(1917) The Little Book of the Flag

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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIESrsssssr :tf BOOKOF THE FLAG

EVA MARCH TAPPAN


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THE NEV/ YOBIT iPUBLIC LIMARY

ASTOR^LEN*TILDffN FOUEDaTTON'


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Au Early Kt'*oluti h la^ The Lil)erty Tree.


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THE LITTLE BOOKOF THE FLAG

BYEVA MARCH TAPPAN

BOSTON AND NEW YORKHOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY1917


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THE I^EW YORKPUBLIC LIBRARYuASTOR. LENOX ANDTILDEN FOUNDATIONS

R J9t8 L

COPYRIGHT, I917, BY EVA MARCH TAPPANALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published September /g/7


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CONTENTSI. The Flags that brought the Colonists . . i

Flags under which the early colonists sailedTheEnglish "ancient flag" The "meteor flag," "UnionJack," or " King's Flag " Endicott cuts the cross fromthe English flag The militia object to the cross on theflag A flagless fort Dr. Cotton's decision.

II. The Pine-Tree Flag and Others .... 8Flags common among the colonists The NewEngland Alliance The pine-tree flag and coinsFlags of the militia The red coat flag.

III. Liberty and Liberty Poles 14The demand for liberty Opposition to the StampAct Oliver hanged in efiigy The Liberty Tree inBostonThe liberty pole in New York The Albanyplan The snake design.

IV. The Land of Many Flags 20The Bedford flag Flags at the beginning of theRevolution Sergeant Jasper saves the flag Therattlesnake on the flag.

V. When Washington went to Cambridge . . 27The Philadelphia Light Horse Troop The army atCambridge The backwoodsmen Indians off^ertheir services General Putnam unfurls a scarlet flag The Liberty Tree.


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iv CONTENTSVI. The "Grand Union Flag" 32

The "Grand Union Flag" Possible sources of thedesign First raised in Somerville Flags on sea andland Flag hoisted over the Alfred by John PaulJones Franklin's letters of marque.

VII. The First United States Flag .... 39The flag of the United States as decreed by Congress The Betsy Ross flag Significance of the ColorsCaptain Jones put in command of the Ranger The'

' quilting party ' ' The Drake strikes her colors to theRanger The United States flag is saluted by theFrench The flag goes down with the Bon HommeRichard.

VIII. Flags One would have liked to see . . 48The Fort Stanwix flag Pulaski's banner Thefirst Fourth of July celebration General use of"thirteen" Copley's delay to paint in the flagA Nantucket skipper carries the flag to London The last battle of the Revolution The New Havenpeace rejoicing.

IX. The Flag of Fifteen Stripes and Fifteen Stars 56The flag of fifteen stripes and fifteen stars decreed byCongress Worn by "Old Ironsides" Leads againstTripoli Seen at Constantinople Among the In-dians of the Louisiana Territory "The Star-Span-gled Banner" Marking the birthplace of Wash-ington.

X. The Star-Spangled Banner 63Congress decrees the present flag No law for the ar-rangement of the stars The manufacture of bunting Flags for the navy Flags for the War Department "Old Glory."


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CONTENTS VXI. The Flag in War 70

The flag at Chapultepec The surrender of Fort Sum-ter The flag raised again at Fort SumterArizona flag of the Rough Riders. The

77II. The Flag in PeacePerry opens Japan to the world Raising the flag overthe legation in Sweden Hauling down the flag inCuba The flag at the North Pole The flag onWestminster Palace.

XIII. How TO BEHAVE TOWARD THE FlAG ... 85Flag Anniversaries 90Selections

The Star-Spangled BannerThe Flag in the DarknessA Song for Flag Day .The Flag goes byWhat the Flag stands forUnion and LibertyYour Country and your Flag

Francis Scott Key 93. Benjamin Harrison 95

Wilbur D. Neshit 96Henry Holcomh Bennett 98

Henry Cabot Lodge 100Oliver Wendell Holmes lOl

. Edward Everett Hale 103The Home Flag . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 104Old Flag Hubbard Parker 105Britannia to Columbia .... Alfred Austin 107Makers of the Flag . . . Franklin K. Lane 109Our Flag Margaret Sangster 112Our History and our Flag William Backus Guitteau 113The American Flag . . Joseph Rodman Drake IIThe Flag of our Country . . Robert C. Winthrop 116America Samuel Francis Smith 1 17

Index 119


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THE LITTLE BOOK OFTHE FLAGCHAPTER ITHE FLAGS THAT BROUGHT THE COLONISTS

More than three hundred years ago a littlesailing vessel set out from Holland, crossed theAtlantic Ocean, and followed down our coastfrom Greenland. Its captain, Henry Hudson, wasin search of a quick and easy route to Asia, andwhen he entered the mouth of the river that isnamed for him, he hoped that he had found astrait leading to the Asiatic coast. He was dis-appointed in this, but the Indians welcomedhim, the mountains were rich in forests, and theground was fertile. *'It is the most beautifulland in all the world," declared the enthusiasticnavigator.Henry Hudson was an Englishman, but hesailed in the employ of the Dutch East India

Company, and soon the flag of this Company waswell known along the Hudson River. It was theold flag of Holland, three horizontal stripes, of


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2 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGorange, white, and blue, with the initials of theCompany on the white stripe. Hudson had notfound a new route to Asia, but he had opened theway for the fur-trade. In a few years the Dutchhad estabhshed trading-posts as far north asAlbany. They had also founded a city which wecall *'New York," but which they named "NewAmsterdam." So it was that in 1609 the Dutchflag first came to the New World.

Nearly thirty years after the voyage of HenryHudson, a company of Swedes made a settlementon the Delaware River. This had been plannedby the great Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden.''That colony will be the jewel of my kingdom,"he said; but the ''Lion of the North" was slainin battle, and his twelve-year-old daughter Chris-tina had become queen. That is why the loyalSwedes named their little fortification FortChristiana, and over it they raised the flag oftheir country, a blue banner with a yellowcross.

In course of time the Swedes were over-powered by the Dutch, and then the Dutch bythe English; so that before many years hadpassed, the only flag that floated over the "OldThirteen" colonies was that of England. Thiswas brought across the sea by the settlers ofour first English colony, Jamestown, in Virginia.


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THE COLONISTS' FLAGS 3Moreover, they had the honor of sailing awayfrom England in all the glories of a brand-newflag made in a brand-new design. The flag ofEngland had been white with a red uprightcross known as ''St. George's Cross"; but a newking, James I, had come to the throne, and theflag as well as many other things had met witha change. James was King of Scotland by birth,and the Scotch flag was blue with the whitediagonal cross of St. Andrew. When James be-came King of England, he united the two flagsby placing on a blue background the uprightcross of St. George over the diagonal cross of St.Andrew; and he was so well pleased with theresult that he commanded every English vesselto bear in its maintop this flag, "joined togetheraccording to the form made by our own heralds,"the King declared with satisfaction. It was thecustom at that time to call "ancient" whateverwas not perfectly new, and therefore the flag usedbefore James became king was spoken of as the"ancient flag," while the new one became the" King's Flag" or the " Union Jack." This changewas made in the very year when the grant forVirginia was obtained, and therefore the littlecompany of settlers probably sailed for Americawith the " King's Flag" in the maintop and the"ancient flag" in the foretop.


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4 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGOn land, among the colonists, sometimes one

flag was floated and sometimes the other. InMassachusetts the red cross of St. George seemsto have been much in use ; but before long thatred cross began to hurt the consciences of thePuritans most grievously. To them the crosswas the badge of the Roman Catholic Church.Still, it was on the flag of their mother country,the flag that floated over their forts and theirships. The Puritan conscience was a stern mas-ter, however, and when one day John Endicottled the little company of Salem militia out fora drill, and saw that cross hanging over thegovernor's gate, the sight was more than hecould bear, and he but Hawthorne has al-ready told the story :

Endicott gazed around at the excited countenancesof the people, now full of his own spirit, and thenturned suddenly to the standard-bearer, who stoodclose behind him.

"Officer, lower your banner!" said he.The officer obeyed; and brandishing his sword,Endicott thrust it through the cloth, and, with hisleft hand, rent the red cross completely out of thebanner. He then waved the tattered ensign above hishead.

"Sacrilegious wretch!" cried the High Church-man in the pillory, unable longer to restrain him-self, "thou hast rejected the symbol of our holyreligion!"


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THE COLONISTS' FLAGS 5"Treason, treason!" roared the Royalist in the

stocks. "He hath defaced the King's banner!""Before God and man, I will avouch the deed,"answered Endicott. "Beat a flourish, drummer!

shout, soldiers and people! in honor of the ensignof New England. Neither Pope nor Tyrant hathpart in it now!"With a cry of triumph the people gave their sanc-

tion to one of the boldest exploits which our historyrecords.

Endicott was one of the court assistants, buthe was now removed from his position and for-bidden to hold any public office for one year. Hewas fortunate in being permitted to retain hishead.

Endicott had been punished, but the Puritanconscience was not yet at rest, and now many ofthe militia declared that they did not think itright to march under the cross. The whole mi-litia could not well be punished, and the com-missioners for military affairs were as doubtfulas the honest militia men about what should bedone. "We will leave it to the next GeneralCourt to decide," they said, **and in the mean-time no flags shall be used anywhere."

This seemed a comfortable way to settle thequestion, but unluckily there was a fort on CastleIsland at the entrance to Boston Harbor, andwhen an English vessel came sailing in, its cap-


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6 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGtain refused to pay any attention to a fort with-out a flag. Then the officer in command rose tohis dignity and made the ship maybe with theaid of a ball across her bows strike her colors.The captain complained to the authorities thatthe commandant of this flagless fort had insultedhis flag and his country. The authorities werejust a bit alarmed. To insult a flag and a coun-try was a serious matter. ''What shall we do tomake amends?" they queried. ''Let the officerwho proffered the insult come on board of myvessel and say in the presence of the ship*s com-pany that he was in fault," replied the captain.This was done, and the sky cleared.But the troubles of the colonists were by nomeans over. The mate of another vessel de-clared with considerable emphasis that thesepeople were all rebels and traitors to the King.Surely the thought of such a report as thisgoing back to England from a tiny colony cling-ing to the edge of the continent was enough toalarm the boldest. Discussions were held, andDr. John Cotton was appealed to.A canny man was this Dr. John Cotton, andhe decided that inasmuch as the fort belongedto the King, it was proper that it should dis-play the King's Flag, whatever it might be,"while vessels are passing," he added shrewdly;


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THE COLONISTS' FLAGS 7but that, as for the militia, each companymight have its own colors, and not one ofthem need bear a cross. So the great tempestpassed by.


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CHAPTER IITHE PINE-TREE FLAG AND OTHERS

In some of the colonies at least, the people musthave led a rather somber life, with little pleasure,much hard work, and much discomfort ; but theyfairly reveled in flags. The Indians in their war-fare preferred to hide behind trees rather than toflourish banners, and the white men soon learnedto follow their example. Nevertheless, it alwaysseemed to the minds of the colonists a littleirregular and out of place not to carry a flag ofsome sort when they were setting out on an ex-pedition.

Probably we do not know one in twenty of allthe designs for banners that entered the fertileminds of these colonists, but they were so nu-merous 'that if they had all been displayed at thesame time, they would have almost hidden thesettlements. Not all colonists were as afraid ofa cross as were the good folk of Salem. In New-bury, Massachusetts, a certain company of footrejoiced in a flag of vivid green. In the uppercorner next the staff was a square of white con-taining a red cross. The kindly councilor, who


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THE PINE-TREE FLAG AND OTHERS 9had ordered the flag to be made in England"with all convenient speed," evidently had somesense of humor, for he wrote at the end of hisletter to the company, "The number of bulletsto be put into your colors for distinction may beleft out at present without damage in the mak-ing of them." Another flag, belonging to a com-pany of Massachusetts cavalry, seems to havebeen something quite out of the common, for itwas of damask and silk and adorned with silverfringe. A real artist must have used his brushupon it, for the bill read, " For painting in oyle onboth sides a Cornett on rich crimson damask,with a hand and sword and invelloped with ascarfe about the arms of gold, black and silver"and for all that gorgeousness, generously painted"on both sides, "the charge was the moderate oneof 5 25. 6d, This was made for what was knownas the "Three County Troop," composed of cav-alry from Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk Coun-ties in Massachusetts, and was probably used inKing Philip's War.Now, wherever a discoverer planted the sole

of his foot, he took possession for his sovereign ofall the land in sight and all the land which joinedthat land. Naturally, the claims of the colo-nies soon conflicted. The good folk of New Eng-land made an alliance to defend themselves


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lo THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGagainst the Dutch, Swedes, and French. Theymanaged to be good alHes for forty years with-out a flag. Then came one brilliant enough tomake up for the delay, and sent to them acrossthe sea by no less a man than King James II him-self. This was of white with a St. George's cross ofred. In the center of the cross was a golden crownand under it the King's monogram in black. Afew years later matters in England had changed.King James II had proved to be a very poor sortof sovereign, and it was made clear to him thatfor his health and comfort possibly for his head it would be wise for him to leave the country.This he did in alarm and at full speed, tossingthe royal seal into the Thames on his way. Itis small wonder that New Englanders preferreda new flag. The only marvel is that they waitedso long a time before getting it. When it wasfinally chosen, it proved to be red with a whitecanton or union cut by a red St. George's crossinto four squares. In one of these squares was therepresentation of a pine tree. This representa-tion can hardly have been a work of art, for onehistorian says unkindly of it that it " no more re-sembled a pine tree than a cabbage." Evidentlythe brave colonists were not artists. Neverthe-less, even if the good folk of Massachusetts couldnot draw a pine tree, they were fond of it, and


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THE PINE-TREE FLAG AND OTHERS iitheir General Court decreed that it should bestamped upon the coins minted in that colony.Now it was the right of the King to coin money,and when Charles II heard that the ambitiouscolonists were making it for themselves, he wasnot pleased. ''But it is only for their own use,'*said a courtier who favored the colonies, andtaking a New England coin from his pocket, heshowed it to the King. "What tree is that?"demanded the aggrieved monarch. "That," saidthe quick-witted courtier, "is the royal oak whichsaved Your Majesty's life." "Well, well," saidthe King, "those colonists are not so bad afterall. They're a parcel of honest dogs!" Perhapsthey were, even if their likenesses of pine treescould not be distinguished from cabbages andoaks. Hawthorne's story, "The Pine-Tree Shil-lings," is written about this inartistic coinage.So the story of the flags went on. Besides the

English flag every little company of militia hadits standard. One flag bore a hemisphere in thecorner in place of a pine tree, and another borenothing but a tree. The colonists did not troublethemselves about being artistic or choosing colorsof any special significance; if the ground of theflag was of one color and the cross or whateverother figure was chosen was of another, theywere satisfied. Charleston, South Carolina, had


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12 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGa specially elegant flag blue with a silver cres-cent to use on "dress-up" days. After a timeeven the Indians were sometimes furnished withflags, for one kindly governor gave them a UnionJack as a protection. He presented them also witha red flag to indicate war and a white one as asign of peace; and probably the fortunate In-dians felt with all this magnificence quite likewhite folk.

In 1745, when that remarkable expeditionof New Englanders which had "a lawyer forcontriver, a merchant for general, and farmers,fishermen, and mechanics for soldiers" setofT to capture Louisburg from the French, theysailed proudly away under a flag whereon waswritten in Latin, "Never despair, for Christ isour leader." It was on this same expedition thata new flag was hoisted, the like of which wasnever seen before. An officer discovered that abattery on the shore of the harbor was appar-ently vacant. There was no flag flying from thestaff and no smoke rising from the chimney. Itlooked as if that battery might be taken easily.On the other hand it was also quite possiblethat this was a ruse and was meant to decoythe colonists within. The oflicer concluded torun the risk of losing the life of some one else.Holding up a bottle of brandy before the thirsty


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THE PINE-TREE FLAG AND OTHERS 13gaze of an Indian, he said, "If I give you this,will you creep in at that embrasure and open thegate?" The red man grunted assent, crept in,and opened the gate. Then the officer andtwelve men took possession. Soon a messagewent from the officer to his general as follows:"May it please your honor to be informed thatby the grace of God and the courage of thirteenmen, I entered the royal battery about nineo'clock, and am awaiting for a reinforcementand a flag." Sometimes the colonists were want-ing in the grace of patience, and this was one ofthe occasions. A soldier, tired of delay, decidedthat, although he could not provide reinforce-ments, he could provide a flag; so up the staffhe clambered with a red coat in his teeth. Henailed it to the top of the staff, and it swungout in the wind, much to the alarm of the citi-zens, who sent one hundred men in boats to re-capture the battery. The hundred men fired, butthe brave little company kept them from land-ing and held their position till the general couldsend help.


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CHAPTER IIILIBERTY AND LIBERTY POLES

After the middle of the eighteenth centurythere was much talk among the colonies of lib-erty. It is possible that not all the people werequite clear in their minds what that "liberty**might mean ; but whatever it was, they wanted it.England required nothing more of her coloniesthan other nations required of theirs. The colo-nies asked nothing of England that would not begranted to-day as a matter of course. The diffi-culty was that the mother country was livingin the eighteenth century, while the colonistswere looking forward into the nineteenth. A de-mand for liberty was in the air. The pole onwhich a flag was hung was not called a flag pole,but a liberty pole.Most of the flags on these liberty poles bore

mottoes, many of them decidedly bold and de-fiant. When the Stamp Act was passed, thewrath of the people rose, and now they knewexactly what they wanted "No taxationwithout representation." The stamped paperbrought to South Carolina was carefully stowed


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LIBERTY AND LIBERTY POLES 15away in a fort. Thereupon three volunteer com-panies from Charleston took possession of thefort, ran up a blue flag marked with three whitecrescents, and destroyed the paper. New York'sflag had one word only, but that one word was"Liberty." Portsmouth, New Hampshire, hada banner inscribed ''Liberty, Property, andno Stamps." In Newburyport, Massachusetts,there was a regular patrol of men armed withstout sticks. "What do you say, stamps or nostamps?" they demanded of every stranger, andif he had a liking for a whole skin, he replied em-phatically, "No stamps." One wary newcomerreplied courteously, "I am what you are," andwas uproariously cheered.

In going from one colony to another, it wasnot uncommon for a man to get a passport fromthe sons of Liberty to attest to his standing as a"Liberty man." When the stamps made theirfirst appearance, Boston tolled her church bellsand put her flags at half-mast. Indeed, a newsort of flag appeared in the shape of an efligy ofOliver, the stamp distributor, swinging from thebough of a great elm which stood by the mainentrance to town. The Chief Justice orderedthis image to be removed. "Certainly," repliedthe people politely, "we will take it down our-selves this very evening." So they did, but they


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i6 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGlaid it upon a bier and marched in a long pro-cesssion through the old State House. Here, inthe Council Chamber, the Governor and hisCouncil were deliberating. Shouts came up frombelow, "Liberty, Property, and no Stamps!" and"Death to the man who offers a piece of stampedpaper to sell!" "Beat an alarm," the ChiefJustice commanded the colonel of the militia."But I cannot," replied the colonel, "my drum-mers are in the mob." The procession marchedon, burned the effigy in front of the distributor'shouse, gave three rousing cheers, and went home.In New York, when the rumor spread that a shipladen with stamps was approaching, all the ves-sels in the harbor put their colors at half-mast.When every distributor of stamps had re-signed his office, there was another outburst ofbanners. Charleston, South Carolina, hoisted aliberty flag, surmounted by a branch of laurel.The tree in Boston on which the effigy of thestamp distributor had been hung had become animportant member of colonial society. It hadbeen formally named the "Liberty Tree," andthe ground under it was called "Liberty Hall."Banners were often swung from its branches, andnotices were nailed to its trunk. Fastened firmlyto the trunk was a tall liberty pole, and when-ever any one caught a glimpse of a red flag


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LIBERTY AND LIBERTY POLES 17waving from the top of the pole, he knew that theSons of Liberty were to hold a meeting. Whenthe Stamp Act was repealed, the Liberty Tree wasthe very center of rejoicing. At one o'clock inthe morning, the church bell nearest it was rungjoyfully. At the first rays of dawn, the housesabout it, even the steeple of the church, all blos-somed out with banners, and at night the treeitself was aglow with lanterns. In New Yorka liberty pole was set up with a splendid newflag on which was inscribed, "The King, Pitt,and Liberty."* It almost seemed as if "liberty"meant having whatever sort of flag might suitone's whim.

This New York pole had rather a hard time.British soldiers cut it down twice, and when athird pole was raised, sheathed with iron aroundits base, they managed to cut that down also, al-though it bore the legend, ' ' To His Most GraciousMajesty George III, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty."The city authorities would not risk planting an-other pole on city land, and thereupon the Sonsof Liberty bought a piece of land for themselves,and marched up in brilliant procession; first afull band, playing with all its might, then sixhorses, made gorgeous with bright ribbons,drawing from the shipyard a fine new pole,sheathed in iron two thirds of its length. It was


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i8 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGescorted by the Sons of Liberty in full numbers.Three flags floated over the little procession, buttheir mottoes were not so impressively loyal asthe earlier ones. These read, "Liberty and Prop-erty." Nevertheless, ''liberty" did not yet meanseparation from the mother country; it meantonly freedom in making some of their own lawsand what was known as the "Union Flag" didnot refer to any union of the colonies, but ratherto the union of Scotland and England. Thisflag, the regular flag of England, was red, withthe crosses of St. George and St. Andrew on ablue field forming the Jack.

Once, however, more than twenty years beforethe Revolutionary War, there had been some talkof a union of colonies, beginning with the sugges-tions of the most far-sighted man in America,Benjamin Franklin. In 1754, when war betweenFrance and England was on the point of breakingout, there was a meeting at Albany of delegatesfrom several colonies. They had come to see ifthey could make sure of the aid of the Six Na-tions of Indian tribes; and here the sagaciousFranklin brought forward his plan for a union.His scheme was for the colonies to elect a GrandCouncil, which should meet every year in Phila-delphia, to levy taxes, enlist soldiers, plan for de-fense, and, in short, to attend to whatever con-


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LIBERTY AND LIBERTY POLES 19cerned all the colonies. Whatever affected themseparately was to be managed by the colony in-terested. This Council was to have much thesame powers as our Congress of to-day; but theremust be a place in the scheme for the King,of course; so Franklin proposed that the Kingshould appoint a president who should have theright to veto the acts of the Grand Council. Thiswas the ** Albany Plan.'* Franklin was muchin earnest about the matter, and had a cut madefor the Pennsylvania Gazette picturing a ratherunpleasant device, a snake sliced uncomfort-ably into ten parts, the head marked " NE, " forNew England, and each of the other pieces withthe initials of some one of the other nine colonies.With the motto, ''Unite or die," this work ofart appeared for a number of issues at the headof the Gazette; but many years passed beforethe colonies began to make any practical use ofthe wisdom of Franklin in 1754.


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CHAPTER IVTHE LAND OF MANY FLAGS

When Paul Revere galloped through the vil-lages of Middlesex, calling "for the country folkto be up and to arm," there was not much sparetime for collecting flags, and probably when

"The farmers gave them ball for ball,From behind each fence and farmyard wall," they did not trouble themselves to flourish aflag before they shot. Yet, if we may trust afamily tradition, at least one flag waved over theplucky farmers. It seems that for a long whileone member or another of the Page family ofBedford had been accustomed to carrying thecolors of the militia, and therefore when thealarm was given and Nathaniel Page started forConcord, it was as natural for him to seize hisflag as his gun. Moreover, this story has thebunting to back it up, for the Bedford flag re-mained in the Page family until presented to thetown a century after the close of the war. It israther a pity that it did not come a little sooner,for an old lady of Page descent confessed that in


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THE LAND OF MANY FLAGS 21her giddy girlhood she had irreverently rippedotT the silver fringe to make trimming for herball dress.The Revolution was fairly on, and two monthslater, the battle of Bunker Hill was fought.Possibly the colonists thought of spades ratherthan standards when they were throwing up thefortifications, and yet I fancy that to these flag-loving fighters a battle without a banner wouldhave seemed like an undignified riot. Somewriters say positively that no flag was to be seen rather a difficult statement to prove. Thedaughter of one of the soldiers declared thather father helped hoist the standard known asthe "New England Flag." ''He called it a ' nobleflag,' " she said. "It was blue with the red crossof St. George in a white corner, and in one sec-tion was a pine tree." The artist Trumbull, whopainted the picture of this battle now in theCapitol at Washington,made the flag red insteadof blue, but both were familiar colonial flags, andthere is no reason why both should not havewaved over the famous hill. Tradition saysthat one flag bore the motto, "Come if youdare." General Gage is said to have had diffi-culty in reading it, but maybe that was becauseof its audacity. Some verses written soon afterthe battle say that


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22 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAG"Columbia's troops are seen in dread array,And waving streamers in the air display" ;

but, unluckily, the poet forgot to mention thecolor of those ''waving streamers." In Savan-nah, after the battle, but before any news of itcould have arrived, the independent Georgianshoisted a Union flag and suggestively placed twopieces of artillery directly under it. New Yorkchose a white flag with a black beaver thereon.Rhode Island had also a white flag, but with ablue anchor instead of a beaver, and a blue can-ton with thirteen white stars. Her motto was**Hope.** Connecticut meant that there shouldbe no mistake in the whereabouts of her regi-ments, for she gave them flags of solid color: tothe first, yellow; the second, blue; the third,scarlet; and so on with crimson, white, azure,another shade of blue, and orange. For a mottoConnecticut chose "Qui transtulit sustinet";that is, "He who brought us here sustains us."Massachusetts chose for her motto "An Appealto Heaven." Charleston had a blue flag with awhite crescent in the upper corner next to thestaff and inscribed upon her banner the daringwords, "Liberty or Death." Later she adopteda rattlesnake flag. Her troops wore blue and hadsilver crescents on the front of their caps, in-scribed with the same motto. It is small wonder


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THE LAND OF MANY FLAGS 23that timid folk were alarmed and whispered toone another, "That is going too far; it looks Hkea declaration of war." This blue and silver flagwas planned by Colonel Moultrie. When FortMoultrie which received this name because ofhis brave defense was shelled the followingyear, the anxious folk in the town watched withtroubled faces, for it was doubtful whether thelittle fort with its scant supply of ammunitioncould sustain the attack. Suddenly the crescentflag fell from its staff. A groan ran through thecrowd Colonel Moultrie had struck his flag!** Forward!" cried one among them, and theymarched to the water's edge to fight for theirhomes. Within the little fort one William Jasper,a sergeant, saw that a ball had cut down the flagand it had fallen over the rampart. "Colonel,"he said to his commander, "don't let us fightwithout a flag." "What can you do?" demandedColonel Moutrie, "the staff is broken." Ser-geant Jasper was a man of few words and manydeeds. He leaped through an embrasure, walkedthe whole length of the fort in a heavy fire fromthe ships, caught up the flag, brought it safelyback, and fastened it to a sponge-staff. Then,in the midst of cheers, in which I fancy theBritish also joined, he fastened the rescuedbanner upon the bastion. The following day the


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24 ^ THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGGovernor came to the fort, asked for SergeantJasper, presented him with his own sword, andgave him hearty thanks in behalf of his country.Then he said, "I will gladly give you a lieu-tenant's commission," but the honest man re-fused. " I am only a sergeant," he said. " I don'tknow how to read or write, and I am not fit tokeep company with ofhcers." Colonel Moultriethen gave him a roving commission, and he oftenmade some little trip with half a dozen men andreturned with a band of prisoners before anyone realized that he had gone. The wife of MajorElliot presented the regiment with a pair ofbeautiful silken colors, which were afterwardscarried in the assault upon Savannah. Thestandard-bearers were shot down; another manseized them, but he was also shot; then SergeantJasper caught them and fastened them on theparapet, when he too was fatally wounded bya ball. "Tell Mrs. Elliot," he said, "that I lostmy life supporting the colors she gave to ourregiment." A tablet in honor of the brave ser-geant was long ago placed in Savannah.The rattlesnake as an emblem seems to havebeen somewhat of a favorite among the colonists.

Besides Franklin's snake of the many initialswhich, indeed, might have stood, or coiled, forany sort of serpent there was the one borne by


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THE LAND OF MANY FLAGS 25Patrick Henry's men when they forced theGovernor of Virginia to pay for the powder whichhe had carried away from the colonial magazine.Then, too, there was a third variety of snake,the one that stretched itself across a colonialnaval flag and proclaimed from the top of themast "Don't tread on me." On another flagthe rattlesnake appeared coiled in the roots ofa pine tree and ready to strike. The CulpeperMinute Men of Virginia had a coiled snake ontheir flag. In the winter of 1 775 there appeared inthe Pennsylvania Journal an article setting forththe propriety of choosing the rattlesnake torepresent America. The style of the article andits keenness are like Franklin, but there is noproof that he was its author. Whoever did writeit notes that the "rattler" is peculiar to Amer-ica; that the brightness of its eyes and their lackof lids fit it to be an emblem of vigilance. It neverbegins an attack and never surrenders, neverwounds till it has given warning. The writer hadcounted the rattles on the naval flag, and foundthem to be exactly thirteen, the number of thecolonies. He had also noted that the rattles wereindependent of one another, and yet most firmlyunited ; and that while one rattle alone is incap-able of producing any sound, the ringing ofthe thirteen together is sufficient to alarm the


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26 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGboldest man living. Whether Franklin wrote thisor not, let us at least be thankful that these argu-ments did not prevail, and that on the flag of theUnited States there are stars and not serpents.


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CHAPTER VWHEN WASHINGTON WENT TO CAMBRIDGEWashington, chosen commander-in-chief, set

out on June 21, 1775, on his eleven-days' rideto Boston. From Philadelphia to New York hewas escorted by the Philadelphia Light HorseTroop. It was an escort worth having. Theiruniform was "a dark brown short coat, faced andlined with white ; high-topped boots ; round blackhat, bound with silver cord ; a buck's tail, saddle-cloths brown edged with white, and the letters^L.H.' worked on them. Their arms were a car-bine, a pair of pistols and holsters; a horseman'ssword; white belts for the sword and carbine."Officers of the militia, the Massachusetts mem-bers of the Continental Congress, and manyothers wore also of the company. The horsespranced, the music played, and the cavalcadestarted from the Quaker City for the war thatwas to make the country free. The flag that wasborne before them is now carefully preservedbetween two heavy plates of glass, and is keptin the Troop's armory, in a fireproof safe madeexpressly for that purpose. The banner is onlyforty inches long, but its richness makes up for


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28 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGits lack of size. It is of yellow silk with heavysilver fringe. Around the flag is a graceful run-ning vine. The crest is a horse's head. In thecenter are figures representing Fame and Lib-erty. Under them is the motto, "For these westrive.'* Some verses written many years agosay of this flag:

"For these we strive; what brighter nameCan man achieve or beauty see,

Than worth to share his country's FAME,Or perish for her LIBERTY?"

It is a precious relic for its associations, and stillmore precious because the canton is made ofthirteen stripes, blue and silver alternating.Apparently these stand for the thirteen colo-nies, and so far as is known, this was the firsttime that the colonies were represented, as onour flag of to-day, by thirteen stripes.

Before Washington and his escort reachedNew York, couriers reported the battle of BunkerHill. Washington pushed on, and July 2, he hadhis first glimpse of his forces. It must have beena discouraging glimpse. A few wore uniforms,but most of the men had come in "what theyhad." The men of a few companies were pro-vided with tents, others slept in the halls of Har-vard College, in the pews of the Episcopal Church,or in private houses. Still others had built their


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UNDER THE WASHINGTON ELM 29own huts, of boards, turf, sailcloth, stones, orbrush. Powder and artillery were scanty, andthe commander-in-chief had been furnished withno money. Perhaps this was not so remarkable,however, for the members of the ContinentalCongress had no power to collect taxes, and inreality had no control over any money exceptwhat was in their own pockets. Officers and menchatted together as freely as if in their ownhomes ; and if an order did not impress a man asbeing wise, he sometimes stopped and patientlyexplained to the officer why he thought anothercourse was better.Twelve of the most independent companies,and yet the most vigilant and best disciplined ofall, were composed of backwoodsmen who hadcome on foot from four to eight hundred miles.A little later, five Indians came to Cambridgeto help fight for liberty. They were welcomedcordially and entered the service. It is prob-able that every little company marched to Cam-bridge under its own colors, but of course therewas no flag representing the colonies as a whole.

Immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill,Major-General Israel Putnam took up his standon Prospect Hill. One month later he called to-gether all the troops under his command, andread them the statement issued by the Conti-


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30 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGnental Congress which declared just why thecolonies had had recourse to arms. The chaplainmade an address and a prayer, at the end ofwhich the troops responded, ''Amen." Thenthere was unfurled a scarlet standard, whichit is said John Hancock had just presented toGeneral Putnam and his men in recognition oftheir bravery at Bunker Hill. Tradition says thisstandard bore on one side the motto of Connecti-cut, "Qui transtulit sustinet," and on the othera pine tree and the motto of Massachusetts,**An Appeal to Heaven."

It is a little strange that the Massachusettscolonists did not put the likeness of an elm onany of their banners, for so much of their his-tory was associated with the ''Liberty Elm." Afew flags on both land and sea were inscribed"Liberty Tree," but no exercise of the imagina-tion can make the pictured tree look in the leastlike an elm. Under the Liberty Elm of Bostonthe meetings of the Sons of Liberty were held,as has been said, and here it was that the reso-lutions were adopted which resulted in droppingthree hundred and forty chests of tea into BostonHarbor. The Liberty Tree of Charleston, SouthCarolina, was a beautiful live-oak. It is saidthat under this tree Christopher Gadsden, evenbefore the Stamp Act, ventured to speak of the


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UNDER THE WASHINGTON ELM 31possible independence of the colonies. Here, as inBoston, the patriots came together to discuss theway to hberty, and with hand clasped in handsolemnly promised that when the hour for re-sistence should come, they would not be foundunready. There is something refreshing in thethought of all the free, open-air discussion thatwent on under the Liberty Trees. There was nostifling of thought in closed rooms with bolteddoors. Every new idea, daring as it might be,was blown upon by the free winds of heaven.Naturally, the British commanders hated thesetrees and thoroughly enjoyed destroying themwhenever they had opportunity. The Bostontree was cut down even before the battle of Lex-ington. In 1780 Sir Henry Clinton cut down thelive-oak in Charleston, piled its severed branchesover the stump, and set fire to them. Even theiron-girt Liberty Pole of New York was cutdown by the red coats in 1776. It is little wonderthat Thomas Paine's poem on the "LibertyTree " was so roundly applauded. This closes :

" But hear, O ye swains, 't is a tale most profane,How all the tyrannical powers.Kings, Commons, and Lords, are uniting amain,To cut down this guardian of ours.From the East to the West, blow the trumpet to arms,Through the land let the. sound of it flee,

Let the far and the near all unite with a cheer,In defense of our Liberty Tree."


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CHAPTER VITHE ''grand union FLAG*'

During the summer following the battle ofBunker Hill, the colonies had a congress with-out authority, a commander-in-chief withoutmoney, and an army without discipline, equip-ments, or flag or rather, with so many flagsthat they must have had little significance ex-cept to the respective groups of men who hadmarched under each. Before Christmas a flagwas designed and made, but how, where, andby whom is not known. Neither Washington norFranklin gives any information, and the Journalof Congress says nothing about its designer ormaker. It is true that a committee of three,all signers of the Declaration of Independencea few months later, Benjamin Franklin, ofPennsylvania, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia,whose son Benjamin was afterwards to becomePresident of the United States, and ThomasLynch, of South Carolina, were sent by Con-gress to Cambridge, to discuss with Washingtonand others many necessary questions, but thereis no proof that the design of a flag was among


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THE GRAND UNION FLAG 33them. The flag, however, was made. This waswhat is known as the "Grand Union Flag."The British flag, red with a blue union, markedby the upright cross of St. George and the di-agonal cross of St. Andrew, was known as the''Union Flag," because it typified, as has beensaid before, the union of England and Scotland.The new flag retained the blue union with itstwo crosses, but instead of a red field it had redand white stripes. These thirteen stripes repre-sented the thirteen colonies; the blue union sug-gested that the colonies still clung to the mothercountry.Where the idea of using stripes came from is a

question that has never been solved. The Phila-delphia Troop had thirteen stripes on their ban-ner, but they were blue and white. Washing-ton's coat of arms contained red and whitestripes; but Washington was too modest a manto suggest using his own family arms, and as toany one's suggesting it for him, it must be re-membered that he was not yet the revered''Father of his Country," but simply a Virginiaplanter of forty-three years who had been suc-cessful in fighting the Indians, and who, becauseof his good judgment and uprightness of char-acter, had been made a member of the VirginiaLegislature and then of the Continental Congress.


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34 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGThe flag of the Netherlands but chosen thirtyyears after the Pilgrims left that country forAmerica was red, white, and blue, in threehorizontal stripes. The ensign of the EnglishEast India Company was a flag of thirteen hori-zontal red and white stripes with a white cantoncontaining a red St. George's Cross; but there isno reason to suppose that this inspired the flagof the colonies. Bunting was scarce and Franklinwas always a thrifty soul. If that committee ofthree did design the flag, it is not at all unlikelythat Franklin suggested utilizing the standardsthey already had, and changing their characterby stitching on white stripes. To deface the flagof Britain was a serious ofl^ense, and maybe itwas thought just as well that the name of theoriginator of this "Grand Union" should not beon record. The flag was first raised on the istof January, 1776, in what is now Somerville,on Prospect Hill, and was saluted with thirteenguns and thirteen rousing cheers. It was seen bythe British troops in Boston, and for some rea-son they took it as a sign of submission broughtabout by the King's hostile proclamation, whichthey supposed had been read in Cambridge.Washington wrote :

Before the proclamation came to hand, we hadhoisted the Union Flag in compliment to the United


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THE GRAND UNION FLAG 35Colonies. But, behold, it was received in Boston as atoken of the deep impression the speech had madeupon us, and as a signal of submission. By this time,I presume, they begin to think it strange that we havenot made a formal surrender of our lines.The colonists had adopted a flag, but all sorts

of colors continued to be borne on both sea andland. On the sea the favorite seems to havebeen a white flag displaying a green pine tree.One year after the battle of Lexington, Massa-chusetts formally decreed that this flag shouldbe used on her vessels, and that their officersshould wear a green and white uniform. Eventwo years later than this, the Pine-Tree Flagwas borne by floating batteries on the DelawareRiver. Sometimes the British ran up an Ameri-can flag to deceive the colonial vessels, andsometimes the colonists ran up a flag made ofhorizontal red and white stripes to persuade theBritish that it was one of their own signal flags.Sometimes rattlesnake flags were used.

Congress ordered the building of war vesselsas promptly as possible, five cruisers first of all.The Alfred, on which John Paul Jones was lieu-tenant, became the flagship of Commander-in-Chief Esek Hopkins. This vessel was of Englishbuild and had been employed in commerce fornine or ten years, making two voyages to the In-


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36 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGdian Ocean during that time. She had space fortwo hundred and twenty men, and had sixteenguns, carried for the benefit of pirates. She hadbeen put in full repair and had now become afrigate of twenty-eight guns. Such was the firstvessel of the Continental Navy. An old accountof the embarkation of Commodore Hopkins atPhiladelphia says : The Alfred was anchored at the foot of Walnut

Street. On a brilliant morning early in February,1776, gay streamers were seen floating from everymasthead and spar on the river. At nine o'clock a full-manned barge threaded its way among the floatingice to the Alfred, bearing the commodore, who hadchosen that vessel for his flagship. He was greetedwith thunders of artillery and the shouts of the mul-titude.

When he stepped on board the deck of theAlfred, Captain Saltonstall gave a signal, andLieutenant Jones hoisted a new flag prepared forthe occasion. It is believed to have displayed aunion with thirteen stripes crossed by a rattle-snake in some position, with the ominous motto,''Don't tread on me." When the flag reachedthe mast-head, the crowds cheered and the gunsfired a salute, as well they might, for this wasthe first ensign ever flung to the breeze on anAmerican man-of-war. Paul Jones appreciated


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THE GRAND UKION FLAG 37the honor of raising it, but he was no admirer ofthe rattlesnake flag. In his journal he wrote:

I was always at loss to know by what queer fancyor by whose notion that device was first adopted. Formy own part, I never could see how or why a venom-ous serpent could be the combatant emblem of abrave and honest folk fighting to be free. Of course Ihad no choice but to break the pennant as it was givento me. But I always abhorred the device.Three weeks after the Alfred was put in com-

mission, the little fleet sailed away from Phila-delphia amid the cheers of thousands of people.One of the eye-witnesses said that the ships worethe Union Flag with thirteen stripes in the field.Of the admiral's flag an English writer said, "Welearn that the vessels bearing this flag have asort of commission from a society of people atPhiladelphia, calling themselves the continentalcongress." Scornfully as he spoke of Congress,there is at least one record of which it maybe proud. Franklin, under its authority, issuedletters of marque with a lavish hand, but, hard-pressed as the colonists were, he bade John PaulJones "not to burn defenseless towns on theBritish coast except in case of military necessityand in such cases he was to give notice, so thatthe women and children with the sick and agedinhabitants might be removed betimes." More-


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38 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGover, he bade all American cruisers if theychanced to meet Captain Cook, the great Englishexplorer of that day, to ''forget the temporaryquarrel in which they were fighting and notmerely suffer him to pass unmolested, but offerhim every aid and service in their power."


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CHAPTER VIITHE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG

The ''society of people at Philadelphia callingthemselves the continental congress" had had,so far as records go, nothing to do with choos-ing any flag. The ''Grand Union "unfurled atCambridge was regarded as symbolizing theunion of colonies, but no one knows who designedit or chose it. To alter the design of our flagto-day would be a very serious matter, but thecolonies were so accustomed to the making offlags according to the whim of some militiacompany or some sea captain that the appear-ance of a new design, especially one so slightlychanged from the familiar flag of the mothercountry, cannot have created any great sensa-tion. Moreover, flags were not for sale at depart-ment stores; they had to be ordered, and in thistime of war, bunting was not easy to procure.Flag-makers were few, and many a captainsailed away with a flag manufactured by hiswife's own unaccustomed hands.July 4, 1776, less than fifteen months after the

battle of Lexington, it was declared in Congress


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40 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAG^'That these united colonies are, and of rightought to be, free and independent states." June14,1 ^']'], the following resolution was adopted :

Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United Statesbe thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that theunion be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, repre-senting a new constellation.So much for the share that Congress had in theflag. The story of the making of the first flag with

stars and stripes is as follows. Betsy Ross, or, tospeak more respectfully, Mrs. Elizabeth GriscomRoss, lived on Arch Street, Philadelphia, in atiny house of two stories and an attic. She wascalled the most skillful needlewoman in the city,and there is a tradition that before Washingtonbecame commander-in-chief, she embroideredruffles for his shirts quite an important branchof fine sewing in those days. Whether she everembroidered the great man's ruffles or not, it issaid that, whenever folk wanted any especiallyfine work done, they always went to "BetsyRoss." She could do more than sew, for she coulddraw freehand the complicated patterns thatwere used in quilting, the supreme proof of artisticability in the household. One day three gentle-men entered her house through its humble door-way. One was her uncle by marriage. ColonelRoss; one is thought to have been Robert Morris


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THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG 41one was General Washington. The commander-in-chief told her that they had come from Con-gress to ask her if she could make a flag. ''Idon't know," she replied, ''but I can try." Thenthey showed her a rough sketch of a flag andasked what she thought of it. She replied thatshe thought it ought to be longer, that a flaglooked better if the length was one third greaterthan the width. She ventured to make two moresuggestions. One was that the stars which theyhad scattered irregularly over the blue cantonwould look better if they were arranged in someregular form, such as a circle or a star or in par-allel rows. The second suggestion was that astar with five points was prettier than one withsix. Some one seems to have remarked that itwould be more difficult to make; and thereuponthe skillful little lady folded a bit of paper andwith one clip of her scissors produced a star withfive points. The three gentlemen saw that hersuggestions were good, and General Washingtondrew up his chair to a table and made anothersketch according to her ideas.

Mrs. Ross could make wise suggestions aboutflags, but how to sew them she did not know;so it was arranged that she should call on ashipping merchant and borrow a flag from him.This she soon did. He opened a chest and took


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42 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGout a ship's flag to show her how the sewing wasdone. She carried it home to use as a guide, andwhen she reached the Httle house on Arch Street,she set to work to make the first flag bearing thestars and stripes. To try the effect, it was runup to the peak of one of the vessels in the Dela-ware, and the result was so pleasing that itwas carried into Congress on the day that it wascompleted. Congress approved of the work ofthe little lady. Colonel Ross told her to buy allthe material she could and make as many flagsas possible. And for more than fifty years shecontinued to make flags for the Government.

This is the account that has come down to us,not by tradition merely, but by written state-ments of Mrs. Ross's daughters, grandchil-dren, and others, to whom she often told thestory. Mrs. Ross says that this sample flag wasmade just before the Declaration of Independ-ence, although the Resolution endorsing it wasnot passed until June 14, 1777. This, however,would not argue to the incorrectness of the ac-count, for Congress had a fashion of writing withthe utmost brevity the results of its delibera-tions, and not putting in a word about the dis-cussions that must have taken place before thepassing of a resolution. Affairs of the utmost im-portance were on hand, and after all it was the


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THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG 43usefulness and convenience of the flag, ratherthan its sentiment or the fact of its havingcongressional authority, that was most in theminds of men, and it is not impossible that thisdesign was in use long before the date of its offi-cial recognition by Congress. The one realweakness in the story is its lack of contempo-rary evidence.The significance of the new flag no one has

expressed better than Washington. ''We takethe star from Heaven," he said, ''red from ourmother country, separating it by white stripes,thus showing that we have separated from her,and the white stripes shall go down to posterityrepresenting liberty."On the day of the passing of the resolution

about the Stars and Stripes, another one waspassed, which read as follows:

Resolved, That Captain John Paul Jones be ap-pointed to command the ship Ranger."The flag and I are twins, born the same

hour," said Captain Jones. The Ranger waslaunched in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, andthere her captain went to take command. Shehad no flag, but the captain was a favorite where-ever he went, and a group of Portsmouth girfssoon held a "quilting party," biit made a flag


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44 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGinstead of a quilt. Moreover, as silk enough ofthe proper colors could not be found in the storesof Portsmouth, they made it from breadths oftheir best silken gowns, red, white, and blue, thestory declares. Then Jones sailed away to seehow his little Ranger would behave when shemet a British man-of-war. He soon found out,for the Ranger and the Drake met in combat, andfor the first time a British man-of-war struck hercolors to the new flag. This same little silken flagwas the first to receive a genuine foreign salute.Early in 1778 the Ranger spoke the French fleet,off Brest Roads. Captain Jones was willing totake chances in a sea fight, but not in the mat-ter of a salute, and he sent a courteous note tothe French commander, informing him that theflag worn by the Ranger was the new Americanstandard, which had never yet received a salutefrom any foreign power. " If I offer a salute, willit be returned gun for gun?" he queried. Thereply was that the same salute would be givenas to an admiral of Holland, or any other re-public; that is, four guns less than the salutegiven. Captain Jones anchored in the entranceof the bay and sought for further information.He found that the reply of the admiral wascorrect and according to custom. Therefore, onthe following day, he sailed through the French


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THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG 45fleet, saluting with thirteen guns, and receivingnine. This was an acknowledgment of Americanindependence, and the first salute ever paid bya foreign naval power to the Stars and Stripes.It is true that a salute had been given to theAmerican brig, the Andrea Doria, before this,by the Governor of one of the West Indian Is-lands; but a salute which his Government im-mediately disowned and for which he was calledhome is rather an individual than a nationalsalute. Then, too, there is no proof that theflag flown by the Andrea Doria was the Starsand Stripes.After a while Jones was put in command ofthe Bon Homme Richard, a larger vessel thanthe Ranger, but she flew the same little silkenflag. Off Flamborough Head he came up withthe British Serapis. After two hours of fighting.Captain Pearson of the Serapis shouted, in amoment's lull, ''Have you struck your colorsyet?" **I haven't yet begun to fight," wasJones's reply. The two ships were lashed to-gether, guns burst, cartridges exploded, widegaps were torn out of the sides of both vessels."Have you struck?" cried the British captain."No!" thundered Paul Jones. At last the Ser-apis yielded; but the Bon Homme Richard wasfast sinking. Captain Jones left her and took


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46 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGpossession of the Serapis. The American vesselrolled and lurched and pitched and plunged.The little silken flag that had never been con-quered waved in the morning breeze for the lasttime, and then went down, ''flying on the shipthat conquered and captured the ship that sankher.''When Paul Jones returned to America he met

one of the young girls who had given him theflag. He told her how eagerly he had longed togive it back into the hands of those who hadgiven it to him four years earlier. "But, MissMary," he said, "I couldn't bear to strip itfrom the poor old ship in her last agony, norcould I deny to my dead on her decks, who hadgiven their lives to keep it flying, the glory oftaking it with them." In his journal he wroteeloquently and almost as simply:No one was now left aboard the Richard but her

dead. To them I gave the good old ship for theircoffin, and in her they found a sublime sepulcher.She rolled heavily in the long swell, her gun-deckawash to the port-sills, settled slowly by the head,and sank peacefully in about forty fathoms. Theensign-gaff, shot away in action, had been fished andput in place, soon after firing ceased, and our tornand tattered flag was left flying when we abandonedher. As she plunged down by the head at the last, hertaffrail momentarily rose in the air; so the very


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THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG 47last vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon HommeRichard was the defiant waving of her unconqueredand unstricken flag as she went down. And as I hadgiven them the good old ship for their sepulcher, Inow bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag theyhad so desperately defended, for their winding sheet!This is the story of the Portsmouth flag. At

first its truth was accepted without a doubt;then it was seriously questioned. Within the lastfew years, new evidence in the shape of familytradition has strengthened its position.


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CHAPTER VIIIFLAGS ONE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEEProbably the flag made by the skillful fingers

of Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Ross was sewed withthe tiniest of stitches imaginable; but it is ab-solutely certain that the flag which made itsappearance August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler,afterwards Fort Stanwix, was not put togetherwith any such daintiness of workmanship. Fortwenty days the little fort in the New Yorkwilderness, where Rome now stands, was be-sieged by British and Indians. Reinforcementsbrought the news of the adoption of the newflag. The troops within the fort had no flag, andtherefore, in true American fashion, they set towork to make one. There was not even a coun-try store to draw upon for materials, so theymade the best of what they had. As the storyhas been handed down, a white shirt provided thewhite stripes and the stars, and the petticoat ofa soldier's wife the red stripes. As for the blueground for the stars, it was cut from the cloak ofCaptain Abram Swartwout. The result was notvery elegant, but it was a flag, and it was the


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FLAGS WORTH SEEING 49flag, and the besieged men were as proud of itand stood for it as bravely as if it had been madeof damask with the daintiest of needlework.August 22, 1777, the fort was relieved, and aftera few days Captain Swartwout began to be anx-ious about his blue cloak. Colonel Peter Ganse-voort, who commanded the fort, had promisedhim a new one to take the place of the one whichhe had sacrificed for the flag, but it had notarrived. Seven days he waited. At the end ofthe seventh day he sent a note from Poughkeep-sie, where he then was, back to the fort, say-ing: "You may Remember Agreeable to Yourpromise, I was to have an Order for Eight Yardsof Broad-Cloath, on the Commissary for Cloath-ing of this State In Lieu of my Blue Cloak, whichwe Used for Coulours at Fort Schuyler. An op-portunity Now presenting itself, I beg You tosend me an Order.'* Broadcloth was broadclothin those days, and a ''Blue Cloak'* was not soeasily obtained. It is no wonder he wrote it withcapitals. It is to be hoped that the good captainreceived his order ; but it must have been a verylarge cloak to require eight yards of "Broad-Cloath."Another interesting banner was that borne by

Count Pulaski, a gallant Pole, who came to helpin the struggle for freedom. He visited Lafayette


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50 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGwhen the Frenchman was wounded and in thecare of the Moravian Sisterhood in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. The embroidery of these Sisterswas very beautiful, and Pulaski engaged them tomake him a banner, which they did. On one sidewere the letters ''U.S.," and on the other thethirteen stars in a circle, surrounding an eyewhich is rather uncomfortably set in a triangle.They made a mistake in spelling their Latinmotto, but the crimson banner, with its silverfringe and its exquisite embroidery, was veryhandsome. Longfellow's poem about this ban-ner, "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Beth-lehem," is excellent poetry, but hardly accu-rate history. It is quite probable that the goodwomen sent the banner forth with their blessing,but it is rather doubtful whether they said any-thing like the following :

"Take thy banner, and if e'erThou shouldst press the soldier's bier,And the muffled drums should beatTo the tread of mournful feet,Then this crimson flag shall beMartial cloak and shroud for thee";

for the beautiful little banner was only twentyinches square! When Lafayette visited thiscountry in 1824, this little flag was borne in theprocession which welcomed him to Baltimore.


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FLAGS WORTH SEEING 51In the midst of the grief and horrors of war,

there was one day when all the armed ships inthe Delaware River were ablaze with the colorsof the United States in token of rejoicing. Itwas July 4, 1777, the first anniversary of theDeclaration of Independence. Thirteen cannonwere fired, a great dinner was served to the mem-bers of Congress and the officials of the army andof the State. The Hessian band, which had beencaptured at Trenton six months previously, per-formed some of their merriest music. Toastsfollowed the dinner, each one honored by a dis-charge of artillery and small arms and a pieceof music by the Hessians. At night the city wasilluminated and the streets resounded with hur-rahs and the ringing of bells. Then came fire-works, which began and ended with thirteenrockets in honor of the thirteen United States.

''Thirteen" appeared not only as the numberof stars on the flag, but everywhere else, and atValley Forge, in the rejoicing over the new alli-ance with France, the officers marched up tothe place of entertainment thirteen abreast andwith arm linked in arm. A disrespectful Eng-lish paper declared that the "rebels " ate thirteendried clams a day, that it took thirteen '' Con-gress paper dollars " to equal one English shilling,that "every well-organized rebel household has


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52 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGthirteen children, all of whom expect to be ma-jor-generals or members of the high and mightycongress of the thirteen United States when theyattain the age of thirteen years."When the war had come to an end, the artist

Copley was in London working on the portraitof an American, Elkanah Watson. In the back-ground of the portrait was a ship supposed to bebearing to America the news of the acknowledg-ment of Independence. The rising sun was shin-ing upon the place where the flag should havebeen, but no flag was there. Copley's studio wasoften visited by the royal family, so he waited.But a day came when the artist heard the speechof the King acknowledging the Independence ofAmerica. He went straightway to his studio andpainted in the flag floating in the rays of therising sun.Soon after the close of the war, a wide-

awake skipper of Nantucket, who had somewhale oil to sell, appeared at London. Nantucketwas so helpless for both offense and defense thatit had remained neutral, and the captain hadreceived from Admiral Digby a license to go toLondon. A London magazine of the time said,**This is the first vessel which has displayed thethirteen rebellious stripes of America in anyBritish port." Nobody knew exactly what to


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FLAGS WORTH SEEING 53do, but apparently the whale oil was soon sold,for the enterprising whaler returned directly toNantucket.

In October, 1783, most of the British troopshad sailed away from the United States, but SirGuy Carleton was delayed in New York waitingfor vessels. When the day came for him to leavethe city, a strong, determined woman who kepta boarding-house brought out a United Statesflag and ran it up on a pole in front of her house.Down the street came a British officer with head-long speed. "We do not evacuate this city untilnoon. Haul down that flag! " he shouted angrily.''That flag went up to stay, and it will not behauled down!" declared the indignant house-keeper, and went on sweeping in front of herdoor. "Then I will pull it down myself," thun-dered the irate officer, and set to work. But thehalyards were entangled, and all the officer'sswearing and scolding did not help matters. Themilitant lady of the broom then applied herweapon to the officer. The powder flew from hiswig in a cloud, and at last he himself had to fly,leaving the flag to float serenely on the morningbreeze. This encounter has been called the lastbattle of the Revolution.

Before leaving Fort George, at the foot ofBroadway, in New York, the British soldiers mis-


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54 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGchievously nailed their flag to the top of the pole,took down the halyards, greased the pole fromtop to bottom, and knocked off the cleats. Theydid not know how well the American boys couldclimb; in a very short time new cleats were nailedon, the English flag was pulled down, and the Starsand Stripes floated from the top of the pole.-News of King George's proclamation did notreach the United States till the middle of April,

and then there was rejoicing, indeed. It is nowonder that the joy of the country at the closingof the war burst out in celebrations and silkenflags. The diary of President Stiles, of Yale,tells what took place in New Haven. It readsas follows :

April 24, 1783. Public rejoicing for the Peace inNew Haven. At sunrise thirteen cannon dischargedin the Green, and the continental flag displayed, beinga grand silk flag presented by the ladies, cost 120 dol-lars. The stripes red and white, with an azure fieldin the upper part charged with thirteen stars. On thesame field and among the stars was the arms of theUnited States, the field of which contained a ship, aplough, and three sheaves of wheat; the crest an eaglevolant; the supporters two white horses. The armswere put on with paint and gilding. It took yards.When displayed it appeared well.The patriotic ladies who presented the flag

had taken the arms and motto, *' Virtue, Liberty,


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FLAGS WORTH SEEING 55Independence," from the title-page of a familyBible; but unluckily, this Bible, having beenpublished in Philadelphia, displayed the armsand motto, not of the United States, but ofPennsylvania. The moral is, learn the arms ofyour country.


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CHAPTER IXTHE FLAG OF FIFTEEN STRIPES AND

FIFTEEN STARSThe worthy fathers of our country were long-sighted men. In many respects they peered far

into the future and they laid well the foundationsfor a great republic. One thing, however, theyforgot ; when they chose a design for a flag withthirteen stripes and a circle of thirteen stars,they did not realize that the number of Stateswould probably increase, and that these Stateswould wish to be represented on the flag. In1 79 Vermont was admitted as a State, and in1792 Kentucky also came into the Union. In1 794 the Senate passed a bill increasing to fi fteenthe number of both stripes and stars. This billwas sent to the House, and then came excitingtimes. Some members thought it of great im-portance not to offend new States by giving themno recognition on the flag. Others called it dis-honorable to waste time over what one mancalled "a consummate piece of frivolity," whenmatters *'of infinitely greater consequence"ought to be discussed. Another declared that


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FIFTEEN STRIPES AND STARS 57the Senate sent the bill for the want of somethingbetter to do. Yet another honorable member didnot think it worth while either to adopt or rejectthe proposed law, but supposed "the shortestway to get rid of it was to agree to it." Whetherto **get rid of it" or not, the bill was passed, andwent into effect May i, 1795.This flag of fifteen stripes and fifteen stars wasthe one worn by the frigate Constitution, "Old

Ironsides." When, in 1830, it was reported thatthis vessel, with its magnificent record, was to bebroken up. Holmes wrote his stirring poem, "OldIronsides," which ends:

"Oh, better that her shattered hulkShould sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,And there should be her grave;Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,And give her to the god of storms,The lightning and the gale!"

It was this flag under which we went forth tothree wars, each one fought to uphold the rightsof American citizens. The first was with France,the second with Tripoli, and the third with GreatBritain. It had long been the custom for nationsusing the Mediterranean Sea to pay tribute tothe pirates of Tripoli. In 1800 Captain Bain-bridge carried the annual tribute to Algiers. It


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58 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGseemed that the Dey wished to send an ambas-sador to Constantinople, and under threat ofcapture Captain Bainbridge was ordered tocarry him there. The captain obeyed, but veryunwilHngly. When the new flag appeared atConstantinople, it was reported to the Sultanthat a ship from the United States of Americawas in the harbor. "What's that?" he de-manded. " I never heard of that nation." "Theylive in the New World which Columbus dis-covered," was the reply. The Sultan had heardof Columbus, and he sent to the frigate a bou-quet of flowers in welcome, and a lamp in tokenof friendship.The Dey of Algiers became dissatisfied with

the tribute paid by America, and declaredhaughtily that if he did not receive from ourcountry a handsome present within six months,he should declare war. This he did, but to hisgreat surprise a small American fleet, under thefifteen stars and stripes, sailed up to his city andbegan to bombard it. It was not long before hebecame the very picture of meekness. He freedall his American captives, paid well for all theproperty that he had destroyed, and the Medi-terranean Sea became safe for commerce.

In 1803 the United States purchased fromFrance the immense Louisiana Territory. The


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FIFTEEN STRIPES AND STARS 59French flag was hauled down and the flag of theUnited States was raised in token of the changeof ownership. This country had first been inthe hands of Spain, and the Spaniards had pre-sented flags to various Indians. When Lieuten-ant Z. M. Pike made a journey of exploration inthe new territory, he came to an Indian villagewhere there was quite a display of Spanish ban-ners. The Lieutenant made a little speech to theIndians, and said among other things that theSpanish flag at the chief's door ought to be givenup to him and the flag of the United States putin its place. The Indians listened, but madeno reply. Lieutenant Pike spoke again to thesame effect. "Your nation cannot have two fa-thers," he said. **You must be the children ofthe Spaniards or else of the Americans." The redmen sat in silence awhile, then an old man arose,walked slowly to the door, took the Spanish flagdown, and put the American in its place. Thenhe gave the flag of Spain to his followers, biddingthem, "Never hoist this again while the Amer-icans are here." Surely, the old chief must havebeen akin to Dr. John Cotton of Colonial fame.This scene occurred in what is now Kansas, andis thought to have been the first raising of theUnited States flag in that State.The banner of fifteen stripes and fifteen stars


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6o THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGhas a proud record, for this was the flag that in-spired Francis Scott Key to write ''The Star-Spangled Banner." Every one knows the storyof the poem, how the author and an agent forthe exchange of prisoners went on board a Brit-ish vessel in 1 8 14 to try to secure the release of aphysician who had been captured. The Englishadmiral granted their request, but as he wasabout to attack Fort McHenry, he told themthat they would not be permitted to return atonce, but must remain on their own vessel, witha British guard, until the fort was reduced. Ifthis order had been carried out, they would havebeen on board to-day, for the fort never was re-duced. All day the Americans could see theStars and Stripes flying over its ramparts, inspiteof attacks by sea and by land. Night came,and it was only by "the rockets' red glare, thebombs bursting in air," that they knew whetherthe fort yet stood. At length the firing ceased,and all was darkness. They could do nothing butwait for the first rays of morning in the hope that"by the dawn's early light" they could catch aglimpse of the flag and know that the fort hadnot yielded, that "our flag was still there," andthat the British were retreating. Then it was thatKey wrote, on the back of an old envelope, "TheStar-Spangled Banner," and put into it such a


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FIFTEEN STRIPES AND STARS 6ithrill of sincerity that it is just as throbbing withlife and patriotism as it was on that Septemberdawn a century ago. The banner that inspiredthe poem is in the National Museum in Wash-ington.

Francis Scott Key died in Baltimore in 1843,and is buried in Frederick, Maryland. Over hisgrave a large national flag flies day and night,never removed save when wear and tear makea new flag necessary. In Baltimore a noblemonument has been reared in his honor. It issurmounted by the figure of the poet, who waveshis hat with one hand and with the other pointsjoyfully toward the fort. The figure is so life-likethat one almost expects it to cry,

" And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."A few months after ''The Star-Spangled Ban-

ner" was written, a plan was formed to rearin the city of Baltimore a monument in honorof George Washington. It was fitting that theplace of his birth should also be marked, and afew days before the laying of the corner-stoneof the monument, a little company sailed fromAlexandria, Virginia, to Pope's Creek, West-moreland County, where Washington was born.With them they carried a simple freestone slab


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62 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGon which was chiseled his name and the date ofhis birth. Wrapped in the banner of fifteen stars,it was borne reverently to its resting-place bythe hands of the descendants of four Revolu-tionary patriots.


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CHAPTER XTHE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

"Time makes ancient good uncouth," saidLowell, and so it was with the flag. The flag offifteen stars and fifteen stripes that was decreedin 1795 then represented each State; but in lessthan one year it was out of date. Tennessee hadcome into the Union. Then followed Ohio, Louis-iana, and Indiana. Here were four States with norepresentation in the colors of the country. Then,too, people began to realize that in giving up thethirteen stripes they had lost their old significant"Thirteen," and dropped a valuable historicalassociation. At length the matter came beforeCongress, and for nearly sixteen months it re-mained there. Occasionally there was some littlediscussion about it. One member proposed thatthe matter be postponed indefinitely. " Are youwilling to neglect the banner of freedom?" de-manded another. Yet another thought it un-necessary to insist upon thirteen stripes, andthought they might as well fix upon nine oreleven or any other arbitrary number as thirteen.


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64 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGThe committee pleaded for the significant thir-teen, and so it went on. At length Peter H.Wendover, of New York, through whose effortsCongress was held to its duty, called the atten-tion of the House to the fact that the Govern-ment itself was paying no respect to its own lawsin regard to the flag; that the law demandedfifteen stripes, but that Congress was at thatmoment displaying a banner of thirteen stripesthat the navy yard and the marine barrackswere flying flags of eighteen stripes ; and that dur-ing the first session of the preceding Congressthe flag floating over their deliberations had had,from some unknown cause or other, only ninestripes.

It is small wonder that after such an arraign-ment as this the lawmakers aroused themselves.The following bill was passed, and was signed byPresident Monroe, April 4, 1818:Section i. Beit enacted, etc., That from and after

the fourth day of July next, the flag of the UnitedStates be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate redand white; that the union have twenty stars, whitein a blue field.Section 2. Be it further enacted, That on theadmission of every new State into the Union, onestar be added to the union of the flag; and that suchaddition shall take effect on the fourth of July nextsucceeding such admission.


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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 65So it was that the flag of the United States

was finally decided upon. Captain S. C. Reiddesigned it, and his wife made a specimen flag,which was hoisted on the flagstaff of the Houseof Representatives a few days after the lawlegalizing it was passed. Forty-one years later,in 1859, Congress formally thanked CaptainReid. The one weak point in this law was thatthe arrangement of the stars on the blue fieldwas left to the taste of the owner of the flag.Captain Reid arranged them in one large star;but it was evident that if this plan was continued,as new States were admitted, the stars wouldbecome too small to be seen distinctly. TheNavy Commissioners issued the order that innaval flags the stars should be arranged in fiverows, four stars in a row; but for many yearsmerchant vessels paid small attention to thisdecree. Indeed, in 1837 the Dutch Governmentinquired, with all respect, "What is the Americanflag?'* Twenty years later an observant manin Jersey City amused himself on the Fourth ofJuly by noting the numerous fashions in whichthe stars were arranged. He said that all flagshad the thirteen stripes though not alwaysin the proper order but that he had countednine different fashions in which the stars werearranged. They appeared in one large star, in a


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66 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGlozenge, a diamond, or a circle, and one vesselin the river flaunted an anchor formed of stars.It was suggested that Congress ought to ordersome regular arrangement, but Congress did nottake the hint. The Secretary of War and theSecretary of the Navy gave orders in 1912, afterthe admission of New Mexico and Arizona, thatthe stars, now forty-eight, should be arranged insix rows of eight stars each. This was approvedby the President, but no decree has been passedby Congress.

Until 1866 our country's flag was manufac-tured in a foreign land. Bunting in a flag hasa hard life. It must meet sun, wind, and storm;it must be light enough to float at every breezeand strong enough to endure severe wear. At-tempts had been made many years earlier tomake bunting in the United States, and flagsof home manufacture had been tried again andagain, but they had never stood the tests. In1865, however, Congress put a duty of forty percent on imported bunting, and also made itlawful for the Government to purchase its flagsin the United States. With this duty manufac-turers could compete with the lower wages paidin England, and now it became worth while toset to work in earnest. Within a year the thinghad been done. A company in Lowell, Massachu-


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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 67setts, presented to the Senate a flag manufac-tured in the United States. It was hoisted overthe Capitol, and for the first time this country,then ninety years old, floated over its Congress abanner of bunting woven and made "at home.'*This banner stood all the tests, and soon theprice of the material was greatly reduced. Sincethe manufacture of this flag all bunting used inflags for the navy has come from Lowell. It mustbe of a fixed weight and strength and must beabsolutely fast color in sun and rain. Theseflags are made in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, andthey must be accurate in every detail. Even thenumber of stitches to the inch is a matter of rule.After the stripes have been sewed together andthe stars stitched upon the canton, the hoist, orend of the flag which is to be next to the staff, isfirmly bound with canvas, and the lines, etc.,attached. Then the flag is stamped with thedate. Many silken flags are used in the navy, butthese are made entirely by hand.A warship must have not only her own flags,but those of foreign countries, sometimes twohundred and fifty or more. Some of these flagsare of very complicated design, and the flag-makers tried the experiment of painting the de-signs on the bunting. This was not a success,because the flags stuck together, and now the


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68 THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAGwhole design is worked out in bunting. Thenavy makes its own flags, but the War Depart-ment buys what are needed. Manufacturersmake large numbers for general sale; betweennine and ten million a year even in times ofpeace.The pet name, "Old Glory," is believed to

have been given to the flag by Captain WilliamDriver. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts,became a shipmaster, and at length made hishome in Nashville, Tennessee. When the CivilWar broke out, he stood boldly by the Union,even though his own family were against him.More than thirty years before this date, just ashe was starting on a voyage, some of his friendsmade him a present of a handsome Americanflag. When the breeze first caught it and spreadout its folds. Captain Driver exclaimed, **01dGlory!" and ''Old Glory" it was to him all theyears of his life. The flag went to Tennessee withhim, and was hung out on every day of publicrejoicing. When the war broke out, his Confed-erate neighbors tried their best to get possessionof that flag; but they did not realize the resourcesof the old captain. Sailors know how to sew, andhe had carefully quilted his beloved banner intohis comforter. No wonder that he had not theleast objection to having his house searched for


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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 69it. When the Union troops entered the city,Captain Driver asked permission to run up hisflag over the State Capitol. This was granted,and with an escort he marched to the buildingand ran up the flag. As he stood gazing at it withtears in his eyes, he said, "I have always saidthat if I could see it float over that Capitol, Ishould have lived long en

Documents

(1917) The Little Book of the Flag