Description
This version of the US flag was said to have been carried by William Batchelor of the 3rd Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781, and this arrangement of stars has come to be known as the "3rd Maryland design." The Batchelor family donated their original flag, known as the Batchelor Flag, to the 'Society of the War of 1812' in 1894. After William N. Batchelor challenged the authenticity of the flag, however, the Baltimore Society of the War of 1812 appointed J. Appleton Wilson to research the history. Wilson determined that the flag was actually carried by Joshua F. Batchelor at the Battle of North Point during the War of 1812, where it acquired its many bullet holes. The society had later used the flag to mark the anniversary of the Battle of North Point, but had also used the flag for ceremonies regarding the American Revolution, including a parade for Lafayette when he visited Maryland in 1824.
The Batchelor Flag was on display in the Maryland Statehouse flag room until the 1980s, when older flags were moved to storage for preservation. It is currently held at the Maryland Archives. A 1970s study conducted by the Maryland State Archivist and the Smithsonian Institution, however, concluded that the preserved flag was of 19th century origin. Among the reasons for this conclusion are:
- The 3rd Maryland Regiment was not at the Battle of Cowpens.
- No American regiment was officially authorized to carry Stars and Stripes flags.
- The first Stars and Stripes flag constructed in Maryland was made in 1782, at least a year after the Battle of Cowpens.
- The fabric and construction technique match other 19th century flags.
A Smithsonian publication acknowledges that the Cowpens design may date to the American Revolution, but the actual flag held at Maryland dates no earlier than 1843.
The flag of Easton, Pennsylvania reverses the 3rd Maryland design, with the star wreath on the field of the flag, and the 13 red and white stripes in the canton.
The star pattern was popular enough to see continued use in 15-star flags as the nation began to grow. A surviving military commission signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1808 shows a 15-star flag and a 15-star Navy jack, both using the 3rd Maryland star arrangement (14 star circle with the 15th star in the center).
The crest of the Navy cruiser USS Cowpens (CG-63) features the 3rd Maryland star pattern in the foreground, as well as two Cowpens flags in the background.
Read more about this topic: Cowpens Flag
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)
“He hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)