I'm crossposting this from the NYHist list.

Henry Wiencek


In today's (Monday, July 3) article, NEWSDAY reports that history buff, Gary
Laube of Southold, purchased an 18th-century trunk at an estate sale in 1992
that had a textile balled up in the bottom of the trunk.

This textile -- a dark beige wool flag, 31-by-33 inches, with a green-fabric
pine tree, the symbol for New England in colonial times, and a red cotton
cross of St. George, the symbol for England, in the upper left corner -- has
proved to be the oldest-known relatively intact flag made in America,
probably
dating to the mid-1700s, and to the French and Indian War..

Further research revelaed that the flag was probably the property of Jacob
Woodward of Southold, who was commissioned as an ensign in 1755 of the 6th
Company of the Fifth Regiment in Connecticut.

To read the complete article,"HIS Banner Find: Pre-Revolutionary War flag is
the real deal, experts say", please go to (you'll probbaly need to manually
copy and paste the entire URL into your browser to access the article):

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-liflag044805400jul03,0,
2721617.story?coll=ny-linews-print

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