Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-01-05
The History Of Our National Flag.

bIlcdi acSOuue "a 'ttiV 1AiHcAA S"u
ao. At the outset of the Ceuten-
Nal year, there is peculiar fitness in
Mpuuiishing the interesting sketch:
The Ppritans brought with them
be flag of England, the cross Of st.
George. At one time the cross vas
tnoved because it was the emblem
Y Popery, and the Kings arms
substituted but the cross was sub
3.quently restored, and remained
HE distinctive feature Of the ban.
sers of the New England colonies
8pr over hundred years. Some
MINES the field was white, sometimes
I'D and sometimes uc,and crown,
apine tree and a globe were added
mt different times.
Il The war of the revolution was
@ought on the part of the insurgent
eolonies under a variety of banners,
almost every one of the colonies
having a device,of its own, and some
having more than one. The one
most frequently displayed was
known as "the Union flag," and was
Simply the Union Jack of England,
Ehat is the crosses of ST. George and
st. Andrew cautioned (placed in the
upper left-hand corner) on white
Held. To this was added the legend,
f'Liberty and Union" Tradition,
rather than history, describes the
flag borne by the coIonists at Bunker
Hill as the cross of'St. George on a
|blue field, with a pine tree in the
upper corner formed by the cross
and next the staff. Another banner
vas red with a pine tree cautioned,
\ and another red with the legend,
Fan Appeal to Heaven" In the
South, the banner first displayed
was blue with white crescent.
The vessels of the colonies had
separate assortment of banners.
Commodore Esel1 Hopkins first dis
Played Il yellow ensign, with rattle
suake rampant and the motto, "Don't
tread on me-" Indeed, the rattle
snake was quite u common device
at that time, and is found in various
attitudes ON many flags, being ordi-
narily represented With thirteen
|latt.esfor the thirteen colonies. The
war vessels of New York bore at
their mastheads. beaver, which was
Borrowed from the seal of New
8-Netherland. The Provincial Con-
|4gress Of Massachusetts adopted as
3the banner to be borne by the
..ruisers of that colony, a white flag
with "a green pine tree. Indeed,
white was the prevailing color of the
banners displayed on the water, as
red was the most common celor of
those displayed on land.
This brings us to the origin of the
Stars and Stripes. In the gradual
process of their evolution, the latter
were first to appear. The idea seems
to have been suggested by combin-
ing the red of the army and the
white Of the navy. The only knowl-
edge we have as to when this COM
bination was first made is that in
INA or 1915, Capt. Abraham Mar.
koe presented to the Philadelphia
Light Horse banner having thir-
teen alternate red and white stripes
The next step was the flag which
Washington raised at Cambridge on
the I'd mot the lst) of January,l776
1t will be understood that at this
time the colonies still acknowledged
their allegiance TO Great Britain.
Accordingly, to the thirteen red and
white stripes, there was added a
blue canton, hearing the crosses Of
ST. George and st. Andrew. Thus,
at appears that the flag, the centen-
NAL of which is to be celebrated by
the people of New York on Satur-
day next, was only the Union Jack
of England, with red and white
field instead of a plain red field,
and was not at ali star-spangled
banner.
The colonies, having declared
their independence of Great Britain,
no longer felt under obligation to
retain any part of the British en-
sign On the 18th of June, l717,
Congress adopted a resolution at
the suggestion, some say, of John
Adams, that the flag Of the thirteen
stripes alternate red and white J;
that the union be thirteen stars.
white ia blue field, representing a
new constellation" The flag that
was made under this provision had
the thirteen stars arranged in a
circle. In 1874, the States of YER