Chapter XVI: The Union Flags of the United States

The thirteen English colonies which in succession had been planted in North America, along the shores of the Atlantic from the French possessions in Acadia to the Spanish possessions in Florida, had each its own "colony flag"; the "United Colonies of New England" had devised the New England flag to distinguish their particular union; but the national flag which declared the union of all the colonies with one another, and with the Motherland beyond the seas, was the "Union Jack" of Great Britain.

It was under the Union Jack that the forces of the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia had marshalled in 1755, and with the English regulars had advanced, under the leadership of Braddock and Washington, to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley, but to meet with such signal disaster on the banks of the Monongahela.

In the same year, under the cross of St. George in their United Colonies flag, the colonists of New England joined in the victories over the French, and changed the name of the lake, by whose shores they fought, from "St. Sacrament" to "Lake George."

Under the successive Jacks the colonies had grown into commonwealths, had expanded their territories, and their sons had written their names in British history by gallant deed and notable achievement.

Thus the crosses in the Union Jack had a vivid meaning, and their local historic record had won for them the attachment of the people in the colonies.

The occupation of Quebec by Wolfe in 1759 and the subsequent retirement of French rule from Canada and the valley of the North Mississippi had freed the colonies from conflict with the power which had hitherto opposed their expansion beyond the Alleghanies. They were now free to exploit the West, which this victory of the parent realm had gained for them, and which was to be the wide field for their subsequent expansion. Combining together for these adventures had brought the separate colonies more into contact with each other and created points of internal union. At length the time came when rifts in the methods of government on this continent began to show themselves.

Troubles had been brewing between the colonies and the Home Government ever since the passing of the obnoxious Stamp Act of 1765, but, although the friction had at times been great, there was no intention on the part of the colonists of severing their allegiance from the parent realm. The cause of the colonists in America was largely espoused among the English people. Lord Effingham, upon his regiment (the 22nd) being ordered to America, resigned his commission in the British army, "rather than consent to bear arms against my fellow-subjects in America."[103]

[103] Letter to Lord Barrington, Secretary of War, April 12, 1775.

No more ardent adherents or outspoken advocates for the self-government of the colonies were to be found in America than were Chatham, Burke, and Charles James Fox in the Parliament of England, and under the later and better conditions which have since governed the relations between Great Britain and her outlying colonies there would, in all probability, have been no breaking of the old home ties.

Engaged in the throes of a great European war, Britain had poured her men into Spain and could spare but few of her own for service in America. Forces, consisting largely of hired Hanoverian and Hessian soldiers, had been sent across the sea to enforce the objectionable enactments, and hostilities had broken out in June, 1775, between the resident citizens and these imported "regulars"; but even after this entanglement, the flag, which was introduced for the "United Colonies," was raised, not for the purpose of indicating any alteration in allegiance, but to evidence the local union of the still loyal colonies against the dictation of the impracticable home ministry.

That these were their views towards Great Britain they most plainly stated in the address they sent to the King immediately after their armies had been placed in the field:

"We not only most ardently desire that the former harmony between her and these Colonies may be restored, but that a concord may be established between them as to perpetuate its blessings uninterrupted to succeeding generations in both countries."[104]

[104] Address of the General Congress of the Colonies in America to the King, September 1, 1775.

As in previous wars of defence or of adventure, the separate colonial forces were again brought together into one army. On their assembling at Cambridge, in July, 1775, they were mustered into one service under General Washington. As was recorded in a local paper, "None of the men who have been raised by this (Massachusetts) and several other colonies are in future to be distinguished as the troops of any particular colony, but as the forces of 'The United Colonies of North America,' into whose joint service they have been taken by the Continental Congress."[105]

[105] _New England Chronicle_, July 6, 1775.

As early as October, Washington found the necessity of having some "continental flag" which should identify the whole of the forces of "The United Colonies of North America" thus assembled together under his command, instead of having the military detachment from each colony continuing to use its own individual flag.

An existing ensign used by the Colony of Pennsylvania was at first proposed by him for this purpose, having a white ground with a tree in the middle, and the motto, "Appeal to Heaven."[106]

[106] "Washington Letters," Vol. I., p. 84.

This was succeeded by a new design, devised for the Continental Union flag (39), which, to the accompanying salute of thirteen guns, was raised by Washington over the camp of his army at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 1st January, 1776, being the occasion of its first appearance.

This flag was called "The Grand Union" (Pl. VI., fig. 1). It was composed of thirteen stripes of alternate white and red--one for each colony--and in the upper corner was the British Union Jack of that period, displaying the two crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, as introduced in 1707.

There existed at the time a flag which had been carried by the English East India Company over their British possessions in India since 1704. This was composed of thirteen stripes, red and white alternately, and had the single red cross of St. George upon a white ground (the old English Jack) in the upper corner. This flag might have been seen on the vessels trading to America and exchanging products between the English East Indian and the American colonies, and thus being recognized as a "colonial flag" it may, with the change of form of the Union Jack, have suggested the new ensign.

1

GRAND UNION 1776

2

UNITED STATES 1777

3

UNITED STATES 1909]

There is no direct evidence as to the flag which had been raised by General Putnam at the outbreak of hostilities at Bunker Hill, June 17th, 1775, but tradition reports[107] that it was the ensign of the colony of New England (37), which, like the East India ensign, had the St. George's cross on a white ground in the upper corner; but the whole fly of the flag was red.

[107] Lossing.

In the selection of a new flag for the combined forces of the united colonies, what design could be more reasonable or more appropriate than the selection of that Union Jack under which their united armies had so often fought, together with the addition of thirteen stripes to indicate the number of colonies then assembled together?

This retention of the Union Jack in the new flag was designedly intended to signify that the American colonies retained their allegiance to their Motherland of Great Britain, although they were contesting the methods of taxation promulgated by its Government.

By this flag the thirteen colonies testified that, though in arms, they still claimed to be Britons, and were demanding for themselves all the rights of citizenship which such relation conferred.

It was, as one of their orators has well said, "the flag of the British colonies in arms to secure the rights and liberties of British subjects."[108]

[108] General Schuyler Hamilton: "Addresses on the Flag," p. 18.

The first Union flag raised by Washington over the armies of the united colonies thus displayed the British Union Jack.

Another flag (40) bearing the Union Jack is still extant.[109] It is a crimson red flag, having a rattlesnake painted upon it, and in the upper corner is the Union Jack of 1707. This was carried by a regiment of the colony of Pennsylvania, and was used at the Battle of Trenton, December 26th, 1776, and in subsequent engagements with the British regular forces.

[109] Preble: "The Flag of the United States."

The intention to cure the troubles by constitutional means had become unhappily merged in the appeal to arms.[110] As the hostilities proceeded rancour grew, and then a new flag was sought for, which should typify the changed conditions. The source from which arose the idea of this final design we shall presently see.

[110] Benjamin Franklin's only son bitterly resented his father's abandonment of peaceful and constitutional methods, and himself left the country in 1782, and died a U. E. Loyalist in 1813.

On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence followed,[111] but the "Grand Union" still continued to be used by the thirteen colonies, which had now become thirteen States. It was not until June 14th, 1777, or almost a year after the Declaration, that a new national flag was fully developed.

[111] Carried in Congress only by the casting vote of the chairman.

The Congress of the United States, then in session at Philadelphia, approved of a report made by a committee[112] which had been appointed to consider the selection of a Union flag, and enacted,

"That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

[112] Franklin, Adams and Washington.

The new enactment was not at once put in force and a still further delay ensued, but at length, on September 3rd, 1777, this flag was officially proclaimed as the Union Ensign of the United States (Pl. VI., fig. 2), and was the first national flag which was officially adopted by the authority of Congress.

As Washington himself suggested the first design, and had introduced the second, it is not improbable, and, indeed, it is recorded that he actually had somewhat to do with the designing of the final one.[113] However this last report may be, his friends and admirers most certainly had, and the similarity between the design of the final flag and the coat-of-arms of the Washington family points to the source from which they deduced the completed design.

[113] Preble: "Ross episode."

Upon the tombstones of the family in Sulgrave Church, Northamptonshire, England, and upon the old manor house occupied by them in the time of Henry VIII., is to be seen the shield (41) of the Weshyntons,[114] or Washingtons, an old English county family, who traced their lineage back into the fifteenth century.

[114] Also spelled "Wessingtons."

John Washington, a descendant of this family, had been a loyal cavalier, standing staunchly by his King, Charles I. When Cromwell and the Roundheads came into power, the Royalist Washington emigrated, in 1657, to Virginia, bringing out his family, and with them his family shield, on which are shown three stars, above alternate stripes of red and white. Having settled upon considerable estates, he and his descendants kept up the old ways, and maintained the style and country standards of their English forefathers.

George Washington, the subsequent President, was the great-grandson of the old loyalist colonist. He, too, served in the forces of his sovereign, King George III., and maintained the old family traditions and habits in the same way as did all the "first families" of Virginia.

On the panels of his carriage were painted his family coat-of-arms. It appeared on the book-plate (42) of the books in his library, and the first commissions which, as commander-in-chief, he issued to the officers of the Continental army were sealed with his family seal (43).

Thus the suggestion for the further alteration was ready to hand. The similarity of one portion of the design already existing could not fail to have been noticed, for the stripes on the Washington coat-of-arms were alternately red and white, as were also those on the Grand Union.

It had been suggested that the idea of the "new" constellation was derived from the analogy of the "old" constellation of Orion containing thirteen stars, and that the form of the stars was taken from a seal said to have belonged to John Adams, one of the committee for designing the flag.[115]

[115] "Magazine of American History," Vol. XIX., p. 151.

Reference to the details of this seal shows an eagle bearing in its claws the lyre of Orion, both being surrounded by a circle of thirteen stars; but the stars on the seal are all shown as sidereal six-pointed stars, and not five-pointed as are the Washington stars.

The stars which were inserted in the flag when the Union Jack was withdrawn were not the six-pointed stars which would be used heraldically if representing a "sidereal constellation," but are the five-pointed stars of the Washington armorial bearings.

So it happened that the stars and stripes of the coat-of-arms of the old loyalist English family, to which the successful Revolutionary general belonged, and of the seal with which he had attested the commissions which his officers had received from him, formed the basis for the design of the new American flag, and through them the memory of the great leader and first President of the United States is indissolubly connected with the Stars and Stripes, the national ensign (Pl. III., fig. 3) of the nation which he brought into existence.

The American had good right to be proud of that Jack, in whose glories he had so valiantly borne his part, and when as Englishmen battling for the rights of Englishmen the united colonies formed their colonial ensign they had rightly placed the Union Jack in its upper canton as evidence of those glories and of that claim.

Afterwards, when their new nation had been framed, and the Washington stars had marked the new allegiance, the thirteen stripes of the old thirteen English colonies still remained to attest to himself and to the world the Americans' share in the preceding centuries of Anglo-Saxon adventure and their heritage in all the liberties and literature of the English tongue. The rights won by the Barons from John, the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, are still theirs by hereditary right, and the thirteen Anglo-Saxon stripes in his national emblem proclaim this to the American of to-day as they did to his forefathers in the thirteen colonies who first placed them in his union ensign.

The bitternesses arising out of a fratricidal contest fanned by the misrepresentations of fervid orators have for long decades misread the events and obscured the history of that dividing strife, but British law and the English tongue still speak in the flag of the old English colonies which continues to form part of the national ensign of the United States.