The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-06-13
THE STORY or THE FLAG.

| rather than creation. Its history
can be traced back to the 18th CEN
! fury. or nearly 900 years prior to tbs
first Flag Day" June II. 1717. ac-
cording to a bulletin issued by the
United States bureau of education.
During the first crusade In 1875.
Pope Urban II assigned to all of the
Christian nations as standards crosses
varying in color and design, emblem
attic of the warfare in which they were
engaged. To the Scotch troops was
assigned the white satire, known az
the white cross Of st. Andrew. on a
blue field. The British used a yellow
cross, but century and a quarter
later they adopted a red cross on a
white field, known as the red cross of
st. George.
ascended the throne of England as
James I, he combined the two flags.
and issued a proclamation requiring
all ships to carry the new flag at their
main masts. At the same time the
vessels of south Britain were to carry
at their foremasts the red cross of st.
George and the ships of north Britain
to carry the white cross Of st. Andrew.
The new flag was known as kings
Colors," the "Union Colors," or the
Great Union,'' and later as the
Union jack" and was the one under
which the British made all their per-
manent settlements in America. 1t
was the flag of Great Britain only by
proclamation. however: not until 1907
did parliament pass an act definitely
uniting the two countries and their
flags. In the same year the govern
ment issued regulations requiring the
navy to use what was known as the
white ensign; the naval reserve, the
blue ensign; and the merchant ma
rine, the red ensign. Owing to the
fact that the British merchant YES
sells were everywhere, the colonists in
America came to look upon this red
ensign as the flag Of Great Britain.
The people in the New England col
onies were bitterly opposed to the
cross in the flag. In 1886 some of the
troops in Massachusetts declined to
march under this flag and the military
commissioners were forced to design
other flags for their troops with the
cross left out. The design they adopt
ed has not been preserved. In 1852 q
mint was established in Boston. Mon
ey coined in this mint had the pine
tree stamped on one side of it. The
pine tree design was also used on
New England flags, certainly by 1904
and possibly as early as 1886.
At the outbreak of the Revolution
the American colonies had no flag
common to all of them. In many
cases the merchant marine flag Of
England was used with the pine tree
substituted for the Union Jack. Mas
sachusetts adopted the green pine tree
on a white field with the motto: IAN
Appeal to Heaven Some of the
southern states had the rattlesnake
flag with the motto, Don't Tread on
Me-" on a white or yellow field. This
flag had been used by South Carolina
as early as 1854. Benjamin Franklin
defended the rattlesnake device on the
ground that the rattlesnake is found
only in America and that serpent en-
blems were considered by ancients to
be symbols of wisdom.
In September, 1775, there was dis
played in the south what is by many
believed to be the first distinctively
American flag. 1t was blue with a
white crescent. and matched the dress
of the troops. who wore caps in
scribed Liberty or DEATH
The colonists desired to adopt q
common flag; but they had not yet
declared independence and were not
at first seeking independence. They
took the British flag as they knew it.
and made a new colonial flag by divid-
ing the red field with white stripes
into IS alternate red and white
stripes. This is known as the Cam
bridge flag, because it was first un-
furled over Washington's headQuar-
tiers at Cambridge, Mass, on January
1, 1876. 1t complied with the law of
1907 by having the Union Jack on it:
it also represented the IS colonies by
the Is stripes.
AS the colonists gradually became
converted to the idea that indepen-
dence from the mother country was
necessary. they began to modify the
flag. first by leaving off the Union
Jack and using only the IS horizon
tai stripes. The modified flags were
not always red and white. but regu-
larly consisted of combinations of two
colors selected from red. white, blue
and yellow. The final modification
was the replacement OF the Union
Jack by the white stars on blue field
The stars are the only distinctive
feature of the American flag. The
charming story which credits Betsy
Ross with making the first flag of
stars and stripes is still accepted by
historians. When Washington sug-
gested the six-pointed star. she DEM
onstrated the ease with which five
pointed star could be made by fold
ing piece of paper and producing
one with a single clip of the scissors.
Some writer's are Of the opinion that
both stars and stripes in the flag were
derived from the coat of arms of the
Washington family, but this theory is