Middletown transcript., 1876-06-24
Our Flag.

O0A = Ass6s
Every nation has its flag. Every
ship in foreign waters is known BY ths
colors she shows at her peak. Tht
French frigate hoists her bunting o.
three vertical stripes, red, white and
blue; the English man-of-war shows 6
red flag, with the crosses Of St. Andrew
and St. George on blue union in ths
upper left-hand corner and the Aus.
trian, double headed black eagle, OF
a yellow ground,-every nation with {
name and place, having its own ap'
propriate symbol.
When we were colonies of England
we sailed and fought under her flag
Twenty years before the Revolution
when We were at war with the French
and their allies the Indians. many /
brave man in some hot skirmish viii
Indians would have welcomed the sigh
Of the red flag Of England-it woule
mean aid and comfort when sorely
pressed.
But the time was coming when ht
was to hate it as much as he had hated
the French colors. The time was com
ing when the sight of it was to NEAR
oppression and tyranny to him. and
every feeling of bis nature would b.
reused against it. Every child know.
how we finally rsbelled it was moth.
ing less. and, to England. our George
Washington was merely leading rebel
1t was bold proceeding. We were
thirteen little States, friDged along on
the Atlantic coast, with the unbroken
forest behind us, and among the great
family of nations we had neither place
nor name. We were like the last new
boy. at public school-we had to fight
to obtain due respect from all the great
old nations who we're looking on.
Of course we had no flag; we had to
earn that too. For year or SO our
privateers carried the Massachusetts
State flag. It was better, they thought,
than the English flag, at any rate. The
field was Of white bunting; in the mid
die, a green pine-tree, as you see in
the above picture; and on the opposite
side the motto, appeal to Heaven. I"
Washington, in his character Of Gen
eral-in- Chief, commissioned several pri-
vateer schooners, and they all carried
this flag.
The Alfred was one of the few large
ships we had, and she carried the pine
tree flag, and beside that, one with
thirteen stripes, in red and white, bat
with no stars; while on the stripes was
coiled rattle-snake, with the motto,
"Don't tread on me-" The rattle-snake
being found only in America, there
was, of course, a peculiar meaning in
this emblem.
In the early part of the Revolution,
some Of the South Carolina regiments
carried the palmetto-tree on their flag.
That was very good symbol, and the
State yet keeps it on her coat Of arms,
though it grows everywhere in the
South. The palmetto logs at Fort
Moultrie were found very good things
to receive cannon balls when that fort
was besieged by the British in June Of
1776.
There was this multiplicity Of flags,
because we did not clearly know what
we were. No nation had acknowledged
us as belonging to their great family
yet; in fact, we had not quite cut loose
from England, yet we were fighting her
with all our might. and it seemed ab-
surd to be under her colors. In the
fight at Bunker Hill, the flag planted
in the corner Of that famous redoubt
was Of blue bunting, with the cross of
St. George in red in the corner. and q
pine-tree, that same pine-tree. in the
upper right-hand quarter Of the cross.
Our army at Cambridge celebrated
New Years Day, Jan. 1st, 1776. not
as the Chinese, by firing crackers and
Illuminating lanterns in the evening,
nor yet by making calls, but by
uufurling for the first time in an
American camp the flag of thirteen
stripes. But even then We had not de-
clared ourselves Independent of Great
Britain, and this flag had the British
union in the corner, and the crosses Of
St. Andrew and st. George.
Finally, on the 18th Of June. 1776.
Congress, which met then in Philadel.
phia, settled upon our style of flag. "It
shall have" said they, thirteen stripes,
alternate red and white, and the union
Of the States shall be indicated by thir-
teen stars. white, in blue field, repre-
senting new constellation.
1t was not until about forty years ago
that it was decided to add another star
for every new State as it Joined the
Union So that the constellation as it
is now, with nearly forty stars in it, has
grown a good deal from the original
thirteen. But the stripes still remain
the same in number, to remind us Of
the first little band of States who fought
it out" against Great Britain-Kate
FOote, St. Nicholas for July.
Over SENsITIvENEss. Genius, pre-