From the following notice of the flag displayed by General Putnam, July 18, 1775, we learn that it was a red flag. Before, however, giving the notice, we will state that, as early as the time of the Romans, a red flag was the signal of defiance or battle; thus, we are told: "When a general, after having consulted the auspices, had determined to lead forth his troops against the enemy, a red flag was displayed on a spear from the top of the _Prætorium_,[7] which was the signal to prepare for battle."[8] This accords with the account given of the display of the above flag, and corroborates the fact mentioned in the following extract from a letter of a captain of an English transport to his owners in London:-- "BOSTON, Jan. 17, 1776. "I can see the rebels' camp very plain, whose colors, a little while ago, were entirely red; but, on the receipt of the king's speech (which they burnt), they have hoisted the Union Flag, which is here supposed to intimate the union of the provinces."[9] He probably could not perceive the mottoes referred to in the preceding letter, owing to the distance. [7] The General's tent. [8] Adams's Roman Antiquities, p. 322. [9] American Archives, 4th series, vol. iv. p. 711. 4. The flag used at the taking of Fort Johnston, on James's Island, September 13, 1775.--"Colonel Moultrie, September 13 [1775], received an order from the Council of Safety for taking Fort Johnston, on James's Island." [S.C.] "A flag being thought necessary for the purpose of signals, Colonel Moultrie, who was requested by the Council of Safety to procure one, had a large blue flag made, with a crescent in one corner, to be in uniform with the troops. This was the first American flag displayed in South Carolina."[10] [10] Holmes's Annals, vol. ii. p. 227. Of the crescent, we have the following interesting account:-- "As is well known, the crescent, or, as it is usually designated, the _crescent montant_, has become the symbol of the Turkish Empire, which has thence been frequently styled the Empire of the Crescent. This symbol, however, did not originate with the Turks. Long before their conquest of Constantinople, the crescent had been used _as emblematic of sovereignty_, as may be seen from the still-existing medals struck in honor of Augustus, Trajan, and others; and it formed from all antiquity the symbol of Byzantium. On the overthrow of this empire by Mohammed II., the Turks, regarding the crescent, which everywhere met their eye, as a good omen, adopted it as their chief bearing."[11] It was, doubtless, "as the emblem of sovereignty," that it was adopted by Colonel Moultrie. [11] Brande's Dictionary of Literature, &c. _Crescent._