Flag Of Taunton, Massachusetts
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city flag The list of city flags lists the flags of cities. Most of the city flags are based on the coat of arms or emblems of its city itself, and city flags can be also used by the coat of arms and emblems on its flag. Most of the city flags are flown out ...
of
Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...
, also known as the Taunton Flag and the Liberty and Union Flag, was first adopted in 1774 and has since been adopted as the flag of Taunton. It consists of the
Red Ensign The Red Ensign or Red Duster is the civil ensign of the United Kingdom. It is one of the British ensigns, and it is used either plain or defacement (flag), defaced with either a Glossary of vexillology#Flag elements, badge or a Glossary of v ...
with the
flag of Great Britain The flag of Great Britain, often referred to as the King's Colour, first Union Flag, Union Jack, and Flag of the United Kingdom, British flag, was used at sea from 1606 and more generally from 1707 to 1801. It was the first flag of the Kingdom ...
in canton, defaced with the words "Liberty and Union" across the lower portion.


History

The flag was first adopted on 21 October 1774 after the
Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It p ...
had forced out American Loyalists from Taunton. The Reverend Caleb Barnum proposed a plan for a symbol of opposition to the British government and the governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In commemoration, the Patriots erected 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 Rom ...
, high, outside of the Taunton Courthouse and the house of
Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
Loyalist lawyer Daniel Leonard. On it, they raised the
Red Ensign The Red Ensign or Red Duster is the civil ensign of the United Kingdom. It is one of the British ensigns, and it is used either plain or defacement (flag), defaced with either a Glossary of vexillology#Flag elements, badge or a Glossary of v ...
with the words "Liberty and Union" sewn onto it. The design of the
Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...
on the ensign predated the union of Great Britain and Ireland and did not include
Saint Patrick's Saltire Saint Patrick's Saltire or Saint Patrick's Cross is a red saltire (X-shaped cross) on a white field. In heraldic language, it may be blazoned ''argent, a saltire gules''. Saint Patrick's Flag () is a flag composed of Saint Patrick's Saltire. T ...
to represent
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. The Taunton flag was one of the first flags used within the
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...
to express dissension against
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
. It also initially symbolised underlying loyalty to the Crown as the Union Flag was viewed as the
King's Colours In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 year ...
. The popularity of the flag grew due to the '' Boston Evening-Post'' publishing it in a story. The wife of William McKinstry, the only Loyalist permitted to remain, expressed her disdain for the Taunton flag, and in response female Patriots dragged her from her house and forced her to march in front of the liberty pole where it was flying. A later version of the Taunton Flag was created including the "Liberty and Union" slogan on a Union Flag.


Present day

The current flag was adopted as the city flag of Taunton by a resolution of the Taunton City Council on October 19, 1974. It is not known what the original flag looked like; the current design is based on an incomplete contemporary newspaper description. The flag is flown in
Taunton Green Historic District The Taunton Green Historic District encompasses the core area of the historic 19th-century commercial downtown business district of Taunton, Massachusetts. It is centered on the town green, laid out in the 1740s, which now serves at the inter ...
alongside the
flag of the United States The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...
. It also flies in front of Taunton City Hall and other city buildings, as well as many private homes. It was also symbolically raised outside the Old Colony History Museum in Taunton on the city's 350th anniversary. Each autumn, Taunton's Old Colony History Museum holds a Liberty and Union Festival to commemorate the events of October 1774, and to celebrate the Taunton Flag. The 250th anniversary of the flag raising was observed in October 2024. In addition to being the official flag of
Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...
, the Taunton flag is also the official flag of Weymouth, New Jersey. Their reasoning for using the flag is that "its historical period is correct, it keeps alive an ancestor to our Stars and Stripes, and because it is always in production and therefore, cheap". Like in
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
it can be seen flying outside Weymouth's town hall.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taunton, Massachusetts, Flag of Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...
Flags of the American Revolution Red Ensigns 1774 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay 1774 in art 1774 in politics 1774 introductions Flags that incorporate the Union Jack Flags with blue, red and white