The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-08-29
Some Flags and Others.

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 a spread eagle on
blue field, with a 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 it 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.
lhen, for the army, there are DIFF
ferent flags. That Of the commanding
general. which floats over his head
quarters. has blae 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 -.a,es naval ship carries a full
set Of the flags of other countries and
of signal flags. You wonder why they
need the flags Of other countries? They
are used for purposes of courtesy II
foreign vessel. for instance, visits one
Of our ports. It runs up the United
States flag as compliment to the coun-
try whose guest it is- We do the
same thing on our vessels when they
60 a-visiting. And az for the signal
ing-'wigwagging' the sailors call it
you know that 1t is by these flags that
daytime messages are sent from ship
to ship. Oftentimes the ship sending
the MESSAGE is too far from the one
receiving 1t to read the order with the
naked eye. but an officer with q tele- |
scope sees what nag is used and what i
it denotes. Certain flags mean certain |
words and phrases, and certain mo.
tons, especially when signaling 10
done on land. have meanings Of their |
own.
Suppose, for instance. that It was
necessary to send message to New
York city of the approach Of . heet at
the far eastern end Of Long Island.
All along the Long Island shore signal
stations have teen established. with
men on watch day and night. Tho mo-
ment the feet was discovered, the
Waterman in the most eastern station
would announce it, and his signal
would be repeated.
This method is used where there
ire no telegraph lines, or where such
ines could not be well used for
military or naval purposes"
Flag signals were often used in tho
Evil War, and to one belongs q story:
In the autumn Of 1862 General sher.
nan was preparing for his March to
he Sea-" General Corse was guard
ng his supplies at ATla$oona Pass,
'ut was ATTACKED BY Confederates.
nd IN danger of defeat Then 'Gener.
/ Sherman went to the signal station
nd wrote the famous dispatch, Hold
he fort, for am sending rein
James Graham, the soldier in
barge, "wigwagged" it, and the mes
age passed from station to station un.
lit reached the pass Troops fol-
WED and the victory was won. Grs-
am is still living In Newton. Mass.
General Sherman's dispatch gave
se to the wellknown hymn. Hold
"a Enrf Z"