TABLE OF THE ABOVE FLAGS.
1. "Union Flags."[2]—These flags are very frequently mentioned in the newspapers, in 1774, but no account is given of the devices upon them. To establish these devices, will be one of the principal objects of this inquiry.
2. The standard of the Connecticut troops.—A letter, dated Wethersfield, Connecticut, April 23, 1775, says: "We fix upon our standards and drums the colony arms, with the motto, 'Qui transtulit sustinet,' round it, in letters of gold, which we construe thus: 'God, who transplanted us hither, will support us.'"[3] The standards of the different regiments were distinguished by their color. Act of Provincial Congress of Connecticut, July 1, 1775: "One standard for each regiment to be distinguished by their color, as follows, viz.: for the seventh, blue; for the eighth, orange."[4]
3. The flag unfurled by General Israel Putnam, on Prospect Hill, July 18, 1775, which is thus described in a letter, dated
"Cambridge, July 21, 1775.
"Last Saturday, July 15, the several regiments quartered in this town being assembled upon the parade, the Rev. Dr. Langdon, President of the College, read to them 'A Declaration, by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of taking up arms.' It was received with great applause; and the approbation of the army, with that of a great number of other people, was immediately announced by three huzzas. His Excellency, the General, with several other general officers, &c., were present on the occasion."
"Last Tuesday morning, July 18, according to orders issued the day before by Major-General Putnam, all the continental troops under his immediate command assembled at Prospect Hill, when the Declaration of the Continental Congress was read; after which, an animated and pathetic address to the army was made by the Rev. Mr. Leonard, chaplain to General Putnam's regiment, and succeeded by a pertinent prayer, when General Putnam gave the signal, and the whole army shouted their loud amen by three cheers; immediately upon which a cannon was fired from the fort, and the standard lately sent to General Putnam was exhibited, flourishing in the air, bearing this motto; on one side, 'An Appeal to Heaven,' and, on the other side, 'Qui transtulit sustinet.'
"The whole was conducted with the utmost decency, good order, and regularity, and the universal acceptance of all present; and the Philistines, on Bunker's Hill, heard the shout of the Israelites,[5] and, being very fearful, paraded themselves in battle array."[6]
This flag bore on it the motto of Connecticut, "Qui transtulit sustinet," and the motto, "An Appeal to Heaven;" the latter of which is evidently adopted from the closing paragraph of the "Address of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, to their brethren in Great Britain," written shortly after the battle of Lexington, which ended thus: 'Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free;' and which motto, under the form 'Appeal to Heaven,' combined with a pine-tree, constituted the motto and device on the colors of the Massachusetts colonial cruisers. In this combination of the mottoes of Connecticut and Massachusetts, one can scarcely fail to perceive the germ of the emblem of union which was introduced into the flag, which, January 2, 1776, replaced the flag we have described above, on Prospect Hill.
From the following notice of the flag displayed by General Putnam, July 18, 1775, we learn that it was a red flag. Before, however, giving the notice, we will state that, as early as the time of the Romans, a red flag was the signal of defiance or battle; thus, we are told: "When a general, after having consulted the auspices, had determined to lead forth his troops against the enemy, a red flag was displayed on a spear from the top of the Prætorium,[7] which was the signal to prepare for battle."[8] This accords with the account given of the display of the above flag, and corroborates the fact mentioned in the following extract from a letter of a captain of an English transport to his owners in London:—