"Boston, Jan. 17, 1776.
"I can see the rebels' camp very plain, whose colors, a little while ago, were entirely red; but, on the receipt of the king's speech (which they burnt), they have hoisted the Union Flag, which is here supposed to intimate the union of the provinces."[9]
He probably could not perceive the mottoes referred to in the preceding letter, owing to the distance.
4. The flag used at the taking of Fort Johnston, on James's Island, September 13, 1775.—"Colonel Moultrie, September 13 [1775], received an order from the Council of Safety for taking Fort Johnston, on James's Island." [S.C.] "A flag being thought necessary for the purpose of signals, Colonel Moultrie, who was requested by the Council of Safety to procure one, had a large blue flag made, with a crescent in one corner, to be in uniform with the troops. This was the first American flag displayed in South Carolina."[10]
Of the crescent, we have the following interesting account:—
"As is well known, the crescent, or, as it is usually designated, the crescent montant, has become the symbol of the Turkish Empire, which has thence been frequently styled the Empire of the Crescent. This symbol, however, did not originate with the Turks. Long before their conquest of Constantinople, the crescent had been used as emblematic of sovereignty, as may be seen from the still-existing medals struck in honor of Augustus, Trajan, and others; and it formed from all antiquity the symbol of Byzantium. On the overthrow of this empire by Mohammed II., the Turks, regarding the crescent, which everywhere met their eye, as a good omen, adopted it as their chief bearing."[11] It was, doubtless, "as the emblem of sovereignty," that it was adopted by Colonel Moultrie.
5. The flag of the floating batteries.—Colonel Joseph Reed to Colonel Glover and Stephen Moylan, says: "Head-quarters, October 20, 1775: Please to fix upon some particular color for a flag, and a signal by which our vessels may know one another. What do you think of a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto, 'Appeal to Heaven?' This is the flag of our floating batteries."[12]
6. The flag called The Great Union Flag, hoisted January 2, 1776, the day which gave being to the new army.—General Washington's letter of January 4, 1776, to Joseph Reed.[13] This flag, which we shall designate in this way, was the basis of our National Flag of the present day.
7. The flag presented by Colonel Gadsden, a member of the Naval Committee of the Continental Congress, to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, February 9, 1776, as the standard to be used by the Commander-in-chief of the American Navy, "being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike; and the words underneath, Don't tread on me."[14]
8. The flag of the cruisers of the colony of Massachusetts.—"And the colors to be a white flag with a green pine-tree, and an inscription, 'Appeal to Heaven.'"—Resolution of Massachusetts Provincial Congress, April 29, 1776.[15]