America and England descriptions of true First Navy Flag

On 9 May a.d. 2006, Dr. Michael Crawford, Head of the Early History Department of the Navy Historical Center in the Washington Navy Yard kindly sent me an email that told me that the letter of George Washington's aide Colonel Joseph Reed [that described the First Navy Flag to fly on ships commissioned by the Commander in Chief, acting under his authority from his Orders from the Continental Congress (see post below)] was available in the Library of Congress.

Within minutes, an email inquiry was sent to a Reference Librarian at the Library of Congress, and the same day, the unknown librarian ("bb"?) responded with an email that provided two attachments that contained the Colonel Reed letter of 20 October 1775. That email will be pasted in below.

Back on 3 January, the British National Maritime Museum kindly mailed me a photocopy of the description of the First Navy Flag that was contained in the letter of Sir Hugh Palliser of 6 January 1776.

So here are two descriptions of the true First Navy Flag, the evergreen Tree of Liberty Flag, or Liberty Tree Flag, also known as the Washington Cruisers Flag. In contrast, there are no such descriptions of the false, fictional, fraudulent, "Fake Snake" Navy Jack Flag that flies on current day United States Navy Ships as an impostor as the first navy flag.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country... and set straight the record of our Navy's History!Straight like a Liberty Tree growing high in the sky, not crooked like an evil snake slithering on its belly in the dirt... hissing with the plaintive plea, (Please) "Don't Tread on Me".

Commander in Chief Washington knew our hope for Liberty was not in idle threats "Don't Tread on Me" or pleas, (Please) "Don't Tread on Me", but in our nation humbly and continuously, even today from our Navy ships, making our "Appeal To Heaven".

Do our leaders in Washington today have as much wisdom as then was in Washington?

Please call or write to the Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter, and to your Congressman and Senators.

From: ndlpcoll@loc.gov
Subject: Library Question - Answer [Question #1579394]
Date: May 9, 2006 4:21:24 PM EDT
To: george@washingtonlives.us
Reply-To: questionpoint@oclc.org

Hello James Renwick Manship, Sr.

Thank you for visiting the Library of Congress Web site and for using the Ask A Librarian Service.

The letter from Col. Reed to Col. Glover and Mr. Moylan of 20 October 1775 is included in the American Memory collection, "George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799" <>. American Memory <> is a collection of primary source collections available via the Library of Congress Web site <>. It is also available in microfilm. The original is kept in a vault controlled by the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress.

You will find the first page of this letter, here: < collid="mgw3&fileName="mgw3b/gwpage001.db&recNum="84"> and the second behind the "next page" link there.

(When using this long address, please be sure it stays on one line and that all the punctuation stays intact, except the "pointy brackets" at either end, should they display in your email software. Those are not part of the address.)

The letter is transcribed in Series 3, Sub-series B, in Washington's Letterbook 1. The scan for the Web presentation is from microfilm. Information about the microfilm collection is here: <>.

Since the letter is relatively short (two pages), I have attached the JPEG image files of them to this message. The first page image is 085084.jpg and the second is 086085.jpg. The part about the flag begins about two-thirds down the first page. The Web site does not offer a have transcription of this letter, but it is among the more legible of the time period. The Library's Manuscripts Division does hold a transcription in a published source. I am happy to go there and photocopy it for you and mail it to you. Thank you for providing a postal address in advance. If you would like this service (gratis), please reply to this message requesting it.

Please let us know if we can guide you further.

Yours truly,

Reference Specialist
Digital Reference Team
The Library of Congress

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