MARYLAND STATE FLAG.

The flag of the State bears the escutcheon of the great
seal—the Calvert and Crossland arms quartered. This
device seems to have been adopted by common consent, as
there is no record of the formal adoption of any design as
the official flag of the State. That the colony had a distinct
flag or standard, we know. The first recorded instance of
the use of a Maryland flag occurs in Leonard Calvert's
report of the reduction of Kent Island (February, 1638),
ill which he says that be and his force marched with Balti-
more's banner displayed. At the battle of the Severn in
1655) where the supporters of the proprietary government
under William Stone, the governor, were defeated by the
Parliamentary party, under Captain William Fuller, Stone's
forces marched under the flag of Maryland borne by Wil-
liam Nugent, "standard bearer of the Province," while
Fuller's party displayed the flag of the Commonwealth,
charged with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew.
It is also said that a Maryland flag was carried by the
Marylanders who accompanied Braddock's expedition
against Fort Du Quesne in 1756.

THE GREAT SEAL OF MARYLAND.

The Great Seal of Maryland presents a marked contrast
to those of the other States of the American Union in that
its device consists of armorial bearings of a strictly heral-
dic character, being in fact the family arms of the Lords
Baltimore, which were placed by the first Proprietary upon
the Seal of the Province.

THE FIRST SEAL.

The First. Great Seal of Maryland was lost or stolen in
1644, during the rebellion of Richard Ingle. No descrip-
tion of this seal remains.

THE SECOND SEAL.

The Second Great Seal was sent to the Province by Lord
Baltimore to replace the lost or stolen first, and was
described by Lord Baltimore as differing but little from the
first one. A minute description of the second seal is found
in Lord Baltimore's letter of commission to Gov. Stone,
August 12, 1648. On the obverse of this seal was the