supra_), in the autumn of 1775, sailed from a Massachusetts
port, and I have no doubt that many of these private and colonial
vessels flew the Grand Union Flag after it had been adopted. So
therefore it is fair to presume from the records that Lieutenant Paul
Jones was the first commissioned officer to raise it to the peak of a
_commissioned American war vessel_, the Alfred; that Captain John Barry
was the first to take it to sea on the Lexington, and that the first to
exhibit it to other countries was Captain Wickes, of the brig Reprisal,
who arrived at St. Eustatia on July 27, 1776 (see American Archives, 5th
series, Vol. 1, page 610). The flag he displayed had thirteen stripes
and a union of yellow or white; but whether it had on it crosses, pine
trees or rattlesnakes no one can tell, as no record can be found; but it
is supposed to have been a yellow union with a rattlesnake on it (see
Fig. 10), as the naval flag had been a yellow flag with a rattlesnake on
it, with thirteen rattles and one budding, and the motto "Don't tread on
me." It was also claimed to have been displayed in the same port on
November 16, 1776, and to have received its first salute from a foreign
power. In looking the matter up it was discovered that the American brig
Andrew Dorea was in the port named on that day, she having sailed from
Philadelphia in September, 1776. On her arrival she saluted the fort,
and the Dutch commander returned it, and he was afterwards dismissed by
his government for doing so. So, therefore, it is fair to infer that
both claims are made upon a foundation of facts that are corroborated by
the records. But the Reprisal's flag must have been the Grand Union
or Continental flag, as she left port before the adoption of the
Declaration of Independence, while the Dorea must have had some other
design for a flag, as she did not sail until September, two months after
the Declaration was adopted. Besides, in a letter from St. Eustatia,
published in the American Archives, Vol. 2, 5th series, page 760, it
said: "All American vessels here now wear the Congress colors." As the
crosses of St. Andrew and St. George had been dropped, the Congress
colors must have been simply an ensign of thirteen red and white
stripes, with an emblem of a rattlesnake on it (see Fig. 11).

The second salute from a foreign power to our flag of which we have any
record was given at Brest by the French commander in August, 1777, to
the General Mifflin, Cap