by the next three in seniority, and at the mizzen by the three junior rear admirals, was first hoisted at the main on board the Hartford, in 1862, by Rear Admiral Farragut, who had previously as flag officer, carried it at the fore. The absurdity of a rear admiral wearing his flag at the fore or main was so apparent and so contrary to the custom of other nations, that at the suggestion of Hon. R. H. Dana, Jr., the following congress repealed the law, after which a square flag, blue, red or white, hoisted at the mizzen, according to the seniority of the officer was adopted. Next after the introduction of the grades of admiral, and vice admiral, the device adopted for the admiral was four white stars arranged as a diamond in a blue field to be hoisted at the main (the flag of Farragut). For the vice admiral three white. five pointed stars arranged as an equilateral triangle on a blue field to be hoisted at the fore. For rear admirals a square blue, red or white flag at the mizzen according to their seniority with two stars placed vertically in the centre of the flag. The color of the stars, to be white when the flag was blue or red, and blue when the flag was white. The commodore's broad pennants were swallow-tailed flags or banners, the same in color according to their seniority as the rear admiral's flags, and until the regulation of 1866, were studded with a constellation of stars equal in number to the states of the Union, but by the regulations then established, only one star in the centre, was emblazoned on their field.

In 1869, another radical change was made in the designating flags of admirals and commodores; square flags with thirteen. alternate red and white stripes, were then prescribed for all the grades of admirals, their position on the fore main or mizzen mast showing the grade of the officer whether admiral, vice, or rear; and if two rear admirals should happen to meet in the same port in command, then the junior is directed while in the presence of the senior to wear two red stars perpendicular in a white canton on the upper luff of the flag. The commodore's pendant is swallowtailed, but otherwise like the admiral's flag, and worn at the main fore or according to seniority when more than one are in port together.

Each of the states of our Union and most of the territories has a flag of its own, generally of one color, white, blue, or red, and

blazoned with the arms of the state. This flag is carried by the state militia into battle or on parade side by side with the national standard. The state flag of Vermont has thirteen stripes like those on the national flag, and a blue union with one large white star, bearing in its centre the state arms. The national standard of Texas, in 1836, previous to its admission into our Union, was a blue flag bearing a golden star in its centre. Its national flag had a blue perpendicular stripe its whole width next the staff bearing a white star, and the fly of the flag divided into two equal horizontal stripes, white and red, white uppermost. The naval flag of Texas was the same as our national flag, except that the Union had but one white star. Since her admission to the Union, Texas has legalized no other flag.

In answer to a letter of inquiry, the secretary of the state of Iowa in 1866, wrote me : "The state has no state flag other than the stars and stripes, a large interest in which she claims ;" and Brigham Young, in reply to a similar inquiry respecting Utah, said, "We have no territorial flag, our flag is that of the nation, the stars and stripes."

An interesting relic of the period of the revolution of 1776 is the banner or flag of Count Pulaski, presented to him by the Moravian sisters of Bethlehem, Penn.

Count Pulaski was appointed a brigadier in the Continental army on the 15th of Sept., 1777, just after the battle of the Brandy wine, and was given the command of the cavalry.

He resigned the command in a few months, and obtained from congress permission to raise and command an independent corps to consist of 68 horse and 200 foot, which was chiefly raised and fully organized in Baltimore in 1778. Pulaski visited Lafayette while wounded and a recipient of the care and hospitality of the Moravian sisters at Bethlehem, Penn. His presence, and eventful history made a deep impression upon the minds of that community, and when informed that he was organizing a corps of cavalry, they prepared a banner of crimson silk, with designs beautifully wrought with the needle by their own hands and sent it to Pulaski with their blessing. The memory of this event has been embalmed in beautiful verse by Longfellow.

Pulaski received the banner with grateful acknowledgments, and bore it gallantly through many a martial scene, until he fell

in conflict at Savannah, in the autumn of 1779. His banner was saved by his first lieutenant (who received fourteen wounds), and delivered to Captain Bentalon, who on retiring from the army, took the banner home with him to Baltimore. It was used in the procession that welcomed Lafayette to that city in 1824, and was then deposited in Peale's Museum, where it was ceremoniously received by several young ladies. Mr. Edmund Peale presented it to the Maryland Historical Society, in 1844, where it is now carefully preserved in a glass case. Little of its former beauty remains. It is composed of double silk, now faded to a dull brownish red. The designs on each side are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green, and a deep bullion fringe ornaments the edge. The size of the banner is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne in the field.

On one side of the banner are the letters U. S., and in a circle around them, the words UNITAS VIRTUS FORCIOR - Union makes valor stronger. The letter C in the last word is incorrect, it should be T. On the other side in the centre, is the allseeing eye, with the words NON ALIUS REGIT- No other governs.

One of the most interesting of our Revolutionary flags is the flag of Washington's Life Guard which is preserved in the Museum of Alexandria, Va. It is of white silk on which the device is neatly painted. One of the guard is holding a horse, and in the act of receiving a flag from the Genius of Liberty personified as a woman leaning upon the Union shield, near which is an American eagle. The motto of the corps, CONQUER OR

DIE, is on a ribbon over the device. This Life Guard was a distinct corps of mounted men, attached to the person of Washington, but never spared in battle. It was organized in 1776,

BE CONQUEROR DIE

Flag of the Washington Life Guards.

soon after the siege of Boston, while the American army was encamped near the city of New York. It consisted of a major's command, one hundred and eighty men, and its chief bore the title of captain commandant. The uniform of the guard consisted of a blue coat with white facings, white waistcoat and breeches, blue half gaiters, and a cocked hat with a white plume. They carried muskets, and occasion

ally side arms. Care was taken to have all the states, from which the Continental army was supplied with troops, represented in this corps.

BANNERS, BANDEROLES, GUIDONS, PENNONS,

ENSIGNS, ETC.

BANNERS.

BANNER; Dutch, Baniere; French, Banniere; German, Bannier; Italian, Banda, Bandiera; Swedish, Baner.

A flag the bond-roll or bond sign, the sign of union, the flag or standard under which men were united or bound for some common purpose.

Various opinions are entertained as to the etymology of the name. Some derive it from the Latin bandum, a band or flag, others from the German ban, a rallying point, a field, a tenement, because only landed men were allowed a banner. Others again believe it a corruption of panniere from pannus cloth, because banners were originally made of cloth. The Germans are said

1 Shakespeare uses colors to denote military flags.

to have fastened a streamer to a lance, which the duke carried in front of the army, and which was called band, afterwards a large cloth was used, ornamented with emblems and inscriptions.

Knights wore a pointed flag, pennant, or streamer.

Banner

ets, or little banner men, were of a rank above a simple knight, and yet below that of a baron. They were usually created on a battle-field, when the candidate presented his pennon to the king or general, who cut off the train of it, and thus making it square, returned it to the banneret as the symbol of his increased rank. From these customs may be traced the broad pennants worn by commodores and the square flags of our admirals.

The form of the banner has been made to assume almost every shape so small a parallelogram could be converted into, though as a general rule in banners of cognizance or individual escutcheons, its size bore relation to the respective rank of the parties thus the banner of an earl would be larger than that of a baron, and his still larger than that of a banneret. Anciently banners were plain, and of several colors, but they were early ornamented with devices of men and animals, and finally used as a flying shield to display the blazonry of the bearer, the symbols of a nation, or the heraldry of a particular order, or a department of the

state.

The banner, says Burke in his Heraldic Register for 1849-50, is coeval with the introduction of heraldry, and dates consequently from the 12th century. It was of nearly a square form, and served as a rallying point of the several divisions of which the army was composed. To judge from the siege of Carleverock,' it would seem that early in the 14th century there was a banner to every twenty-five or thirty men at arms, and that thus the battle array was marshaled. At that period the English forces comprised the tenants in capite of the crown, with their followers; and it appears that such tenants were entitled to lead their contingent under a banner of their arms; but the precise number so furnished which conferred the privilege, has

1 The siege of Carleverock is the title of a poem descriptive of the banners of the peers and knights of the English army who were present at the seige of Carleverock castle in Scotland, in Feb., 1301. A fine copy of this work has been recently added to the Boston Public Library.