The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1917-04-26
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~ which any can boast a. its
standard. M
Our flag issathing Of beauty.
LetSus see hon. Tint banner vas de-
vised and how II was developed to the
appearance which it bears at presens.
Strange 70 Say, the general de-
sign upon which the flag is based,
namely, the stars and Stripes, came
from England, that country with
which the young American national
was first plunged into wal. The Stars
and Stripes fo,r1nsd4a part of the de-
sign on the arms 81 the ancestors Of
George Washington. Unmistakable
traces Q the shield, having bars Of
what was once were red and white, are
found upon . brass plate Of the old
church at Brinton and upon the ola
manor house at Northampshire, where
the ancestors Of Washington lived.
The. two stone shields at the manor
housesdat { from $40 nd are thought
to constitute the Oldest record Of the
Stars and Stripes design.
The earliest Known instances Of the
Stars and Stripes being, used q an
American banner are in ITS, when a
standard Of this kind was presented to
the Philadelphia Light Horse BY its
captain in Its, and when the Union
flag was raised over the headquarters
of General Washington in Cambridge,
January52, 1776. The latter was for
the time the flag Of the United Thir-
teen Colonies. Il had thirteen red
and white stripes, just as they appear
today, but onithe upper left hand blue
field was placed the crosses Of St. An
drew and st. George in place Of the
stars that were later sprinkled there.
But the official American flag had
not yet been born.
On Tune ~, i777, the Continental
Congress resolved: "That the flag Of
the United Staten be Of thirteen
stripes altelnateS and white that
1.-The union bssreprsysated BY thirteen
stars, white ina blue field, represent
ing . new constellation"
Washington designed the flag and
presented q rough sketch Of it to Mrs.
Betsy Ross ut 2s9 Arch Street, Phila-
delphia. Mrs. Ross made ONE sug-
gestions for changes, and those wero
carried ont by the designer. Then
Mrs. Ross set to work TO make q flag
with her own hands. After many
weeks Of toll she completed it, and the
flag was officially accepted by the
Continental Congress.
One Of the first American flags ia
bear the Stars ana Stripes was hastily
made from a soldiers white shirt, an
officers blue overcoat and a wornan's
red fanel petticoat, and unfuried by
Captain Stephen Whyte over Fort
Schuyler in New York on Friday,
August 9Th, 1777.
The first time the Stars and Stripes
were carried in: battle WINS at Brandy
wine on September 115d777. 4
The flag as first adopted remained
unchanged until 1795,ssAt which time
two more states, Virginia and Ken
lucky came into the Union. In orde,
to insure them representation on the
flag, congress enacted that there
should be fifteen stripes and fifteen
stars.
This was the design Of the flag un.
til after the United States had become
great nation and hadSgone. through
another conflict with ENGLAND, the wa,
Of 1912. It was in 1913 that Congress
appointed committee % revise the
flag, and the task, or the honor, Of do.
ing the actual work fell to Captain
Chester Reid, a naval hero Of 1912.
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