“The Sign Their Banners Bore”: The Pine Tree Flag in the American Revolution

The so-called “Pine Tree Flag”, with a white field displaying a pine tree and the “Appeal to Heaven” motto, is part of the traditional pantheon of American Revolutionary War flags. Like many such flags, its actual history has been distorted by misunderstandings and mythology. This paper examines the primary sources for the flag, and sets the flag in its historical context. In particular, it summarizes the history of the best-documented individual example of the Pine Tree Flag, and includes some related preliminary research on flags used by the Massachusetts State Navy during the Revolutionary War. A brief appendix compares the images used on modern reproductions of the flag with typical 18th-century depictions of pine trees.

[IVI.CID] 70d7799b-57c7-4e99-9d5e-f5423e9426a3