Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-07-26
5flisttllaneuns &eading.
OUR FLAG.
History of the Star.Spangled Banner. How
it Came to be Adopted as the National
Emblem.


war each colony clung to its own color; Mass.
achusetts to her green pine on white ground,
with the motto, can Appeal to Heaven"
which motto was on Putnam's red flag, dis
played on Prospect Hill in July, with the
Connecticut State motto beside it; South
Carolina to her blue banner with white cres'
cent in the upper corner next the staff, which
the heroic Jasper recovered and planted on
the battlements of the fort on Sulivan's island
during the furious bombardment by the Brit
ish fleet of Sir Peter Parker. There was
probably no flag at all carried by the patriots
at Lexington, and it is doubtful if they dis
played any at Bunker HILL Accounts then
published are silent on the subject, and no
though poet speaks of "waving streamers,"
and it is said some of the volunteers carried a
red banner inscribed "Come if you dare"
When late in 1775 Congress prepared to
create navy, nothing seems to have been
done about flag, and commanders of vessels
followed their own devices. A favorite one
was the rattlesnake, with the motto: Don't
touch me-" other flags carrying mailed hand
clasping thirteen arrows. Indeed, the rattle
snake came near of an election to the Ameri-
can escutcheon in place Of the immortal chick
en.thief, the eagle, one writer-perhaps Ben
Franklin-supporting the choice because the
snake was purely American and an emblem
of wisdom and vigilance, because it never at
tackled first nor surrendered, being attacked,
and because, while its rattles we're distinct,
they were still firmly united and steadily in.
creased in number Let us consider what
fourth of July would have been with orators
condemned to apostrophize the rattlesnake
amid the whizzing Of Catherine wheels.
Late in 1775 Franklin and two other gen.
tlemen, appointed to create national flag, met
at the camp at Cambridge and adopted the
kings colors (the red cross of St. George on
white field and white cross of St. Andrew Oh
a blue 6eld,) with thirteen stripes, alternate
red and white, being the flag already adopted
by the East India company. No record is
found of Congress having taken any part in
this, nor is it known when the new flag was
adopted by law. The origin of the stripes is
not satisfactorily explained. 1t has been held
that the new flag may have been suggested to
Washington by the banner of the Philadel.
phia Light Horse which escorted him hither
on his way to Cambridge That banner bore
a canton Of thirteen stripes. blue and silver
also that Washington took the idea from his
own at.ofarms, as shown in Brighton church,
or from the East India companys flag afore-
mentioned, or from the ricoor of the Neither
lands. The "grand union" flag was hoisted
at the camp at Cambridge, Jan. g. 1776; it
also waved above the Virginia convention
which declared the colonies free and indepen-
dent States.
Paul Jones claims to have been the first to
hoist the fagof America over regular man.
of:war, the Alfred, though John Adams, of
course, disputed this, claiming the honor for
Massachusetts man. Mr. Woodman thinks
that probably this flag of Paul Jones was the
new striped flag, though Cooper leans to the
belief that it was the pine-tree flag with rat.
tlesnake and motto. The first naval victory
under the stripes was certainly won by Bar
ney, in Lexington, April II, 1776, when, after
severe fight, he captured British vessel off
the Virginia shore. In July the brig An
dreas Doria obtained the first salute for the
flag at St. Eustata. The Dutch governor
was afterward removed for returning her com.
pliment. In the autumn the Reprisa, carry
ing Franklin to France, first showed the flag
in Europe. A record of the time speaks of
the capture of an American privateer soon
after the loss of New York which only carried
twelve stripes.
After the declaration of independence, when
the kingss arms were taken down and burned,
it was not possible for his emblems to remain
long on the flag, and ensigns of various de-
vices are described as i'll use during the land
battles, while the official banner continued to
be the "graud union flag" 1t was on the
18th of June, 1777, more than century ago,
that Congress voted that the American flag
should be "thirteen stri pes, alternate red and
white that the union be thirteen stars, white
in blue field, representing new constella-
ton" This flag, however, was not new flag
then designed, but rather the formal adoption
of one already in existence nearly twelve
month There is as much perplexity as to
the origin of the stars as there is concerning
that of the stripes. 1t has been suggested
that they were taken. as well as the stripes,
from the Washington coat'ofarms, on which
they appear in chief, or from the constellation
lyra, which contains just thirteen stars and is
the symbol of harmony and unity but Wash
ington himself makes no mention Of the mat
ter, and the act speaks expressly of"a new
constellation" Mrs. Ross, an upholsterer of
Philadelphia, is claimed to have been the
first maker of the stars and stripes. and also
its pa.dal designer. In June, 1856, COM