Dr. Whitney Smith conducted a study of the Bedford Flag, the company color of the Three County Troop used at the Battle of Concord (19 April 1775) and currently displayed at the Bedford (Mass.) Public Library. The Flag Research Center published his findings in 1971. Its significance, Dr. Smith wrote, is that “the flag provides a bridge from the earliest colonization of New England to the dawn of its contributions as the first area to take up the cause of American Independence.” The 1971 publication is available as an open-access download below.