Thou should'st press the soldier's bier,
And the muffled drum should beat
To the tread of mournful feet,
Then this crimson flag shall be
Martial cloak and shroud for thee.'
And the warrior took that banner proud,
And it was his martial cloak and shroud."
Pulaski received the banner with grateful acknowledgments, and bore it gallantly through many a martial scene, until he fell in conflict at Savannah in the autumn of 1779. His banner was saved by his first lieutenant (who received fourteen wounds), and delivered to Captain Bentalon, who, on retiring from the army, took the banner home with him to Baltimore. *
When oppression began to awaken a spirit of general resistance throughout the colonies, "Baltimore towne" was not behind its sister communities in zeal and action. A meeting a May 27. was held there in 1774, ** ( a ) when the people generally agreed to support non- November 12intercourse measures. Afterward they elected a Committee of Observation *** (b) and also appointed a committee of correspondence. **** These committees were exceedingly vigilant and active in watching the disaffected, giving information of importance to their brethren abroad, and in passing intelligence between the patriots of the North and the South. They were no respecter of persons, and Loyalists of every grade came under their surveil-
* It was used in the procession that welcomed La Fayette to that city in 1824, and was then deposited in Peale's Museum. On that occasion, it was ceremoniously received by several young ladies. Mr. Edmund Peale presented it to the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, where it is now carefully preserved in a glass ease. But little of its former beauty remains. It is composed of double crimson silk, now faded to a dull brownish red. The designs on each side, as represented on the following page, are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green. A deep green bullion fringe ornaments the edges. The size of the banner is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne to the field.