Posted on 06/14/2006 2:43:02 PM PDT by Pharmboy
The British captured this battle flag made of gold silk from a Virginia regiment.
According to Sotheby’s, it’s the earliest surviving documented American flag
bearing 13 stars. It has a painted emblem of a beaver and the
motto “Perseverando.” The image was copied from the engraving on
the $6 Continental bill that Benjamin Franklin had chosen.
ROY A. BAHLS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Amid the crack of musket fire, smoke and confusion on the field, three battle flags fluttered above the exhausted 3rd Virginia Detachment in South Carolina on May 29, 1780.
Col. Abraham Buford and his Continental soldiers had set out to reinforce Charleston, under siege by Lord Cornwallis. The city fell into British hands before they got there.
The patriots were headed back north when the Seventeenth Light Dragoons , led by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, caught up with them near the North Carolina line. The battle became one of the more controversial episodes of the Revolutionary War.
The three silk battle flags that flew that day, and were spirited away to Britain as trophies, are back on American soil. Slightly tattered, torn and faded, they are among perhaps 30 flags to survive the fight for independence.
Today they go on auction at Sotheby's in New York City. It could bring a Flag Day bidding battle as high as $6.5 million.
"Those flags are a national treasure," Catherine Ceips, a South Carolina state representative, said after seeing them on exhibit at the Old Exchange Building in Charleston.
Ceips pointed out that the flags were in the building where the soldiers would have brought them - almost 226 years ago to the day - if they had made it in time to defend Charleston.
"I never thought I would ever get to see those flags," said Ceips, a student of Revolutionary history. "When I left that day, I remarked to somebody, 'This has probably been one of the most remarkable days of my life.' "
A fourth silk flag from a Connecticut cavalry regiment - and the earliest surviving American flag with a field of 13 red and white stripes - also will be up for auction. It was captured by Tarleton a year earlier during an engagement at Bedford/Pound Ridge, N.Y.
Of the three from Virginia, the main battle flag is made of gold silk. According to Sotheby's, it's the earliest surviving documented American flag bearing 13 stars. It has a painted emblem of a beaver gnawing a palmetto tree and the motto "Perseverando."
The image was copied from the engraving on the $6 Continental bill that Benjamin Franklin had chosen to symbolize perseverance in overthrowing tyranny. The two smaller flags, one blue and one gold, each display the word "Regiment."
They are to be sold as one lot, and Sotheby's estimates that they will bring at least $2.5 million.
The Connecticut flag, to be sold separately, is expected to bring $1.5 million to $3.5?million.
In its catalog, Sotheby's says the four flags are, "the last American Revolutionary War colors known to remain in British hands and the last such colors to remain in private hands anywhere."
Who will capture the Virginia flags?
South Carolina and Virginia both covet them. So do many museums and historical societies, perhaps even the Smithsonian Institution. But the expected cost is causing sticker shock.
" We were a little taken back by the estimated price," said James Kelly, director of museums for the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.
"That's a little rich for us. Obviously there are a lot of places like us that would love to have them, but there are very few institutions with those kinds of resources. These are deep-pocket items."
He wasn't surprised at the wide range of price estimates.
"It sort of indicates they don't really have any idea," Kelly said. "They are not something that come up very often. It may have been 40 or 50 years ago before there were any similar ones."
The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia is in the same position.
"So far, we are kind of batting zeroes for finding the funding to make a reasonable bid," said Fritz Hamer, chief curator of the museum. He said it would be ideal if Virginia or South Carolina could get the flags, but that doesn't look promising.
Virginia Del. Harvey Morgan, R-98th District, introduced a resolution in January encouraging the return of all four flags to their rightful homes in Virginia and Connecticut. It was considered by the Rules Committee but got no further.
Is there a chance the state of Virginia will buy the historic flags?
"No, I don't think we will," Morgan said. "We have too many other things that we need to spend money on."
He hopes that some day the flags will find their way to a museum for public view.
Ceips introduced a resolution in the South Carolina Legislature requesting that the state acquire the flags.
"Our ability to stand in that room and vote is because of the men that died under those flags," she said. It passed in the House but stalled in the Senate.
Kelly, of the Virginia Historical Society, envisions that the three flags could find a home other than Virginia or South Carolina. He wishes that the flags were more visually associated with the state. The word "Virginia" does not appear on any of them.
Kelly was impressed with the flag's stars, though.
"I think that will help its price, definitely. Yeah, that 13-star thing may just attract some bidder who, perhaps the Virginia or the South Carolina connection just doesn't matter. They'd be going after it for a totally different reason."
The flags flew over one of the Revolutionary War's more brutal encounters.
Accounts of the Battle of the Waxhaws, often referred to as "Buford's Massacre" vary. One version says Col. Buford ordered the flag of truce to be raised. As Tarleton came forward, his horse was shot from under him, which enraged his men and resulted in a furious assault. Another version says the Americans were tricked by Tarleton. When the flags of truce were passing and the Colonials were laying down their arms, Tarleton ordered his troops to attack.
Whatever account is to believed, the battle left more than 100 Americans and five British dead. Those who gathered at a church to help care for the estimated 150 wounded patriots included a president-to-be, 13-year-old Andrew Jackson.
The flags are being put up for auction by Tarleton's great-great-great-great nephew , Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan .
"I think it is simply a matter of these being really too valuable to keep on the walls of a country house," said David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby's .
The owner, Redden said, intends to give something out of the proceeds to an appropriate American serviceman's organization.
Redden acknowledged that the expected price is steep but pointed out the flags' "extraordinary condition" and that they might have been made by Betsy Ross.
For Hamer, like many curators, the flags hold special significance.
"They are associated with one of the lowest points in the American Revolution in the South, for sure," he said. "And this seemed to be one of the rallying cries in the Carolinas, particularly in this state, to develop some kind of resistance to British occupation."
How high will the bidding go for the flags when the gavel falls?
Redden of Sotheby's said he has received a lot of interest, but "how that translates to bids on the day of the sale is hard to guess."
Ceips is concerned that the flags may be bought by a private party and whisked away again to a foreign land.
"How unfortunate that would be for this nation. We caught a glimpse of those glorious flags when they were here, but if we are not careful we may never see them again."
Reach Roy Bahls at (757) 446-2351 or roy.bahls@pilotonline.com.
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Hmmmm .. emminent domain?
The states involved should demand the return of them--for free. They are a part of history, and do not belong in private hands, and were taken as contraband of war.
Besides, why should the descendant of that ghoul Tarleton be enriched?
As was explained to me by a military historian, once a battle flag is taken, it is owned by the winner.
I know--it is an emotional reaction. To the victor goes the spoils.
But that these flags were taken in an action which resulted in a massacre of Americans, I would think the owner would have had the decency to hand them over as a gesture of good-will and to make sure the flags are preserved for their historical significance, for all to enjoy and learn from.
Too bad the butcher Tarleton died of old age.
His descendant should know Americans' contempt, somehow.
Waxhaws led to the phrase "Tarleton's quarter", which meant no quarter at all. Tarleton heard the phrase from U.S troops at the Cowpens, when Daniel Morgan kicked the sh*t out of Tarleton, and his legion in about 20 minutes.
BTW, I very recently toured the Cowpens battlefield, where we got in some licks of our own, and the Americans treated the British prisoners humanely, despite calls for "Tarleton's Quarter."
6.5 million is chump change compared to the billions in fraud in the aftermath of Katrina. These flags need to be in the Smithsonian or State museums.
We pay HOW MANY BILLIONS a year for welfare and medical care and housing and education for people who aren't even citizens and who aren't here legally-yet we can't find the where-with-all to procure these historical flags?
Check this out...
Absolutely. These are treasures which should be displayed for all to see...esp. the citizens of VA, SC and NC.
I'm more a student of the Civil War, but I am reading more about the Revolutionary War--hope to see Cowpens someday.
Mark Mayo Boatner was a civil war expert who authored a Dictionary of the Civil War. Friends began to encourage him to do something similar for the RevWar and he then wrote the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (1994). He discusses the issue of the isolated pursuits of RevWar enthusiasts and those who favor the study of The War Between the States. Amazon has Boatner's books...the Encyclopedia is well worth the 20 bucks.
Thanks for the info,Pharmboy.
The courage and determination of the generation of Americans that fought for independence increasingly intrigues me.
I love your historical threads... thank you!
Your Obdt. Svt.
P_____y
...A fourth silk flag from a Connecticut cavalry regiment - and the earliest surviving American flag with a field of 13 red and white stripes - also will be up for auction. It was captured by Tarleton a year earlier during an engagement at Bedford/Pound Ridge, N.Y...
...The Connecticut flag, to be sold separately, is expected to bring $1.5 million to $3.5 million...
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