The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-06-30
Continued from page ID
THE AMERICAN FLAG

until June IA, 1777, year later, that
Congress adopted the stars and
stripes, and Washington was not in
Philadelphia. That it was kept con-
cealed year without any use or men
ton, no one will contend; and yet that
is what must be done to have Betsy
Ross making the flag in June, 1776. No
committee of Congress was even ap-
pointed in reference to it. No inter
est was taken in the subject.
AS to the flag John Paul Jones
hoisted, he was not the first to dis
play the Stars and Stripes. The flag
had not been adopted when Jones
hoisted ''the American Flag" as he
called it, when he nailed it to the mast
of the Alfred, on which he was lieu
tenant. At that time 'the American
Flag was any device pleasing to
the naval officers. 1.-The Pine Tree
Flag" and "the Rattlesnake Flag"
were the principal ones. After Janu-
airy 1, 1776, the Union Flag of Wash
ington may have been the flag Jones
hoisted. 1t was flown from the Alfred
when Hopkins feet sailed down the
Delaware River, in February, 1776.
That flag had stripes, but no stars.
The Rattlesnake Flag was presented to
Congress in February, 1776, as being
the flag of the commander-in-chief,
Eek Hopkins, so it might have been
the Rattlesnake Flag hoisted by Jones.
The flag raised on January 1, 1776,
was the Union Flag. This flag con-
tanned thirteen stripes, with the cross
es of England and Scotland in the cen
ter. 1t was not the American Flag we
have today that was hoisted on Pros
pect Hill. When the Revolutionary
War began in Massachusetts, not only
was the British flag ''intolerable," be-
cause it was the ensign of England,
but not the less because it had the
cross. On March IA, 1775, the town
militia of Salem, Mass, assembled
for muster. An encounter had oc-
Cured at the North Bridge on Febru-
airy 26, with the British forces under
Colonel Leslie, in which blood had
been shed, ''the first bloodshed of
the revolution" it is claimed
When the troops assembled, ''the
sight of the colors-the British flag
under which the invaders under Lewis
had marched, was intolerable to- the
militia.
Standard of Liberty.
Another standard was therefore
prepared for the muster" an ample
sheet of pure, white bunting, bearing
on one side, green pine tree, and on
the reverse the words, "An Appeal to
Heaven" were displayed This was re-
garded as the standard of Liberty"
Mr.. .Goodell, of Salem, in an address
in 1875, said: 'If the spirits of the de-
parted were ever permitted to take
note of mundane affairs, the stern and
pallid features of Endicott must have
kindled with glow Of life and
warmth, as he saw the symbol of idol
airy which, one hundred and forty
years before, he had cut out from
the national ensign, with the point of.
his sword, now laid aside, first and.
forever, in the town which his energy
helped to establish"
The reference to "the symbol of
idolatry" relates to the action of Rev.
John Endicott, in cutting from the
British flag the crosses of st. George
and st. Andrew as 'semblems of
Popery." Roger Williams twas so
much of zealot for reform that he.
thought the cross should be taken
from the flag, because it was relic;
Of anti-Christian superstition, and
Governor Endicott cut it out,
\ The first Cathedral church erected
in Boston was named The Holy
Cross How appropriate was the Sc
lection. How significant its choice