Banners of Liberty: An Exhibition of Original Revolutionary War Flags

This image shows the words Banners of Liberty in blue to the left with the words An Exhibition of Original Revolutionary War Flags in red underneath and a painting of soldiers marching into battle with a large flag.

The aged, as well as the young, daily march out under the banners of liberty, and discover a determined resolution to maintain her cause even until death.

The Pennsylvania Mercury, Philadelphia, June 9, 1775

The Museum will mark the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the creation of the United States Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Marine Corps) with a new special exhibition, Banners of Liberty: An Exhibition of Original Revolutionary War Flags, opening April 19, 2025. The exhibition, which will be displayed in the Museum's first-floor Patriots Gallery, will feature the largest gathering of rare and significant Revolutionary War flags in more than two centuries.

Armies and navies in the 1700s employed artistically embellished flags to identify their armed forces on land and sea, to aid in maneuvers, and to instill "esprit de corps" within military units. Flag makers, including Philadelphia’s Rebecca Flower Young and Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross, employed colors and designs to represent national identity and political ideals. For America’s Revolutionary generation, the flags that flew over their regiments and ships were perhaps the first visual expressions of liberty and independence that they saw.

Of the hundreds of flags made and carried in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), only about 30 are known to survive. Working with institutional and private lenders, the Museum will assemble and display more than a dozen original flags that were carried by Continental Army and American militia units in military campaigns stretching from northern New England to South Carolina.

Key Flags to be Displayed

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This blue silk flag with 13 six-pointed white stars descended in the Washington family with the history of being used to mark George Washington’s position in camp and on the battlefield. Museum of the American Revolution

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This flag, which descended in the family of the 2nd Spartan Regiment’s Colonel until recently, flew over more than 30 military engagements in North and South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. Private Collection

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The First Troop was organized in 1774 as the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia. Also known as the First City Troop, the organization is the oldest military unit in the United States still in active service. First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry

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One of the earliest surviving American flags of the Revolutionary War, dating to 1775-76. Probably made in Pennsylvania, it may have been carried at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth. Monmouth County Historical Association

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Believed to have been carried by a Massachusetts militia company in 1775, this flag was altered after the Declaration of Independence to remove the British Union from its canton. Brian and Barbara Hendelson

Banners of Liberty will be the culmination of a series of popular special exhibitions and public programs that have explored the history of the American flag, including A New Constellation: A Collection of 13-Star Flags (2019), the True Colours Flag Project (2021), and Flags and Founding Documents, 1776-Today (2021). The Museum is honored to kick off the nation’s 250th anniversary in the Revolutionary capital with this unprecedented exhibition of rare and dramatic "banners of liberty."

Painting in exhibit graphic: Howard Pyle (1853-1911), The Nation Makers, ca. 1902, oil on canvas, 40 ¼ x 26 in. Brandywine Museum of Art, Purchased through a grant from the Mabel Pew Myrin Trust, 1984.

This image shows support for the Banners of Liberty exhibit including presenting sponsorships by American Heritage Credit Union and Pennsylvania Lumbermen Mutual.

This cockade bears the likeness of Lafayette in the center.

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