The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1915-03-25
OUR EARLY FLAGS.
Colonial Emblems That Led Up
, to the Stars and Stripes.
THE STORY OF OLD GLORY.
twice Has the Design Been Changed
Since the Official Adoption Of Our
First Flag In 1777-The Stars tho
Distinctive Feature Of Our Banner.

Since the Official Adoption Of Our
First Flag In 1777-The Stars the
Distinctive Feature Of Our Banner.
The American flag is growth
rather than creation. Its history can
be traced back to the twelfth century,
or nearly 600 years prior to the first
flag day" June II, l777
During the first crusade in 1895
Pope Urban III. 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 as
the white cross of st. Andrew, on a
blue field The British used yellow
cross, but a century and quarter
later they adopted a red cross on q
white field, known as the red cross Of
st. George.
ed the throne Of England as James /.
he combined the two flags and issued
a proclama ton requiring all ships to
carry the new flag at their mainmasts.
At the same time the vessels of south
Britain were to carry at their fore
masts 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 king
COlOrs." the union cOlors," of the
great union" and later as the union
Jack" and was the one under which
the British made all their permanent
settlements in America.
The people in the New England colo
MES 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 com
missioners were forced to design other
flags for their troops with the cross
left out. The design they adopted has
not been preserved. In 1862 mint
was established in Boston. Money
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 l7O4 and
possibly as early as 1886.
At the outbreak of the Revolution
the American colonies had no flag com
mon to all Of them In many cases the
merchant marine flag Of England was
used with the pine tree substituted for
the union jack Massachusetts adopt
ed the green pine tree on a white
field with the motto. "An Appeal to
Heaven" Some Of the southern states
had the rattlesnake flag with the mot
to Don't Tread on Me" on a white or
,yellow field. This flag had been used
by South Carolina as early as 1854.
In September, 1875, there was dis
played in the south what is by many
believed to be the first distinctively
American flag 1t was blue with
white crescent and matched the dress
Of the troops. who wore caps inscrib
ed Liberty or Death"
The colonists desired to adopt COM
mon 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 dividing the red
field with white stripes into thirteen al
ternate red and white stripes. This is
known as the Cambridge flag, because
it was first unfurled over Washington's
headquarters at Cambridge, Mass, on
Jan. l, 1916. 1t complied with the law
Of 1907 by having the union jack on
it; it also represented the thirteen COL
onies by the thirteen stripes.
AS the cOlonists gradually became
converted to the idea that independ
ence from the mother country was nee
essary they began to modify the flag,
first by leaving of the union jack and
using only the thirteen horizontal
stripes. The modified flags were not al
ways red and white, but regularly con-
sisted Of combinations of two colors
selected from red, white, blue and vel
low. The final modification was the re-
placement Of the union jack by the
white stars on a blue field
The stars are the only distinctive fea
ture of the American flag. The charm
ing story which credits Betsy Ross
with making the first flag Of stars and
stripes is still accepted by historians.
When Washington suggested the six
pointed star she demonstrated the ease
with which five pointed star could be
made by folding a piece of paper and
producing one with single clip Of the
scissors
The official adoption of our first
flag was in 1777 On June Ii of that
year the Continental congress passed
an act providing that 1.-The flag of the
thirteen United States be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white: that
the Union be thirteen stars. white
on blue field. representing new
constellation" The thirteen stars were
arranged in circle to symbolic the
perpetuity Of the union of the states.
Vermont was admitted to the Union
In 1901, and Kentucky in 1892. 1t
was felt that these two new states
ought to be recognized ON the flag. so
In 1894 congress passed an act making
the flag fifteen stars and fifteen stripes.
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