Guidon of the Second Regiment Light Dragoons
date: label: Date made
content: 1777
name: label: associated person
content: Tallmadge, Jr., Benjamin
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Pink silk with oil paint. The canton consists of seven silver and six pink stripes. The center of the guidon is a painted badge of a winged and fulminating thundercloud with ten gold-colored thunderbolts emanating like rays of the sun. Under the badge is a silver scroll with the motto "PATa CONCITa FULMnt NATI"; a rough translation is: "The fatherland/country calls/expects its sons to respond with/in tones of thunder."
label: Description
content: Specific History
label: Description
content: Squadron Guidon or Color, Second Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons, also known as Tallmadge's Dragoons.
label: Description
content: This artifact is one of three known surviving components of a suite of four, and possibly five, colors carried by the Second Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons during the Revolutionary War. Although no definitive order has survived specifying the number of colors to be carried by a regiment of Continental Light Dragoons--nor for that matter respecting the colors to be carried by a regiment of Continental infantry--research into the subject of Continental regimental colors indicates that at least two and as many as five colors were considered appropriate for each infantry or cavalry regiment.
label: Description
content: Other surviving regimental colors of the Second Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons are: 1. National Standard, captured by Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, July 2, 1779, at Bedford and Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York. Sold at auction June 14, 2006, by Sotheby's New York, to undisclosed individual in the United States. 2. Blue or Regimental Standard, owned by the Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
label: Description
content: This guidon was referenced in the <i>Memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge</i> published by the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York in 1904. This "pink" standard was known to be in the possession of Mr. F. E. Harper of New York City (reference from Gherardi Davis, <i>Regimental Colors in the War of the Revolution</i> [1907]).
label: Description
content: The guidon was later referenced in <i>American and French Flags of the Revolution 1775-1783</i>, by F. E. Shermerhorn (1948) as having been owned by Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley, but "in some curious fashion, never explained, this flag disappeared and its whereabouts is not known...."
label: Description
content: The artifact was donated to the Smithsonian in 1968 by the Estate of Emily Howell Wilkins, daughter of Emily Howell, who was the daughter of Mary Tallmadge of New York City. Research as to family lineage has not been completed.
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: The Second Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons, also known as Tallmadge's Dragoons, was named for Major Benjamin Tallmadge. Commissioned on June 20, 1776, he was eventually promoted to the rank of colonel, and became the chief intelligence officer for George Washington.
label: Description
content: He organized the "Culper" spy ring on Long Island and in New York City in 1778 when asked by General George Washington. The city was then occupied by a strong British force under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton. Members of the Culper network also kept Clinton's headquarters under constant surveillance and were able to report to Tallmadge any loyalists posing as patriots who visited the British commander. In 1780, the network's information saved a French army marching to Washington's aid.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York
label: used
content: United States: New York
topic: label: Subject
content: Flags
label: related event
content: American Revolution
label: related event
content: Revolution and the New Nation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: ThinkFinity
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Emily Howell Wilkins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.73540M
label: catalog number
content: 73540M
label: accession number
content: 285560
objectType: label: Object Name
content: guidon
label: Other Terms
content: guidon; Flag; Military; Army; Dragoon, Light; Rgt 2
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (decoration material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 1/2 in x 29 1/4 in; 62.23 cm x 74.295 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 in x 28 in; 60.96 cm x 71.12 cm