Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-02-25
The Development of
The American Flag.

At the regular meeting of the Sons
of Veterans Monday evening the feat
ure was a paper on the origin and
development of the American Flag, by
Arthur Hall. In his address Mr.. Hall
traced the growth of the different flags
and their significance from the first
which flew over this country, the
Spanish flag planted in 1892 by Chris
topher Columbus. In 1497 the Red
Cross of England was planted on the
northern coast of Labrador by Sebas-
tian Cabot Later the white cross OF
Scotland was added. The next change
of Importance in the colors of the en-
blem in 1907 when the blue field was
added to that of the red and white and
two crosses were used instead OF the
single one of white or red. This was
done by the order of James l, and later
the two crosses were used in the fam
Gus Cromwell Flag, with change
from the blue field to one of crimson.
1t was this flag that the colonists USED
throughout the settlements in the
early history of this country aithoagh
they made some changes in such as IN
serting q pine tree on the blue or whl'e
field in place of the crosses.
In the early part of the war the pine
tree flag of Massachusetts, was USED
by the armies and the vessels The
famous rattle snake flag was used 10
a great extent by the southern COLO
MES throughout the war. rms nag
had a large snake on a white field ana
underneath the words: Don't Ireaa
On Me-"
In Philadelphia the stripes as they
are seen at the present were hfst usea
by the light horse troop or that citS'
Congress under the direction OF com
mittee headed by Franklin adopted
t these stripes as the national emoleih
but at that time the crosses OF ST
Andrew and ST. George were stih re-
tanned, It was this flag that was rais-
ed over the continental headquarters
at Cambridge. Jan. 2, 17i6.
The first salute an American nag
taver received was at the direction of
John Paul Jones when he raised the
flag on his ship the Alfred, this salute
consisted of the firing of 13 guns. Ol'
June IA, 1777 Congress adopted the
plan of the stars instead of the crosses
| which had been known as the Union.
The true origin of the Stars ana
| Stripes was that of the old NashihS-
! ton coat of arms borne by Washington
himself. From the red and white pars
/ of the shield came the idea OF the
| stripes of those colors and from the
raven ON the crest the spread eagle OF
the present emblem was obtained.
| The first flag of the present design
;s s,1pposed to have been made by MISS
Betsey Ross of Philadelphia under tne
direction of General Washington. rms
was first displayed at the Battle oil
Brandywine, Sept. II, 1777. Soon aiter
this II was hoisted over all the naval
vessels of the country and in Decem-
her. 1777. John Paul Jones on the
ranger first displayed it in foreign
port, France.
The next change in the flag came in
1901 when Vermont and Kentucky
were admitted to the Union and atter
this the custom was followed of insert
ing a star on the admittance of a state.
It was this flag which was carried IN
the war of 1872 and called the star
Spangled Banner"
Tn 1919 FIVE more states were admit
ted and this necessitated a further
obanoe in the arrangement of the flag,
for that reason Congress passed an
act nv which the 13 stripes of alter
nate red and white were finally adopt
cod and the measure also provided for
the insertion of single star on the
aouisition of a state. The 13 stripes
represented the faithful IS states which
originally comprised the Union and
the stars represented the states added
since the adoption of the constitution.
The flag has thus remained the same
since that date except for the increase
in stars due to the increase in the
| n,p,har ne states