By:  Ken Molzahn

Colonial Protest Flags are defined herein as flags known or traditionally held to have been flown in protest to British authority somewhere in the 13 Colonies prior to Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775. The vexilliogy of the colonial protest flags has rarely been explored as a standalone topic. These flags were raised in protest to the Taxation and Policy Acts of Parliament, which were enacted shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

Today’s interested patriotic citizens are likely aware of, due to their commercial availability, the two variations of the Sons of Liberty Flags – 1765 to 1775, and the Taunton (MA) Flag – 1774. But across the former colonies, from Massachusetts to South Carolina, unique and long forgotten documents in national and state historical archives, public libraries holdings or within the musky pages of 19^th  and early 20^th century books and magazines, one can discover numerous descriptions of flags the chafed local colonist raised in protest to British colonial and taxation policies. Most protest flags were painted or sewn quickly, with only a handful surviving, and, unfortunately, an even a smaller number are on display in the United States today.

The American Duties Act of 1764

The genesis of our American colonial protest flags is a unique phenomenon and inexorably tied to the very nature of the resulting philosophical foundation of the American revolution.[1] Consider first, the use of flags as a means to protest was rare globally before the mid-1760s when, in Britain’s North American colonies, their defiance was commonly exemplified in the modification (defacing) a royal flag or colonial ensign. This was well before the 19^th century ‘idea’ of a national state permeated through all classes of society in Europe. [2] Secondarily, the enlightenment political ideas of republicanism and individual liberty were philosophical discussions held in genteel parlors of the noble classes everywhere in 18^th century Europe. But the stark reality of a post-medieval fractured mosaic of Europe’s geo-political ‘landscape’, in general, and within, even the established larger ‘kingdoms’ of Great Britain, France, or Spain, noble rank still was still the preeminent political avenue for advancement in every European capital, except nominally in Westminster. Because of Britain’s long history of a representative body to counter-balance royal authority and the mid-17^th century civil war and Cromwell’s Commonwealth the English common man, no matter what side of the Atlantic he was on, understood his basic Common Law rights.[3] A series of laws infringing on those rights lit and fanned a long, slow fuse of resentment in the American colonies.

The Cider Act of 1763 and Its Political Ramifications

In 1763, ‘first minister’ Sir John Stewart, 3^rd Lord of Bute, proposed the Cider Act, which added a four-shilling levy on every hogshead of cider produced in Great Britain.  This caused country-wide outrage and riots throughout southwestern England from Cornwell to Gloucestershire. In mid-1763 Lord Bute stepped aside, due to the collapse of public support, and ushered in the tenure of the Grenville Ministry in April of 1763. The political capital needed to enact further taxes on the British populace was at best a fool’s errand and likely political suicide.  So, Grenville turned his attention to taxing American colonists.

The Sugar Act of 1764

George Grenville, as First Lord of Treasury, purposed and ferried through Parliament the American Duties Act, also known as The Sugar Act. With the enactment of the Sugar Act on April 5, 1764, the momentum towards conflict and bloodshed on that cool April day in the countryside northwest of Boston was inevitable.[4] No known historical sources have ever been discovered to link or describe a flag created in direct consequence because of Parliament’s first taxation overreach; other than the curses of every rum distiller from Boston to Savannah. Samuel Adams and James Otis immediately began voicing their opposition founded upon each colony’s charters guaranteeing self-governance and taxation without representation. [5]

The Proposed American Stamp Act of 1764

Grenville’s next major proposal, the American Stamp Act, was introduced in March of 1764. This proposed act was similar to a bill taxing paper, legal documents, newspapers and playing card  that had been enacted upon his majesty’s British subjects on June 11, 1711, but such taxation, especially, playing cards had been a royal revenue source as far back as 1588.[6] Grenville withdraw the bill quickly when loud objections were voiced from the colonies. Grenville’s political fortunes were bleak at best as the British taxpayers demanded the colonies pay, their fair share, for the defense the crown had provided for a conflict caused by a Virginian named George Washington and the more recent Native American revolt lead by Pontiac.

The American Stamp Act of 1765

Grenville confidently reintroduced the American Stamp Act on February 6, 1765. In the period, between March 1764 and Parliament’s taking up the revised act, Grenville’s Treasury had composed modified legislation that incorporated American trade circumstances specifically. Adding to his new confidence was the reaction throughout the American colonies with the passage of the Sugar Act, now nearly a year old, when compared to the Lord Bute’s Cider Riots of 1763.[7] The moment for passage seemed at hand with the underlying justification eloquently expressed by Charles Townsend asserting Parliament right to tax was based on the mere fact they were ‘colonies’ which, in a word, implied ‘subordination’. He ended his closing argument stating, “If America looks to Great Britain for protection, she must enable [us] to protect her. If she expects our fleets, she must assist our revenue.” [8] The American Stamp Act of 1765 passed on March 22, 1765 with a taxation commencement date, throughout the colonies, on November 1, 1765.

The Stamp Act and the Birth of America’s Protest Flags

The ship borne news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached American shores in the last week of May 1765, and produced an immediate ‘earthquake’ of contempt and anger from New England to the Southern colonies.[9] In the early summer nine respectable Boston merchants: a pair of distillers, a ship owner, a retail merchant, two bronze smiths, a painter, a jeweler and the owner of the Boston Gazette met for the first time, calling themselves the “Loyal Nine”. This was the birth of the Sons of Liberty, a secret militant patriotic society, with one goal — to prevent the enforcement of the Grenville’s Stamp Act.  This was done at first in Boston, but within a year ‘satellite’ groups of like-minded colonist sprang up in every colony and especially all the major seaports along the Atlantic coastline.[10] Equally important, from a vexillological perspective, was the selection of a ‘Liberty Tree’, a large elm in Hanover Square,  as a central meeting and rally location for the Bostonian Sons of Liberty. The use of similar tall trees or, in lieu of a tree, a colonist-erected ‘Liberty Mast or Poles’ became common throughout the colonies from every major city, town and seaport.

Both Virginia House of Burgesses and the Massachusetts legislature quickly enacted resolutions of protest and were soon followed by other colonial bodies. Massachusetts followed up with a call for “a unified response” against the tax, proposing a meeting in October in New York City. The Stamp Act Congress commenced in Federal Hall, on October 7^th, 1765, with 28 delegates from nine colonies.[11] Many attending would in a mere decade be officers in the fledgling Continental army, many would sign the Declaration of Independence, or later help write the US Constitution; with one ‘Judas’ amongst, Metcalf Bowler, who became a spy for the British army. Christopher Gadsden, the creator of the first marine ensign (not naval), was outspoken in his condemnation of the Stamp Act and there he developed lifetime friendships with Sam Adams and John Otis. Upon his return to Charleston, South Carolina, he founded the Son of Liberty there.

Sons of Liberty Rebellious Stripes Flag

This flag’s creator, exact date flown or where are facts lost to the ‘black hole’ of time. Yet eminent vexillogist and historians such as Boleslaw Mastai, Edward W. Richardson, Rear Admiral William Rea Furlong and Commander Byron McCandless, and Peleg Harrison all include this flag in their books concerning either the History of the US flag or American Revolutionary flags. The argument for its existence is best reasoned in Mastai’s masterpiece “The Stars and The Stripes” where he states, “One type of Liberty flag associated more particularly with the “Sons of Liberty”, a secret patriotic society, is known to have had a ground striped red and white. In fact, some historians described it as consisting of nine vertical red and white stripes.” [12] The number nine is interesting as it corresponds with the colonies present at the Stamp Act Congress. Mastai’s further states, “The four white and five red stripes were symbolic of “45”, the number of the pamphlet published in 1763 by the English civil-rights activist John Wilkes, whose influence on the American revolutionary movement was second only to Tom Paine’s Common Sense. The numerical allusion, therefore, would have been as readily understandable to contemporaries as the upside down “Y” in a circle – the modern peace sign – is to present-day Americans.” [13]

Three Crescent Moons Flag 

In Peleg D. Harrison’s book, The STARS AND STRIPES and OTHER AMERICAN FLAGS. The author talks about the resistance throughout the colonies concerning Parliaments enactment of the Stamp Act before this paragraph: “When the stamped paper reached Charleston, South Carolina, it was deposited at Fort Johnson. A volunteer force composed of three companies took the fort and seized and destroyed the obnoxious paper. While in possession of the fort they displayed an improvised flag, showing a blue field with three white crescents, one for each company.” [14] This is the first known historical Stamp Act flag. The exact date isn’t stated but with the Act’s commencement date of November 1^st you can only assume it sometime in Fall of 1765.

Portsmouth (NH) Stamp Act Flag

On January 9, 1766, in Portsmouth, NH the local Sons of Liberty ‘society’ raised a white flag with the words: Liberty Property and No Stamps.[15] The New Hampshire Historical Society claims this was the first and only known protest flag specific to the Stamp Act itself. The Act would be repealed less than three months, on March 18, 1766. The flag had a white field with black painted lettering. The size-shape of the Portsmouth Flag is conjecture, but the shape (shown) is the most pleasing, is balanced and within the 18^th century norms for other protest flags, e.g., the Huntington Liberty Flag.[16]

“The Fields” NYC Liberty Flag

On June 4, 1766, the New York Sons of Liberty erected the first Liberty Pole in “The Fields”, a town common, then along Broadway, and today located in City Hall Park.[17] The Sons of Liberty’s intent were two-fold, the first was to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act and, secondarily, to celebrate King George III birthday (June 4, 1738).[18] The upper barracks quartering the 28^th Regiment of Foot was a short distance away and in plain sight. The Liberty Pole and The Fields Flag lasted until August 4 when the soldiers chopped it down and destroyed the flag. The reason that circulated was the soldiers felt words the ‘slighted’ the King’s honor with such a brief description.[18] The flags color is briefly described by Cigrand in the Encyclopedia Americana (1917).[19] The size and shape of “The Fields” Liberty Flag is based on an educated deduction since New York City was a port and a naval pennant shape or the British Red Ensign would have been a part of the citizenry’s common knowledge to describe. Hence, since those latter terms were not included, the design herein fit the verbiage and likely looked like the one shown above.

“The Fields II” NYC Liberty Flag

The New York Sons of Liberty erected a new Liberty Pole the very next day, August 11, 1766. “The Fields II” flag had new verbiage, obviously, taking into consideration the soldier’s criticisms. This second Liberty Pole and “Fields II” flag lasted until September 23, 1767, when again the soldiers of the 28^th regiment cut down the Liberty Pole and destroyed the flag once more.[20] Again, the flag shown here is historical conjecture based on past scholarship. A third Liberty Pole was raised, two days later, on September 25, 1767, Cigrand states only a new British Red Ensign was allowed thereafter. The belief is this new flag satisfied both sides with ‘Liberty’ sewn on it, but further research is needed to validate. Whether this order to cease attacks on New York’s Liberty Pole was a restriction General Gage, Commander of British Forces in North America, made solely for New York City or across the other twelve colonies needs further research. [21]

Red Ensign Liberty Flag

Cigrand [23] and Carp [24] both indicate a three-year truce seems to have held between the British soldiers and the Sons of Liberty. The British Red Ensign [hereafter Red Ensign] with the word ‘LIBERTY’ likely could have satisfied the local British civil and military authorities and the most radical of the Sons of Liberty.

 

Red Ensign ‘Liberty and Property’ Flag

The fourth Liberty Pole was erected in February 6, 1770. This was soon after the January 18-19, 1770 two-day riotous conflict with the 16^th Regiment of Foot, known as the Battle of Golden Hill, after the soldiers had succeeded in blowing up the pole up with gunpowder.[25] The last New York Liberty Pole was placed on a plot of land, 100 feet by 11 feet, the Sons of Liberty purchased circumventing the refusal by civil authorities to, again, replace the pole in “The Fields”. The new location is believed to have been across the street from the public ‘green’. This flag flew until the British captured New York in 1776 and its removal is reported to have been one of the first orders given by General Howe.[26]

Sons of Liberty 13-Stripe Flag

Traditionally, after the British outlawed display of the Sons of Liberty ‘Rebellious Stripes’ flag morphed from the vertical nine stripes of the Stamp Act era, into horizontal seven red and six white stripes. The reason for the change has to do with the expansion and growth of the organization throughout the thirteen colonies as the further oppressive British actions were forced upon the American colonies, e.g., Townshend Revenue Acts (1767) and the Royal Governors suspending colonial legislatures (1768- 1770).  The Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770), caused a united hostility to British rule; expressed as one stripe per distressed colony. [27]

Schenectady (NY) Liberty Flag

On January 26, 1771, in the center of Schenectady, New York, at the corner of what is now Union Street, a 20-foot white pine mast was erected. The flag was 44 inches by 44 inches and made of blue silk. The white lettering was sewn one side. The lettering was the capital roman font a common font used in printing broadsheets, newspapers, and pamphlets in 18^th century America. The flag was carried into battle by the First New York Regiment, made up of local residents mainly from Albany County, in the New York and Saratoga Campaigns. The flag survived the American Revolution and is proudly displayed today the Schenectady County Historical Society’s museum. [28]

Boston Pine Tree Liberty Flag

  A flag is reportedly to have been raised in a large pine tree in a grove on the Harvard Campus, today at Essex and Washington streets, by the Sons of Liberty. The exact date is lost to history, but the best estimate is early in the 1770s. [29] Cigrand simply states the flags was red and with a green pine tree painted upon the flag. No material is mentioned, although silk was the cloth type typically used for standards and colors of the era. Neither the size nor the shape is mentioned. The flag is not described as a modification of the Red Ensign.[30] But consider the fact the flag must have to have been hung from a larger branch high up in the tree, would mean attaching, probably tying, it to the branch. This is obviously pure supposition of what the reported flag looked like. But the use of the pine tree symbol had been a part of New England vexilliogy for over a hundred years, and leading up to the start of the War of Independence it came to symbolize Colonial resentment and fury toward British policies, especially after the Coercive Acts (1774).[31] In John Trumbull’s famous Battle of Bunker Hill painting the pine tree in a white canton and red field is obviously potentially related. [32]

Taunton Liberty Flag

The Boston Evening Post reported the townspeople of Taunton, a ‘hotbed’ of the Sons of Liberty, had raised a 112-foot Liberty Pole, on Friday October 21, 1774. Prior to this all the Loyalists had been intimidated and fled the town. The following Monday October 24, 1774, the Post reported, “We have just received the following intelligence from Taunton… A liberty pole 112 feet long was raised. Attached to it was a Union flag with the words Liberty and Union sewed on. The following lines were fixed to the pole: CRESCIT AMOR PATRIAE QUE CUPIDO (The love of country and the desire for freedom)” [33]

Congress Liberty Flag 

With twelve of the thirteen colonies, all but Georgia, sending delegates to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress was seated on September 5, 1774. This Congress enacted ‘The Declaration and Resolves’ which stated the principles and goals of all the colonies verses the British Parliament. With the Congress’s adjournment, on October 26, 1774, its actions and resolutions were celebrated with Red Ensigns having the motto ‘CONGRESS’ sewn on them. [34]

Grand Rex Flag (NY) Flag

On March 9, 1775, the New York General Advertiser reported, “A Union Flag, with a red field was hoisted on the Liberty Pole by the Friends of Freedom assembled, and having got in proper Readiness, about 11 O’clock, the Body began their March to the Exchange. They were attended by Music; and two Standard Bearers carried a large Union Flag, with a blue Field, on which were the following Inscriptions: On one Side, GEORGE III. REX AND THE LIBERTIES OF AMERICA. NO POPERY.[35] On the other, THE UNION OF THE COLONIES, AND THE MEASURES OF THE CONGRESS.” [back of flag below] [36]

Poughkeepsie (NY) Liberty Flag

On March 22, 1775, the Sons of Liberty raised a Red Ensign with verbiage sewn on both sides of the flag. On the front of the protest flag the words simply said: ‘THE KING’. As in most of the colonies the loyalty as English subjects was, at this point, still an accepted fact and expressed by ‘honoring’ his royal highness, King George III, with the title on the front of the flag. [37]

While on the opposite side of the Poughkeepsie Liberty flag were the words: ‘THE CONGRESS and LIBERTY’. These words obviously expressed the flip side of public opinion supporting the First Continental Congress condemnation of the British Acts forced upon the colonies, e.g., Massachusetts Regulating Act (1774), Government Act (1774), Administration Justice Act (1774) and the Quebec Act (1774).[38]

The paramount results of the pre-American Revolutionary War years 1765–1775 can be summarized as:

• an organic resistance developed to what they took to be unjust British policy,
• the American colonists developed a series of nonviolent boycott and embargo campaigns to bring about change,
• these refusals, across all thirteen colonies, to import/purchase British products campaigns were for the most part nonviolent and gained the support of the ‘common man’,
• these embargos had the unforeseen results of gaining support among members of Parliament and segments of the British populace,
• the extra-governmental bodies developed at the local level and colony wide, both outside the authority of the British Parliament and Royally appointed governors, laid the foundation for future governance both during the War of Independence and thereafter with the ending result being the Constitutional Convention,
• Colonial Protest Flags (along with Liberty Trees/Poles) throughout the colonies served as a vital visual and mostly non-violent political protest method to express the resentment to Great Britain’s colonial and taxation policies.

Colonial Protest Flags were, without a doubt, organic and sincere outward displays representing the smoldering anger that had grown in intensity and strength with each refusal of the King and Parliament to abandon “taxation without representation” or to entertain colonial compromise governance proposals. The crown’s outlawing of the “rebel/rebellious stripes” and the many examples, throughout the colonies, of British soldiers or loyalists allied with royal governors participating in cutting down Liberty Trees (initially) and Liberty Poles, along with destroying the protest flags flying, only reinforces that these flags were effective political instruments. These actions showed British fear of the influence the Sons of Liberty gradually gained, and the fact that Liberty Poles went up again, many times protected thereafter, shows the dogged determination against the royal governors and their agents. A flagpole’s (and flag’s) prominence showed who held the local political authority and expressed visually what their political inclinations were. Leaving colonial protest flags flying was a nonviolent way for the British to signal toleration; while cutting down Liberty Poles, that increased from 1774 onwards, is a clear example of British authorities attempt to eliminate these overt and prominent displays. The use of the Red Ensign is interesting in that it was a symbol of Royal Colonial and Maritime Power. It was likely the single most available visible item that could be ‘modified’ to express both grievances and yet show ‘some’ underlying loyalty or acceptance of being ‘Englishmen’ under the Imperial colonial ‘umbrella’. While historians have for decades scrutinized and analyzed colonial protest writings in pamphlets, newspapers and personal letters of the era, it is vexillogist who discuss and explain the most visually symbolic items used by protesters prior to the Revolutionary War – Colonial Protest Flags. [39]

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Footnotes:

[1] Jasper Goldberg, ‘American colonials struggle against the British Empire, 1765 – 1775’, Global Nonviolent Data Base, Swarthmore, PA, Swarthmore College, 2010, https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/american-colonials-struggle-against-british-empire-1765-1775 (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[2] Malcolm Coxall, ‘Civil Disobedience: A Practical Guild’, Self-Published, Spain, 2015, pp 59 – 61

[3] Bernard Bailyn, ‘The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution’, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1967, pp 184 – 189

[4] Fred Anderson, ‘CRUCIBLE of WAR: The Sevens Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754 – 1766’, 1st edn., New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, pp 608-610

[5] Anderson, CRUCIBLE of WAR, p 606

[6] Bailyn, ‘The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution’, pp 145-147

[7] Marc Egnal, ‘A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution’, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1988, pp 126-133

[8] Anderson, CRUCIBLE of WAR, pp 642-646

[9] David W. Conroy, ‘The Public Houses: Drink & The Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts,’ Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 1995, pp 259-260

[10] Robert Ruppert, ‘THE SEEDS FROM WHICH THE SONS OF LIBERTY GREW’, Journal of the American Revolution, Allthingsliberty.com, Dec 8, 2014, https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/12/the-seed-from-which-the-sons-of-liberty-grew/ (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[11] Anderson, CRUCIBLE of WAR, pp 679-681

[12] Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D’Otrange Mastai, ‘The Stars and The Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present’, Old Saybrook, CT, Konecky & Konecky, 1973, p 19

[13] Mastai, ‘The Stars and The Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present’, p 19

[14] Peleg D. Harrison, ‘THE STARS AND STRIPES AND OTHER AMERICAN FLAGS’, Boston, Little, Brown, & Company, 1918, pp 21-22

[15] Charlotte Harris, ‘Local Reactions, Revolutionary Implications: The Stamp Act Rebellion in Portsmouth, New Hampshire as a Precursor to American Independence,’ Medium, San Francisco, A Medium Company, April 5, 2018,  https://medium.com/@harrischarlotteb/local-reactions-revolutionary-implications-the-stamp-act-rebellion-in-portsmouth-new-hampshire-db64d7eac926 (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[16] Harrison, ‘THE STARS AND STRIPES AND OTHER AMERICAN FLAGS’, p 22

[17] Benjamin L. Carp, ‘Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution’, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2007, PP 62-66

[18] Jonathan Carriel, ‘THE GRAND AFFRAY AT GOLDEN HILL: NEW YORK CITY, JANUARY 19, 1770’, Journal of the American Revolution, Allthingsliberty.com, Feb 25, 2020, https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/02/the-grand-affray-at-golden-hill-new-york-city-january-19-1770/ (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[19] Dr. Bernard John Cigrand, ‘The Flag Of The United States – The Colonial Period (Part 1)’, The Encyclopedia Americana, Chicago, The Encyclopedia Americana Company, 1919, pp 310-311

[20] Jonathan Carriel, ‘THE GRAND AFFRAY AT GOLDEN HILL: NEW YORK CITY, JANUARY 19, 1770’, Journal of the American Revolution, Allthingsliberty.com, Feb 25, 2020, https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/02/the-grand-affray-at-golden-hill-new-york-city-january-19-1770/ (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[21] Cigrand, ‘The Encyclopedia Americana’, p 311

[22] Ibid, p 311

[24] Carp, ‘Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution’, p 68

[25] George Henry Preble, ‘History of the Flag of the United States of America,’ Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1894, pp 193-194

[26] Carp, ‘Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution’, p 94

[27] Ian R. Christie, ‘British Response to American Reactions to the Townshend Acts, 1768–1770’ in Walter H. Conser, Jr., Ronald M. McCarthy, David J. Toscano, Gene Sharp (eds), ‘BEFORE LEXINGTON: Resistance, Politics, and The American Struggle for Independence, 1765–1775,’ Boston, The Albert Einstein Institute, 2016, pp 325-327

[28] Donald W. Holst, ‘Liberty or Death on Military Colors’, Journal of The Company of Military Historians, Vol. XXXVIII (38), No. 1, Spring, 1986, pp 7-11

[29] Rear Admiral William Rea Furlong and Commodore Byron McCandless, ‘SO PROUDLY WE HAIL – The History Of The United States Flag’, Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, pp 60-61

[30] Cigrand, ‘The Encyclopedia Americana,’ p 311

[31] Marc Leepson, ‘Flag – An American Biography’, New York, NY, St. Martin’s Press, 2005, pp 14-15

[32] Preble, ‘History of the Flag of the United States of America,’ pp 195-196

[33] Harrison, ‘THE STARS AND STRIPES AND OTHER AMERICAN FLAGS’, pp 23-24

[34] Edward W. Richardson, ‘Standards And Colors Of The American Revolution,’ Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982, p 13

[35] Barry Popik, ‘Liberty Pole and the Battle of Golden Hill’, The Big Apple, New York, NY, Big Apple Media, June 11, 2006  https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/liberty_pole_and_battle_of_golden_hill_1770/ (Accessed April 18-24, 2020)

[36] Furlong and McCandless, ‘SO PROUDLY WE HAIL – The History Of The United States Flag’, p 61

[37] Preble, ‘History of the Flag of the United States of America’, p 196

[38] Furlong and McCandless, ‘SO PROUDLY WE HAIL – The History Of The United States Flag’, p 61

[39] R. Nelson (Personal Communications, April 30, 2020) I wish to thank Mr. Nelson for his proofreading my initial submission correcting spelling, grammar, and sentence structure issues. His insights and comments were helpful in making this monogram a much more professional and readable article.