The Washington critic., 1888-04-07
THE WASHINGTON ARMS.
Were They tho Origin of the stars and
Stripes

Stripes
EmToR CmTIo: THE CRITic of March 9
contained letter from George Washing
ton, and dated at Constaninople, relative
TO the English branch of the Washington
family, and also made allusion to the
armorial bearings of the Washingtons
and its connection with the Stars and
Stripes, our national emblem.
From'an interesting article upon the
Home of Washington in "Frank Les
lie's' for May "a, 1856, the following de.
scription is given of the family arms:
"Brington Church contains the identi.
cal tomb-slab of Lawrence Washington,
the father Of the emigrant. on which may
yet be traced the family arms-argent,
two bars gales in chief three mullets Of
the second, from which, in all probable
ity, originated the ensign which has
since acquired a fame and Importance
second only to that of Great Britain"
One of the ancestors of Lawrence
Washington was presented, in 1888, by
King Henry VIII, with the Manor Of
Sntgrave in Northamptonshire, il having
been formerly in possession of the priors
of st. Andrew, and there maybe seen TO.
day upon the porch of the old manor
house two shields having the above de-
vice, one of which is in good state OF
preservation.
Armoral bearings or coats-ofarms
were generally emblazoned upon q
shield of various colors and designs, and,
as described in heraldic language, would
convey very little genuine information
TO- lnortals of ordinary intelligence and
education. Translated into every day
language the foregoing would read:
''Shield, silver, two bars of red, three
mnllets or stars in the upper part of the
shield" The mullet, which we have
designated o star upon the, Stars and
Stripes, represents the spurrowel and re-
iers TO military prowess and achieve
ments.
Several noted heraldic writers have in
sisted that the mullet should always be
pierced in order to represent the round
hole in which the spurrowel turns.
Sometimes there is confusion between
| the representation of mullets and stars,
but the rule generally adopted is that
| stars all have sixpoints, while the null
| lets have five. ....
The stars upon the American flag have
five points, while the stars upon Ameri-
can coins generally have six.
The three stars in the cut accompany
ing the letter in THE Critic of the 3d in
slant are not pierced in the centre, but in
the large cut in "Leslie's," which Lhave
| quoted from, they are pierced with sub
stantial circular holes in the centre OF
each one, showing them TO have been
originally placed there to represent spur
| rowels and not stars.
Tradition says that when General
| George Washington, in company with a
| Congressional committee, appointed to
select design fora national flag, in the
early part of 1777, wentin into the little shor
| ofMrs. Elizabeth Ross, on Arch street
Philadelphia, to have their ideas EN-
| bodiedin textile he ordered the thirteen
| white stars to be made with six points
but was ioverruled by Mrs. Ross, who
contended that the stars in the heaven;
seemed To have only five points. So the
national emblem became studded with
five.pointed stars, which, in heraldiC
| language are called "mullets,n or ''spur.
rowels," instead Of six-pointed stars, as
| OH the coinage, and thus it remains to
this day, and probably will so long as the
| republic endures. REDWOOD.