N.C. 1st Historical Flag: The "Hornet's Nest Flag"

[13Stars]

I found this very interesting about our first flag here in North Carolina.
Go to the bottom of this page to read the history of the flag.

House of Flags | Columbus, N.C. | Polk County, North Carolina

Here's a picture of the flag:

http://www.vssr.org/images/flags/1st_NC.jpg

[Peter Ansoff]

This flag is a bit of a puzzle. The museum website gives the source as Preble's History of the American flag (as does the North Carolina chapter in Richardson's "Standards and Colors of the American Revolution"). Preble, in turn, gives the source as "Wheeler's History of North Carolina," with no page reference. I assume that this refers to the book "Historical Sketches of North Carolina, from 1584 to 1851, Comp. from original records, official documents and traditional statements . . . " published in 1851, written by John Hill Wheeler (1806-1882).

I examined Wheeler's book fairly carefully a few years ago, and could not find any reference to a beehive flag. As far as I know, there is no other primary source. Does anyone know of any more information about this flag?

By the way, the citation on the web site is a bit misleading. The page reference to Preble's book does not apply to the 1872 edition, which did not cover state flags. The state flag material was added to the expanded edition in 1880. The page reference is also correct for the 1894 edition, and for the 2-volume version published in 1917.

Peter Ansoff