The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-07-14
From Boston Advertiser-Thursday.l
UNDER THREE FLAGS.
THE HISTORIC BANNERS SIDE BY
SIDE.


SIDE.
THE FoAo OF PAUL JONES AND THE BON
HoMME RIcHARD-THE TATTERED BAN
SER OF THE ESTERPRIsE-THE OLD FLAG
OF FORT McHENRY; THE ORIGINAL STAR
sPANGLED BANNER"-AN INTERESTING
PAPER by CAPTAIN GEORGE II. PREBLE,
u. 3. NJ, BEFORE THE HIsToR1c-G ENEA-
LOGICAL SOCIETY.
A special meeting of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society was held In
the society's rooms yesterday afternoon, ,he
Hon. Marshall +. Wilder presiding, to lis
fen to paper on three historic flags. The
fla that inspired the patriotic lines, "The
Btar Spangled Banner" which waved over
Fort McHenry during the bombardment in
1914. hung on one side of the room, and APP
peared in a remarkably good state OF pre-
servation. The flag borne by the enser-
nrise in her action with the Boxer in 1878
commented the opposite side of the hall,
thouph it appeared in very dilapidated
condition. Just over the chairman was
SUSPENDED the flag which Paul Jones so
proudly carried ON board the Bon Homme
Richard in her family action with the Ser
apis. which flag was brought to Boston by
Mrs. S. S. Stafford, daughter of Lieut..
Stafford of the Bon Homme Richard. who
came from Trenton to allow it to be exhib-
tied. After the meeting was called to or
der Captain George II. Preble, United States
navy, was introduced, and read paper
which was substantially as follows -
| esteem it pleasure that | am privi-
legged this afternoon to present to your views
these interesting mementoes of our victo-
es,-the flag of the Bon 1lomme Richard,
tho flag of the Enterprise, and the flag of
Fort McIIenry am sorry that their in
PRODUCTION has not fallen into more eloquent
hands will. however, do my best to OK
plain their history and satisfy you as to their
authenticity Their mute voices and battle
stained remains speak more cloquently than
could words of mine.
THE FLAG OF THE BON HOMIE RICHARD,
l779.
First, though the smallest in size, from
its age and history worthy ofthc first place,
| will call your attention to the flag worn
BY the Bon H0mme Richard during the ac-
ton with the Scraps, September %, 1913,
and which will show you there is reason
able if not convincing evidence proving it
TO have been the first stars and stripes ever
hoistcd over an American vessel of war,
and the first flag ever saluted by Il foreign
naval power. About ten days before the
battle Commodore Jones captured British
armed ship called the Kitty, commanded
by Captain Philip Stafford. The English
men had put the crew in irons, and on their
capture Captain Jones transferred the brace
lets to the officers and men of the British
vessel. The crew of the Kitty all volun-
teered ON board the Bon IIomme Richard,
in revenge for the treatment they had re-
ceived from their British captors. Among
the volunteers was a young man named
James Bayard Stafford, nephew of the cap
tain and father of the present owner of the
flag. Being an educated youth he received
an appointment as officer on the Richard.
When the battle was raging furiously this
flag was shot away, and young Stafford
jumped into the sea and recovered it and
was engaged in replacing it when he was
cut down by an officer ofthc Scraps. When
the Bon Homme Richard was sinking the
flag was seized by sailor, transferred by
Paul Jones to the Scraps and accompanied
him to the Alliance when he took command
of that frigate at Texel. 1t remained on
board the Alliance until the close of the
revolution, when the vessel was sold to
Robert Morris, the great fnancier of the
times, and fitted for the East India trade.
Shortly after her sale the secretary of the
marine committee wrote Lieutenant Stat
ford that by the advice of Commodore Bar
y
replacing the flag when shot away in the
action, the committee decided to present
to him this flag, the medicine chest of the
Richard, and tower musket taken in the
Scraps. This relic Lieutenant Stafford
preserved until his death, and on the death
of his widow, August 8, 1861, came into
the possession of his only daughter, Miss
Sarah Smith Stafford, and their present
owner. Miss Stafford was personally ac-
quainted with several Of the crew of the Bon
Homme Richard, and she still cares for the
graves. They often called upon her faith
er, who would show them this flag and
would express the deepest reverence for it.
One of these sailors, Thomas johnson, a
Norwegian, died only few years since at
the naval asylum in Philadelphia. The flag
is, or was, about l-2 yards long and l
yard inches wide, end is sewed with hemp
en- or flaxen thread, and contains twelve
white stars in its blue union and thirteen
white strips, alternately red and
white. The stars are arranged in
four horizontal, parallel lines, with
three stars in each line. Why so small a
flag was used, scarcely larger than boat
ensign of the present day, may be explain
ed by the action having been fought at
night and because of the high cost of the
English material and the difficulty of pro-
loaned to fairs and festivals. 1t was exhibited
at the sanitary fairs in Philadelphia and New
York, and at the great fair in Trenton in
1862. A piece was cut from the fly of it
at the beginning of our civil war by direc-
ton of Mrs. Stafford, the mother of the
present owner, and sent to President Lin
coin. The flag with its twelve stars and
thirteen stripes bears evidence of its age if
not of its authenticity. After 1904 and up
to 1918 the flag established by law had fif-
teen stars and fifteen stripes. Miss Stat
ford, who was born in July, 1909, recollects
this flag from April, 1906, when as great
favor she was permitted by her father to
carry 1t across the street in family mov-
ing. An aged friend of hers recollects it
and being told many years before that it
was the flag of the Bon Homme Richard.
1t must therefore date before 1894. Why
its union has but twelve stars, unless they
fitted it, and there was no symmetrical
place for the odd one, is amystery. 1t has
been suggested that only twelve of the
colonies had consented to the confederation
ut the date of its manufacture, but that is
not so. All the colonies had confederated
before the adoption of the stars in 1777,
and the consent of Georgia, the last to give
assent, was symbolzed in the flag of thir-
teen stripes alternate red and white twisted
by Washington at Cambridge, January l.,
l776. In an agreement signed by Paul
Jones and the captains of his Franco
American squadron, June, 1910, it was ex-
pressly stipulated that the squadron should
fly the flag of the United States. So we
may be sure the stars and stripes were
flown in the fight between the Richard and
Scraps, as they had been in the fight be-
tween the Ranger and Drake six months
earlier, as Jones himself stated. The re-
mark able action hptWppn the Ron Hon,,,o
Richard and the Scraps, fought within
sight of the shores of England, exercised
AS important an influence upon our affairs
in Europe as did the fight between the
Kearsarge and Alabama in recent times.
But the flag claims a higher significance
as there is good reason for believing, on the
authority of Mrs. Patrick Hayes,-tho