The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-08
TRUE ACCOUNT
OF CHRISTENING
OF "0LD GLORY"
Continued From Page I.

I flag, trimmed the frayed and travelled
/ seams, and stitched it together again
/ Then we made and sewed on both side:
/ of the canton a set of stars and an an
. Choir in its lower corner. My father theT
/ handed me piece of stout canvas. dou
! bled, that i sewed on the end of the flag
next to the staff, which completed Tho
repairs of the flag. After he had crit.
I TO fold the flag, and he. TO our infinite
relief, carried il away, somewhere, and
nothing was seen Of it until the federal
army occupied Nashville.
Only Living Witness.
1T was spring. as 1 can yet we'll recall
! il, when the country was revealing IN
/ buds and flowers. / left home on a visit
/ 10 my grandparents, who resided in the
western part of the state, a very quiet
corner whittier the echo Of the bugIe
blast had not get penetrated. People here
merely exist, dream and enjoy their sim
pie life as done in the past, since the days
of Noah There was no United States
mail. nor prospects of any save a few
struggling newspapers that kept us in COM
munication with the outside world. News
from home reached me occasionally In
a roundabout way. II was here, in a
letter from home. 1 learned that Miss
Mary Bailey and her sister, Patience,
made Old Glory into a bed comfortable
to hide it from seizure. This bit of
news was. according TO current ac-
never so held in our family. l may here
add that Miss Mary Bailey, who sewed
Old Glory inside a bed quilt, forty-siX
years ago, is now the only living, cOmpe-
tent witness to attest the facts; and this,
fortunately, she has done for the sake OF
truth and Identification of the original
Old Glory, and to protect il against i'm
posters and takers.
City is Panic-Stricken.
when the Federal gunboats reached
Nashville. on Feb. 25, 1862, the city was
panic-Stricken and every one a maniac,
save the brave and devoted women, who
were busy and OVerWOrked, nursing the
sick and wounded soldiers, making pill
lows, bed sheets. bed covers and other
necessary hospital furnishings, that had
been taken by a horde of ghOuls during
the hasty retreat of the Confederate
army. Ii was Bedlam turned loose, and
those that had not turned stark mad We're
now busy. and my father, one of the bus
lest, attending the sick in the hospitals.
My mother and l and some neighbor
friends made forty pillows. and still BUSH
ly sewing, in my mothers room, when
We were suddenly startled by the rumble
of footsteps in the hall; and thinking our
time had now come and wondered wheth-'
er il be the stake or the guillOtine, my
father hurriedly entered our room and
without uttering word he opened his
camphOr wood chest, took out his treas
ured bed quilt rushed out into the hall,
L and my mother following as far as the
door facing the hail. when we first caught
a glimpse of the spectacle AT sight of
US my father called;
Mary Jane, come here and help me to
unrip this quilt"
There were present my father. mother,
my younger sister, Ollie, L believe, and
the military escort in command of an
officer, whom my father introduced to
me as Lieutenant Thatcher, Sixth Ohio
regiment. All hanrs present. so far as |
I H.
quilt or comfortable whether one or the
other, to avoid further confusion and
square the question for all time, let me
here eXplain-the flag neatly folded was
loosely tackled between two covers. and
its borders sewed up-making the historic
quilt or comfortable that concealed Old
Glory. My father and 1 ripped the Dor
der or seam, of the quilt. cut the stitches
that held the flag in its place and thus
freed Old Glory from its long hiding
place; then, helping 10 fold it, he hung
il over his arm and left the house, fol-
lowed by his escort, and a swelling crowd,
mainly boys, among them my two young I
er brothers. Henry L. Driver. Salt Lake
City, Utah, and Robert P, now dead.
Carefully Stored Away.
1.-The following morning. before dawn,
my father sent a messenger TO the house
for his 'merino' flag. When my father
came home later in the day he brought /
his bunting flag under his arm, and
quietly slowed ii away in his ships lock-
Pr, where he usually kept il. He let us
know. in casual way, that after Old
Glory had been run up the flagstaff on
The dome of the capitol. the wind got so
strong after dark that he had 10 take
L down TO save ii from being blown to
atters. and in place of it hoist the me
-inO' flag. After this, the merino flag was
never seen again in our house, nor was |
Z seen anywhere by any one Of our fam |
ly. Ny father said he gave il TO the /
Sixth Ohio regiment and our veracious |
.hrOnicleTs further inform us that Fred |
SHELLS mules devoured il, all but a few |
ihreds. which were collected and are now /
IN exhibition in the Essex institute at |
Salem, Mass.
AFTER the arrival of the federal troops |
md military occupation of middle Ten,
iessee, Nashville simmered down and /
appeared, for wartime, comparatively /
luiet. But after the capture of Atlanta |
ind Sherman's flying trip to the Allan
ic coast and Hoods race to beat Thomas /
o Nashville, things took a sudden turn /
md made things lively in and round /
Nashville. General Thomas even seemed 4
/ bit touched by this unusual furry. The I
General pressed into military service ev-
nv man, young and old, able TO shoot, 1
handle a pick or shovel. Ny father was
ssigned to a gun at Fort Nagly, on
It. Cloud hill which commanded the
ity.
A Stern Patriot.
"on the day of the battle my father
Jung Old Glory out Of the third-story
window facing the fort. and before leav-
ng home for duty at the fort, he sum-
loned the entire household, and said: If |
ny flag is taken in or is out of sight,
II blow the house down. And he would
ertainly have done so, for IL was learned
alter he had a gun turned on the house.
When he returned home after the battle I
he flag was still hanging out of the
hird-story window, and my father had
he satisfaction TO remove his flag him
elf and lay it away in his ships locker,
There he usually kept IL.
This was the last great battle fought /
4 our state. Ii was a brilliant victory
or the union, and an utter rout for the
The end was now near ana
4 sight Soon after this wanton slaugh-
er came peace and poverty; our homes
lere empty and palled. and our once
Apply country seemed stripped of all but
taring graveyards.
In the spring of 1869 we moved west
there Mr.. Roland was established in
isiness We remained there four years