intended to be represented, or some other tree, though at length it received the name of one of the commonest tribes of trees in New England. Mr. Drake, in his 'History of Boston,' says, the tree on the New England flag, of which he gives an illustration, “no more resembles a pine-tree than a cabbage." The following story confirms the idea that a pine-tree may not have been the original design :

When Charles II. learned the colonies' assumption of one of his prerogatives to coin money, he was very angry; his wrath was, however, appeased by Sir Charles Temple, a friend of the colony, who told him they thought it no crime to coin money for their own use; and, taking some of the money from his pocket, handed it to the king, who asked him what tree that was upon it. "That," replied Sir Charles, "is the royal oak which preserved your Majesty's life." His remark put the king in a good humor, and he heard what Sir Charles had to say in their favor, calling them "a parcel of honest dogs."

"1

This New England flag was undoubtedly the earliest symbol of a union of the colonies, and it probably went out of use after the adoption of the union flag of King James, by the act of Parliament in 1707, for all the subjects of the British realm. That flag, with the addition of a white shield at the union of the crosses, was ordered (see ante), in 1701, to be worn by all merchant vessels commissioned by the colonial authorities of New England and New York, and, in 1720, by the merchant vessels of South Carolina; and the order was doubtless extended to all the American colonies.

On Will Burgess's map of Boston, engraved in 1728, there are pictured four ships at anchor and a sloop under sail, all wearing ensigns bearing the union jack of King James on a staff at the stern. One of the ships is dressed with flags; and firing a salute; another flies a long coach-whip pennant at her main.

Sir William Pepperrell, commander of the expedition against Louisbourg, in 1745, furnished the motto for the expeditionary flag; viz., " Nil desperandum, Christo duce," "Never despair, Christ leads us," - which gave the enterprise the air of a crusade. Among those engaged against Louisbourg was William Vaughan, a graduate of Harvard University, holding the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel. He conducted the first column through the woods, within sight of the city, and saluted it with three cheers. He headed a detachment con

1 Curwin's Journal. Valentine's New York Manual, 1863, contains an account of the flags which have waved over New York City, from a memoir prepared by Doct. A. K. Gardner, for the New York Historical Society.

sisting chiefly of New Hampshire troops, and marched to the northeast part of the harbor in the night, where they burned the warehouses containing the naval stores, and staved a large quantity of wine and brandy.

The smoke of this fire, being driven by the wind into the grand battery, so terrified the French that they abandoned it, and retired to the city, having spiked the guns and cut the halyards of the flag-staff. The next morning, May 2, 1745, as Vaughan was returning with thirteen men only, he crept up the hill which overlooked the battery, and observed that the chimneys of the barrack were without smoke and the staff without a flag. With a bottle of brandy which he had in his pocket he hired one of his party, an Indian, to crawl in at an embrasure and open the gate. He then wrote to the general: "May it please your honor to be informed that, by the grace of God and the courage of thirteen men, I entered the royal battery about nine o'clock, and am awaiting for a reinforcement and a flag." Before either could arrive, one of the men climbed up the staff with a red coat in his teeth, which he fastened by a nail to the top. This piece of triumphant vanity alarmed the city, and immediately an hundred men were despatched in boats to retake the battery. But Vaughan, with his small party on the naked bank and in the face of a smart fire from the city and the boats, kept them from landing till reinforcements arrived.1

The name of the man who hoisted this impromptu flag with such rash daring is given in an obituary notice containing the following exaggerated version of his feat, printed in the Boston Gazette' of June 3, 1771: "Medford, May 25, 1771. This day died here Mr. William Tufts, Jr., aged about 44 years. . . . When about 18 years of age he enlisted a volunteer into the service of his king and country in the expedition against Cape Britain [Breton], under the command of Lieut.General Pepperrell, in the year 1745, where he signalized his courage in a remarkable manner at the Island Battery, when an unsuccessful attempt was made by a detachment from the army to take it by storm. He got into the battery, notwithstanding the heavy fire of the French artillery and small arms, climbed up the flag-staff, struck the French colors, pulled off his red great-coat, and hoisted it on the staff as English colors, all which time there was a continued fire at him from the small arms of the French, and got down untouched, tho' many bullets went thro' his trowsers and cloathes." "

1 Belknap's History of New Hampshire.

2 J. L. Sibley, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1871.

Governor Thomas Pownall, in his Journal of 'A Voyage from Boston to Penobscot River,' May, 1759, mentions calling the Indians together and giving them a union flag, probably the union jack with a red field or flag, for their protection and passport. He also furnished them with a red and also a white flag, as emblems of war and amity. Afterwards, he mentions hoisting the king's colors on a flag-staff at Fort Point, with the usual ceremonies, and saluting them.1

On the 21st of August, 1760, an engagement took place between the English under Lord Amherst and the French forces under Pouchet, which resulted in the capture of Fort Levis on the St. Lawrence, a little below the present city of Ogdensburg, N. Y. During this engagement the English vessel Seneca, of 22 guns and 350 men, grounded, and was compelled to strike her flag. There were two other vessels -the Ontaonaise and Oneida - on the English side. "One thing," says Pouchet, "which amused the garrison at the most serious moments of the battle was that the Indians, who were perched upon the trenches and batteries, to watch the contest with the vessels, which they regarded on their side on account of the names that had been given them, made furious cries at seeing them so maltreated, because they carried an Indian painted upon their flags." 2

FLAGS OF THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY AND REVO

LUTIONARY PERIODS.

1766-1777.

In contemporary newspapers for ten years preceding the commencement of our revolutionary struggle, liberty poles, trees, and flags of various devices are frequently mentioned.

On the 9th of January, 1766, the people of Portsmouth, N. H., demanded from Governor Meserve, agent for the distribution of stamps in New Hampshire, his commission and instructions, and, notwithstanding his resignation, required him to take oath that he would not directly or indirectly attempt to execute the office. They afterwards marched through the streets, carrying the commission in triumph on the point of a sword, and bearing aloft a flag on which was inscribed "LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND NO STAMPS ;" and, to perpetuate the memorable event, they erected this standard at Swing Bridge, which thenceforth was called 'Liberty Bridge.'

1 Maine Historical Collections, vol. v.

2 L. B. Hough's Trans. Pouchet's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 32.