The True Story of the American Flag

Two days later, October 20, 1775, Washington wrote a letter suggesting to the Congress that a flag be adopted, so that “the vessels may know one another.” This idea was a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, and the sentence: “An Appeal to Heaven” on it (see Fig. 2 (#x_1_i74), already mentioned).

Four days afterwards the committee made a report, but it was not accepted, and the above resolution was recommitted. On the 30th of October the committee made a report recommending more vessels, and four more members were added to the Committee—Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Hewes, R. H. Lee and John Adams. At a session of Congress on the 9th of November, 1775, a resolution was passed authorizing the creation of two battalions of marines. They were to be composed only of those acquainted with seamanship. This same committee on the 23d of November reported certain rules for the government of the navy, which were adopted on the 28th (see journal of Congress 1, page 255). On the 2d of December the committee was authorized to prepare a commission for the captains of armed vessels in colonial service. On December 9th the pay of naval officers, marines and seamen was adopted, and on December 11th a committee was appointed of one from each colony as a Committee of Ways and Means on Naval affairs. This committee reported on the 13th that a number of vessels could be prepared for sea by March, 1776, and that it would cost over eight hundred thousand dollars to purchase them and fit them out. This report was adopted, and the same committee was ordered to go ahead and prepare the vessels for sea, which was accordingly done, and the following vessels were made ready for service: Alfred, Dorea, Columbus, Lexington, Fly, Hornet, Wasp, Cabot, Randolph, Franklin, Providence, Dolphin and Lynch.

In April, 1776, the council of the Massachusetts Colony adopted a device for a flag for privateers, and its own armed vessels a white flag with a green pine tree on it (see Fig. 2 (#x_1_i74)); but the general Congress made no provision whatever for a naval flag distinct from the Grand Union Flag hoisted in January at Cambridge, as stated. In July, 1776, John Jay complained in a letter that Congress had fixed upon no device “concerning continental colors, and that captains of the armed vessels had followed their own fancies.” In the latter part of 1775, M. Turgot, the French Premier of Louis XVI received a report from an agent of his kept in the Colonies that “they have given up the English flag, and have taken as their devices a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, or a mailed arm holding thirteen arrows.” The reason given for the maintenance of an agent by the French government was to assure the Colonists that they were esteemed and respected by the French people. The ulterior purpose, however, of Vergennes and Turgot was to recover back if they could the Canadian provinces they had lost in their war with the British. Many such flags were in use, and some were embellished with mottoes the principal one being “Don’t tread on me.” Such a motto was upon the flag of Proctor’s Westmoreland County Battalion of Pennsylvania (see Fig. 9 (#x_1_i110)). This flag was displayed at the centennial of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, at Greensburg, held in the year 1873. A splendid cut of the above flag is in Vol. XIV of the Archives of Pennsylvania. Others had upon them a rattlesnake broken into thirteen pieces with the mottoes of “Unite or die,” or “Join or die.” These devices were first used to stimulate the Colonies into concerted action against the French and Indians, and afterwards were revived to unite them in the Revolutionary struggle. In Bradford’s Pennsylvania Journal of December 27, 1775, there appeared the following article, which is very interesting and logical:

“Messrs. Printers: I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines, now raising, there was painted a rattlesnake, with this modest motto under it, “Don’t tread on me!” As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this might be intended for the arms of North America. As I have nothing to do with public affairs, and as my time is perfectly my own, in order to divert an idle hour I sat down to guess what might have been intended by this uncommon device. I took care, however, to consult on this occasion a person acquainted with heraldry, from whom I learned that it is a rule among the learned in that science that the worthy properties of an animal in a crest shall be considered, and that the base one cannot be intended. He likewise informed me that the ancients considered the serpent as an emblem of wisdom, and, in a certain attitude, of endless duration; both of which circumstances, I suppose, may have been in view. Having gained this intelligence, and recollecting that countries are sometimes represented by animals peculiar to them, it occurred to me that the rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the globe than American, and it may therefore have been chosen on that account to represent her. But then the worthy properties of a snake, I judged, would be hard to point out. This rather raised than suppressed my curiosity, and having frequently seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in my mind every property for which she was distinguished, not only from other animals, but from those of the same genus or class, endeavoring to fix some meaning to each not wholly inconsistent with common sense. I recollected that her eyes exceeded in brightness that of any other animal, and that she had no eyelids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with the weapons with which nature favored her, she conceals them in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears most defenceless; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for defence, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds, however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds until she has generously given notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. Was I wrong, sirs, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?

Fig. 9

FLAG CARRIED IN THE REVOLUTION BY PROCTOR’S WESTMORELAND (PENNA.) BATTALION

The poison of her teeth is the necessary means of digesting her food, and, at the same time, is the certain destruction of her enemies. This may be understood to intimate that those things which are destructive to our enemies may be to us not only harmless, but absolutely necessary to our existence. I confess I was totally at a loss what to make of the rattles until I counted them, and found them just thirteen—exactly the number of colonies united in America; and I recollected, too, that this was the only part of the snake which increased in numbers. Perhaps it may have only been my fancy, but I conceited the painter had shown a half-formed additional rattle, which, I suppose, may have been intended to represent the province of Canada. ’Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as to be never separated except by breaking them to pieces. One of these rattles singly is incapable of producing sound; but the ringing of thirteen together is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living. The rattlesnake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for her preservation. In winter the warmth of a number together will preserve their lives, whilst singly they would probably perish. The power of fascination attributed to her by a generous construction may be understood to mean that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her. She strongly resembles America in this: that she is beautiful in youth, and her beauty increases with age; her tongue also is blue, and forked as lightning, and her abode is among impenetrable rocks.

Having pleased myself with reflections of this kind, I communicated my sentiments to a neighbor of mine, who has a surprising readiness at guessing any thing which relates to public affairs; and, indeed, I should be jealous of his reputation in that way, were it not that the event constantly shows that he has guessed wrong. He instantly declared it his sentiment that Congress meant to allude to Lord North’s declaration in the House of Commons that he never would relax his measures until he had brought America to his feet, and to intimate to his Lordship that, if she was brought to his feet, it would be dangerous treading on her. But I am positive he has guessed wrong; for I am sure Congress would not, at this time of day, condescend to take the least notice of his Lordship in that or any other way. In which opinion I am determined to remain your humble servant.”

On the 8th day of February, 1776, one of the committee on naval affairs, Mr. Gadsden, who represented South Carolina in the General Congress, presented that body with a flag that was made of yellow silk with a rattlesnake upon it (see Drayton’s American Revolution, Vol. II, page 172; see Fig. 10 (#x_1_i96)). No one can tell what became of this flag, yet it was placed in the hall of Congress in a conspicuous place near the seat of John Hancock. Some claim that it was this flag that Paul Jones hoisted on his ship, and others that it was taken South to Fort Moultrie. So therefore we have, as late as April, 1776, a navy of seventeen vessels, proper committees of Congress to look after them, a commander-in-chief, to wit: Esek Hopkins, who was named for that position December 22, 1775; but no national flag had been made nor one even adopted in July, 1776 (see Jay’s letter to the committee), nor in October (see Richard’s letter, dated October 15, 1776), both written months after the date fixed upon in the Ross claim; but the supposition is that, so far as the navy is concerned, it either flew the Grand Union or a flag similar to the Gadsden device, and this is borne out by the records. As to who was the first naval officer to raise the first American flag to the peak of his vessel and capture the first prize, we only have to quote ex-President John Adams, who wrote from Quincy in 1813 to Vice-president Gerry as follows:

“Philadelphia is now boasting that Paul Jones has asserted in his journal that his hand first hoisted the first American flag, and Captain Barry has asserted that the first British flag was struck to him. Now, I assert that the first American flag was hoisted by Captain John Manley and the first British flag was struck to him on the 29th day of November, 1775.”

As Captain Barry did not go to sea in the Lexington until February, 1776, therefore this claim of President John Adams is undeniably true so far as regards Barry, for the records show that Manley, in a schooner called the Lee, captured the British vessel Nancy, bound to Boston, loaded with munitions of war for the use of the British troops besieged there, and among the articles captured was a mortar, which afterwards was used on Dorchester Heights by Washington’s troops in shelling the British in Boston. This same captain on the 8th of December, 1775, captured two more British transports loaded with provisions.

The Paul Jones claim rests upon not that his was the first vessel to hoist an American flag, but that the Alfred was the first commissioned United States war vessel to hoist the Grand Union Flag; but there is no record anywhere of the date, and as no naval commission was issued to Jones until December 7, 1775, the Manley claim made by Adams stands alone as regards the first American flag distinct from the English standard as changed by the Colonists; and it is also corroborated by a letter sent by General Howe on December 13, 1775, while he was besieged in Boston to Lord Davenport, complaining about Manley’s capture of the Nancy with four thousand stands of arms. Now, I claim that Adams could not have meant the Grand Union Flag, as it was not agreed upon until December, 1775, but the one I have described as having a blue union with white stars, a white ground with an anchor and the word “Hope” over the anchor (see Fig. 1 (#x_1_i73)). The Lee was an armed privateer. In a letter to Robert Morris, October, 1783, Jones, in speaking of the flag, made the claim that “the flag of America” was displayed on a war vessel for the first time by him, he then being a lieutenant on the Alfred; but there is no record as to whether it was a Continental or Grand Union Flag, or some other device; yet there are reasons to suppose it was the Grand Union Flag—first, because the Alfred was in the port of Philadelphia, and we find from the record (American Archives, Vol. IV, page 179) that the day signal of the fleets on February 17, 1776, at the Capes of the Delaware were to be made by using the “Grand Union Flag at the mizzen peak,” which was to be lowered or hoisted according to the information intended to be given under the code of signals furnished.

In the Ladies’ Magazine, published in London, May 13, 1776, the writer states that the colors of the American navy were “first a flag with a union and thirteen stripes, and the commander’s flag a yellow flag with a rattlesnake upon it.”

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

In the Pennsylvania Evening Post of June 20, 1776, was published a letter stating that the British cruiser Roebuck had captured two prizes in Delaware Bay “which she decoyed by hoisting a Continental Union Flag.” There is no doubt that from July 4, 1776, until June 14, 1777, we had as a national ensign simply a flag with thirteen stripes, as we had declared ourselves free from the government represented by the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew which we had hitherto on our flag, but having upon it a snake with the motto already so often mentioned of “Don’t tread on me,” and this design was used, but without any official action being taken thereon by the General Congress (see Fig. 11 (#x_1_i97)); yet from May, 1776, or June, 1776, the date fixed upon in the Ross claim, until May, 1777, the American troops fought the following battles: June 28, 1776, Fort Moultrie. The flag in that engagement was a blue flag with a crescent and the word “Liberty” upon it (see Fig. 12 (#x_1_i124)). Battle of Long Island, August 2, 1776, the British captured a flag of red damask with the word “Liberty” on it; September 16th, Harlem Plains, no flag being mentioned; October 28th, the battle of White Plains, the flag carried by the Americans was a white flag with two cross-swords on it and the words “Liberty or death;” November 16th, surrender of Fort Washington, no mention of a flag; December 26th, battle of Trenton, the flags in this battle were State flags; all other claims are the imagination of artists who apparently knew nothing of the history of the flag; January 3d, Princeton, the same as at Trenton; January 26th, Tryon’s attack on Danbury; and yet in all these engagements that took place after we had declared ourselves a free and independent people there is no record in existence, public or private, that the flag claimed to have been designed by Mrs. Ross in May or June, 1776, was carried. The first time the Stars and Stripes was carried by American troops of which we have any positive record was at the battle of the Brandywine, in September, 1777.

It soon became apparent in 1776 that we were fighting for more than mere Parliamentary representation, and when the culmination was reached by the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th day of July, 1776, the conclusion was also reached that we could not consistently fight under a standard containing in its union the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George, devices that belonged to the enemy, but which we had used, to express our loyalty to the king up to that time while fighting for a principle. The want of a change in our emblem as originally adopted can be best appreciated by the contents of a letter dated October 15, 1776, sent by William Richards to the Committee of Safety, published in the Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. 5, page 46, wherein, inter alia, he said: “The Commodore was with me this morning, and says that the fleet has no colors to hoist if they should be called on duty. It is not in my power to get them until there is a design fixed on to make the colors by.” Yet this letter was written four months after the time fixed in the alleged Betsy Ross claim. Thus it is shown conclusively by the record that we had dropped the old Grand Union or Continental Flag, to wit: the Crosses and the Stripes, but had not yet, October, 1776, adopted a new design, and it was not until June 14, 1777, one year after the time fixed as to the Ross claim, that a new design was adopted, and a resolution was passed wherein Congress said “that the Flag of the Thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.” In the rough Journal of Congress the word “of” occurs before the words “thirteen stripes;” in the record it appears to have been changed, thus corroborating the former use of the thirteen stripes.

There is no record as to how this resolution got before Congress—whether a member introduced it, or whether it was the outcome of the report of a committee. No official proclamation of this resolution was made until September, 1777; but it was printed in the papers previous to that time as an item of news; so, therefore, from June to September, 1777, private enterprise may have made many of them. The Ross claim is ridiculous when it contends that Washington, Col. Ross and Robert Morris, in June, 1776, one month before the Declaration of Independence had been adopted, called on Betsy Ross, and that Washington drew with a pencil a rough drawing of the present American flag, she making the stars five-pointed. The statement is without any documentary or record proof. As a matter of fact the six-pointed star was not adopted because of its use in English heraldry, while in Holland and France, our allies, five-pointed stars were used. Now, as to the claim that “Old Glory” was thus made in 1776 by Betsy Ross, what became of it? Preble says of Canby: “I cannot agree with his claim, and neither does the record support it” … and besides it is practically charging Washington and the rest of the committee with seeking to establish and set up a national ensign before we had even declared ourselves a free people with an independent national government, and without any delegated authority to do so, the record of Congress being silent on the subject; so therefore we have: First. On October 15, 1776, the letter of William Richards to the Committee of Safety already quoted shows that the Ross claim cannot be true. In fact, at the time the letter was written we had no colors nor was any designed. Second. That at the time it is alleged the committee called on Mrs. Ross we had no national existence. We were still simply revolting colonies, not yet having declared our independence. Third. As a climax I have found in the Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, Vol. 1, page 164, the following extract from the Pennsylvania (not the Colonies) Navy Board’s minutes, May 29, 1777, being the first bill for colors for the fleet on record:

“Present: William Bradford, Joseph Marsh, Joseph Blewer, Paul Cox.

“An order on William Webb to Elizabeth Ross for fourteen pounds, twelve shillings and two pence for making ships’ colors, etc., put into William Richards’ store, £14.12.2.”

Fourth. Also in May, 1777, the State of Massachusetts knew nothing of a national ensign of the Ross description, as seen by the following bill paid by the Board of War of that State to Joseph Webb: “To mending an ensign and sewing in pine tree, 6s.”

Also:

“May      , State of Mass., Pay to Jos. Webb, Dr.      , 1777. To making a suit of colors, 44s.; thread, 12s.; painting Pine trees, etc., 24s.—£4.0.0.

“John Conston.

“Armed Brig Freedom.”

FLAG CARRIED IN THE REVOLUTION BY THE FIRST REGIMENTOF THE PENNSYLVANIA LINE

Fifth. If Washington and the others had agreed on a design in June, 1776, as Mr. Canby claims, Washington would have had it officially adopted, because he above all men knew the necessity of a national emblem, and more especially would he have done so immediately after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in July following, and he would not then have fought at Trenton and Princeton in December, 1776, under the State ensigns, or at Long Island or White Plains under the flags mentioned.

Sixth. The first official record of the Stars and Stripes being carried in battle was at the Brandywine in September, 1777, although it is claimed that at Oriskany, fought on the 22d day of August, 1777, when Fort Stanwix was invested by the British, an American flag was made by using white shirts, a red petticoat and Captain Abraham Swartout’s blue coat (see Lossing’s field book of the American Revolution, Vol. 1, page 242; also Preble’s Origin of the Flag, page 276).

Seventh. In view of the above-recorded facts, the Betsy Ross story fails to convince the student and searcher after historical facts as to its authenticity. It is “the imagination of the artist” told in story. He says: “I fix the date because Washington at that time was in Philadelphia;” but no one else fixes the date of the Betsy Ross incident, not even the relatives from whom it is claimed the story was obtained. And further in the same statement it says: “Washington came to confer upon the affairs of the army, the flag being no doubt one of these affairs.” Mere guess-work. And if a true guess, then the argument already used by Preble as to what became of the design and the flag from that time, June, 1776, to June, 1777, holds good. It was further claimed that stars and stripes were in general use a year before Congress adopted them; but it fails to show one instance to sustain the assertion; besides, the Richards letter of October, 1776, it being official, completely upsets the claim. Washington Irving in his life of Washington says that the General, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, left New York on the 21st day of May, 1776, and that they were the guests of John Hancock while in Philadelphia; but neither Irving, Sparks, nor any other writers of Washington’s life mention anything whatever of the Ross incident. If it happened, it surely would have been mentioned by someone. Even Washington himself fails to say anything about it in any of the letters he has written, his diaries, or statements made, nor are there any allusions to the subject in the published correspondence of his contemporaries. So therefore the Ross claim simply rests on the statements claimed to have been obtained from relatives, while against it are the various facts above given and hundreds of others not mentioned in this article.

Our flag is the representative of national unity, equal and exact justice to all men. It stands for no sentimental characteristic. It is a practical exhibition in itself of the result of concerted action, and has been from its origin until to-day worshipped as no other ensign designed by man has ever been. It is loved and respected by all who love liberty. It represents the government. It represents our honor. To love it is to love one’s country, a duty more sacred than any other, except love and respect for God.

“Oh, glorious flag! red, white and blue,
Bright emblem of the pure and true!
Oh, glorious group of clustering stars,
Ye lines of light, ye crimson bars.”

Our flag upon the ocean has been the theme for many a song and story, and in the early days of the Republic the achievements of our naval heroes were looked upon as more essential for the attainment of our liberties than victories on shore, as every vessel captured or destroyed meant the loss of stores and munitions of war to the British troops, hence early in the struggle, as before stated, private enterprise took the first steps in creating a navy, then the colonies took it up separately, and then, as stated, the General Congress.

The Delaware River was the scene of more activity in that direction than any other port of the Colonies, a reputation which it still enjoys. A large number of vessels were fitted out, and here it was the first fleet of American war vessels gathered, and from the Delaware sailed the first commissioned war vessel to cruise on the ocean, the Lexington, Commodore John Barry. Of course, there had been many, as I have stated, private and colonial vessels that had been at sea since the Lee, Captain John Manley (ad supra), in the autumn of 1775, sailed from a Massachusetts port, and I have no doubt that many of these private and colonial vessels flew the Grand Union Flag after it had been adopted. So therefore it is fair to presume from the records that Lieutenant Paul Jones was the first commissioned officer to raise it to the peak of a commissioned American war vessel, the Alfred; that Captain John Barry was the first to take it to sea on the Lexington, and that the first to exhibit it to other countries was Captain Wickes, of the brig Reprisal, who arrived at St. Eustatia on July 27, 1776 (see American Archives, 5th series, Vol. 1, page 610). The flag he displayed had thirteen stripes and a union of yellow or white; but whether it had on it crosses, pine trees or rattlesnakes no one can tell, as no record can be found; but it is supposed to have been a yellow union with a rattlesnake on it (see Fig. 10 (#x_1_i97)), as the naval flag had been a yellow flag with a rattlesnake on it, with thirteen rattles and one budding, and the motto “Don’t tread on me.” It was also claimed to have been displayed in the same port on November 16, 1776, and to have received its first salute from a foreign power. In looking the matter up it was discovered that the American brig Andrew Dorea was in the port named on that day, she having sailed from Philadelphia in September, 1776. On her arrival she saluted the fort, and the Dutch commander returned it, and he was afterwards dismissed by his government for doing so. So, therefore, it is fair to infer that both claims are made upon a foundation of facts that are corroborated by the records. But the Reprisal’s flag must have been the Grand Union or Continental flag, as she left port before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, while the Dorea must have had some other design for a flag, as she did not sail until September, two months after the Declaration was adopted. Besides, in a letter from St. Eustatia, published in the American Archives, Vol. 2, 5th series, page 760, it said: “All American vessels here now wear the Congress colors.” As the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George had been dropped, the Congress colors must have been simply an ensign of thirteen red and white stripes, with an emblem of a rattlesnake on it (see Fig. 11 (#x_1_i96)).

The second salute from a foreign power to our flag of which we have any record was given at Brest by the French commander in August, 1777, to the General Mifflin, Captain McNeill. It must have been the Congress flag, as the news of the passage of the act of June 14th creating the Stars and Stripes could not have been known by those on the Mifflin, as in those days we had no merchant marine or other means except through armed vessels of communicating with other countries.

The galleys on the Delaware were in charge of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety. They had no colors to hoist in August, 1776, as can be seen by the following letter of Mr. Richards, dated the 19th of that month. It was directed to the committee, and said:

“I hope you have agreed what sort of colors I am to have made for the galleys, as they are much wanted.”

And this was two months after the alleged date of the Ross claim. The following letter will give a description of the sailing of the first fleet of war vessels this government ever owned:

    “Newbern, N. C., Feb. 9, 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 defense of the rights and liberties of the people of these Colonies, now suffering under the persecuting rod of the British ministry, and their more than brutish tyrants in America. This fleet consists of five sail, fitted out from Philadelphia, which are to be joined at the capes of Virginia by two ships more from Maryland, and is commanded by Admiral Hopkins, a most experienced and venerable sea captain. The admiral’s ship is called the Columbus, after Christopher Columbus, thirty-six guns, 12 and 9-pounders, on two decks, forty swivels and five hundred men. The second ship is called the Cabot, after Sebastian Cabot, who completed the discoveries of America made by Columbus, and mounts thirty-two guns. The others are smaller vessels, from twenty-four to fourteen guns. They sailed from Philadelphia amidst the acclamations of many thousands assembled on the joyful occasion, under the display of a Union flag with thirteen stripes in a field, emblematical of the thirteen united colonies; but, unhappily for us, the ice in the river Delaware as yet obstructs the passage down; but the time will now soon arrive when this fleet must come to action. Their destination is a secret, but generally supposed to be against the ministerial governors, those little petty tyrants that have lately spread fire and sword throughout the Southern colonies. For the happy success of this little fleet three millions of people offer their most earnest supplications to heaven.” See American Archives, 4th series, Vol. IV, page 964; also Cooper’s Naval History as to who named the vessels. John Adams claimed that honor. See American Archives, 4th series, Vol. IV, p. 964.

The fleet made a descent upon New Providence, and, after capturing the place and taking away a large quantity of munitions of war and stores, it left and coasted along the coast from Cape Cod to Cape Charles, making many captures. On the 17th of April, 1776, occurred the first engagement between an English war vessel and a commissioned American war vessel. The English vessel was the brig Edward, mounting sixteen four-pounders, and, by a strange coincidence, the American vessel was the Lexington, Captain Barry. It was at Lexington on land in April, 1775, the first shot was fired by Americans, and it was from the Lexington at sea that the first broadside was delivered at the “Wooden Walls” of old England. The fight resulted in the capture of the British vessel.

No one can tell in the absence of a record the name of the vessel to first fly the Stars and Stripes. Paul Jones claimed it for the Alliance; but in Cooper’s life of Paul Jones, page 31, occurs the following. Speaking of Jones’ claim, he says:

“He may have been mistaken. He always claimed to have been the first man to hoist the flag of 1775 (the Grand Union) in a national ship, and the first man to show the present ensign (the Stars and Stripes) on board of a man-of-war. This may be true or not. There was a weakness about the character of the man that rendered him a little liable to self-delusions of this nature; and while it is probable he was right as to the flag which was shown before Philadelphia on the Alfred (the Grand Union) the place where Congress was sitting, it is by no means as reasonable to suppose that the first of the permanent flags (Stars and Stripes) was shown at a place as distant as Portsmouth. The circumstances are of no moment, except as they serve to betray a want of simplicity of character, that was rather a failing with the man, and his avidity for personal distinction of every sort.”

To corroborate Cooper I have only to state that Jones’ claim is absurd when, as a matter of fact, the Alliance was not launched until 1777, and Jones did not command her until 1779, when, as a matter of course, she must have carried the Stars and Stripes (see MacKensie’s Life of Jones, Vol. 1, pages 252 and 253). Much to our regret, as lovers of our country, we must admit that the first American flag (the Grand Union) displayed on any of the lakes was by that arch traitor, Benedict Arnold, on the Royal Savage. He had command of the fleet on Lake Champlain in the winter of 1776—

A man who died without a flag, without a
country, without love, without respect.

The first British man-of-war to enter an American port after the Revolution was the Alligator, Capt. Isaac Coffin. He entered the harbor of Boston on the 2d day of May, 1791. He saluted the American flag on the fort by firing thirteen guns, which was returned. A full report of this occurrence is to be found in the Columbian Sentinel of May 3d, 1791.

The first ship to enter a British port after peace had been declared flying the American flag was the ship Bedford, of Nantucket, Capt. William Mooers. She entered the Thames in February, 1783, and proceeded up to London. She was loaded with whale oil. The first publication of the terms of the treaty of peace was on the 28th day of January, 1783, the treaty itself having been made in November, 1782.