The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-06-16
A Brief History
OF Our Flag.

Besides oelng a SYMBOL lnseparably
with the history of our
the Stars and Stripes pos
sc sses an interesting history of its
own. 1t Is probably not generally
known that though the United States
is the youngest of the great nations
of the world, its flag is older than
that of any other. The flag of Spain /
was first established in 17S5. The |
flag of England in its distinctive form
of the Union Jack dates only to 1901 |
The flags of Germany and Italy are
no older than their existing dynas-
ties, while June IA, 1777, was the day
that the Continental Congress passed
the following
Resolved, That the flag of the
thirteen United States to be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white, that
the Union be thirteen stars, white,
in blue field, representing new
constellation"
This was the flag unfurled at the
battle of Brandywine, Sept. IL, l77I,
at Germantown, October 4, following,
and, at the surrender of Burgoyne
after the battle of Saratoga, Oct. IL,
l777.
The new flag helped to cheer the
patriots of the army amid their suf-
ferings at Valley Forge. 1t waved
triumphantly at the surrender of
lCornwallis at Yorktown in I7Sl, and
shared in all the glories of the closing
the flag until the admission into the
Union of Vermont in 1871. and Ken
lucky in 1892, when Congress passed
an act Jan. Is, 1894, providing that
From and after the first day of May
1795, the flag of the United States be
fifteen stripes, alternate red and
white, that the Union be fifteen
stars, white in a blue field" This
was the flag during the war of 1912,
and up to 1918. The admission of
the States of Tennessee, Ohio, Louisi-
ana, Indiana and Mississippi, with a
prospect of still larger number of
additions made it necessary to adopt
a further change, and on April 4.
1918. the following act was passed by
Congress
SECTION /. That from and after
the 4th of July next the flag of the
United States be thirteen horizontal
Istripes, alternate red and white; that
1.-THE Union be twenty stars, white in a
blue field.
| SECTION 2. That on the admission
of every new State into the Union
one star be added to the Union of the
flag, and that each addition shall
take effect on the 4th day of July,
1.-THE next succeeding such admission.
The old number of stripes perpet.
uate the original number of States
of the Union, while the addition OF
Istars in the Union represent the
Ipresent number of States.
The original flag was designed by
General George Washington, who
in company with Robert Morris, and
Colonel George Ross in May 1776
lcalled upon Mrs. Betsy Ross, of Phil
adelphia, a niece of Col. Ross, and
showed to her plan he had sketched
for flag with thirteen stripes and q
blue field with thirteen six-pointet
stars. Mrs. Ross objected to the 81,
pointed star on account of its irregu
larity and difficulty of construction
Foldinga a piece of paper in such {
manner that by one cut with the
scissors she produced a five pointet
star of beautiful symmetry and thi
was at once adopted by the commit
al She made the first Star Spanglet
r Banner" And it is asserted by man,
e students of history that this banne
: made by Betsy Ross was soon in gen
: eral use in the army, and that it wa
y carried by Washington when, ol
y Christmas eve in l776, he crossed tn
delaware, and surprised and capture
e a Hessian army, and turned the foI
y tune of the war. Such was the birt
IS of ''Old Glory" first officially at tn
= military post of Fort Schuyler nea
/ Rome, n. Y; first flown on the sea
II at the mast head of the Ranger
h Captain John Paul Jones, whose navs
q victories made it respected ever,
N where: first saluted by foreign pov
y er in Quiberon Bay, France, Feb. l.
177s, by the guns of the French Al
miral, LaMontte.
The hag planted on the nation;
palace in Mexico had thirty stars.
now contains forty-five.
Seventy-five million people of tn
n, country honor, revere, and recogniz
ce this as the National Ensign. tt
e. child plays with it as with toy, an
the strong man forsakes home an
J. family and, if need be, lays down h
L. life to protect its honor. Its NUT
n eloquence needs no aid to interpr,
v its significance. Fidelity to the u
ib ion blazes from its stars, it's alleg
h, ance to the government beneat
which we live is draped in its folds.
'Tis the star spangled banner.-oh. long m;
E IL wave
Ger the land of the free, and the home of q
brave,"