Bennington Flag

July 4th is next week and I thought it was high time I painted the most recognizable flag of the American revolution. The history of this flag is definitely interesting to me because of the differing stories about it's history. Note that this flag starts with a white stripe at the bottom of the flag versus the red stripe of later flags.

Many historians believe contrary to the Bennington family beliefs that this flag may have been made for the 50th anniversary of the declaration of independence in 1826. There is strong evidence to indicate a flag similar to this was present on August 16, 1777 when general John Stark and his "Green Mountain Boys" defeated 600 German mercenaries at Bennington, Vermont. I will have to do the "Green Mountain Boys" flag next.

The Bennington flag is sometimes also referred to as the "Filmore Flag". Nathan Filmore took such a flag home from the Battle of Bennington, where it was passed on through several generations of Fillmore's, including President Millard Filmore. The Filmore flag is now on display at the Bennington Museum in Vermont. The battle of Bennington on August 16th 1777 heralded a huge defeat over a large British raiding force that was after the continental military supplies stored in the town of Bennington Vermont. Historians believe that this was the turning point of the British success in America. This victory made possible the critical victory over the British General Burgoyne at Saratoga a short time later. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1805 that the Bennington battle was the first key critical victory for a string of defeats for the British army.