Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-06-20
THE AMERICAN FLAG.

She tore the azure robes OF night
And set the stars OF glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baleific OF the skies;
Aud striped its pure, celestial white,
With streakings of the morning light.
In its widest sense, standard is a
flag or ensign, under which men are
united together for some common pur-
pose. The use OF the standard as a
to remote ages. The Jewish army was
marshalled with the aid Of standards
belonging to the four tribes of Judah,
Reuben, Ephraim and Dan, and the
| Egyptians had eusigns with representa-
tons OF their favorite animals.
In the earliest era OF Roman history,
a bundle OF hay or fern Ia said to have
been used as a military standard, which
waa succeeded by bronze or silver
figures of animals attached to stats, of
which Pliny enumerates five-the eagle,
tho wolf, the iuinotan, the horse and
| the boar.
The Crusaders added the cross to
their banners.
TheSt. Georges cross Is the. national
ensign OF England.
The st. Andrew s cross is the national
ensign Of Scotland.
The st. Patrick's cross is the national
enaign OF Ireland.
| The fret Union Jack, which was in
troduced by Roya! proclamation in 1905,
three years after the union of the Scot
tish with the English crown, combined
only the CROSSES Of st. George and st.
Andrew. This combination was by ROY nj
proclamation of GATE July 2sth. 1907,
and constituted The national flag of
Great Britain.
On the union with Ireland, which
was contaminated on the lst OF Janu-
airy, 1901, a new union ensign was ie-
sised, In which the cross of st. Patrick
was introduced. This combination OF
the three crosses Of st. George, st. An.
Grew, and ST., Patrick constitutes the
present union flag of Great Britain and
| ireland.
Naturally the regular English ensign
was used by the colonists in their
early days, aud that, OF course, was
the GROSS Of st. George, followed by
the first union Jack, combination of
the crosses of st. George and st. An
drew. G.fs5
John Endicott, who was born in
England 10 1889, aud sent out by the
Massachusetts COMPANY in 1928 to over
see the. plantation at Salem, was Gov
elnor OF Massachusetts for some 10
yeara between 1644 and 1861
Being a,rigid Puritan he was jealous
and intolerant In administration after
the fashion OF those times. Having
such a spirit we'need not be surprised
TO learn that he cut the cross from the
flag because 1t was a Romanistio en-
blem.
The colonial flags varied in color, It
Fbeing sufficient If ground and cross
differed. Now and then a pine tree
was figured in the upper left-hand
corner OF the cross, and one flag had
only the tree for symbol.
The colonial flag OF Amsterdam (sub-
stantially the present arms of New
York City,, was carried by armed YES
sells sailing out of New York-a beaver
being the principal figure, indicative
both of the industry Of the Dutch
people and the wealth of the fur trade.
The day after the battle of Bunker
Hill Putnam displayed flag with a
red ground, having on one side the
Connecticut motto, "Qui transtulit
sustinet, and on the other the words
IAN Appeal to Heaven. %
Sir Edmund Andres, who was sent to
America in 1914 to be governor of the
colony of New YORK., established a
special flag for New England, a white
field With st. George cross and in the
center ~. R." Jaoobus Rex, flames
kingl, surmounted by crown.
The revolution brought In all manner
Of devices for. fags and banners, the
larger portion bearing notices mote or
less defiart of the foreign government.
Soon after the fight at Lexington, the
volunteers from Connecticut put on
their flag the arms of the colony with
the legend "Qui transtulit sustinet, -
The VINO brought us over will sustain
us).
An early flag In the Southern States
was designed by Col. Moultrie and dis
played at Charleston, in September,
1915, Tha color was blue, adopted
from the clothing Of the State troops
with white crescent In the dexter
corner, taken from badge worn in
their Gaps by two regiments who gar
risoned the fort, fort Moultrie).
Afterwards the word Liberty" was
added.
At Cambridge, Mass, January I'd,
l776, Washington displayed the original
of the present United States flag, CON
sisting of Is stripes OF red and white,
with st. Andrew CROSS in place OF
the stars. 1t is said that Washington IS
flag also contained the coat of arms of
the Washington family, the geneology
OF which 10 traced back among the
TITLED nobility Of England to the 18th
century. ftA
The rattlesnake flag was used to some
extent In two forms. In the first form
the snake was out in ID pieces to rep
resent the 13 colonies accompanied by
the legend Join or Die" In the
second form the snake was intact, and
under the figure was the words: =" DOM
tread on me- and In some cases the
snake had ID rattles. On seeing the
device OF the rattlesnake on one of the
drums Of that day, DR.. franklin writes
as follows: ION inquiry, and from
study. 1 learned that the ancients con /.
sidered che serpent an emblem OF wis
dom, and in some attitudes, of endless
Duration. Also that countries are often
represented by animals peculiar to
those countries The rattlesnake is
found no where but in America. Her
eye is .exceedingly bright, and without
eyelids- emblem of vigilance. She
ntver begins an attack and nsyer sur
rendets-4emblem of magnanimity and
courage. She never wounds even her
enemies till she generously gives them
warning not to tread on her, which is
emblematical Of the spirit of the people
who inhnbit. her country. She appears
apparently weak and defenceless, but
her weapons are nevertheless for
niidable. Hes poison is the necessary
means for the digestion Of her food,
but certain destruction to her enemies
showing the power of American re-