flags

The first flag with red, white and blue stripes. Believed by some to have been designed by Benjamin Franklin and flown by John Paul Jones in his engagement with the Serapis in 1779. Presented by the Virginia Society.

This regiment was organized from riflemen that marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1775, under Daniel Morgan. Two years later, it was reorganized as a corps of rangers. When the number of Virginia regiments was reduced to 11 from 15, the 11th Virginia became the 7th Virginia. Presented in memory of John Shiflett, soldier of the Revolution, by Ronald Cocke and Walter C. Shiflett.

Authorized by the Virginia Committee of Safety in session at Hanovertown, Virginia, September 18, 1775. This was the first official flag of the Virginia troops. “Constitutional Liberty” was the theme of the Virginia leaders of the Revolution. Presented in memory of certain officers and men from Chesterfield County and Richard Bland, by General Edwin Cox, a former president.

Companion of flags which commemorated the defense of Ft. Moultrie in 1776, and which were then carried on to even greater bravery and tragedy in the assault on the British Spring Hill redoubt at Savannah, Georgia, in 1776. Presented by Howze Haskell, in memory of his brother John Cheves Haskell. (Blue Flag)

The Green Mountain Boys or Rangers, from the staunch hills of Vermont and New Hampshire, appeared as a group of volunteers under John Stark at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in June 1775, to fight desperately in the Battle of Bunker Hill. A month earlier, led by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, they had taken Ticonderoga and Crown Point. After participating the ill-fated invasion of Canada, they returned, few in number, to be recruited again, still under one of their indomitable leaders, to rout the Hessians of Burgoyne at Bennington. Presented by McLain T. O’Ferrall, in memory of his grandfather Charles T. O’Ferrall, former governor of Virginia.

In September, 1775, two strong floating batteries were launched on the Charles River, Massachusetts, and in the following month opened fire on the British in Boston. The ensign used was a pine tree flag with the words “Appeal to Heaven”. Presented by Matilda H. Spessard and Rutherford H. Spessard, Jr. in memory of Rutherford Houston Spessard.

(The Third) Is a replica of the original now mounted in Philadelphia. This may at one time been the flag of the 1st Connecticut whose colours were yellow. It bears the numeral 1. Colonel Webb served on General Washington’s staff. This flag, and those numbered through 28, were presented by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., an honorary member of the Virginia Society.

Was white, as were all French Headquarters Flags. Within the last quarter-century, research as shown the flag was not plain white. There were Fleur-de-lis in the corners with the royal arms in the center. Rochambeau was the French King’s Commander-In-Chief in America.

Washington’s personal bodyguard, organized in 1776 and comprised of a Battalion of 180 men first made up of Virginia Continentals and later soldiers from all colonies. The original flag was owned by George Washington Parke Custis.