3rd Virginia Regiment or Gostelowe Standard #7-Spring 1776

Authorized in December of 1775, the 3rd Virginia Regiment served as part of the Continental Army.  In May of 1780, a 3rd Virginia Detachment headed toward Charleston S.C. to reinforce American forces defending the city.  When word of the City’s fall reached the Detachment, they turned back for Virginia.  The Detachment was overtaken and massacred by a force of British dragoons and loyalists under the command of Lt Col Tarleton.  Several flags were captured, including the 3rd Virginia Regiment Flag.  The flags remained in the possession of Tarleton’s estate until being sold at auction to an anonymous bidder in 2006.

During the summer of 1778, Major Jonathan Gostelowe compiled a list of flags stored in Philadelphia, known as Gostelowe’s Return.  In it he describes 13 Regimental Standards, including the 3rd Virginia Regiment Flag.  A footnote to the list suggests the addition of a union of 13 stars to align with the 1777 Flag Resolution.  The 3rd Virginia Regiment Flag was probably made in March of 1776 to comply with General Washington’s general order of 20 February 1776. The stars were likely added later. Still, it is one of the oldest flags in existence bearing 13 stars.

For more information, please consult the following sources:

American Battlefield Trust. “Waxhaws, Buford’s Massacre” Retrieved 1 November 2023 from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/waxhaws

Gostelowe, Jonathan "A Return of ye New Standards & Division Colours for ye Use of ye Army of ye United States of America In the Possession of Major Jonathan Gostelowe, Com'y Mil'y Stores" (1778) National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.

Knight, John. “Four Battleflags of the American Revolution: Captured by Lt Col Banastre Tarleton” (Aug 2019) Journal of the American Revolution. Retrieved 25 October 2023 from https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/08/four-battleflags-of-the-revolution-captured-by-lt-col-banastre-tarleton/

NAVA News “Tarleton Heirs Offer American Treasure” (September-December 2005) Retrieved from http://www.vexman.net/nnpdf/NN188.pdf

Richardson, Edward. “The Standards and Colors of the American Revolution” pp. 42-44 (1982) University of Pennsylvania Press

Sothebey’s. “Three American Revolutionary War Battleflags”. Retrieved 13 May 2023 from https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2006/four-battleflags-of-the-revolution-captured-by-lt-col-banastre-tarleton-in-1779-and-1780-the-property-of-capt-christopher-tarleton-fagan-n08228/lot.2.html

Virginia’s Soldiers in the Revolution. Bibliography. Section III (Continued) p185. (1912). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 20(2). http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243195

Washington, George “General Orders, 20 February 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0247.  [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 347–348.]