One of the most difficult things about writing about the Revolutionary War is trying to imagine what an American soldier would have seen and felt. Imagine yourself as an Albany County militia man at the Battle of Saratoga. You’ve just emerged from the woods and are forming up into lines for battle. Ahead of you cannons and muskets are spit thunder with such fury it’s probably the loudest thing you have ever heard. Through the nearly blinding smoke you can make out Continental soldiers blazing away. You may even catch a glimpse of a redcoat on the other side of the field. Looking down your own lines you see men terrified, men are throwing up, men are crying.
Above all this waves your flag. The flag that came with you from home. The flag that you’ve drilled under and seen around town for years now. Your flag tells you where to go, follow the flag into the battle. Retreat when the flag does. Wait with a hitch in your throat if the flag falls to see if it will rise again.
Unfortunately, very few of these beacons survive. Often, they were made of which if not well cared for can “shatter and simply fall apart. New York is lucky though in that one of its flags remains. Called the Schenectady Liberty Flag, it was used by a New York regiment in 1776 and 1777.
The flag’s field is blue silk. White silk letters spelling out LIBERTY are sewn onto the field. This seems to be a common motif in New York flags. A German officer reported that he had captured 11 flags with the motto “Liberty”.[1] Nothing in the militia laws passed by the New York government mentions flag design, so its possible this was a common theme in New York. The Huntington, New York militia was described as a red field with Liberty along the bottom.
The Schenectady flag survived in the possession of a soldier named Nicholas Veeder, who died at age 100 in 1862.
No evidence has surfaced as to what type of flag the men of the Livingston Manor Militia Regiment, from Livingston, Germantown, and Clermont, fought under but it seems likely they would have followed the simple trend of a singe color field with Liberty stitched onto it. But its also possible that during Saratoga a militia man from Germantown or Clermont looked down the line of Albany County militia and saw the Schenectady Liberty Flag flying.
Interestingly there is one regimental flag from a New York Continental Regiment in existence. The flag of the 3rd New York Regiment was given to the regiment in 1779. It bears a striking resemblance to the modern New York state flag.[2]
For the soldiers, both civilian and part time, who took part in the American Revolution their flag had strong meaning. It was dear to them. Some men fought and died for the flag itself, to make sure it was not captured. Now consigned to history, what the flags of New York looked like whipping over the heads of the soldiers in line will forever be a part of the sights and sounds of battle that can never be filled in.
[1] https://www.amrevmuseum.org/news/now-on-view-schenectady-liberty-flag-an-early-american-flag
[2] https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-3rd-new-york-regiment-of-the-continental-line-1777-1781.htm
Clermont State Historic Site 
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