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The regimental flag of the Continental Army 2nd Light Dragoons, also known as Sheldon's Horse, was captured by British cavalry led by Banestre Tarleton in the 1779 Battle of Pound Ridge. (December 21, 2007) WILLIAMSBURG - Four rare American battle flags captured by the British during the Revolutionary War will get their first extended public homecoming Saturday in a new exhibit at The Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Taken as trophies more than 225 years ago, the unusually well-preserved banners remained in the family of notorious British cavalry leader Banestre Tarleton until being sold at auction to a private owner last...

Anonymous bidder snaps up flag belonging to a Connecticut regiment and three others for total of $17 million. An American Revolutionary War flag fetched $12.3 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, and a group of three other flags went for more than $5 million to the same bidder, Sotheby's said. The total price of $17,392,000 was well over the pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $10 million for the two lots of battle flags captured by the British during the 1775-83 war,...

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...

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times At Sotheby's on Tuesday, Terry McAllister, left, and James Parker moved the Connecticut regimental battle flag. Sotheby'sOne of the Virginia infantry flags believed to have been captured by a British commander, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, in a bloody battle in the Carolinas in May 1780. The war veterans who once revered them and followed them - and then lost them - are all long gone. But now, their battle standards, taken by the enemy, have at last returned to American soil after two and a quarter centuries. The flags are believed to date from...