The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-15

stood out like a board and more than
one wild shot aimed by the inexperi-
enced gunners or shore went so high
over the fort that big gaps were torn
In the fiutteg-ing emblem.
Mrs Elizabeth Anderson. widow of
Brevet Major-General Anderson, com
mander of Fort Sumter, now owns the
! flag and she treasures it SC carefully
mat II is rarely removed from the
strOng box in the safe deposit vaults.
Inc ravages of time have had little
erect upon its color The red. white
and blue are almost as bright today as
tney were So years ago, and were il
not Tor the rips and tears. it would
make gallant appearance today flying
IN the bright sun light.
seven times during the first day of
the pombardment the flag stan was
struck. but by a strange series OF acci-.
dents the flag continued to fly at the
peak After one of these accidents Ma
Jor Anderson exclaimed: God Al
mighty nailed that flag to the staff and
i could not lower Ii il I tried
This particular accident happened in
this way Outside the bar marking
the entrance TO the harbOr were sew
eral federal vessels. This fleet could
not enter the harbOr without being
sunk by the cannon of the land bat
teries, and all dt could do was to anchor
out or range and observe the lombard
ment. 1t is needless to say with what
anxiety the men on these ships watched
the nag lying over Sumter They
Knew that sooner or later il must come
down, but they also knew Anderson
and felt that he would nang on to the
last grip.
Every little while Major Anderson
gave orders to dip the flag TO the fleet
10 show that everything was all right
During ~ sol
the fiaS was being hoisted back into
place after the third dip. a shell burst
near the staff, cutting the ballard. Tae
nag started to come down with a run,
but piece of the rope got Tanned in
a section Of the shivered staff and the
flag was more secure than ever. 1t
was this that caused Major Anderson
TO utter the historic words above re-
ferred to-
All through the night the flag fut-
tered bravely in the breeze, but al 1
o clock the next day after the staff
mad been hit twice, a shot struck il
squarely. cutting it in two A tempo
rary stan was Immediately rugged up
and the flag hsested on the parapet by
Lieutenant SNYDER of the engineer
corps There it remained until the af-
ternoon of Sunday. April IL when the
little garrison marched out with drums
beating and the beloved flag flying in
the van and TO a salute of % guns
After the evacuation of Sumter.
Major Anderson journeved 10 New
York. where he made the usual garri-
son invoice TO the war department. in
GUIDING the famous flag. and the fair
weather flag, in the returns. The sec
relary of war promptly ordered the
return Of the flags to the major. ac-
companying them with a letter IN
which he said that they could not he
IN better keeping than in the hands of
them.
Major Anderson had the FLAGS placed
IN the vaults of the Metropolitan hank
in New York. and there they remained
until 1t was evident that General. Sher-
man would wiring Fort Sumter from
the diving grasp Of the Confederacy.
The flag was again sent south and on
the day the ConfederateS surrendered
the fort it was again hoisted to the
peak OF the flag pole by Major Andcr-
son himself
This happened. on April IA, 1866, ex-
actly four years to the day from the
evacuation. A salute of 100 runs was
hred at the fort in honor of the flag
and the guns of the surrounding bat
teries and ships Joined in the uproar.
After that the Old flag was returned
TO the bank vaults. not tG be seen
AGAIN until death called its owner.
Then 1t was used as a pail at the
soldiers funeral at West Point. where
he was buried. near the school nf his
youth Since then it has only been
used once or twice n celebrations and
then under the guardianship of the An
derson ZOuaves Of New York
In course Of time it viii probs bIv
take its place among the battle flags
in the war department, and with each
generation it's unique his
torical value viii increase.