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Featured Article:  09-2004

 

STANDARD

of the

First Regiment of the Continental Line of

 The United States of America

Formerly Thompson’s Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion

By:  David Sisca

 

On April 23rd, 2004, a small number of NTI team members had the very special opportunity to see a historical artifact that dates back to The War of Independence.  This artifact is the only one of its kind to have survived the more than 228 years since its creation.  The artifact is a Standard, a flag that was carried in the Revolution from 1776 through 1782.  Its regiment served two years after the battle of Yorktown, before arriving home in 1783.    The Standard came into existence some time after March 1776, during the siege of Boston.  The Standard’s regiment was then placed between Washington’s Continental Army and the British invasion point on Long Island.  They covered the retreating Continental Army, and were the last to depart during the main army’s successful retreat from Long Island.  They provided intelligence and protection for the forces as the army moved across New Jersey.  The Standard’s regiment crossed the Delaware with Washington on Christmas night of 1776 at the Battle of Trenton.  They incessantly harassed Cornwallis’s troops at Shabakunk Creek, and bought Washington time to move to winter quarters in early 1777.  The Standard was at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and every major skirmish, and battle all the way to Yorktown.  At Yorktown, the regiment, according to General Steuben, fought “the most important part of the siege”, and the Standard saw Cornwallis surrender to Washington.  It even flew over the last major battle of the war at Savannah, Georgia under the command of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.  The flag is the Standard of the “First Regiment of the Continental Line of the United States of America”.  

 

Photo By:  Bob Single. 
Courtesy of:  “State Museum of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission”

 

 

The subject of this article, however, is not a detailed history of the First Continental Regiment.  It is an account of the Standard itself, and will only provide background concerning the Regiment in relation to the Standard.  For a compelling history of the First Continental Regiment, I would recommend “Recruits to Continentals, A History of the York County Rifle Company June 1775 – January 1777” by Philip J. Schlegel.  The Historical Society of York County is the publisher, and has the booklets still in print.

 

In response to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, two Continental Congress resolutions, dated June 14, 1775, and June 22, 1775, authorized eight companies of riflemen to be raised in Pennsylvania, and organize into one rifle battalion.  All of the troops came from south central Pennsylvania counties including: Bedford, Berks, Cumberland, Lancaster, Northampton, Northumberland, and York.  All nine companies (Lancaster county raised two instead of one) were placed under the command of Col. William Thompson, of Carlisle, Cumberland County.  On July 1, 1775 the companies of “Thompson’s Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion” left York, and marched 400 miles to Boston, covering 16 miles per day.  The first of the battalion, from York County, reached Boston in 25 days.  The battalion was the first from south of the Hudson to arrive in Boston in 1775.  By the end of the war, the First Regiment had seen action in every one of the original thirteen colonies.

 

Thomson’s Riffle Battalion proved to be instrumental to Washington’s success during the siege of Boston, which ended with British General Howe’s evacuation of the city on March 17, 1776.  The battalion also provided Washington with his biggest disciplinary challenge at the onset of the siege.  These disciplinary challenges, which included a near mutiny, were brought on by idleness.  The men of the Thompson’s Battalion were eager for a fight, and were not content to sit while preparations for the siege occurred.  The Battalion assumed its vital role when they were challenged with the jobs of protecting, and scouting for Washington’s Army.  These accounts are detailed in the above-mentioned “Recruits to Continentals”. 

 

On January 1, 1776 there was a reorganization of the Continental Army, and Thompson’s Rifle Battalion became the First Continental Regiment. The direct command of the First Continental Regiment was given to Lieutenant Colonel Edward Hand in March 1776.  In a letter dated March 8, 1776, from Lieutenant Colonel Edward Hand, at Prospect Hill, to James Yeates, of Lancaster Pennsylvania, the 1st Continental Regiment Standard was described in future tense.  It is believed that the flag was created shortly after this date.  The extract read:

 

“Every Regiment is to have a Standard and Colours.  Our Standard is to be a deep green ground, the Device a Tyger partly enclosed by toils attempting the pass defended by a hunter armed with a spear in white, on crimson field the motto “Domari nolo”. 

 

The First Regiment’s flag was on a deep green silk background of three pieces with the center cut out of the middle piece for the canton.  In the center of the canton’s crimson field of silk was painted the scene of a hunter, armed with a spear, and a tiger enclosed by netting.   Not mentioned in Hand’s letter, the hunter’s spear is not white, and above the scene are the letters “P.M. 1st. Rt”.  This is believed to translate to “Pennsylvania Militia, 1st Regiment.  The motto “Domari Nolo” is Latin for “I refuse to be subjugated”.

 

 
 
   

Photo By:  Bob Single. 
Courtesy of  “State Museum of Pennsylvania,

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission”

 

After the war, the standard was in the possession of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Robinson, who served the regiment from June 7, 1777 to January 1, 1783.  He served directly under Colonel James Chamber (taking over from Colonel Edward Hand on April 12, 1777), and then Colonel Daniel Brodhead (January 1, 1781).  Colonel Robinson was in command of the First Continental Regiment at the close of the war, and retained custody of the Standard.  Knowledge of the Standards existence was lost until it was shown at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876.  The owner at the time of the Centennial was Thomas Robinson Esq., grandson of Colonel Robinson. 

 

On December 17, 1879 the Standard of the First Regiment of the Continental Line of the United States of America, formerly Thompson’s Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion, was purchased by Hon. Matthew S Quay, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from W.T. Robinson, of Limerick Square, Montgomery County, a descendent (grandson) of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Robinson of the First Continental Regiment.  Now the Standard was in the possession of the state’s Historical Museum Commission. 

 

In an attempt to preserve the painted image on the center square, the son of Colonel Robinson had sewed a backing of newspaper over the entire obverse (the front or principal surface) center canton of the flag.  The newspaper backing was a copy of the 1833 Christian Register, and on the unrelated newspaper, there was a handwritten note that said, “This is my father’s Revolutionary War flag who was Colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment under Gen Wayne.  He served in the war seven years and four months, was wounded in the arm and leg and part of the heel shot off.  He had three horses shot from under him.”

 

This newspaper backing was sewn on the obverse side (the front or principal surface), where the staff would be on the left. The reverse face was shown with the PM 1st R to be facing the wrong way and transposed.  The “Domari Nolo” motto and scroll was painted on both sides so that either side of the flag would read correctly.  Since only the reverse side was visible, early artist renderings, and reproductions of the flag were made incorrectly showing the hunter on the staff side (hoist) and the tiger on the right side (fly), with the letters PM 1st R turned to be legible.  There were some that believed there had originally been two panels in the canton, and that one of the canton panels was removed and the newspaper put in its place.  This is known as a “double panel”.  The hunter and tiger would have been mirror images on either side, and the words would have been transposed, so that looking at it from either side would show the same scene.  However, when the newspaper was removed, it showed that only a single panel of silk was used, and that the exact image was painted back-to-back on both sides.  Therefore, when light shown through the flag, only one image was seen.  On the obverse, the tiger would be next to the hoist and the hunter toward the fly, the PM 1st R was legible, and the motto read correctly.  On the reverse, the tiger is still next to the hoist, and the hunter toward the fly, the PM 1st R would be reversed and transposed, however the motto would still read correctly since it was painted on both sides.  The scroll that bears the motto was possibly blue, with the motto in black letters.  The scrolls center is a flat ribbon, and transitions to a round cord, and then a split tongue on both ends.  The artist’s painting resembles the devices designed by Benjamin Franklin for the original “Associator” militia units of the 1740’s.  No other examples of Franklins “Associator” militia artwork exists; therefore this painting is a one of a kind artwork as well as historical military artifact.  The flag of John Proctor’s Independent Battalion Westmoreland County Provincials (or Pennsylvania) is the only “Associator” Infantry Standard to survive to the present day.  It has also recently been preserved, and is on display at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

 

    

Photo By:  Bob Single. 
Courtesy of:  “State Museum of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission”

 

 

In 1975, the flag went through a restoration process in preparation for the Bicentennial.  The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) authorized the yearlong project, and contracted with Thomas Welter of St. Paul, Minnesota to perform the work.  At the time, this conservation expert was one of a few in the nation whose laboratory was equipped to restore silk. 

 

The ground of the flag, before the restoration, was a light green.  When washed most of the green was lost, and was claimed to be dirt.  What resulted is the very pale green with a gold cast.  The flag was sewn between two layers of crepeline, a very shear silk like material, with a monofilament nylon thread.  The stitching was made in a zigzag pattern, in multiple rows, through the entire flag.  The two pieces of crepeline were overlapped, and form a dark band through the center.  The stitching has also caused some bunching, or distortion of the original flag.  The flag had then been placed between two layers of Plexiglas, and put on display.  No consideration had been given to light exposure, or angle of display in the ensuing years. 

 

Photo By:  Bob Single. 
Courtesy of:  “State Museum of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission”

 

At some point the continued deterioration of the flag became a concern, and the knowledge of better preservation techniques was sought for the First Continental Regiment Standard.  When we saw it, the flag was being kept in a climate-controlled room, in low light, and removed from the Plexiglas.

 

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, under the direction of Senior Curator of Military and Industrial History, John Zwierzyna, and senior preservationist John Hartman has contracted for the proper preservation of the First Continental Regiment Standard.  The Stillwater Textile Conservation Studio (www.stillwaterstudio.org) of New Hampshire, under the direction of Ms. Deborah Bede, has been commissioned to perform the preservation. 

 

The preservation will include the removal of all the zigzag stitching, then the removal of the old crepeline.  A humidification flattening process will be performed, and some of the ends mended to prevent further separation.  On the canton, loose paint flakes will be adhesively bound using extreme care, and a piece of crepeline, dyed to match the color of the canton will be applied to give it support.  Then new crepeline will be applied over the entire standard.  It will then be mounted to a solid support board padded with polyester felt, and placed under ultra-violet sensitive Plexiglas.  No stitching will appear on the standard as before.  Finally, there may be an analysis performed on dye pigment by experts in England, which will identify the exact color of the original standard.  The restoration is scheduled to be complete on September 30, 2004. 

 

The restored flag will be exhibited at Washington’s Crossing State Park, Philadelphia PA some time in 2005, or 2006.  The display will have the Standard resting on a slight 15-20 degree angle under the very low lighting conditions of 5 to 6 ft-candles of light.  The Senior Preservationist, John Hartman, has recommended that the flag be displayed only 2 months out of the year, in order to slow its further deterioration. 

 

As many of you know, the Standards motto “Domari Nolo,” is translated from Latin, as “I will not be subjugated”.  It has become our group’s motto as well.  Team members share many of the same attributes of those men who used "Domari Nolo" as their motto.  We have a fierce love of our liberty, and our independence.  We understand what is at stake if this line is lost.  This Standard serves as a remembrance of those brave men that came before us, and calls us to rise to that same standard.

 

I am coordinating with the curator of Military and Industrial History to establish a fund to aid in the restoration and preservation of the Standard.  When I get more information I will post it on the web-sight. 

 

I would like to extend a special thanks to Mr. John Zwierzyna, Mr. John Hartman, Mr. Jason Wilson for allowing us to see the First Continental Regiment Standard, and to Mr. Zwierzyna, Mr. Hartman, and Ms. Deborah Bede for their contributions to this article.