The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-08-21
Some Flags and others.

I'VE talk of the Stars and Stripes as
the flag Of the United States, and it
is certainly that, but there are Sew
eral others used for special purposes.
For instance, there is the Presi-
dents flag. This has spread eagle on
blue field, with curved row of thir-
teen stars above it.. The flag of the
Secretary Of War is made of scarlet
silk with the eagle and four stars in
the corners. II you see blue flag with
white anchor in the centre, you may
be sure that 1t is the flag Of the Secre-
tary of the Navy, and that the honor
ed gentleman is on the ship or in the
building over which it floats" says the
Children's Missionary Friend.
Then, for the army, there are diff
ferent flags That of the commanding
general, which floats over his head
quarters, has blue field on which are
the arms of the United States in
brown and gold. The regimental flags
for the United tSates infantry are
blue, for the cavalry yellow, and for
the artillery scarlet.
Then, for our ships, there are seven
flags denoting different ranks aside
from that of the Secretary Of the
Navy. They are all blue with white
stars And more than this, every
United ~lates naval ship carries a full
set Of the flags Of other countries and
of signal flags. You wonder why they
xoad xbo 40 o,o ~ ofhar oouufrioa0 nTbov
are used for purposes of courtesy If
foreign vessel, for instance, visits one
of our ports, it runs up the United
States flag as compliment to the coun-
try whose guest 1t is. We do the
same thing on our vessels when they
go a.visiting. And as for the signal
ing-'wigwagging' the sailors call it,
you know that it is by these flags that
daytime messages are sent from ship
to snip. Oftentimes the ship sending
the message is too far from the one
receiving it to read the order with the
naked eye, but an officer with a tele-
scope sees what flag is used and what
it denotes. Certain flags mean certain
words and phrases. and certain mo-
tions, especially when signaling is
done on land, have meanings Of their
own.
Suppose, for instance, that 1t was
necessary to send a message to New
York city of the approach Of feet at
the far eastern end of Long Island.
All along the Long Island shore signal
stations have been established, with
men on watch day and night. The mo-
ment the fleet was discovered, the
Waterman in the most eastern station
would announce it, and his signal
would be repeated.
This method is used where there
are no telegraph lines, or where such
lines could not be well used for
military or naval purposes"
Flag signals were often used in the
Civil War, and to one belongs a story:
In the autumn of 1862 General Sher-
man was preparing for his March to
the Sea-" General Corse was guard
ing his supplies at Allatoona Pass,
but was ATTACKED by Confederates,
and in danger of defeat. Then Gener-
al Sherman went to the signal station
and wrote the famous dispatch, Hold
the fort, for am sending rein
forcements."
James Graham, the soldier in
charge, ''wigwagged" it, and the mes
sage passed from station to station un.
til it reached the pass. Troops fol-
lowed and the victory was won. Ora.
ham is still living in Newton, Mass.
General Sherman's dispatch gave
rise to the well-known hymn, Hold
the Fort"