Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1850-09-30
THE. AMERICAN FLAG,

TIE AMERICAN FLAG,
rh, National ln,.l sencer has he flowing .t,'c-
m .n and ansgastin r,spoe,inr this subj G. from csr-
respsndenf.
'Dn ihe "a Of nerembcr. MS. the Continental flag
WA, dis,layed r. The fr,i timr Il that day huis
,J an hnrd ni the t,y ship Of Esseck Hopkins who
the 5,h ol the precenp month had been apl ned Conn
m,nder In Chi,f Of III 6rs, American neh. The thtd
ds, Of nncemhr then, ,s the birthday OF lhr American
0,g WHY nn, crl btae /, annually Naval festival
ei hn observed as our occan hoyday n, all onr Naval
stations. aud ON boad Of our vessels p war at home and
,hm,1
Tb, writer Il the sbov. /. under n mistake in regard
both To the naerr OF The sg and The date III lis fist ap
uenranee lie iaLes IL r granted hs, tho natl nal han
ner frs, III pleys sd In thu revolutionary stugge that
If the .a,s aud ,,rpea, this IL ns the fact; is il ttno
lh,, ,ny Continental cnlos were hosled fur th. frat
m, "a III. "a ol D,cemher l775. The br hlay nf ha
Amc,icsn t,e, # IL he fixed n, ALL must he he IA h If
Ione l777 Il is impossible huwever. 10 deermine tho
ny on which tho banner of the stars aud stripes fr.t
actually waved 10 tho brec2e tho day when any co,os
oi distinctly American character devised OF nn-
fu,l.d f,, the frs, time
The first attempt of mn Amori, sn flag appears IN be
that If aid Endl,l of salem nh,. in 1861, chi the
ct,ss of ii t,orpe out iha did Il " of old England
awning 4 ropery mud prpacy. We are unable io say
how fr the pnle red Il & thus formed, was adopted bv
the New Enplanler. But the old English natnnnl
co,,a nrr, ,reetaIly worn hy the Con oni, ye,nels,
nh ,l hreaLnp on, or hs Revolution. It is fenarka.
be howeyer that the though, oi mirng n,liha stan
datd ol elr nnn seems 10 have been abandoned
ly the peope Of Nav fupaud Mention is made of
colonial 20 aa early AZ 1896 The fret na,i nal emalen
adorted hero was tia, stipulated The silver o,ins of
NJ ssnebu.etta nearly two huudtrd yeats aga Probably
il wna ON III lng n,nvr mrn,ionrd presentation
of one drawn in l70l exhibits the pine ttee oonhaei
viii, The Ene.b cross lhis y, lar as can discover
l. the first ao, description e the American pine tree
a., ,h,nh n,a oh,mily il was used at n much EARLIER
d,,. /, continual In uar more or less till superseded
by the snrs aud stripes
| Thfre vna m means Of knowing whether The New
Eu,IaoJ roaps VIII, i,mahl IL lhs odd French "a thu
mkes Of Cana,a md n, Cape Bnton be any cers dis
,inrl fam the Epp .h lrugh it IL llkay they did.
the several ST les had their Colony and these np
nc, Ia have been i scnbed un the banner, o tho militia
| This was ile Practice when ,h' NV England uoops
marched In Boslon nlie The battle Of Lexington. let
crdatel Anil q LOO soys Of the Connrtient lrhps.
1--WE nxed on our atns ard drums the Colony armsiwih
t,. mo,lo tniiansltd snsincn ,und in leiier of
u,Id, which we consrue thu, "Gd, who transplanted
II, Litlet " Ut in us" Tho accounts II the hat
lie ol Bunker I'LL mako no men ion If standard being
u.ed by the Amecans ,honq at public ceebrui IN in
| 1925 n a,g wns displayed. which, according 10 tradition
hoisled The rcdonh IN the p Of the hill iis