The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-13

| of Morgan county, but this entire sec
| ton.
| Such demonstration makes a won
| derful impression upon the public and
helps to instill patriotism. We daugh-
| ters should encourage and aid such
| celebration in every way we can.
| Contributed by Mrs. r. E. Sanders,
New Decatur, Ala.
DISTING UISHED AMERICANS
Many brilliant Americans have
| served in the cabinet of Presidents of
| the United States, but no administra-
| ton has had such a group of able as
sistants as Washington gathered about
| him at the close of the revolutionary
war. His first cabinet comprised:
| Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state;
| Alexander Hamilton, secretary treas
urer; Henry Knox. secretary of war;
Edmund Randolph, attorney general
OUR SECOND FLAG ACT
Vermont was admitted to the union in
1871 and Kentucky in 1892, and the mem
bers in Congress claimed that these
states also should be represented on the
| flag. Accordingly, Congress passed the
| following act, approved by President
Washington January 49, 1884,
| BE it enacted by the Senate and House
| of Representatives of the United States
| of America, in Congress assembled, That
| '
Ammo Domin one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-fve. the flag of the United
States be 10 stripes, alternate red and
white; that the union be Is stars, white
| in blue field" But still the army did
not carry the Stars and Stripes.
NATIONAL COLORS OF 1872
| By act of May 80, 1896, the sublegion
| feature in our army was abandoned, and,
although I have no absolute proof to sub
stantiate this view, l am strongly of the
opinion that there was then adopted as
national colors the general design car
ried by our army during the war of 1872,
having a blue field with stimulation of
| the arms of the United States thereon
At the outbreak of the war quite a num-
Der of these flags were evidently made
Our seventeenth state was admitted in
| 1902. AS a rule, the shield on the eagles
breast had II white and red stripes and
on the chief of the shield were the letters
U. S.; above or around the eagle were
II stars, sometimes five-pointed, but more
frequently six, and below the eagle was
a scroll, pale blue if the stars were five
pointed, but red if they were six-pointed
carrying the number and name of the
regiment
Singular as it may seem, the printed
regulations of our war department do
not show what the army carried as ma
ly number of the flags that were so
used have been preserved, and are at
present at the United States quartermas-
ter's depot at Philadelphia, hanging in
the chapel at the army post on Cover
nor's Island, and at the United States
Military academy at West Point. Those
which were captured by the British are
at Chelsea hospital in London, and as
trophies of war were carefully labeled
They constitute the mute evidence upon
which what 1 have just said is largely
based
OUR THIRD FLAG ACT
In 1916 the Hon. Peter H. Wendover,
congressman from New York, advocated
a further modification in our flag to give
representation to the state which had
been admitted since the last flag act
was adopted. Objection was made that
there was no telling to what extent our
nation would grow, and if an additional
star and stripe were added for each new
state the flag might be very awkward in
shape and design. After two years of
discussion, the suggestion of Capt. Sam
uel Chester Reid was adopted, that we
return to the original 10 stripes, with
one star for each state in the union
Accordingly Congress passed the follow
ing act, approved by President Monroe
April 4, 1878:
BE it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States
of America, in Congress assembled, That
from and after the 4th day of July next,
the flag of the United States be 10 hori-
zontal stripes, alternate red and white;
that the union be 20 stars, white in a
blue field.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That
on the admission of every new state into
! the union one star be added to the union
of the flag, and such addition shall take
effect on the 4th day of July next sue
ceeding such admission"
| A portion of Captain Reds suggestion
was not adopted namely, that the stars
be arranged in horizontal rows for the
navy, and to form one great star for the
merchant marine. His failure to make a
| suggestion for an arrangement of the
| stars for the army is silent testimony in
| support OF the statement that the army
| did not carry the Stars and Stripes.
| In fact no branch of the army was
given the right to carry the Stars and
| Stripes, according to published regula-
| tons of the war department, until 1884,,
when for the first time the artillery was
given that privilege.
| The infantry carried as national colors
and the cavalry as national standard a
| blue flag having stimulation of the arms
| of the United States varying somewhat
| from that carried during the war of 1872,
in that a second scroll bearing the ma
| tional motto, "E Pluribus Unum," was
placed in the beak of the eagle, both
scrolls always having red fields. Above
| the eagle was one star for each state
in the union. These stars were generally,
| If not universally, six-pointed. 1t was
not until 1874 that the infantry was given
the right to carry the Stars and Stripes
as national colors, and what had pre-
viously been their national colors then
became their regimental colors
But the strangest of all is that not
until 1887, % years after our Civil war.
was the cavalry given the right to carry
| the Stars and Stripes as the national
standard, although in 1868 each battery
| of artillery and each company of cav
| airy was allowed to carry a small guidon
| consisting of the Stars and Stripes
| You will notice that in no one of the
three acts adopting our national flag is
there mention as to how these stars
should be arranged or as to how many
points they should have, Apparently all
| matters of detail were left to the rulings
of the departments or the whims of the
] makers. In our first flag the stars were
| sometimes arranged in the quincunx or
der. in circle. or with one star in the
center, and the remaining - either in
| the form of a circle or hollow square,
| or three horizontal rows of four, five,
and four respectively. or indeed in the
seme'or irregular order. In New Orleans
| recently I saw two 13-star flags. each
ohaving one star in the center, one in each
| of the four corners of the union, and
| the remaining eight in the form of n