Appeal to Heaven Flag

In the early days of the War for Independence, America faced innumerable difficulties. The choice of a national flag remained unanswered for many months due to more pressing issues such as arranging a defense and forming a new government. However, a flag was still urgently needed by the military to differentiate the newly forged American forces from the oncoming British. Several temporary flags were swiftly employed. One of the most famous and widespread designs used on both land and sea was the Pine Tree Flag, also known as the Appeal to Heaven Flag. As the name suggests the flag was characterized by having both a pine tree and the powerful motto An Appeal to Heaven. Typically, these were displayed on a white field and often used by troops especially in New England as the liberty tree was a prominent northern symbol for the independence movement. Several of America’s earliest battles and victories were fought under this moving banner declaring “An Appeal to Heaven.” Some historians note that the Pine Tree Flag was carried by troops at Bunker Hill and flown from floating batteries at the Battle of Boston. The Pine Tree Flag was commonly used by the Colonial Navy, especially during the early days of the war for independence. When George Washington commissioned the first ever officially sanctioned military ships for America in 1775, Colonial Joseph Reed wrote the captains asking them to: “Please to fix upon some particular color for a flag, and a signal by which our vessels may know one another. What do you think of a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto ‘Appeal to Heaven?’ This is the flag of our floating batteries.”  In the following months news spread even to England that to the Americans were employing this flag on their naval vessels. As the skirmishes unfolded into all out warfare between the colonists and England, the Pine Tree Flag with its prayer to God became synonymous with the American struggle for liberty.