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| FLAGS in the MARYLAND STATE HOUSE COLLECTION No. 1 - Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Maryland Light Infantry (The Cowpens Flag - National) Evidence indicates that this United States flag is the oldest in existence made in accordance with the specifications of the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777. Designed with an unusually long fly, it carries seven red and six white stripes while the blue field bears a circle of twelve white stars enclosing another at the center. The stars are uniform in size. The flag is made of tow, a material handwoven from flax. The dyes appear to have been homemade, and the heavy yellowish thread was unevenly stitched by hand. In the Revolutionary War this flag was carried by Color Sergeant William Batchelor of the Maryland Light Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard, at the Battle of Cowpens, S. C., January 17, 1781. Wounded in the engagement, Batchelor returned with the flag to his Baltimore home; and in the War of 1812 his son, Ensign Joshua F. Batchelor of the 27th Maryland Militia, carried it in the North Point phase of the Battle of Baltimore, September 12, 1814. For years the younger Batchelor carried the flag on commemorative occasions; but in August, 1848, he deposited it with the Old Defenders' Association, a veterans organization formed shortly after the successful defense of Baltimore. On moving to New Jersey, however, he reclaimed the flag and kept it until his death in Newark about 1855. Years later it was returned to Dr. Albert Kimberly Hadel of Baltimore, a member of the Old Defenders group and an officer in its successor organization, the Society of the War of 1812. On October 19, 1907, that group presented it to the State. No. 2 - "Old Defenders'" Association National Flag Some re-evaluation of the traditional history of this thirty-eight star national flag also is necessary. Long regarded as the original official flag of the Old Defenders' Association, organized April 1, 1842 by veterans and descendants of veterans of the Battle of Baltimore, it was alleged to have been used at all functions of that organization until the death in 1888 of James Morfort, the last member. Yet the large size of the _ ij __ |