The True Story of the American Flag

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), 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).

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 acountry, 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.

The first time the American flag was ever displayed over conquered territory outside of the United States was on the 27th day of April, 1805, during the war between this country and Tripoli, when, after the capture of the Tripolitan fortress at Derne, it was hoisted by Lieutenant Bannon and a Mr. Mann. This flag has fifteen stripes and fifteen stars, and was exhibited at a celebration on the 4th of July, 1820, at Brumfield, Massachusetts.

For ten years prior to the Declaration of Independence men, in defiance of the Government, protesting against the oppressive Stamp Duty Act and other causes, held public demonstrations, at which a liberty pole would be raised, and flags with devices and sentences upon them would be carried. Associations calling themselves “Sons of Liberty” were formed, and so tense became the feeling that the people looked with contempt both upon king and Parliament. So pronounced did it become that the obnoxious act was repealed in 1766, after having been in operation only four months. But these associations of “Liberty Boys,” formed in 1765 in every community from Boston to Charleston, continued in existence, and formed the nucleus of the army of the Revolution, and the very devices and sentences used in 1766 were afterwards adopted and put upon their flags in 1775 and 1776 prior to the adoption of the Grand Union Flag and the present Ensign.

I have in the foregoing pages endeavored to collate truly all the documentary and other tangible evidence that is in existence to fully, absolutely, and without fear of contradiction, sustain the contention that the Betsy Ross claim exists only because of a statement made by a relative who did not produce one scintilla of documentary or recorded evidence to sustain the claim. The records of the time refute it, and the dates are so at variance with facts that are known that it is a surprise that any credence whatever has been given to the story.

This is God’s land, overflowing with promises to the oppressed of all nations. Our shields have been dented in honorable warfare to establish individual liberty and religious freedom, and in all the coming years may our Government reign supreme over all this fair land, and everywhere from ocean to ocean may our flag, like the Bow of Promise, be a sign to all the people of the earth that, being heaven-born, it is a covenant that liberty will and shall be maintained as long as love of country exists in the breast of man.