"I am authorized by the secretary to acknowledge the receipt of and reply to your letter of the 27th instant, in which you ask whether the identical flag used by John Paul Jones on the Bon Homme Richard is the one now in the custody of the Smithsonian Institution. "Your letter has been referred to Mr. A. H. Clark, Custodian of the Section of American History in the National Museum, who has submitted the following facts, which I submit to you as the opinion of this institution in the case." "'The evidence appears conclusive that the flag in the National Museum is the identical one used by John Paul Jones on the Bon Homme Richard. This flag was presented to James Bayard Stafford in 1784, by the Marine Committee, with the following letter. The sword and musket are exhibited with the flag together with the original letter: "'"Philadelphia, _Monday, December_ 13, 1784. "'"_James Bayard Stafford_. "'"Sir: I am directed by the Marine Committee to inform you that on last Thursday, the 9th, they decided to bestow upon you, for your meritorious service thro' the late war, Paul Jones' Starry Flag of the Bon Homme Richard--which was transferred to the Alliance--a boarding sword of said ship, and a musquet captured from the Serapis. "'"If you write to Captain John Brown, at the Yard, what ship you wish them sent by to New York, they will be forwarded to you. "'"Your humble servant, "'"James Meyler, "'"_Secretary, pro tem_." "'In the United States Senate, May 1, 1872, the Committee on Revolutionary Claims favorably reported a bill (S. 1060) for payment to Sarah S. Stafford, for the services of her father, James Bayard Stafford, an officer of the Revolution. In the committee's report, Commodore Barry, of the Alliance, certified to the service of Lieutenant Stafford, and the report further states that "it fully appears from the testimony before the committee that James Bayard Stafford entered the navy at the beginning of the War of Independence, and was in constant and active service, and in frequent battles, and remained in the service until the close of the war; that his ship was captured by a British cruiser, and subsequently recaptured by John Paul Jones, when he volunteered on the Bon Homme Richard, where he received wounds, which, owing to unskillful treatment, broke out after a time, disabling both his arms." (Signed.) "'A. H. Clark, "'Custodian, Section of American History, United States National Museum.' "Yours very respectfully, (Signed.) "Richard Rathbun, "_Assistant Secretary_."