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By Ted Sampley
Olde Kinston Gazette
August 1998

In June 1967, Tyn Cobb, Jr. of Orlando, Fla. presented to Kinston's Richard Caswell Commission an "authentic" North Carolina Revolutionary War flag.

Cobb, a direct descendant of Gov. Richard Caswell, said the flag was actually owned by his great-nephew Smith D. Atkins Cobb III of Des Moines, Iowa.

Cobb told Dr. Clarence Crittenden, then director of the N.C. Department of Archives and History, that the flag was the "most valuable heirloom" in his possession. He said the flag was the only one of its kind and that it had been carried in battle during the Revolutionary War. The flag showed stains which Cobb said he had been told were splashes of blood.

Last month after finding a reference to the flag's presentation in a June 27, 1967 newspaper article, the Olde Kinston Gazette inquired about the heirloom. No one locally seemed to know what had happened to the flag or where it might be located.

Eugene Brown, who has managed the Caswell Memorial site for 32 years, said the flag had been on display in Kinston's Richard Caswell museum for "a couple years" after Cobb's presentation. He said that, because of security reasons, state officials had taken the flag to Raleigh for safe keeping.

The Olde Kinston Gazette then inquired with the North Carolina Department of Archives and History.

After about a week, officials there said they had found the flag.

Jackie Ogburn, spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, confirmed that an old flag had been donated to the Richard Caswell Memorial in 1967.

She said officials at Archives and History had in 1971 removed the flag to Raleigh and catalogued it. The flag was then sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. for verification of authenticity.

According to Ogburn, experts at the Smithsonian determined that the flag was an authentic battle flag, but dated it later than the Revolutionary War.

She said the flag was made of silk and that, because it contained 18 stars in the design, the Smithsonian dated the flag "somewhere between 1812 and 1816."

Brown said that, as he recalled, the Smithsonian was unable to determine whether the stains on the flag were actually from blood. He remembers the Cobb family's disappointment at learning that the experts had dated the flag a good 60 to 70 years later than the Revolutionary War and had described the stains as being "more like food stains than blood stains."

The experts agreed, however, that the flag was old and could have been used during the War of 1812.

The War Of 1812

America had declared its independence from England on July 4, 1776, and the American Revolutionary War ended in 1783.

However, after the British lost the Revolutionary War, they never actually withdrew from all of America, and they continued to rule the oceans with their war ships. They were still at war with France and would often board American ships, pressing American sailors into British service.

On June 18,1812, the United States declared war on England, then the greatest power on earth, to preserve "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights."

After England finally defeated France in 1814, the British were able to focus all attention and resources on their war with America.

The Americans and the British continued to fight over borders. The Americans attempted to conquer British occupied Canada, while the British sought to gain control of Baltimore, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

On August 24, 1814, British soldiers attacked and burned the White House in Washington.

In the Spring of 1815, a peace treaty was signed with no one really winning the war. The United States had not been able to successfully take Canada, and the British were unable to remain in control of Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans.

The War of 1812 has been called America's second War of Independence.

It was during the War of 1812 that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the words of America's National Anthem. Fort McHenry, home of the "Star-Spangled Banner," still flies the 15-star flag proudly every hour of every day above its ramparts.

Also during the War of 1812, the legend of Uncle Sam was born. (See page 5 for that story).

Will The Old Flag Ever Be Returned To Kinston?

Ogburn admitted that the old flag presented to Kinston by Tyn Cobb was not on public display in Raleigh and did not know whether or not it had ever been made available for public view.

She said that, because of the fragile condition of the Cobb flag, it had been taken to Raleigh and placed with over 200 other flags in specially climate controlled storage.

Ogburn did not know if History and Archives had any plans to return the 186 year old flag to Kinston's Richard Caswell Memorial to which it was originally donated.