Litchfield enquirer., 1861-06-13
From the Albany Evening Journal. HISTORY OF THE STARS AND
 STRIPES.
BY ALFRED B. STREET.


 The most interesting incident with the battle of Saratoga was the unfurling for the first time the Stars and Stripes at the surrender of Bur goyne.
 Bunker Hill was fought under a red flag bear ing the motto, "Come if you dare," but on the l4th of June, l777. the Continental Congress resolved ''rhat the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, and that the Union be thirteen stars, white on blue field, representing a new con- stellat;on." This was made public on the Sd of September following, Previous to this our national banner was the Union Flag combining the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew (ta- ken from the English banner) with thirteen stripes alternate red and white. The banner of St. Patrick Qreland's emblem) was not con- bined with the crosses of St. George ard St. Andrew in the standa I'd of Great Britain until 1901, the year of the union with Ireland.
 The stars of the new flag represented the new constellation of states, the idea taken from the constellation Lyra, which signifies harmony. The blue of the field was taken from the Gov enanters' banneri in Scotland likewise significant of the league and covenant of the United Colo nies against oppression, and incidentally nvol- wing vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The stars were disposed in a circle, symbolizing the perpetuty of the Union, the circle being the sign of eternity. The thirteen stripes showed, with the stars, the number of the United Colo nies, and denoted subordnation of the states to and their dependence upon the Union, as we'll as equality among themselves. The whole was blending of the various flags previous to the Union flag. viz, the red flags of the army and white ones of the floating batteries-the germ of our navy. The red color which in Roman days was the signal of defiance, denoted daring and the white purity.
 What eloquence do the Stars and Stripes breathe when their full significance is known. A new Constellation Union Perpetuity a Covenant against Oppression Justice Equal ity; Subordination Courage Purity.
 By the United States law of January 3, l794 it was enacted ythat from and after the lst of May, 1795, the flag of the United States be ff- teen stripes alternate red and white,' and that the Union be fifteen stars, white in blue field This was our national flag during the war of 1872.
 On the 4th of April, 1918, Congress altered the flag by directing return to the thirteen stripes as follows:
 Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the 4th day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be twenty stars, white, in a blue field.
 "And be it further enacted, That on the ad- mission of a new state into the Union, one star be added to the union, of the flag and that snch addition shall take effect on the 4th day of July next succeeding such admission" The return to the thirteen stripes was by req son of the anticipation that the addition of a stripe on the admission of each state would make the flag too unwieldy. The old number of stripes also perpetuated the original number of states of the Union, while the addition of the stars showed the Union in its existing state. The flag planted by our troops in the city of Mexico, at the conclusion of the Mexican war, bore thirty stars.
 The size of the flag for the army is six feet six inches in length, by four feet four inches in width, with seven red and six white stripes. The first seven stripes -four red and three white) bound the square of the blue field for the stars the stripes extended from the extremity of tie field to the end of the flag. The eighth stripe is white~extending partly at the base of the field The number of the stars is thirty-four.
 Success to the Flag of our Nation
 Its folds all around us be spread
 It is blazoned with deeds of the valiant,
 And sacred with names of the dead.
 The stars are the symbol of Union:
 In Union they ever must wave! i The white is the emblem of honor,
 The red is the blood of the brave.
 Success to the Flag of our Nation! Let it sweep Der the land and the sea # The shades of our heroes are round it,
 Beneath it the ranks of the Free.
 We will keep its young glory unsullied,
 In the ages to come as the past;
 Uprear it, a beacon of freedom,
 Unbowed, throug gh all storms, to the last
 Parson Brownlow says there is conspiracy 1T Tennessee to kidnap him. Andy Johnson, Nelson