, and became one of
the accepted standards of the organized militia of this State, and as
such was used by the Bedford company. Mr. Appleton said that in his
opinion this flag far exceeds in historic value the famed flag of Eutaw
and Pulaski's banner, and, in fact, is the most precious memorial of its
kind of which we have any knowledge.

The Hon. R. C. Winthrop presented from the Hon. John Bigelow, of New
York, late minister to France, and author of an elaborate life of
Franklin, five old maps, on one of which the name of this city is
spelled Baston, and on another Briston.

Mr. Windsor made a communication in reference to a ditch and embankment
found in Weston, at the confluence of Stony Brook and Charles River,
which indicate, it has been lately said, that a trading post and fort
were erected there by the French in the early part of the sixteenth
century. He gave reasons for the opinion that these relics may mark the
site of an early attempt to found the town of Boston there, since soon
after the arrival of Winthrop at Salem he set out for Charlestown,
whence, with a party, he explored the neighboring rivers for a
convenient spot to found their town, and discovered such a place "three
leagues up Charles River." Dr. Palfrey, who seems not to have known of
the existence of these remains, says that the spot must have been
somewhere in Waltham or Weston, and most likely near the mouth of Stony
Brook.

Mr. Winsor also read a paper in which he referred to a statement which
had appeared in several popular histories, that, during the eight years
of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen colonies sent two hundred and
thirty-two thousand men to the Continental army. He traced the origin of
this extravagant statement. In 1790, General Knox, then Secretary of
War, presented to President Washington a report on the number of troops
furnished during the war. He showed the number credited to the several
States, making no distinction between those who served for a shorter or
a longer period, and he did not tabulate his separate statements for
each year into one including the whole war. This was done, however, in
the first volume of the New Hampshire Historical Society's collections,
and the error was copied by many subsequent publications. It was
afterwards said in explanation, that these figures denoted enlistments
or years of service, and not men. The truth of the matter is that these
figures are worthless as representing the numbe