2008 Rev War Battle Flags - Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
P.O. BOX 1776
WILLIAMSBURG, VA 23187-1776
(757) 220-7286
www.history.org
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG TO EXHIBIT
FOUR RARE REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLE FLAGS
Three Flags Represent Virginia Detachment Defeated at Bloody 1780 Battle
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—Four rare
and prized battle flags of the American
Revolution return to America more than 225
years after being taken to British soil as
trophies of war and are on special exhibition
in the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts
Museum of The Museums of Colonial
Williamsburg. The spectacular exhibit,
“Captured Colors: Four Battleflags of the
American Revolution,” is on display through
Jan. 9, 2009, before the flags return to their
private owner.
Little more than two dozen
Revolutionary War flags are known to exist
in museum and other institutional collections.
The battle flag of the Continental Army's 2nd Light
Dragoons, also known as Sheldon's Horse, captured by
British dragoon Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton in 1779
during a surprise attack. The flag measures 35”x39”.
To obtain high resolution images of all four flags,
contact Penna Rogers at (757) 220-7121 or through email at [email protected].
Most consist only of fragments with scarce historical documentation available. By contrast, the
four flags—currently in the hands of an anonymous private owner—are in very good condition
and their histories are well documented.
The dashing—and sometimes despised—firebrand British cavalry officer, Lt. Col.
Banastre Tarleton, captured the flags in two battles, nearly a year apart, and the flags had
-2remained in the Tarleton family’s possession until their sale at auction at Sotheby’s New York
on Flag Day, June 14, 2006.
Three of the flags represent the 3rd Virginia Detachment led by Col. Abraham Buford,
whose unit surrendered the banners in a 1780 clash at Waxhaws, S.C. The Buford standards—a
main regimental flag and two divisional flags—are the only intact set of battleflags surviving
from the American Revolution.
The first of the flags—measuring 35 inches high by 39 inches long with 13 red and white
stripes and a field with a painted thundercloud—was captured in 1779 when Tarleton led his
unit, known as the British Legion, in a surprise attack on the Continental Army’s 2nd Light
Dragoons, also known as Sheldon’s Horse, at Pound Ridge, N.Y.
The trio of Virginia flags is constructed of silk. The main flag is gold in color and depicts
a beaver gnawing on a palmetto tree and the Latin legend “Perseverando,” meaning “by
perseverance.” The others are gold and blue silk, bearing the word “Regiment” on a scrolling
ribbon. The three flags were probably made in Philadelphia about 1778.
Controversy surrounds the capture of the Virginia flags. In the clash at Waxhaws, later
known as Buford’s Massacre, some accounts allege that Tarleton ordered the slaughter of the
Virginians after they hoisted a surrender flag. Tarleton maintained that the patriots had been
offered quarter and declined, and he attributed the bloody aftermath to his troops’ angry reaction
to false rumors of his own death earlier in the battle. In his postwar memoirs, Tarleton wrote that
“upwards of 100 officers and men were killed and three colours . . .fell into the possession of the
victors.”
“As silent witnesses—indeed participants—in the epic conflict that gave birth to this
nation, these rare and important flags tell a story that is compelling and vital to our national
character,” said Ronald Hurst, Carlisle H. Humelsine Chief Curator and vice president of
collections and museums for Colonial Williamsburg. “It is significant that these flags have
returned finally to American soil, and it is our privilege to share them with our museum guests.
We are extremely grateful for the generous loan of these remarkable artifacts by their anonymous
owner.”
During the past 225 years, the flags adorned the walls of Tarleton descendants’ homes in
Great Britain—most recently Capt. Christopher Tarleton Fagan’s country estate in Hampshire,
England. They were never publicly displayed until late May 2006 for four days at the Spoleto
Festival in Charleston, S.C.
-3Entrance to The Museums of Colonial Williamsburg is through the Public Hospital of
1773 on Francis Street between Nassau and South Henry Streets. Operating hours are 10 a.m. to
7 p.m. daily. Admission is by any Colonial Williamsburg admission ticket, Annual Museums
Pass or Good Neighbor Pass.
Established in 1926, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is the not-for-profit
educational institution that preserves and operates the restored 18th-century Revolutionary
capital of Virginia as a town-sized living history museum, telling the inspirational stories of our
nation’s founding men and women. Within the restored and reconstructed buildings, historic
interpreters, attired as colonial men and women from slaves to shopkeepers to soldiers, relate
stories of colonial Virginia society and culture—stories of our journey to become Americans—
while historic tradespeople research, demonstrate and preserve the 18th-century world of work
and industry. As Colonial Williamsburg interprets life in the time of the American Revolution
for its guests, it also invites them to interact with history. Williamsburg is located 150 miles
south of Washington, D.C., off Interstate 64. For more information or reservations, call toll-free
1-800-HISTORY (1-800-447-8679) or visit Colonial Williamsburg on the internet at
www.history.com
— CWF —