The Bedford Flag is the oldest known

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is associated with the Minutemen of

Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,383 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information ...

, and the

Battles of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...

of 1775.

Construction and design

The flag is made of crimson

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

damask Damask (; ar, دمشق) is a reversible patterned fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin ...

measuring approximately . The painted-on design depicts an

armored Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

arm grasping a straight

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

coming out of a cloud. The two sides are

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

; the sword appears behind the motto on one side and appears in front of it on the other. The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

motto ("Win Or Die") reads from top to bottom on one side and from bottom to top on the other.

Origin

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The exact age and origin of the flag are not known, but physical and historical evidence are consistent with a date early in the 18th century. Because of its

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

similarity to a documented flag made for a Massachusetts cavalry unit in the 1660s, historians thought that the Bedford flag might actually be that earlier flag. However,

spectroscopic Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

analysis of the paint revealed the pigment called “

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”, which did not exist before 1704. A commission dating to 1737 names Minuteman Nathaniel Page’s father John Page as “

Cornett The cornett, cornetto, or zink is an early wind instrument that dates from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, popular from 1500 to 1650. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused wi ...

of the Troop of horse”, the officer whose duty it was to bear the unit's flag. Nathaniel’s father, uncle and grandfather are all mentioned within the Bedford and

Billerica Billerica (, ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England. History In the early 1630s, a Praying India ...

town records as “Cornet Page”, indicating that a Page could have been carrying a flag for the local militia troop as early as 1720.

Concord, April 19, 1775

Page family oral tradition, later recounted for historians, held that the Bedford militia's flag was in the custody of the Page family at the time of the American Revolution, and that Nathaniel Page took it into battle at Concord. There is no documentary evidence, either from testimonies, depositions or diaries written at the time, or in participants' later memoirs, mentioning any such flag flown at the battles of Lexington and Concord by either side. A Lieutenant of the British expedition to Concord noted a

liberty pole A liberty pole is a wooden pole, or sometimes spear or lance, surmounted by a "cap of liberty", mostly of the Phrygian cap. The symbol originated in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar by a group of R ...

with a cap and an unknown flag on it standing on a hill near Concord center. British grenadiers chopped down the pole and destroyed the flag.

As a symbol of the Revolution

Unit flags served an important function as a rallying point on the battlefields of the 18th century. With the passage of time, the Bedford flag came to be a political symbol of the early American Revolution and specifically the militia's resistance at Concord. As the only militia flag present at the battle according to tradition, the flag is the likely inspiration for the opening lines of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

's ''

Concord Hymn "Concord Hymn" (original title was "Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836")Buell, Lawrence. ''Emerson''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 56. Emerson's son, Edward Waldo Emerson, who edited ...

'': :By the rude bridge that arched the flood, :Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, :Here once the embattled farmers stood, :And fired the

shot heard round the world "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, which began the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States of America. It was an ...

. The first mention of the "Bedford flag" by that name does not come until 1875. Cyrus Page sent the flag to the centennial celebration at Concord on April 19, 1875, and flew it from the old Page homestead for the 1879 Sesquicentennial of Bedford. In 1885, just before his death, he entrusted the flag to the Bedford Free Public Library, where it is still on display.

Modern use

Being its namesake, the Bedford flag is the official flag of

. The flag is in the care of the Bedford Free Public Library and is available for visitors to view.

References

External links

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Bedford Minuteman Company
{{Flags of cities in the United States Flags of the American Revolution Military flags of the United States Bedford, Massachusetts 1775 establishments in Massachusetts Flags of Massachusetts