The Bennington Flag and the Forging of a National Identity

“There are the Redcoats, and they are ours, or this night Molly Stark Sleeps a Widow”

—Patriot commander Colonel William Prescott at the Beginning of the Battle of Bennington.

The Bennington Flag: A Banner of Courage in a Storm of Uncertainty

Amidst the thunder of musket fire and the chaos of a nation being born, a bold flag rose above the smoke at Bennington—its white upper stripe and large, defiant “76” standing as a symbol of raw, unyielding hope. It was not a banner sewn in splendor or sanctioned by Congress—it was a flag of the people. Woven from homespun linen, dyed with the indigo of backyard fields, and adorned with the year of revolution, the Bennington Flag became more than fabric—it became a heartbeat.

In telling the story of this mysterious, resilient banner, we do not just trace the stitches of a forgotten flag; we rekindle the fiery passion of a people who risked everything for freedom. The Bennington Flag reminds us that identity is not always born in certainty. Instead, it is born in courage, sacrifice, and the will to stand when the world demands we kneel. [Photo: The Bennington Flag…Public Domain]

General John Burgoyne Unintentionally Gives Rise to an American Icon

In 1777, the British were executing a multi-pronged plan to drive wedges between the colonies and subdue each colonial region individually. The Battle of Bennington resulted from the northernmost contingent, 7,000 Redcoats and their Native American allies, under General John Burgoyne, pushing southward from Quebec into the heart of New York. Bennington was the site at which American General John Stark chose to make his stand against Burgoyne’s formidable Redcoat force. [Photo: U.S. General John Stark…Public Domain]


Burgoyne appointed General Friedrich Baum, an officer of German descent, to lead a diverse force of perhaps 1,000 Redcoats, Hessian mercenaries, Native Americans, Canadians, and Loyalists to capture Bennington and the trove of horses and food stored there. Baum was confident that the Americans were only defending Bennington with a tiny contingent of militia who would scatter when they saw the British force approaching. Unfortunately for the British, Stark led a force of around 1,500 militiamen determined to save Bennington for the colonists at all costs. [Photo: Hessian Mercenaries Fighting for the British…Public Domain]

The Battle of Bennington

Plainly seeing Baum’s force approaching, to inspire his troops, Stark allegedly uttered one of the most famous quotes of the Revolution: “There are the Redcoats, and they are ours!” he thundered—”or this night Molly Stark [John Stark’s wife] sleeps a widow!”

Aware now of the sizeable American force protecting Bennington, Baum elected to assume the tactical defensive, ordering his troops to construct breastworks along the Walloomsac River to await a Stark-led American assault. [Photo: Stark Inspires His Troops at Bennington…Public Domain]

After foul weather postponed combat for two days, on August 16, 1777, Stark ordered his men to move forward. His plan was to crush both Hessian-defended flanks so that the British battle line would collapse in on itself and force the British survivors to surrender or be annihilated.

At 3 PM, the colonial militiamen lurched forward toward the British line. But while the Hessians had famously been humiliated and routed by George Washington’s Continental Army when it crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night of 1776, at Bennington, the Hessians held out stubbornly. Concentrated volleys of musketry thundered hails of lead from each side until the Loyalist and Native Americans fighting for the British broke under the pressure and scrambled back toward a narrow patch of high ground. [Photo: The Battlefield of Bennington Today… Public Domain]

Seeing his entire force now in existential danger, a desperate Baum ordered his Hessian cavalry to engage in a counterattack, which he himself would lead, against the Americans now smelling blood in the water. Baum and his contingent of German mercenaries galloped bravely toward the triumphant colonists, by they were shot down in droves as they approached their adversaries. The dead Germans, fighting for the British, who participated in the cavalry charge included Baum, who fell mortally wounded after he was struck by a Patriot musket ball. With their leader dying on the ground, the remaining, unhit Hessians surrendered. Soon after, the rest of Baum’s force also raised the white flag.

Stark’s men believed their victory to be complete, but, while they were counting their prisoners and looting them of their valuables, British reinforcements sent by Burgoyne arrived and attacked the disorganized colonists. Slowly, these reinforcements pushed Stark’s hastily reformed battle lines back. As nightfall neared, however, American reinforcements in the form of the Green Mountain Boys arrived to support their fellow colonists. Now seeing victory as impossible, the new British commander ordered a retreat. All told, Baum and his successor lost approximately 900 men at Bennington, and Molly Stark did not spend the night of August 16-17 a widow. [Photo: The Green Mountain Boys…Public Domain]

Origins and Design

Ultimately, it isn’t clear what person or group designed the original Bennington Flag. But the banner’s unique details suggest that the flag was created by someone or some group more concerned with immediately sparking patriotic fervor and providing a rallying point for American forces than with mimicking the design of the flag which eventually emerged as our nation’s standard banner. Look at this table comparing the Bennington Flag to more typical American flags of the era to appreciate the difference.

The Aftermath and Controversy over the Bennington Flag

The American victory at Bennington deprived Burgoyne of around fifteen percent of his entire force and influenced the course of the Battle of Saratoga, at which Burgoyne and his contingent of Redcoats and their allies surrendered to General Horatio Gates. More than any other battle, the Battle of Saratoga stands out to historians of the Revolution as the turning point in the war. But where was the Bennington Flag in the midst of all the carnage and desperation that resulted in the crucial American victory at Bennington?

The answer to this question remains a mystery. Most historians of the battle believe that Stark flew a flag associated with the Green Mountain Boys—and not the Bennington Flag—when he led the colonists in their assault on the British earthworks on August 16, 1777. And while the flag does show evidence of being assembled in an impromptu manner one would associate with an unexpected but looming battle, some scientists trace the dye and fabric of the Bennington Flag to the nineteenth century.

That said, later textile experts traced the flak composing the flag to the period between 1760 and 1790. Ultimately, however, perhaps it is best that no one can be sure of the authenticity of the Bennington Flag. Americans love historical mysteries and legends, and it can be said with certainty that no one can prove that the Bennington Flag did not fly at the battle for which it is named. [Photo: The Bennington Flag in a Museum Today]

If we are to believe the contention that the Bennington Flag did indeed fly at the Battle of Bennington, it is worth recounting the history of the banner after the battle. A continental officer named Nathaniel Fillmore—again, according to legend—took it to the Fillmore farmhouse in Bennington and eventually stored it in the attic of his family’s farmhouse. In the 1820s, Fillmore’s son began loaning the flag out for Independence Day celebrations. In that decade, the flag greeted Marquis de Lafayette—a French soldier who played a prominent role in the American Revolution’s ultimate success—in Vermont. Ultimately, Nathaniel Fillmore’s grandson Millard became president of the U.S., a fact that only increased Americans’ interest in this banner of such mysterious origins.

The Triumph of the Bennington Flag

Whatever the truth behind the origins of the Bennington Flag, its proliferation and the patriotic fervor it inspires in Americans to this day are undeniable. In the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration of American independence, the Bennington Flag design became the most manufactured flag—outside of the official U.S. flag, of course—in our national history. The standard flies at Saratoga National Historical Park, the Old North Bridge in Concord, and scores of town greens each July. In 1977, an image of the banner appeared on official U.S. postal stamps. [Photo: U.S. Postal Stamp Bearing the Bennington Flag Design]

Perhaps the most relevant distinction between the Bennington Flag and many other unofficial continental flags flown during the American Revolution is that while many of these other flags retained images or vestiges of British icons, the Bennington Flag did away with those images and vestiges. No, the Bennington Flag was distinctly American, symbolized the U.S.’ complete break from Britain, and continues to celebrate American independence to this day.

Now, as a museum artifact, the flag speaks softly behind glass, yet replicas ripple from porches and parade poles every Independence Day, reminding Americans that the path to nationhood began with homespun resolve, clever improvisation, and an unshakable belief in liberty.