"The Rattlesnake Flag was of the same date, 1775. It was a yellow flag with the representation of a rattlesnake coiled, ready to strike, in green, and the motto below it: 'Don't tread on me.'"
"Gee!" said Pepper, "it must have been a beauty."
"Were there any more?" asked Gerald.
"There was the Pine Tree Flag, with the motto 'An Appeal to Heaven.' This motto was adopted April, 1776, by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts as the one to be borne as the Flag of the Cruisers of that colony. The first armed vessel commissioned under Washington sailed under this flag. It is thought that this flag was used at the battle of Bunker Hill."
"I didn't know," said Rand, "that the American flag had such a history. Can you tell us when the first Union flag was made?"
"The first Union flag was raised by Washington at Cambridge, January 2, 1776. This flag represented the union of the colonies—not then an established nation—and while this flag, by its stripes, represented the thirteen colonies, the canton was the king's colors."
"Then, when did the stars and stripes become the national flag?" asked Jack.
"On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress adopted the resolution that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternating red and white, and that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. But I think the dinner must be ready by this time, and I have no doubt you are. You know the Scout motto is, 'Be prepared.'"
"We will do our best," responded Pepper.
"Well," said the colonel when, a little later, the dinner had been eaten to the last scrap, "how do you like Scout fare?"