Revolutionary War flags displayed for first time since 1780

Flags Shown for First Time Since 1780

By BRUCE SMITH Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. ?- Three rare American Revolutionary War flags that might have been made by Betsy Ross went on public display Friday for the first time in nearly 226 years.

"I've called these sacred relics," said David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby's in New York, where the flags will be auctioned next month.

The silk flags were captured by the British in 1780 at the Battle of Waxhaws in Lancaster County near the North Carolina state line. They are on display for the opening weekend of the Spoleto Festival USA arts fair; Monday is the 226th anniversary of the battle.

One of the flags has the oldest display of white stars in a blue field. Below the stars are a picture of a beaver gnawing a palmetto tree and the motto "Perseverando."

While the palmetto is South Carolina's symbol, the design comes from the colonial $6 bill, Redden said.

The second flag is blue and stained with what is believed to be blood, while the third is gold.

A fourth Revolutionary War flag not on display here is the earliest surviving flag with 13 stripes, and was captured during a 1779 engagement at Pound Ridge, in New York's Westchester County.

The four flags, all captured by British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, could bring in as much as $10 million at auction. There are about 30 other surviving flags from the war, mostly in institutional collections, Redden said.

The flags are included in a 1778 Army inventory from Philadelphia and have five-pointed stars, something Ross, a Philadelphia flag-maker, advocated for the American flag.

"She said firmly that five-pointed stars look the best. This is the earliest American flag with five-pointed stars," said Redden, who extensively researched the flags.

He said evidence that Ross made the flags is "circumstantial, but it can't be disproved."

The four flags have been in Tarleton's family since their capture and are currently owned by his great-great-great-great-nephew, Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan. He plans to give some of the proceeds of the sale to an American serviceman's organization, Redden said.