The American flag has remained the same for decades, aside from the addition of a few stars here and there. But there were many versions of the flag before the one we’ve come to know and love(?) today. These include flags with no red white and blue, flags made up on the spot by John Paul Jones to avoid charges of piracy by Dutch statesmen, flags featuring disgusting reptiles, etc., etc. Here’s a sampling of some of the coolest and most surprising.
One of the very first American symbols, this flag flew over American shipping vessels c. 1775. It was a message to the British, and a nationalistic ode to the new world. It was called the Liberty Tree flag.
And now we’ve moved to the first type of flag flown by the fledgling American Navy, c. 1775. It’s still flown today on the oldest naval ship. The rattlesnake is ominous, poisonous warning. Also, disgusting.
We all know the (probably) mythical story of Betsy Ross sewing the first real American flag in 1776. Here’s the (probably fictional) representation of the woman herself presenting her work to Washington.
The flag flown by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys at the Battle of Bennington, 1777.
The actual flag flown over Fort Sumter in 1861 – the first battle of the Civil War, won by the Confederacy.
Dear Wes,
You, me, and millions of other Americans were deceived by a few folks in the Navy who promoted the “Fake Snake Flag” the SOS – Snake On Stripes Flag with the motto “(Please) Don’t Tread On Me!”. Any snake handler knows a snake on its belly is less able to strike, is vulnerable. That is why the FOUR true snake flags from the Revolution ALL have the snake coiled, ready to strike. This design you show I have an article by one of the Navy officers involved describing the process of setting what colors to use, how many undulations in the snake’s body, and how many rattles – in the 1970s before the Bicentennial. It was based on a background flag by an English painter who also painted palm trees in Montreal.
On the other hand, after 3 years of research, I have reconstructed a faithful design of the Liberty Tree flag. A letter by Washington’s aide Colonel Joseph Reed sets the correct motto as: “Appeal to Heaven” (properly period font-Caslon, upper and lower case, NOT All CAPS, modern font “AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN”)
Also the ONLY surviving Tree Flag of the colonial era shows a triangle shaped tree. See design of a “True Tree” First Navy Flag at http://www.FirstNavyFlag.US
James Renwick Manship, Sr.
former Signals Officer on the USS Independence
I like your website, but please make one correction to your sentence about the 1777 flag. You saw it was flown by Ethan Allen and the Green Mtn Boys at the Battle of Bennington. Ethan Allen was not there that day; he was a prisoner of war in England. If you’d like to add a link to my website, please use the link text “the Battle of Bennington 1777″ and point to http://www.revolutionary-war-books.com Two of my books are about this battle. Best wishes.