Last modified: 2002-09-28 by rick wyatt
Keywords: united states | bedford | arm | sword | clouds |
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![[Bedford flag ]](../images/u/us-bed.gif)
by Rick Wyatt, 20 August 1998
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I believe the symbol of the arm clutching a sword is a graphic representation of the rest of the motto that is not spelled out in the arms (and on the flag). The motto, from a couplet written by Algernon Sidney in the 17th Century reads:
The Bedford Flag, the flag of the Bedford Minutemen and the standard carried by them, is assumed to be the only standard which the colonial Minuteman used during the Battle of the Old North (Rude) Bridge on 19 April 1775, as they met and repelled British forces at Concord, MA. In 1836 it was made famous in the often-quoted first stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn. It is also thought to be the oldest American flag still in existence.
The exact origin of the Bedford Flag is somewhat clouded, but it is strongly felt from most quarters that it was a product of the seventeenth century because; (a) flag designs prior to 1684 were customarily painted rather than embroidered, (b) a manuscript preserved at a British Museum quoted costs for construction of a flag for New England in the period of 1660-1685 strikingly
similar to the Bedford Flag, and (c) designs of several cavalry unit flags of 1653-1660 were closely parallel to that of the Bedford Flag.
As to its earlier use, less can be determined. Previous supposition held the flag to be the standard of the Three County Troop, a Massachusetts colonial militia of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex Counties active during the Indian wars, but more recent opinion suggests the Bedford Flag to have been the standard of a private cavalry command, or a replacement for the original
Three County Troop Flag, which was possibly worn out or lost. Whatever its origins, the flag appeared in Bedford, MA, sometime during or after 1687 and remained for several generations in the possession of the Page family, who, officially and traditionally, passed along the title of Cornet - the fifth ranking commissioned officer of a cavalry troop and carrier of the troop flag. It was this flag which was taken from the Page homestead by one of the Bedford Minutemen, Nathaniel Page 3rd, during the hurried gathering of Bedford men, young and old, on the morning of 19 April 1775.
The Bedford Flag was given to the Town of Bedford in 1885 by Nathaniel Page's grandson Cyrus. It rests safely in a special vault in the Bedford Free Public Library, a reminder of its role in the birth of the United States of America. Upon entering the library, visitors will notice a modern,
accurate reproduction of the Bedford Flag suspended from the high ceiling of the library's main room, its ornate design dramatized by the brilliance of crimson, silver and gold.
The Bedford Flag is 73 cm in length and 69 cm in width, its background material of damask silk with an overall floral pattern of two shades of crimson. The painted design displays, on hoist side (above, left), clouds of silver, shaded with dark grey; from these clouds extends a right arm clad in armor (in silver with dark blue and black shading), holding a dagger or short sword (a silver blade, with gold hilt and pommel). Extending across the top, fly side, and bottom is a three-banded gold ribbon, also shaded, bearing the inscription VINCE AUT MORlRE (Conquer or Die). At the top and bottom, respectively, are one and two shaded silver balls, either parts of clouds, or cannon balls. The entire field is surrounded by a border of silver, and a silver-bordered 10 cm wide vertical stripe (which no doubt encased the staff) is at the hoist side. The reverse side (above, right) of the flag is basically the same as the obverse, except that the sword is held
in the left arm and passes in front of, rather than behind the ribbon, and the motto begins at the bottom instead of at the top. A silver fringe (not shown), apparent on the reproduction but lost to the original, borders the entire flag.
submitted by Dov Gutterman, 4 September 1999
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