Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Understanding Regimental Flag Design

2. Hornet’s Nest Flag

3. Second New Hampshire Regiment Flag

4. Battle of White Plains Flag

5. Pulaski Legion Banner

6. Bucks of America Flag

7. Commander-in-Chief’s Guard Flag

8. Trumbull American Flag

9. Powder Horns

10. Flag of the United States of America

End

Bucks of America Flag

From Massachusetts, the Bucks were the only all-Black militia company during the Revolutionary War. They were assigned to protect merchant property in Boston. Presented by Governor John Hancock in 1785, the flag features the buck as a symbol of power and protection. Underneath, the abbreviation “J.G.W.H.” refers to John Hancock and his son, George Washington Hancock.

There is minimal surviving documentation about the Bucks, including military records. The only known member of this militia is Colonel George Middleton, a respected civil rights activist in Boston in the years leading up to the revolution. Middleton was a prominent figure in the Boston African Benevolent Society and the Grand Master of the Prince Hall African Lodge of Freemasons in the post-revolutionary era. Today, Middleton's House is the oldest extant home in Beacon Hill and part of the Boston African American National Historic Site.