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

Commander-in-Chief’s Guard Flag

General Washington ordered a military unit in March 1776 specifically to guard the Commander-in-Chief, his headquarters, papers, and effects. It depicts a Guard accepting their flag from the Genius of Liberty, who holds up a Union shield alongside an American eagle. The Guard’s motto “CONQUER OR DIE” is found on a banner at the top.

The Life Guards—tasked with protecting General Washington through the war—were considered the most elite unit in the Continental Army. Trained by Baron Frederick von Steuben, members of the Life Guard were engaged as members of larger units during battles. In 1776, two Life Guards, Thomas Hickey and Michael Lynch, were arrested in connection with a plot to assassinate Washington.

 Once disbanded after the war in 1783, the Life Guards' final order was to safely transport Washington's personal effects, including eight years of war-time paperwork, to Mount Vernon. The origins of this flag are unclear. One of the earliest depictions is from The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolutionary, Volume 2 in 1852.