"But hear, O ye swains,—'tis 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."
"But hear, O ye swains,—'tis 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."
"But hear, O ye swains,—'tis 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."
During the summer following the battle of Bunker Hill, the colonies had a congress without authority, a commander-in-chief without money, and an army without discipline, equipments, or flag—or rather, with so many flags that they must have had little significance except to the respective groups of men who had marched under each. Before Christmas a flag was designed and made, but how, where, and by whom is not known. Neither Washington nor Franklin gives any information, and theJournalof Congress says nothing about its designer or maker. It is true that a committee of three,—all signers of the Declaration of Independence a few months later,—Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, whose son Benjamin was afterwards to become President of the United States, and Thomas Lynch, of South Carolina, were sent by Congress to Cambridge, to discuss with Washington and others many necessary questions, but there is no proof that the design of a flag was amongthem. The flag, however, was made. This was what is known as the "Grand Union Flag." The British flag, red with a blue union, marked by the upright cross of St. George and the diagonal cross of St. Andrew, was known as the "Union Flag," because it typified, as has been said before, the union of England and Scotland. The new flag retained the blue union with its two crosses, but instead of a red field it had red and white stripes. These thirteen stripes represented the thirteen colonies; the blue union suggested that the colonies still clung to the mother country.
Where the idea of using stripes came from is a question that has never been solved. The Philadelphia Troop had thirteen stripes on their banner, but they were blue and white. Washington's coat of arms contained red and white stripes; but Washington was too modest a man to suggest using his own family arms, and as to any one's suggesting it for him, it must be remembered that he was not yet the revered "Father of his Country," but simply a Virginia planter of forty-three years who had been successful in fighting the Indians, and who, because of his good judgment and uprightness of character, had been made a member of the Virginia Legislature and then of the Continental Congress.The flag of the Netherlands—but chosen thirty years after the Pilgrims left that country for America—was red, white, and blue, in three horizontal stripes. The ensign of the English East India Company was a flag of thirteen horizontal red and white stripes with a white canton containing a red St. George's Cross; but there is no reason to suppose that this inspired the flag of the colonies. Bunting was scarce and Franklin was always a thrifty soul. If that committee of three did design the flag, it is not at all unlikely that Franklin suggested utilizing the standards they already had, and changing their character by stitching on white stripes. To deface the flag of Britain was a serious offense, and maybe it was thought just as well that the name of the originator of this "Grand Union" should not be on record. The flag was first raised on the 1st of January, 1776, in what is now Somerville, on Prospect Hill, and was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen rousing cheers. It was seen by the British troops in Boston, and for some reason they took it as a sign of submission brought about by the King's hostile proclamation, which they supposed had been read in Cambridge. Washington wrote:—
Before the proclamation came to hand, we had hoisted the Union Flag in compliment to the UnitedColonies. But, behold, it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission. By this time, I presume, they begin to think it strange that we have not made a formal surrender of our lines.
Before the proclamation came to hand, we had hoisted the Union Flag in compliment to the UnitedColonies. But, behold, it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission. By this time, I presume, they begin to think it strange that we have not 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 and land. On the sea the favorite seems to have been a white flag displaying a green pine tree. One year after the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts formally decreed that this flag should be used on her vessels, and that their officers should wear a green and white uniform. Even two years later than this, the Pine-Tree Flag was borne by floating batteries on the Delaware River. Sometimes the British ran up an American flag to deceive the colonial vessels, and sometimes the colonists ran up a flag made of horizontal red and white stripes to persuade the British that it was one of their own signal flags. Sometimes rattlesnake flags were used.
Congress ordered the building of war vessels as promptly as possible, five cruisers first of all. The Alfred, on which John Paul Jones was lieutenant, became the flagship of Commander-in-Chief Esek Hopkins. This vessel was of English build and had been employed in commerce for nine or ten years, making two voyages to the IndianOcean during that time. She had space for two hundred and twenty men, and had sixteen guns, carried for the benefit of pirates. She had been put in full repair and had now become a frigate of twenty-eight guns. Such was the first vessel of the Continental Navy. An old account of the embarkation of Commodore Hopkins at Philadelphia 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 every masthead and spar on the river. At nine o'clock a full-manned barge threaded its way among the floating ice to the Alfred, bearing the commodore, who had chosen that vessel for his flagship. He was greeted with thunders of artillery and the shouts of the multitude.
The Alfred was anchored at the foot of Walnut Street. On a brilliant morning early in February, 1776, gay streamers were seen floating from every masthead and spar on the river. At nine o'clock a full-manned barge threaded its way among the floating ice to the Alfred, bearing the commodore, who had chosen that vessel for his flagship. He was greeted with thunders of artillery and the shouts of the multitude.
When he stepped on board the deck of the Alfred, Captain Saltonstall gave a signal, and Lieutenant Jones hoisted a new flag prepared for the occasion. It is believed to have displayed a union with thirteen stripes crossed by a rattlesnake in some position, with the ominous motto, "Don't tread on me." When the flag reached the mast-head, the crowds cheered and the guns fired a salute,—as well they might, for this was the first ensign ever flung to the breeze on an American man-of-war. Paul Jones appreciatedthe honor of raising it, but he was no admirer of the rattlesnake flag. In his journal he wrote:—
I was always at loss to know by what queer fancy or by whose notion that device was first adopted. For my own part, I never could see how or why a venomous serpent could be the combatant emblem of a brave and honest folk fighting to be free. Of course I had no choice but to break the pennant as it was given to me. But I always abhorred the device.
I was always at loss to know by what queer fancy or by whose notion that device was first adopted. For my own part, I never could see how or why a venomous serpent could be the combatant emblem of a brave and honest folk fighting to be free. Of course I had no choice but to break the pennant as it was given to me. But I always abhorred the device.
Three weeks after the Alfred was put in commission, the little fleet sailed away from Philadelphia amid the cheers of thousands of people. One of the eye-witnesses said that the ships wore the Union Flag with thirteen stripes in the field. Of the admiral's flag an English writer said, "We learn that the vessels bearing this flag have a sort of commission from a society of people at Philadelphia, calling themselves the continental congress." Scornfully as he spoke of Congress, there is at least one record of which it may be proud. Franklin, under its authority, issued letters of marque with a lavish hand, but, hard-pressed as the colonists were, he bade John Paul Jones "not to burn defenseless towns on the British coast except in case of military necessity; and in such cases he was to give notice, so that the women and children with the sick and aged inhabitants might be removed betimes." Moreover,he bade all American cruisers if they chanced to meet Captain Cook, the great English explorer of that day, to "forget the temporary quarrel in which they were fighting and not merely suffer him to pass unmolested, but offer him every aid and service in their power."
The "society of people at Philadelphia calling themselves the continental congress" had had, so far as records go, nothing to do with choosing any flag. The "Grand Union" unfurled at Cambridge was regarded as symbolizing the union of colonies, but no one knows who designed it or chose it. To alter the design of our flag to-day would be a very serious matter, but the colonies were so accustomed to the making of flags according to the whim of some militia company or some sea captain that the appearance of a new design, especially one so slightly changed from the familiar flag of the mother country, cannot have created any great sensation. Moreover, flags were not for sale at department stores; they had to be ordered, and in this time of war, bunting was not easy to procure. Flag-makers were few, and many a captain sailed away with a flag manufactured by his wife's own unaccustomed hands.
July 4, 1776, less than fifteen months after the battle of Lexington, it was declared in Congress"That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." June 14, 1777, the following resolution was adopted:—
Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.
Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.
So much for the share that Congress had in the flag. The story of the making of the first flag with stars and stripes is as follows. Betsy Ross, or, to speak more respectfully, Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Ross, lived on Arch Street, Philadelphia, in a tiny house of two stories and an attic. She was called the most skillful needlewoman in the city, and there is a tradition that before Washington became commander-in-chief, she embroidered ruffles for his shirts—quite an important branch of fine sewing in those days. Whether she ever embroidered the great man's ruffles or not, it is said that, whenever folk wanted any especially fine work done, they always went to "Betsy Ross." She could do more than sew, for she could draw freehand the complicated patterns that were used in quilting, the supreme proof of artistic ability in the household. One day three gentlemen entered her house through its humble doorway. One was her uncle by marriage, Colonel Ross; one is thought to have been Robert Morris;one was General Washington. The commander-in-chief told her that they had come from Congress to ask her if she could make a flag. "I don't know," she replied, "but I can try." Then they showed her a rough sketch of a flag and asked what she thought of it. She replied that she thought it ought to be longer, that a flag looked better if the length was one third greater than the width. She ventured to make two more suggestions. One was that the stars which they had scattered irregularly over the blue canton would look better if they were arranged in some regular form, such as a circle or a star or in parallel rows. The second suggestion was that a star with five points was prettier than one with six. Some one seems to have remarked that it would be more difficult to make; and thereupon the skillful little lady folded a bit of paper and with one clip of her scissors produced a star with five points. The three gentlemen saw that her suggestions were good, and General Washington drew up his chair to a table and made another sketch according to her ideas.
Mrs. Ross could make wise suggestions about flags, but how to sew them she did not know; so it was arranged that she should call on a shipping merchant and borrow a flag from him. This she soon did. He opened a chest and tookout a ship's flag to show her how the sewing was done. She carried it home to use as a guide, and when she reached the little house on Arch Street, she set to work to make the first flag bearing the stars and stripes. To try the effect, it was run up to the peak of one of the vessels in the Delaware, and the result was so pleasing that it was carried into Congress on the day that it was completed. Congress approved of the work of the little lady. Colonel Ross told her to buy all the material she could and make as many flags as possible. And for more than fifty years she continued to make flags for the Government.
This is the account that has come down to us, not by tradition merely, but by written statements of Mrs. Ross's daughters, grandchildren, and others, to whom she often told the story. Mrs. Ross says that this sample flag was made just before the Declaration of Independence, although the Resolution endorsing it was not passed until June 14, 1777. This, however, would not argue to the incorrectness of the account, for Congress had a fashion of writing with the utmost brevity the results of its deliberations, and not putting in a word about the discussions that must have taken place before the passing of a resolution. Affairs of the utmost importance were on hand, and after all it was theusefulness and convenience of the flag, rather than its sentiment or the fact of its having congressional authority, that was most in the minds of men, and it is not impossible that this design was in use long before the date of its official recognition by Congress. The one real weakness in the story is its lack of contemporary evidence.
The significance of the new flag no one has expressed better than Washington. "We take the star from Heaven," he said, "red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."
On the day of the passing of the resolution about the Stars and Stripes, another one was passed, which read as follows:—
Resolved, That Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the ship Ranger.
Resolved, That Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the ship Ranger.
"The flag and I are twins, born the same hour," said Captain Jones. The Ranger was launched in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and there her captain went to take command. She had no flag, but the captain was a favoritewhereever he went, and a group of Portsmouth girls soon held a "quilting party," but made a flaginstead of a quilt. Moreover, as silk enough of the proper colors could not be found in the stores of Portsmouth, they made it from breadths of their best silken gowns, red, white, and blue, the story declares. Then Jones sailed away to see how his little Ranger would behave when she met a British man-of-war. He soon found out, for the Ranger and the Drake met in combat, and for the first time a British man-of-war struck her colors to the new flag. This same little silken flag was the first to receive a genuine foreign salute. Early in 1778 the Ranger spoke the French fleet, off Brest Roads. Captain Jones was willing to take chances in a sea fight, but not in the matter of a salute, and he sent a courteous note to the French commander, informing him that the flag worn by the Ranger was the new American standard, which had never yet received a salute from any foreign power. "If I offer a salute, will it be returned gun for gun?" he queried. The reply was that the same salute would be given as to an admiral of Holland, or any other republic; that is, four guns less than the salute given. Captain Jones anchored in the entrance of the bay and sought for further information. He found that the reply of the admiral was correct and according to custom. Therefore, on the following day, he sailed through the Frenchfleet, saluting with thirteen guns, and receiving nine. This was an acknowledgment of American independence, and the first salute ever paid by a foreign naval power to the Stars and Stripes. It is true that a salute had been given to the American brig, the Andrea Doria, before this, by the Governor of one of the West Indian Islands; but a salute which his Government immediately disowned and for which he was called home is rather an individual than a national salute. Then, too, there is no proof that the flag flown by the Andrea Doria was the Stars and Stripes.
After a while Jones was put in command of the Bon Homme Richard, a larger vessel than the Ranger, but she flew the same little silken flag. Off Flamborough Head he came up with the British Serapis. After two hours of fighting, Captain Pearson of the Serapis shouted, in a moment's lull, "Have you struck your colors yet?" "I haven't yet begun to fight," was Jones's reply. The two ships were lashed together, guns burst, cartridges exploded, wide gaps were torn out of the sides of both vessels. "Have you struck?" cried the British captain. "No!" thundered Paul Jones. At last the Serapis yielded; but the Bon Homme Richard was fast sinking. Captain Jones left her and tookpossession of the Serapis. The American vessel rolled and lurched and pitched and plunged. The little silken flag that had never been conquered waved in the morning breeze for the last time, and then went down, "flying on the ship that conquered and captured the ship that sank her."
When Paul Jones returned to America he met one of the young girls who had given him the flag. He told her how eagerly he had longed to give it back into the hands of those who had given it to him four years earlier. "But, Miss Mary," he said, "I couldn't bear to strip it from the poor old ship in her last agony, nor could I deny to my dead on her decks, who had given their lives to keep it flying, the glory of taking it with them." In his journal he wrote eloquently and almost as simply:—
No one was now left aboard the Richard but her dead. To them I gave the good old ship for their coffin, and in her they found a sublime sepulcher. She rolled heavily in the long swell, her gun-deck awash to the port-sills, settled slowly by the head, and sank peacefully in about forty fathoms. The ensign-gaff, shot away in action, had been fished and put in place, soon after firing ceased, and our torn and tattered flag was left flying when we abandoned her. As she plunged down by the head at the last, her taffrail momentarily rose in the air; so the verylast vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon Homme Richard was the defiant waving of her unconquered and unstricken flag as she went down. And as I had given them the good old ship for their sepulcher, I now bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag they had so desperately defended, for their winding sheet!
No one was now left aboard the Richard but her dead. To them I gave the good old ship for their coffin, and in her they found a sublime sepulcher. She rolled heavily in the long swell, her gun-deck awash to the port-sills, settled slowly by the head, and sank peacefully in about forty fathoms. The ensign-gaff, shot away in action, had been fished and put in place, soon after firing ceased, and our torn and tattered flag was left flying when we abandoned her. As she plunged down by the head at the last, her taffrail momentarily rose in the air; so the verylast vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon Homme Richard was the defiant waving of her unconquered and unstricken flag as she went down. And as I had given them the good old ship for their sepulcher, I now bequeathed to my immortal dead the flag they had 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 last few years, new evidence in the shape of family tradition has strengthened its position.
Probably the flag made by the skillful fingers of Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom Ross was sewed with the tiniest of stitches imaginable; but it is absolutely certain that the flag which made its appearance August 3, 1777, at Fort Schuyler, afterwards Fort Stanwix, was not put together with any such daintiness of workmanship. For twenty days the little fort in the New York wilderness, where Rome now stands, was besieged by British and Indians. Reinforcements brought the news of the adoption of the new flag. The troops within the fort had no flag, and therefore, in true American fashion, they set to work to make one. There was not even a country store to draw upon for materials, so they made the best of what they had. As the story has been handed down, a white shirt provided the white stripes and the stars, and the petticoat of a soldier's wife the red stripes. As for the blue ground for the stars, it was cut from the cloak of Captain Abram Swartwout. The result was not very elegant, but it was a flag, and it wastheflag, and the besieged men were as proud of it and stood for it as bravely as if it had been made of damask with the daintiest of needlework. August 22, 1777, the fort was relieved, and after a few days Captain Swartwout began to be anxious about his blue cloak. Colonel Peter Gansevoort, who commanded the fort, had promised him a new one to take the place of the one which he had sacrificed for the flag, but it had not arrived. Seven days he waited. At the end of the seventh day he sent a note from Poughkeepsie, where he then was, back to the fort, saying: "You may Remember Agreeable to Your promise, I was to have an Order for Eight Yards of Broad-Cloath, on the Commissary for Cloathing of this State In Lieu of my Blue Cloak, which we Used for Coulours at Fort Schuyler. An opportunity Now presenting itself, I beg You to send me an Order." Broadcloth was broadcloth in those days, and a "Blue Cloak" was not so easily obtained. It is no wonder he wrote it with capitals. It is to be hoped that the good captain received his order; but it must have been a very large cloak to require eight yards of "Broad-Cloath."
Another interesting banner was that borne by Count Pulaski, a gallant Pole, who came to help in the struggle for freedom. He visited Lafayettewhen the Frenchman was wounded and in the care of the Moravian Sisterhood in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The embroidery of these Sisters was very beautiful, and Pulaski engaged them to make him a banner, which they did. On one side were the letters "U.S.," and on the other the thirteen stars in a circle, surrounding an eye which is rather uncomfortably set in a triangle. They made a mistake in spelling their Latin motto, but the crimson banner, with its silver fringe and its exquisite embroidery, was very handsome. Longfellow's poem about this banner, "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem," is excellent poetry, but hardly accurate history. It is quite probable that the good women sent the banner forth with their blessing, but it is rather doubtful whether they said anything 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";—
"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";—
"Take thy banner, and if e'er
Thou shouldst press the soldier's bier,
And the muffled drums should beat
To the tread of mournful feet,
Then this crimson flag shall be
Martial cloak and shroud for thee";—
for the beautiful little banner was only twenty inches square! When Lafayette visited this country in 1824, this little flag was borne in the procession which welcomed him to Baltimore.
In the midst of the grief and horrors of war, there was one day when all the armed ships in the Delaware River were ablaze with the colors of the United States in token of rejoicing. It was July 4, 1777, the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Thirteen cannon were fired, a great dinner was served to the members of Congress and the officials of the army and of the State. The Hessian band, which had been captured at Trenton six months previously, performed some of their merriest music. Toasts followed the dinner, each one honored by a discharge of artillery and small arms and a piece of music by the Hessians. At night the city was illuminated and the streets resounded with hurrahs and the ringing of bells. Then came fireworks, which began and ended with thirteen rockets in honor of the thirteen United States.
"Thirteen" appeared not only as the number of stars on the flag, but everywhere else, and at Valley Forge, in the rejoicing over the new alliance with France, the officers marched up to the place of entertainment thirteen abreast and with arm linked in arm. A disrespectful English paper declared that the "rebels" ate thirteen dried clams a day, that it took thirteen "Congress paper dollars" to equal one English shilling, that "every well-organized rebel household hasthirteen children, all of whom expect to be major-generals or members of the high and mighty congress of the thirteen United States when they attain the age of thirteen years."
When the war had come to an end, the artist Copley was in London working on the portrait of an American, Elkanah Watson. In the background of the portrait was a ship supposed to be bearing to America the news of the acknowledgment of Independence. The rising sun was shining upon the place where the flag should have been, but no flag was there. Copley's studio was often visited by the royal family, so he waited. But a day came when the artist heard the speech of the King acknowledging the Independence of America. He went straightway to his studio and painted in the flag floating in the rays of the rising sun.
Soon after the close of the war, a wide-awake skipper of Nantucket, who had some whale oil to sell, appeared at London. Nantucket was so helpless for both offense and defense that it had remained neutral, and the captain had received from Admiral Digby a license to go to London. A London magazine of the time said, "This is the first vessel which has displayed the thirteen rebellious stripes of America in any British port." Nobody knew exactly what todo, but apparently the whale oil was soon sold, for the enterprising whaler returned directly to Nantucket.
In October, 1783, most of the British troops had sailed away from the United States, but Sir Guy Carleton was delayed in New York waiting for vessels. When the day came for him to leave the city, a strong, determined woman who kept a boarding-house brought out a United States flag and ran it up on a pole in front of her house. Down the street came a British officer with headlong speed. "We do not evacuate this city until noon. Haul down that flag!" he shouted angrily. "That flag went up to stay, and it will not be hauled down!" declared the indignant housekeeper, and went on sweeping in front of her door. "Then I will pull it down myself," thundered the irate officer, and set to work. But the halyards were entangled, and all the officer's swearing and scolding did not help matters. The militant lady of the broom then applied her weapon to the officer. The powder flew from his wig in a cloud, and at last he himself had to fly, leaving the flag to float serenely on the morning breeze. This encounter has been called the last battle of the Revolution.
Before leaving Fort George, at the foot of Broadway, in New York, the British soldiers mischievouslynailed their flag to the top of the pole, took down the halyards, greased the pole from top to bottom, and knocked off the cleats. They did not know how well the American boys could climb; in a very short time new cleats were nailed on, the English flag was pulled down, and the Stars and Stripes floated from the top of the pole.
News of King George's proclamation did not reach the United States till the middle of April, and then there was rejoicing, indeed. It is no wonder that the joy of the country at the closing of the war burst out in celebrations and silken flags. The diary of President Stiles, of Yale, tells what took place in New Haven. It reads as follows:—
April 24, 1783.Public rejoicing for the Peace in New Haven. At sunrise thirteen cannon discharged in the Green, and the continental flag displayed, being a grand silk flag presented by the ladies, cost 120 dollars. The stripes red and white, with an azure field in the upper part charged with thirteen stars. On the same field and among the stars was the arms of the United States, the field of which contained a ship, a plough, and three sheaves of wheat; the crest an eagle volant; the supporters two white horses. The arms were put on with paint and gilding. It took —— yards. When displayed it appeared well.
April 24, 1783.Public rejoicing for the Peace in New Haven. At sunrise thirteen cannon discharged in the Green, and the continental flag displayed, being a grand silk flag presented by the ladies, cost 120 dollars. The stripes red and white, with an azure field in the upper part charged with thirteen stars. On the same field and among the stars was the arms of the United States, the field of which contained a ship, a plough, and three sheaves of wheat; the crest an eagle volant; the supporters two white horses. The arms were 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,Independence," from the title-page of a family Bible; but unluckily, this Bible, having been published in Philadelphia, displayed the arms and motto, not of the United States, but of Pennsylvania. The moral is, learn the arms of your country.
The worthy fathers of our country were long-sighted men. In many respects they peered far into the future and they laid well the foundations for a great republic. One thing, however, they forgot; when they chose a design for a flag with thirteen stripes and a circle of thirteen stars, they did not realize that the number of States would probably increase, and that these States would wish to be represented on the flag. In 1791 Vermont was admitted as a State, and in 1792 Kentucky also came into the Union. In 1794 the Senate passed a bill increasing to fifteen the number of both stripes and stars. This bill was sent to the House, and then came exciting times. Some members thought it of great importance not to offend new States by giving them no recognition on the flag. Others called it dishonorable to waste time over what one man called "a consummate piece of frivolity," when matters "of infinitely greater consequence" ought to be discussed. Another declared thatthe Senate sent the bill for the want of something better to do. Yet another honorable member did not think it worth while either to adopt or reject the proposed law, but supposed "the shortest way to get rid of it was to agree to it." Whether to "get rid of it" or not, the bill was passed, and went into effect May 1, 1795.
This flag of fifteen stripes and fifteen stars was the one worn by the frigate Constitution, "Old Ironsides." When, in 1830, it was reported that this vessel, with its magnificent record, was to be broken up, Holmes wrote his stirring poem, "Old Ironsides," 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!"
"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!"
"Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should 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 to three wars, each one fought to uphold the rights of American citizens. The first was with France, the second with Tripoli, and the third with Great Britain. It had long been the custom for nations using the Mediterranean Sea to pay tribute to the pirates of Tripoli. In 1800 Captain Bainbridge carried the annual tribute to Algiers. Itseemed that the Dey wished to send an ambassador to Constantinople, and under threat of capture Captain Bainbridge was ordered to carry him there. The captain obeyed, but very unwillingly. When the new flag appeared at Constantinople, it was reported to the Sultan that a ship from the United States of America was in the harbor. "What's that?" he demanded. "I never heard of that nation." "They live in the New World which Columbus discovered," was the reply. The Sultan had heard of Columbus, and he sent to the frigate a bouquet of flowers in welcome, and a lamp in token of friendship.
The Dey of Algiers became dissatisfied with the tribute paid by America, and declared haughtily that if he did not receive from our country a handsome present within six months, he should declare war. This he did, but to his great surprise a small American fleet, under the fifteen stars and stripes, sailed up to his city and began to bombard it. It was not long before he became the very picture of meekness. He freed all his American captives, paid well for all the property that he had destroyed, and the Mediterranean Sea became safe for commerce.
In 1803 the United States purchased from France the immense Louisiana Territory. TheFrench flag was hauled down and the flag of the United States was raised in token of the change of ownership. This country had first been in the hands of Spain, and the Spaniards had presented flags to various Indians. When Lieutenant Z. M. Pike made a journey of exploration in the new territory, he came to an Indian village where there was quite a display of Spanish banners. The Lieutenant made a little speech to the Indians, and said among other things that the Spanish flag at the chief's door ought to be given up to him and the flag of the United States put in its place. The Indians listened, but made no reply. Lieutenant Pike spoke again to the same effect. "Your nation cannot have two fathers," he said. "You must be the children of the Spaniards or else of the Americans." The red men sat in silence awhile, then an old man arose, walked slowly to the door, took the Spanish flag down, and put the American in its place. Then he gave the flag of Spain to his followers, bidding them, "Never hoist this again—while the Americans are here." Surely, the old chief must have been akin to Dr. John Cotton of Colonial fame. This scene occurred in what is now Kansas, and is thought to have been the first raising of the United States flag in that State.
The banner of fifteen stripes and fifteen starshas a proud record, for this was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." Every one knows the story of the poem, how the author and an agent for the exchange of prisoners went on board a British vessel in 1814 to try to secure the release of a physician who had been captured. The English admiral granted their request, but as he was about to attack Fort McHenry, he told them that they would not be permitted to return at once, but must remain on their own vessel, with a British guard, until the fort was reduced. If this order had been carried out, they would have been on board to-day, for the fort never was reduced. All day the Americans could see the Stars and Stripes flying over its ramparts, in spite of attacks by sea and by land. Night came, and it was only by "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air," that they knew whether the fort yet stood. At length the firing ceased, and all was darkness. They could do nothing but wait for the first rays of morning in the hope that "by the dawn's early light" they could catch a glimpse of the flag and know that the fort had not yielded, that "our flag was still there," and that the British were retreating. Then it was that Key wrote, on the back of an old envelope, "The Star-Spangled Banner," and put into it such athrill of sincerity that it is just as throbbing with life and patriotism as it was on that September dawn a century ago. The banner that inspired the poem is in the National Museum in Washington.
Francis Scott Key died in Baltimore in 1843, and is buried in Frederick, Maryland. Over his grave a large national flag flies day and night, never removed save when wear and tear make a new flag necessary. In Baltimore a noble monument has been reared in his honor. It is surmounted by the figure of the poet, who waves his hat with one hand and with the other points joyfully toward the fort. The figure is so life-like that 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."
"And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
"And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
A few months after "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, a plan was formed to rear in the city of Baltimore a monument in honor of George Washington. It was fitting that the place of his birth should also be marked, and a few days before the laying of the corner-stone of the monument, a little company sailed from Alexandria, Virginia, to Pope's Creek, Westmoreland County, where Washington was born. With them they carried a simple freestone slabon which was chiseled his name and the date of his birth. Wrapped in the banner of fifteen stars, it was borne reverently to its resting-place by the hands of the descendants of four Revolutionary patriots.
"Time makes ancient good uncouth," said Lowell, and so it was with the flag. The flag of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes that was decreed in 1795 then represented each State; but in less than one year it was out of date. Tennessee had come into the Union. Then followed Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana. Here were four States with no representation in the colors of the country. Then, too, people began to realize that in giving up the thirteen stripes they had lost their old significant "Thirteen," and dropped a valuable historical association. At length the matter came before Congress, and for nearly sixteen months it remained there. Occasionally there was some little discussion about it. One member proposed that the matter be postponed indefinitely. "Are you willing to neglect the banner of freedom?" demanded another. Yet another thought it unnecessary to insist upon thirteen stripes, and thought they might as well fix upon nine or eleven or any other arbitrary number as thirteen.The committee pleaded for the significant thirteen, and so it went on. At length Peter H. Wendover, of New York, through whose efforts Congress was held to its duty, called the attention of the House to the fact that the Government itself was paying no respect to its own laws in regard to the flag; that the law demanded fifteen stripes, but that Congress was at that moment displaying a banner of thirteen stripes; that the navy yard and the marine barracks were flying flags of eighteen stripes; and that during the first session of the preceding Congress the flag floating over their deliberations had had, from some unknown cause or other, only nine stripes.
It is small wonder that after such an arraignment as this the lawmakers aroused themselves. The following bill was passed, and was signed by President Monroe, April 4, 1818:—
Section 1.Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.Section 2.Be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission.
Section 1.Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.
Section 2.Be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission.
So it was that the flag of the United States was finally decided upon. Captain S. C. Reid designed it, and his wife made a specimen flag, which was hoisted on the flagstaff of the House of Representatives a few days after the law legalizing it was passed. Forty-one years later, in 1859, Congress formally thanked Captain Reid. The one weak point in this law was that the arrangement of the stars on the blue field was 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 would become too small to be seen distinctly. The Navy Commissioners issued the order that in naval flags the stars should be arranged in five rows, four stars in a row; but for many years merchant vessels paid small attention to this decree. Indeed, in 1837 the Dutch Government inquired, with all respect, "What is the American flag?" Twenty years later an observant man in Jersey City amused himself on the Fourth of July by noting the numerous fashions in which the stars were arranged. He said that all flags had the thirteen stripes—though not always in the proper order—but that he had counted nine different fashions in which the stars were arranged. They appeared in one large star, in alozenge, a diamond, or a circle, and one vessel in the river flaunted an anchor formed of stars. It was suggested that Congress ought to order some regular arrangement, but Congress did not take the hint. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy gave orders in 1912, after the admission of New Mexico and Arizona, that the stars, now forty-eight, should be arranged in six rows of eight stars each. This was approved by the President, but no decree has been passed by Congress.
Until 1866 our country's flag was manufactured in a foreign land. Bunting in a flag has a hard life. It must meet sun, wind, and storm; it must be light enough to float at every breeze and strong enough to endure severe wear. Attempts had been made many years earlier to make bunting in the United States, and flags of home manufacture had been tried again and again, but they had never stood the tests. In 1865, however, Congress put a duty of forty per cent on imported bunting, and also made it lawful for the Government to purchase its flags in the United States. With this duty manufacturers could compete with the lower wages paid in England, and now it became worth while to set to work in earnest. Within a year the thing had been done. A company in Lowell, Massachusetts,presented to the Senate a flag manufactured in the United States. It was hoisted over the Capitol, and for the first time this country, then ninety years old, floated over its Congress a banner of bunting woven and made "at home." This banner stood all the tests, and soon the price of the material was greatly reduced. Since the manufacture of this flag all bunting used in flags for the navy has come from Lowell. It must be of a fixed weight and strength and must be absolutely fast color in sun and rain. These flags are made in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and they must be accurate in every detail. Even the number of stitches to the inch is a matter of rule. After the stripes have been sewed together and the stars stitched upon the canton, the hoist, or end of the flag which is to be next to the staff, is firmly bound with canvas, and the lines, etc., attached. Then the flag is stamped with the date. Many silken flags are used in the navy, but these are made entirely by hand.
A warship must have not only her own flags, but those of foreign countries, sometimes two hundred and fifty or more. Some of these flags are of very complicated design, and the flag-makers tried the experiment of painting the designs on the bunting. This was not a success, because the flags stuck together, and now thewhole design is worked out in bunting. The navy makes its own flags, but the War Department buys what are needed. Manufacturers make large numbers for general sale; between nine and ten million a year even in times of peace.
The pet name, "Old Glory," is believed to have been given to the flag by Captain William Driver. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, became a shipmaster, and at length made his home in Nashville, Tennessee. When the Civil War broke out, he stood boldly by the Union, even though his own family were against him. More than thirty years before this date, just as he was starting on a voyage, some of his friends made him a present of a handsome American flag. When the breeze first caught it and spread out its folds, Captain Driver exclaimed, "Old Glory!" and "Old Glory" it was to him all the years of his life. The flag went to Tennessee with him, and was hung out on every day of public rejoicing. When the war broke out, his Confederate neighbors tried their best to get possession of that flag; but they did not realize the resources of the old captain. Sailors know how to sew, and he had carefully quilted his beloved banner into his comforter. No wonder that he had not the least objection to having his house searched forit. When the Union troops entered the city, Captain Driver asked permission to run up his flag over the State Capitol. This was granted, and with an escort he marched to the building and ran up the flag. As he stood gazing at it with tears in his eyes, he said, "I have always said that if I could see it float over that Capitol, I should have lived long enough; now Old Glory is up there, gentlemen, and I am ready to die." The captain's own particular "Old Glory" was full of years and weakened by service, and on the following day he reverently took it down and ran up a flag that was new and strong. For a quarter of a century he saw the Union flag float over the Capitol of his chosen State. Then, at his death in 1886, his own "Old Glory" was sent to the Essex Institute at his birthplace.
"Old Glory" has flown over the battle-fields of three wars; the Mexican, the Civil War, and the war with Spain. In the war with Mexico victory depended upon taking the City of Mexico, and the path to that lay in the capture of the strong castle of Chapultepec. Long before sunrise one bright September morning, the American guns began to roar. All day long the Americans fired from below and the Mexicans from above. Fortunately for the attackers, the aim of the Mexicans was anything but accurate, and in twenty-four hours the American troops were pushing forward up the hillside, through a grove full of sharpshooters, over rocks and gullies, even over mines, which the Mexicans had no chance to set off. Cannon roared and volleys of musketry were fired at the assailants, but they dashed over the redoubt, up, still up, to the escarpment, and over it they tumbled. Meanwhile the Mexicans were standing on the city walls and peering out from the spires of the cathedral. They saw, as the Americans pushedon and up, the Stars and Stripes appear, now to the right, now to the left, as point after point was taken. Now the Americans had reached the main works. The scaling-ladders were planted and the men scrambled over the wall. Even then the Mexicans were not without a faint hope, for their banner still floated over the highest pinnacle. Suddenly it disappeared, and the Stars and Stripes took its place. The victory had been won. On the second day after the first gun was fired at Chapultepec, the American troops were following their flag into the City of Mexico.
The Civil War began with the firing upon Fort Sumter. Shot came in a whirlwind, half a score of balls at a time. The woodwork blazed, the brick and stone flew in all directions. Red-hot balls from the furnace in Moultrie dashed down like a pitiless hailstorm. The barracks were ablaze, streams of fire burst out of the quarters. Ninety barrels of powder were rolled into the water lest it should explode in the awful heat. The men were stifled with fumes from the burning buildings. Over the horrors of this attack the Stars and Stripes floated serenely from the staff, flashing out, as each gust of wind tossed the clouds of smoke aside for a moment, the glories of the red, white, and blue, clear and calm and unscathed.
Beams fell with a crash, ammunition in one magazine exploded, black clouds of smoke filled the fort, and for hours the men covered their faces with wet cloths to keep from suffocating. Nine times the flagstaff was struck by a shot, and at the ninth the flag fell. Lieutenant Hall dashed into the storm of balls, caught up the flag, and brought it away. The halyards were cut and tangled. The flag could not be raised, but it was nailed to the staff, and in the midst of the incessant fire, Sergeant Peter Hart fastened it up on the ramparts. The fort surrendered, but not the flag; for as Major Anderson and his men left the burning ruins, they saluted "Old Glory" with fifty guns, then lowered it, and, as the Major stated to the Government, "marched out of the fort with colors flying and drums beating."
This was on April 14, 1861. On April 14, 1865, when the war was virtually over, Major Anderson, now General Anderson, was, by order of President Lincoln, called to Fort Sumter to raise again the flag which he had so unwillingly lowered. A special steamer carried from New York to the fort a number of prominent citizens. Hundreds came from elsewhere by land to Charleston and were taken to the fort by vessel. Two hundred officers of the navy were presentand many army officers. After the opening exercises, Sergeant Hart opened a big carpetbag and drew forth the identical flag that had been hauled down four years earlier. The banner was unfurled, the assemblage cheered to the echo, and slowly the beloved banner rose to its old position, every one trying his best to catch hold of the rope and help raise it. Hats were waved and the old fort rang with cheers. The band struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner." A salute was fired by the guns on Fort Sumter, and this was responded to by every fort and battery that had fired upon Sumter in April, 1861. Henry Ward Beecher, orator of the day, made a thrilling address. Of the flag he said:—