"Last Saturday, July 15, the several regiments quartered in this town being assembled upon the parade, the Rev. Dr. Langdon, President of the College, read to them 'A Declaration, by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of taking up arms.' It was received with great applause; and the approbation of the army, with that of a great number of other people, was immediately announced by three huzzas. His Excellency, the General, with several other general officers, &c., were present on the occasion." "Last Tuesday morning, July 18, according to orders issued the day before by Major-General Putnam, all the continental troops under his immediate command assembled at Prospect Hill, when the Declaration of the Continental Congress was read; after which, an animated and pathetic address to the army was made by the Rev. Mr. Leonard, chaplain to General Putnam's regiment, and succeeded by a pertinent prayer, when General Putnam gave the signal, and the whole army shouted their loud _amen_ by three cheers; immediately upon which a cannon was fired from the fort, and the standard lately sent to General Putnam was exhibited, flourishing in the air, bearing this motto; on one side, 'An Appeal to Heaven,' and, on the other side, '_Qui transtulit sustinet_.' "The whole was conducted with the utmost decency, good order, and regularity, and the universal acceptance of all present; and the _Philistines_, on Bunker's Hill, heard the shout of the _Israelites_,[5] and, being very fearful, paraded themselves in battle array."[6] [5] General Putnam was named _Israel_. [6] American Archives, 4th series, vol. ii. p. 1687. This flag bore on it the motto of Connecticut, "_Qui transtulit sustinet_," and the motto, "An Appeal to Heaven;" the latter of which is evidently adopted from the closing paragraph of the "Address of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, to their brethren in Great Britain," written shortly after the battle of Lexington, which ended thus: 'Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free;' and which motto, under the form 'Appeal to Heaven,' combined with a pine-tree, constituted the motto and device on the colors of the Massachusetts colonial cruisers. In this combination of the mottoes of Connecticut and Massachusetts, one can scarcely fail to perceive the germ of the emblem of union which was introduced into the flag, which, January 2, 1776, replaced the flag we have described above, on Prospect Hill.