An Appeal to Heaven: The Forgotten Flag of George Washington’s Navy

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. Many flags from the Revolutionary War bore a feature of a pine tree, a symbol that might seem innocent at first, but once you know its history, the meaning is much deeper. Here to tell the story is Ashley Lebinski. Ashley is the former co-host of Discovery Channel’s “Master of Arms.” She’s also the co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law’s Firearms Research Center. Here’s Ashley.

You’ve probably heard of the Betsy Ross flag. In fact, most people have probably heard of that, especially with the anniversary of the American Revolution, but there were a lot of flags that were popular during that timeframe. A lot of people are aware of the Gadsden flag, which has is basically a broken-up rattlesnake that represents the colonies and has the infamous phrase, “Don’t Tread on Me.” But interestingly, there’s another flag from the American Revolution that almost no one talks about, and in some ways, it’s got one of the boldest messages that the colonies have ever sent to the British, and it’s called the Pine Tree Flag. But the reason that it’s got this bold message is because it has the words “Appeal to Heaven” on the flag.

And this story starts in 1775, which is right at the start of the Revolution.

General George Washington took command of the army in July of 1775, and to put it maybe not politely, he basically inherited a hot mess.

When he showed up in New England.

He met a small, ragtag group of men, and they had very, very limited resources. In addition to the army, he also needed a navy. And the term “navy” also might be too generous, because what Washington got was a handful of small schooners that were basically just meant to harass British supply ships and the Massachusetts State Navy. And these early colonial privateers, if you will, of course needed a flag—something that they could use to project to the world that this is who we are.

It’s kind of like a “faked till you make it” kind of thing.

And in October of 1775, Washington’s Secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed, suggested something.

A little bit different. If you’ve seen in a lot of the…

different flags during the Revolution, you obviously see the stars and stripes. You see stars in a circle in different patterns. But this flag was a plain white flag with a green pine tree in the center, and across the top in big block letters read “An Appeal to Heaven,” and sometimes it appeared as “An Appeal to God.” Now, this expression wasn’t just worn out of nowhere. It wasn’t just some religious or poetic slogan. It actually came from English philosopher John Locke, and philosophers pleaded a really big role, especially in the drafting of the Constitution, so it’s not shocking that they would go to a philosopher for something like this. And Locke wrote that when all earthly authorities fail, there’s still one higher court you can appeal to, and that’s God. And in 1775, the colonists had spent years being ignored by the King, being ignored by the British, and so that phrase was a not-so-subtle way of saying, basically, “We’re not asking you for anything, because we’re going to take this beyond the King.”

We’re taking this to the highest authority we know.

And since the Revolution really got started in New England, a pine tree made a lot of sense, and it was loaded with a lot of meaning because for New Englanders it was a symbol of resilience and independence, and it had already shown up on colonial coins and some earlier flags in the area. And one of the things that it did as well was it carried the memory of the Pine Tree Riot of 1772.

Which those words don’t sound…

like they go together. But in New Hampshire that year, colonists rebelled against the Crown because the Crown was trying to stake a claim on the tallest white pines that they could use for Royal Navy masks, and the colonists were having it, so they basically cut down the trees and prevented the Royal Navy from being able to use them. And that act of defiance made the pine tree basically a perfect emblem for the Revolution. It’s a good emblem for Christmas, but back in the 1770s, definitely something that was a little more rebellious. And the pine tree also appeared a lot earlier, and it did appear on one flag, which was a red flag that had the Cross St. George and was used in New England as early as 1704, and some say that it actually flew at Bunker Hill, so that’s kind of the start of the American…

Revolution, but we’re not sure if that’s actually true.

The flag was suggested in 1775, and it started appearing, but it wasn’t officially adopted until April 29th, 1776.

And it was in…

Massachusetts that it was officially adopted for the state Navy. And there were six schooners commissioned by Congress that were meant to intercept British ships that were entering into Boston, and that was the USS Hancock, the Lee, Franklin, Harrison, Lynch, and Warren. And all of these schooners used this flag, and you have to imagine that out on the water, especially if you’re trying to harass British ships…

This is a very unique flag.

But it would also stand out because you’ve got kind of the darkness of the water, the darkness of the ocean, and you’ve got the ships which have a more dark tone in them. And then you have this flag with a bright white background and a bold green tree that stood out for miles. The Pine Tree Flag never fully disappeared after the war; it did remain, especially in New England, for a really long time, actually, well into the late 20th century. Massachusetts actually kept it as a maritime flag until 1971, but of course, by that point, culturally, people weren’t as big of a fan of the slogan on the flag, so Massachusetts quietly dropped that off from the motto, and they left the pine tree. In 1908, Massachusetts also adopted a state flag that wasn’t that same flag, but on the reverse side of the flag, there was a pine tree with a blue shield. Outside of Massachusetts, in Maine, which is known as the Pine Tree State, a similar flag was used into the early 1900s, and even in 2024 there was a push to bring it back, but voters ultimately—they put it on the ballot to try to bring that back as the state flag—but ultimately voters…

didn’t go for it.

But you will still see it around in on souvenirs, sport jerseys,

and historical sites across New England.

Also, recently, it’s been associated with some modern political movements, including that flag, or version of that flag, flying in front of Justice Samuel Alito’s vacation home.

Although, despite all these proposals to change the Maine state…

flag, it was interestingly supported by both Democrats and Republicans, so it’s kind of odd, and it’s kind of a shame that Maine didn’t adopt it. Throughout history, the Pine Tree Flag started as a rallying cry for unity and defiance, and it was flown on the decks of scrappy ships that dared…

challenge the British Navy. And…

Today, it still stirs passions in some areas, specifically in New England. But whether you see it as a proud piece of revolutionary heritage, a regional icon, or a modern political statement, the Pine Tree Flag is a reminder that the past isn’t locked away in museums. In fact, sometimes it’s flying right in front of us, even if we don’t know why or where it came from.

And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Ashley Lebinski. She’s a regular contributor here in Our American Stories. She’s the former co-host of Discovery Channel’s “Master of Arms,” and she is also the co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law’s Firearms Research Center. And always, she does such a beautiful job for us, and what a story. You know, we’ve all probably seen the flag at some point or another or heard about it. Those words, “the Appeal to Heaven,” and then those other words, “An Appeal to God,” those are on those early Pine Tree flags. And the reason was quite fascinating. And it didn’t come from theologians. It came from John Locke, a philosopher, and a part—a fundamental part—of the nation’s founding. And this quote from him is worth repeating: “When all earthly authorities fail, there is still a higher authority to appeal to,” Locke wrote, “God.” And by the way, that’s what the founders were doing. And that’s what the Patriots were doing. They were taking their appeal to a higher authority. And that’s where we get those great words and lines from Thomas Jefferson that our inalienable rights come from God and not from government, and the consent of the governed and how we will run our country is through the consent of the governed. In other words, the government’s not going to get between man and God again here in America. The story of the Pine Tree Flag, as told by Ashley Lebinski, here on Our American Stories.