AmericanRevolutionaryWarFlags

Militia / American Revolutionary War Flags

Militia / American Revolutionary War Flags and Historical Information

April 19, 1775 The government goes door to door confiscating firearms. Gun fire results - soldiers (i.e., government troops) vs. the militia (i.e., farmboys, drovers, carpenters, laborers, and school teachers, etc...). The American Revolution is ignited!

Flags

Fly the Patriot Flags from the American Revolution.

LINKS ON THIS PAGE ARE STILL BEING UPDATED FROM MY PRIOR WEB SITE

MILITIA FLAG

DESCRIPTION

Bedford Militia Flag

Bedford Militia - Original Roster

Bedford Militia - April 19, 1775

www.bedfordminutemancompany.org

The Latin inscription "Vince Aut Morire" means "Conquer or Die". The arm emerging from the clouds represents the arm of God

Green Mountain Boys Flag

Green Mountain Boys Militia

More on the Green Mountain Boys Militia

Culpeper Minuteman Flag

Read about the Culpeper Militia

Moultrie Flag

The Moultrie flag was the first distinctive American flag displayed in the South. It flew over the ramparts of the fort on Sullivan's Island, which lies in the channel leading to Charleston, South Carolina, when the British fleet attacked on June 28, 1776. The British ships bombarded the fort for 10 hours. But the garrison, consisting of some 375 regulars -- and a few militia, under the command of Col. William Moultrie, put up such a gallant defense that the British were forced to withdraw under cover of darkness. This victory saved the southern Colonies from invasion for another two years.

The flag was blue, as were the uniforms of the men of the garrison, and it bore a white crescent in the upper corner next to the staff, like the silver crescents the men wore on their caps, inscribed with the words "Liberty or Death."

Source: http://www.foundingfathers.info/American-flag/Revolution.html

Gadsden Flag

The Culpeper Flags

Revolutionary Battle Flag
Like this one, many battle flags of the American Revolution carried religious inscriptions."Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God"

Gostelowe Standard No. 10, c. 1776
Watercolor once in possession of Edward W. Richardson. Copyprint
Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution
and Its Color Guard (91)

Hanover Associators

They resolved: 'that in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven and our rifles.'

Source: "Flags to Color from the American Revolution."

This flag belongs to the Hanover Associators, and is on page 17. The colors are listed as "Red field and trim on cap; yellow fringe and scroll; black lettering and cap; green ground and uniform with cream legs, trim, feather and powder horn; brown belt and light blue rifle barrel."

"The Hanover Association of volunteers was formed on June 4, 1774, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They resolved 'that in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by strength of arms, our cause we leave to Heaven and our rifles.' The rifleman on the flag shows this point. This flag no longer exists, and the authority for it is an ancient engraving in the Pennsylvania State Archives." Randy Young, 1 February 2001

Sons of Liberty

Flags

of the

American War for Independence

http://www.nwinfo.net/~jagriffin/revflag.htm

http://www.flagguys.com/hist.html

http://www.bwrcsar.us/flags.htm

Veteran Exempts Flag

September Eleventh 1814 - The Battles at Plattsburgh

By Keith Herkalo

Both Roosevelt and Churchill recognized the strategic and political importance of the land and naval battles of Plattsburgh on September 11th, 1814. Yet time and other events can obscure facts, and the United States' second war for independence became a forgotten war, the Battles at Plattsburgh lost in the "rockets red glare" of Baltimore.

In this text, Keith Herkalo, using personal journals, military journals, contemporary newspaper accounts, and other original source documents, examines the evidence that leads to the conclusion that the Battles at Plattsburgh, on land and on Lake Champlain, were the key battles of the War of 1812. The other battles, Baltimore, Washington, and Sackets Harbor, were ruses meant to divert United States troops away from the prize: Plattsburgh, Lake Champlain, and a clear pathway into New England.

If not for the explemlary talents and skills of two young military officers, Commodore Thomas Macdonough and General Alexander Macomb, a small force of regular army and naval personnel and New York Militia, a few thousand Vermont Militia, a handful of Native Americans and Veteran Exempts (those too old for military service), and a group of boys from the local school, the United States, as we know it today, would not exist.

Battle of Bennington- 1777

Per above link:

The British suffered a major defeat when New England militia men ambushed a large force of British soldiers attempting to forage for supplies. The British force was almost wiped out, losing 207 dead and 700 captured.

Burgoyne's first major defeat occurred when he sent a force of Hessians west of the Connecticut River to seize cattle and other supplies. The force, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Fredrich Baum, was ordered to head to Bennington and seize rebel supplies. Awaiting Baum near Bennington were nearly 2,000 American militia men led by John Stark of New Hampshire. At Van Schaick Mill, Baum's forces ran into the advance guard of the American forces, and both sides prepared for battle the next day, next to the Wallomsac River. The British were in makeshift fortifications on a height north of the river. On August 16, after a rain delay, Stark's men attacked. In a complicated multi-pronged attack, they captured or killed the entire British force. By late in the afternoon, a British relief expedition arrived. The relief expedition was met by Warner's Green Mountain Boys. They forced the British to pull back. With the help of Stark's forces, the withdrawal turned to a route. By the end of the battle, 207 British and Hessians lay dead and 700 were captured. The Americans lost 20 dead and another 40 wounded.

Battle of Bennington

per above link:

The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, taking place on August 16, 1777, not at its namesake of Bennington, Vermont, but instead a few miles over the border in Walloomsac, New York. An American force of 2,000 New Hampshire and Massachusetts militiamen, led by General John Stark with aid from Colonel Seth Warner, defeated a combined force of 1,250 Brunswick mercenaries, Canadians, Loyalists, and Native Americans led by Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum.

British General John Burgoyne was attempting to push through the northern Hudson River Valley. After the recent British victories at Hubbardton, Fort Ticonderoga, and St. Clair, Burgoyne's plan was to defeat the American forces in the area and then continue south to Albany and onto the Hudson River Valley, dividing the American colonies in half. The Battle was before Saratoga.

However, Burgoyne's progress towards Albany had slowed to a crawl by late July, and his army's supplies began to dwindle. Burgoyne sent a detachment of about 800 troops under the command of the Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum from Fort Miller. Half of Baum's detachment was made up of Brunswick regulars, while the other half consisted of local Loyalists, Canadians, and Native Americans. Baum was ordered to raid the supply depot at Bennington, which was guarded by fewer than 400 colonial militia.

On August 13, 1777, en route to Bennington, Baum learned of the arrival in the area of 1,500 New Hampshire militiamen under the command of General John Stark. Baum ordered his forces to stop at the Walloomsac River, about four miles (6 km) west of Bennington. After sending a request for reinforcements to Fort Miller, Baum took advantage of the terrain and deployed his forces on the high ground. In the rain, Baum's men dug in and hoped that the weather would prevent the Americans from attacking before reinforcements arrived. Deployed a few miles away, Stark decided to reconnoiter Baum's positions and wait until the weather cleared.

On the afternoon of August 16, 1777, the weather cleared, and Stark ordered his men ready to attack. Stark is reputed to have rallied his troops by saying, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow." Upon hearing that the militia had melted away into the woods, Baum assumed that the Americans were retreating or redeploying. However, Stark had recognized that Baum's forces were spread thin and decided immediately to envelop them from two sides while simultaneously charging Baum's central redoubt head-on. Stark's plan , the Loyalists and Native Americans fled. This left Baum and his Hessian dragoons trapped on the high ground without any horses. The Germans fought valiantly even after running low on powder. The dragoons led a sabre charge and tried to break through the enveloping forces. However, after this final charge failed and Baum was mortally wounded, the Germans surrendered.

Shortly after this battle ended, while the New Hampshire Militia was disarming the German troops, Baum's reinforcements arrived. The German reinforcements, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann, saw the Americans in disarray and pressed their attack immediately. After hastily regrouping, Stark's forces tried to hold their ground against the German onslaught. Before their lines collapsed, a group of several hundred Vermont militiamen arrived to reinforce Stark's troops. The Green Mountain Boys, commanded by Seth Warner, had just been defeated at the Battle of Hubbardton by British reinforcements and were eager to exact their revenge on the enemy. Together, the New Hampshire and Vermont militias repulsed and finally routed von Breymann's force.

Today the residents of Bennington celebrate the battle, calling the day Bennington Battle Day. That day the town fires Americas oldest firing cannon, called the Molly Stark Cannon.

Total British losses at Bennington were recorded at 200 dead and 700 captured; American losses included 40 Americans dead and 30 wounded. Stark's decision to intercept and destroy the raiding party before they could reach Bennington was a crucial factor in Burgoyne's eventual surrender, because it deprived his army of supplies.

The American victory at Bennington also galvanized the rebels and was a catalyst for French involvement in the war.

August 16 is a legal holiday in Vermont, known as Bennington Battle Day. The battle is further commemorated by the 306-foot (93 m) tall Bennington Battle Monument in Old Bennington.

Battle Of Bennington

Sharpshooter’s Pledge (a prior Veturing Crew I worked with years ago, and I composed this for them):

On my honor, as a Lassen Sharpshooter, Venturer / Scout, I promise:

To always follow the rules of safe firearm handling and shooting;

To seek to master those physical and mental factors essential to the firing of an accurate shot;

To treasure my American heritage, the Bill of Rights, and do all I can to protect and preserve the Unalienable Individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment;

To recognize such individual right as being justly considered as the palladium of the liberties of our republic and deterrent to, and defense against, government tyranny and oppression.

Motto: Exercising the American Bill of Rights.