The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-07-12
OUR FLAG.

OUR FLAG.
History of the star-sPansIe- Banner
How Ii Came to be Adopted as the
NatiOnaI Emblem.
At the breaking out of the revolu-
tiOnary war each colony clung to its own
color; Massachusetts, to her green pine
on a white ground, with the motto, IAN
Appleal to Heaven" which motto was on
Putnam's red flag, displayed on Prospect
Hill in July, with the Connecticut state
motto beside it; South Carolina to her
blue banner with a white crescent in the
upper corner near the staff, which the
heroic Jasper recovered and planted on
the battlements of the fort on Sullivan's
island during the furious bOmbardment
by the British feet of Sir Peter Parker
There was probably no flag at all carried
by the patriots at Lexington, and it is
doubtful if they displayed any at Bunker
Hill. Accounts then published are silent
on the subject, and no flags are shown in
contemporary prints, though a poet
speaks of waving streamers," and it is
said some of the volunteers carried red
banner inscribed "Come if YOU dare"
When late in 1775 congress prepared to
create a 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'U touch me-" other
flags carrying a mailed hand clasping
thirteen arrows. Indeed, the rattlesnake
came near of an election to the Ameri-
can escutcheon in place of the immortal
chicken thief, the eagle, one writer-per-
haps Ben Franklin-supporting the
choice because the snake was purely
American and an emblem of wisdom and
vigilance, because it never attacked first
nor surrendered, being attacked, and be-
they were still firmly united and steadily
increased in number. Let us consider
what a 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
gentlemen appointed to create national
flag met at the camp at Cambridge and
adopted the kings colOrs (the red cress
of St. George on a white field and white
cross of st. Andrew on blue feld), with
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white,
being the flag already adopted by the
East India company. No record is found
nor is it known when the new flag was
adopted by law. The origin of the
stripes is not satisfactorily explained. It
has been held that the new flag may have
been suggested to Washington by the
banner Of the Philadelphia 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 ceat-Of-arms, as shown in Brighton
church, or from the East India company's
flag aforementioned, or from the tri-colOr
of the Netherlands. The "grand union
flag was hOisted at the camp at Cambridge
Jan. 2, 1776; it also waved above the Vir-
ginia convention which declared the colo
nies free and independent states.
Paul Jones claims to have been the
first to hoist the flag of America over a
regular man-Of-war, the Alfred, though
John Adams, of course, disputed this,
claiming the honor for a Massachusetts
man., Mr.. WOodman thinks that proba-
bly this flag of Paul Jones was the new
striped flag, though Cooper leans to the
belief that it was the pine-tree flag with
a rattlesnake and motto. The first naval
victory under the stripes was certainly
won by Barney, in the Lexington, April
II, 1776, when after a severe fight he
captured a British vessel off the Virginia
shore. In July the brig Andreas DOria
obtained the first salute for the flag at
St. Eustatia. The Dutch governor was
afterward removed for returning her
compliment. In the autumn the Repri-
sal, carrying 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 kings arms were taken down
and burned, it was not possible for his
embIems to remain long on the flag, and
ensigns of various devices are described
as in use during the land battles, while
the official. banner continued to be the
grand union flag" 1t was on the 18th
of June, 1777, more than a century ago,
that congress voted that the American
flag should be thirteen stripes, altern-
ate red and white that the union be
thirteen stars, white in a blue field, re-
presenting a new constellation" Ihls
| flag, however, was not a new flag then
| designed, but rather the formal adoption
| of one already in existence nearly a
| tweIve-month There is as much per
| plexity as to the origin of the stars as
| there is concerning that of the stripes.
It has been suggested that they were
| taken, as well as the stripes, from the
/ Washington cOat-Of-arms, on which they
| appear in chief, or from the constellation
! lyTa, which contains just thirteen stars
and is the symbol of harmony and unity
| but Washington himself makes no men
ton of the matter, and the act speaks
| expressly of d" new constellation" Mrs
Ross, an upholsterer of Philadelphia, Is
claimed to have been the first maker oi
the stars and stripes, and also It's parda
designer. In June, 1886, commit ee
of congress, accompanied by Washington
called upon her and eugF ged her TO maze
a flag from a rough drawing they brought
with them. She suggested some changes
in the design, especially that the stan
be made fve-pOinted instead OF SIX
pointed, following the French form
| while adoption of the English Practlc'
gave us the six-pointed star on our com
age). and Washington himself drew the
new sketch in her back parlor- Mrs. Kos
afterward was appointed fag-maker K
the government, and she was succeeded
bv a relative, who continued IN otnc'
till about thirty years ago 1t Is men
toned az a bit of gossip concerning
Washington and the flag, that not alone
were the stars and stripes on his coat-ot
arms. but the colors were all In hi
| ,L,;stavi,c, robe now in the possession