surd
when, as a matter of fact, the Alliance was not launched until 1777, and
Jones did not command her until 1779, when, as a matter of course, she
must have carried the Stars and Stripes (see MacKensie's Life of Jones,
Vol. 1, pages 252 and 253). Much to our regret, as lovers of our
country, we must admit that the first American flag (the Grand Union)
displayed on any of the lakes was by that arch traitor, Benedict Arnold,
on the Royal Savage. He had command of the fleet on Lake Champlain in
the winter of 1776--

A man who died without a flag, without a
country, without love, without respect.

The first British man-of-war to enter an American port after the
Revolution was the Alligator, Capt. Isaac Coffin. He entered the harbor
of Boston on the 2d day of May, 1791. He saluted the American flag on
the fort by firing thirteen guns, which was returned. A full report of
this occurrence is to be found in the _Columbian Sentinel_ of May 3d,
1791.

The first ship to enter a British port after peace had been declared
flying the American flag was the ship Bedford, of Nantucket, Capt.
William Mooers. She entered the Thames in February, 1783, and proceeded
up to London. She was loaded with whale oil. The first publication of
the terms of the treaty of peace was on the 28th day of January, 1783,
the treaty itself having been made in November, 1782.

The first time the American flag was ever displayed over conquered
territory outside of the United States was on the 27th day of April,
1805, during the war between this country and Tripoli, when, after
the capture of the Tripolitan fortress at Derne, it was hoisted by
Lieutenant Bannon and a Mr. Mann. This flag has fifteen stripes and
fifteen stars, and was exhibited at a celebration on the 4th of July,
1820, at Brumfield, Massachusetts.

For ten years prior to the Declaration of Independence men, in defiance
of the Government, protesting against the oppressive Stamp Duty Act and
other causes, held public demonstrations, at which a liberty pole would
be raised, and flags with devices and sentences upon them would be
carried. Associations calling themselves "Sons of Liberty" were formed,
and so tense became the feeling that the people looked with contempt
both upon king and Parliament. So pronounced did it become that the
obnoxious act was repealed in 1766, after having been in operation only
four months. But these associations of "Liberty Boys," formed in 1765 in
eve