The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-06-30
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sion of Mr.. C. F. Gunther of Chicago this was the
first one raised, but was shot away. The flag
owned by the Littlepages is the second one run up.
Resan's Flag.
In the rooms of the Stevenson Post at Roxbury,
Mass, is preserved one Of the strangest banners
the world has ever seen. In a tobacco factory in
Richmond, in Civil war times, many Federal SOL
diers were prisoners, among them a Timothy ].
Regain. Regain conceived the idea of making a flag
of Federal Stars and Stripes even in the close
confinement of their prison. There were about 20
men and they secretly got together the material.
A flannel shirt made the blue ground, a shirt of
white cotton furnished the white stars, and goods
were bought sufficient to make the red and white
stripes. In hiding, they worked at their task till at
last it was finished. 1t was thrown to the wind at
once in a place which was sheltered from the
view of the guards, then torn into strips and d.
vided among the men. After the war, Regain, by
persistent effort, managed to get together all the
pieces and had them sewn into a flag, which is
now at Roxbury.
The flag of the Maine, the ship whose sinking
precipitated the Spanish-American war in 1898, is
kept at Annapolis. Near by the banners captured
by Dewey at Manila from the Spanish, as well as
trophies of the battle of Santiago.
The banner which foated over the North pole,
raised there April 9, 1909, by Commander Robert
E. Peary, now lies for safekeeping in the vaults of
n safe deposit company in Washington. 1t was
made by Mrs. Peary, the stars being worked In
silk embroidery. 1t was flown In the wind on the
shores Of the Polar sea for more than a fourth
Of its circumference. The bits Of white with
which 1t is dotted indicate the fragments which
the explorer left with records at different places
in his journey. Some were deposited at Cape
Morris X. Jessup, the farthest northern point of
land on earth; one was left ut Cape Thomas Hub
bard, another at the starting point Of the dash
for the pole-Cape Columbia-fve bits are in the
ice of "Peary's Farthest North" in 1906, and one
is yet in the eternal stiffness of the North pole
itself.
Oldest Flag in Museum.
The oldest flag in the National museum, at
Washington, is the first United States flag of
which there is authentic record. This is the ban
ner of John Paul Jones. On the very day the law
was enacted establishing a national flag for the
United States of America, June 4, 1777, congress
the Ranger. History does not relate, with au-
thority, the exact date of the making of the
Rangers flag, but 1t must have been very soon
after the congressional enactment, because the
war department states that '"The ship Ranger,
bearing the Stars and Stripes and commanded
by Capt. Paul Jones, arrived at a French port
about December l, 1777, and her flag received, on
February IA, 177S, the first salute ever paid to an
American flag by foreign naval vessels"
Later, Paul Jones set his loved ensign high
above the Bon Homme Richard and 1t waved tri-
umphant over many a fierce encounter with the
foes of the new country. The most notable of
these was when 1t anne In contact with the Brit
ish ship Scraps in 1910 and went down. Commo-
dor Jones rescued his precious STARRY flag and
hoisted it over the captured Serapls, bringing it
home covered with honor.
The museum authorities believe this to be the