Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1917-05-02
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j. OUR FLAG AND IT'S HISTORY. i.
Observation-Disclosures
(Atlanta Georgian. }


The American flag, symbol Of lib
erty and the national emblem of a
hundred million peace-loving citi-
zens, is not alone representative OF
democracy, progress and equality
among mankind, but is also admit.
ted to be one Of the finest artistic
achievements of which any land can
boast as its standard.
Our flag is thing of beauty.
Let us see how that banner was
devised and how 1t was developed to
the appearance which it bears at pres
ent
Strange to 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 nation
was first plunged into war. The
Stars and Stripes formed a part Of
the design on the arms of the ances-
tors of George Washin gton. Unmis-
taxable traces Of the shield, having
bars of what once were red and
white, are found upon brass plate
of the old church at Brington and
upon the old manor house at North
ampshire, where the ancestors of
Washington lived. The two stone
shields at the manor house date from
1910, and are thought to constitute
the oldest record of the Stars and
Stripes design.
The earliest known instances of the
Stars and Stripes being used as an
American banner are in 1875, when
standard of this kind was presented
to the Philadelphia Light Horse by
it's captain in 1775, and when the
Union flag was raised over the head
quarters Of Gen. Washington in
Cambridge. January 2, 177G. ~The
latter was for the time the flag Of the
United Thirteen Colonies. 1t had
thirteen red and white stripes, just as
they appear to-day, but on the upper
left-hand blue field we're placed the
crosses of st. Andre and st. George
In place of the stars that were later
sprinkled there.
But the official American flag had
not yet been born.
On June IA, 1777, the Continent
tai Congress resolved: "rhat the flag
of the United States be Of thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white, that
the union be represented by thirteen
stars, white in a blue field, represent
ing a new constellation"
Washington designed the flag and
presented a rough sketch of it to Mrs.
Betsy Ross, Of No. 239 Arch street,
Philadelphia. Mrs. Ross made some
suggestions for changes, and these
were carried out by the designer.
Then Mrs. Ross set to work to make
a 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 to
bear the Stars and Stripes was has
tily made from a soldiers white
shirt, an officers blue overcoat and a
woman's red flannel petticoat, and
unfurled by Capt. Stephen Whyte
over Fort Schuyler, in New York, on
Friday. August 6, 1777.
The first time the Stars and
Stripes were carried in battle was at
Brandywine on September II, 1777.
The flag as first adopted remained
unchanged until 1875, at which time
two more States. Virginia and Ken
lucky, came into the Union. In or
der to insure thep representation on
the flag. Congress enacted that there
should be fifteen stripes and fifteen
stars.
This was the design of the flag
until after the United States had be-
come a great nation and had gone
through another conflict with Eng
land, the war of 1912 1t was in
1918 that Congress appointed COM
mittee to revise the flag, and the
task, or the honor. of doing the ac-
tual work fell to Capt. Samuel Ches-
ter Reid, a naval hero of 1912.
y CHILD HATES OIL,
CAIONEI. PILLS FOR