Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-14
DON'T TREAD ON ME.

..--..--................
The origin of this device has been ascer-
tanned. England used to transport hither
| many of her convicts, and after several
| murders had been committed by these I'M
| welcome immigrants writer in Ben. Frank
| Inns paper suggested, in satire, that the colo
| MES retaliate by sending to England a cargo of
| rattlesnakes, to be turned loose in the gardens
| of the noblemen. After the. snake had made
| his appearance on the flags Franklin himself
| defended the device on the ground that the
RATHER is found only in America, that he was
| considered by the ancients symbol of wis
dom, that his bright ldless eye signifies vigil
| lance, that he never attacks without first Civ
ing warning, and that his rattles, while dis
| tinct, are SO firmly joined that they cannot
be separated, and that as he grows older the
rattieS increase In number. Indeed this idea
was made use of in a device which repre-
sented snake with nine joints, his head
marked IN. E." New England land the re-
manning sections IN. Y.,n IN. j. u 'sPa. u
md. )" iva ,""N. C.,""S. CT and Ca
Late in rs Ben Franklin went to the camp
at Cambridge and made flag which con-
tanned the kings colors for canton, and
thirteen stripes alternating red and white,
for the remainder. This was quite generally
used, though not sanctioned by law 1t was
some months later, in January, rs, that the
grand Union flag was raised over the Cam
bridge camp by George Washington. This
was substantially the flag which congress
officially adopted in June, 1777, and it was
this flag that Mrs. Ross, Of Philadelphia.
made for Gen. Washington from sketches
furnished by him. In fact, the weight of
evidence is in favor of George Washington
Is the designer of our national ensign. The
thirteen stripes may have been suggested to
various persons by the East India companv,s
dag, or the United Netherlands banner. for
it was an obviously appropriate symbol of
the thirteen colonies. There is much resem-
blance, too, between the flag and the Wash
ington coat of arms. In heAaldry the star
contains six or more points, but Washing
tons flag bore stars Of Ave points, as did his
ar1norial shield, these stars being known to
heraldry as mullets. Was this an accidents
Mrs. Ross, who made the first flag was,
oddly enough, a Quaker, and she made flags
for the government for many years. and her
family after her. Mrs. Ross says the Declara-
ton of Independence was celebrated by I'M
fulrling of many flags which bore the stars
and stripes. but while this is quite possible,
since it was six months before this she had
made the flag for Gen. Washington, the state
ment is disputed by many historians
It is said the first time the official flag ever
fioated over a battlefield was at the Brandy
wine, and days after its PRONUNCIATION by
congress in Philadelphia. There is some
doubt as to where belongs the honor of first
hosting the stars and stripes over a battle
ship but John Paul Jones seems to have been
the fortunate man, and when he flew the flag
at the masthead of the Bon Homme Richard,
and captured the Scraps on the coast of Eng
land, the effect was not much less than that
of the Alabama by the kearsaGe, nearly q
hundred years later. The flag first fioated
over foreign fortress In January, 177S,
when a small force from an American sloop
captured Fort Nassau, in the island of New
Providence.
When the Chinese first saw the flag they
called the craft flying it the Kaw-chee-cheun
c'flower fagship1. They were greatly i'm
pressed with the beauty of the ensign. When
the stars and stripes first foated in the
shadow of the crescent at CoDstantinople, in
1850, the Turks declared they had never
heard of such a country as the United States
of America. Perhaps they hadn't, but they
have heard of it since.
once fought in ireland under the American
flag. In 1890 a Boston contractor went to
Londonderry TO build bridge, and when he
had finished it he opened it to the people of
the town, after first decorating it with the
stars and stripes For some reason he was
ordered to close the bridge, and on refusing
company of British soldiers was sent to en-
force the order There were present several
M 4aL ~ ,E
the military to mean an insult TO the flag
they gave battle to the red coats right on
the bridge. 1t was fierce contest, in which
five or six persons were killed and many
wounded.
But now the flag has grown TO forty-two
stars, and bluff old Commodore Walker saws
if the country keeps on spreading the ensign
will be all stars before a great many years
have passed By law the new flag cannot go
into official use till the first July 4 after ad-
mission of the new states and in this case
that will be July 1, 1890. The United States
has thousands of flags in the army, navy,
marine service, etc, and 10 throw away al
the flags now in use and put new ones in
their place would involve large and need
less expense. Commodore Walker says many
of the present flags will have four stars added
TO them, but II Will not SliAAe much dluerence |
if they are not added, because nobody could |
tell one flag from the other while flying at a |
masthead.
There Is no law against the use Of all the |
stars one may wish 10 put on and, though |
the government viii wait Till 1890, the people |
may fy on Independence day as many forty |
two star banners as they wish. And the |
more the merrier. ROBERT GRAVES.