ense and defense that it had remained neutral, and
the captain had received from Admiral Digby a license to go to London. A
London magazine of the time said, "This is the first vessel which has
displayed the thirteen rebellious stripes of America in any British
port." Nobody knew exactly what to do, but apparently the whale oil was
soon sold, for the enterprising whaler returned directly to Nantucket.

In October, 1783, most of the British troops had sailed away from the
United States, but Sir Guy Carleton was delayed in New York waiting
for vessels. When the day came for him to leave the city, a strong,
determined woman who kept a boarding-house brought out a United States
flag and ran it up on a pole in front of her house. Down the street
came a British officer with headlong speed. "We do not evacuate this
city until noon. Haul down that flag!" he shouted angrily. "That flag
went up to stay, and it will not be hauled down!" declared the
indignant housekeeper, and went on sweeping in front of her door.
"Then I will pull it down myself," thundered the irate officer, and
set to work. But the halyards were entangled, and all the officer's
swearing and scolding did not help matters. The militant lady of the
broom then applied her weapon to the officer. The powder flew from his
wig in a cloud, and at last he himself had to fly, leaving the flag to
float serenely on the morning breeze. This encounter has been called
the last battle of the Revolution.

Before leaving Fort George, at the foot of Broadway, in New York, the
British soldiers mischievously nailed their flag to the top of the
pole, took down the halyards, greased the pole from top to bottom, and
knocked off the cleats. They did not know how well the American boys
could climb; in a very short time new cleats were nailed on, the
English flag was pulled down, and the Stars and Stripes floated from
the top of the pole.

News of King George's proclamation did not reach the United States
till the middle of April, and then there was rejoicing, indeed. It is
no wonder that the joy of the country at the closing of the war burst
out in celebrations and silken flags. The diary of President Stiles,
of Yale, tells what took place in New Haven. It reads as follows:--

_April 24, 1783._ Public rejoicing for the Peace in New Haven.
At sunrise thirteen cannon discharged in the Green, and the
continental flag displayed, being a grand silk flag presented by
th