Designer of the present American flag, born at Norwich, CT, on the 25th of August 1783. He went to sea when only eleven years old and being captured by a French privateer was detained for six months. He was afterwards a midshipman in the U.S. navy, and in the war of 1812 commanded the privateer brig “General Armstrong,” having seven guns and ninety men. On September 26, 1814, in Fayal Roads, he was attacked by the boats of a British squadron, but defeated them with a loss of over 200 men, while his own was only two killed and seven wounded, though he was obliged to scuttle his vessel to prevent its capture. The attack on the “Armstrong” was long the subject of diplomatic controversy, but the case was finally decided by the arbitration of Louis Napoleon, when president of the French Republic, in favor of the British. Capt. Reid was made a sailing master in the U.S. navy, and in later years was also warden of the port of New York. He also invented the signal arrangements formerly in use between Sandy Hook and the Battery in New York harbor. He died at New York on the 28th of January 1861.
