own territories, but also carried on active operations against the French. As in its earlier years, so also throughout the century, the extensions southward of the French settlements in Cape Breton and Acadia had been a menace to the colonies. The colony of Massachusetts itself took the matter in hand, and organized an expedition which it sent out under the leadership of Major Sedgwick, in 1654, when Port Royal was taken from the French, but, much to the chagrin of the colony, only to be restored to France, in 1667, by the peace of Breda.

The old controversy about the cross in the flag had by no means been settled by the decision of the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1651, and although it was so displayed officially, yet many individuals still held to the original religious objections.

In 1663, the "Ensign Red," with the plain red cross of St. George in the upper corner, had been ordered by Charles II. to be used.

Thomas Singleton, master of the ship _Charles_, notes (when off Boston) in his diary of a voyage to the American coast in 1679-80: "_I observed that while the English flag or colour has a red ground with a small white field in the uppermost corner where there is a red cross, they have here dispensed with this cross in their colours and preserved the rest_."[88]

[88] Journal of Voyage to the New Netherlands, 1679-80, translated from the original manuscript, Long Island Historical Society, 1867.

The New England colonists were evidently flying the Ensign Red, but had taken the red cross out of the Jack in its upper corner, leaving only the white ground. It was in this it had been suggested that the roses of England should be introduced, and in which the "pine-tree" emblem was afterwards placed.

The importance of the particular flags which were to be used along these Atlantic coasts, where the nationalities were constantly coming into contact, was eminently increased by the terms of a treaty, made in 1686, between James II. and Louis XIV., providing "for rights and pre-eminences in the American seas." Under this it was agreed that,

"the British shall not trade nor fish in the havens, bays, creeks, roads, shoals or places of the French in Canada,"

and _vice versa_, the French were not to interfere with the British; and further,

"that whensoever the subjects of either king shall be forced to enter with their ships into the other's ports, they shall be obliged at their coming in to hang out their flag or colours of their nation, and give notice of their coming by thrice firing a cannon, and if they have no cannon by thrice firing a musket, which if they shall omit to do, and, however, send their boat on shore, they shall be liable to confiscation."[89]

[89] Treaty of Whitehall, November, 1686.

Governor Andros brought out with him from England, in 1686, his official flag as Governor of New England. A drawing of this in the British State papers office[90] shows it to have been a large St. George Jack, having on the centre of the red cross a royal crown, and underneath the initials of the King, I.R. (_Jacobus Rex_), in gold. This Governor's flag was officially used by Governor Andros in the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

[90] British State papers, New England. Vol. 12.

The united colonies of New England, moved, no doubt, by the necessities of the Treaty of Whitehall, passed an Order-in-Council, in 1686, directing the cross to be restored to their Colours. In this way the red cross of St. George came back into the blank white space which had been left in the upper corner of the Ensign Red.

We get some glimpse of the mental difficulties of the times from the diary of Samuel Sewall, an officer in the colonial forces. On August 20th, 1686, he writes:

"I was and am in great exercise about the cross to be put into the colours, and afraid that if I should have a hand in it whether it may not hinder my entrance into the Holy Land."

He even contemplated the necessity of retiring from the service, and enters:

"Sabbath day, August 22.

"In the evening seriously discoursed with Captain Eliot and Frary signifying my inability to hold, and reading Mr. Cotton Mather's arguments to them about the cross, and say'd that to introduce it into Boston at this time was much, seeing that it had been kept out more than my lifetime, and now the cross much set by in England and here; and it scarce could be put in, but I must have a hand in it. I fetch home the silk Elizur Holyoke had of me to make the cross, last Friday morn, and went and discourse Mr. Mather. He judged it sin to have it put in, but the captain not in fault, but I could hardly understand how the command of others could wholly excuse them, at least me who had spoken so much against it in April, 1681, and that summer and forward, upon occasion of Captain Walley's putting the cross in his colours."[91]

[91] Sewall Papers, Massachusetts Historical Collections, Fifth Series, Vol. V.

But the crosses were restored, and it was under this single cross Ensign Red that, during the war between William III. and Mary and Louis XIV., the nine colonies[92] united together, and, in 1690, of their own motion and at their own expense,[93] sent out a naval expedition from Boston, under Admiral William Phips, against the French in Canada. The fleet successfully attacked and again captured Port Royal,[94] but arriving before Quebec, above whose ramparts was flying the white flag and _fleur-de-lis_ of France, was repulsed by the redoubtable Count Frontenac. The records of the expedition, and of the episode of the capture of the flag of the Admiral, which, being shot away from its halliards and falling into the water, was swum after and brought to shore by the venturesome French,[95] attest that this fleet of the United Colonies was sailing under the cross of St. George. A copy of the medal (36), issued by Louis XIV. of France in commemoration of the event, is given in the narrative,[96] showing three _fleur-de-lis_ of France, and the cross of St. George on a flag reversed.

[92] Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, the two Jerseys, New York, Connecticut, and Plymouth and Rhode Island.

[93] Sir Wm. Phips: "Account of Expedition against Quebec." Colonial Entry Books. London.

[94] Acadie was restored to the French by the Treaty of Ryswick, 25th September, 1697.

[95] It was afterwards placed, with much ceremony, in the Cathedral.

[96] Ernest Myrand: "Phips devant Quebec," p. 341.

(From a Dutch publication of 1711.)]

While the forces of the United Colonies thus used, in common, the English ensign, some of the colonies had distinctive flags. Massachusetts at times displayed the red ensign with a "pine-tree" on the white ground in the upper corner instead of the cross to which so much objection had been made. The flag of New England (37) was the English red ensign with the pine-tree, or else a globe signifying the New World, in the upper corner of the white canton bearing the cross of St. George. The instance given is taken from the old Dutch publication of 1711.[97]

[97] P. Schenk, Amsterdam, 1711. See p. 227.

This New England ensign was in continuous local use from 1686 to 1775.

The change in the English flag, made under Queen Anne, from the cross of St. George to the two-crossed Jack, brought a corresponding change in the union flag in America.

The narrative of the change in Massachusetts, in 1701, is given in