Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-06-14
THE AMERICAN FLAG

During the revolution the flag
had thirteen stars; in the war Of
1912, fifteen; in the Mexican war
30; in the civil war, thirty five; in
the Spanish-American war forty
five, and in the world war forty
eight.
One of the oldest existing flags
of the Stars and Stripes a design
is that which was carried by the
North Carolina troops at the battle
of Guilford Courthouse, March Is,
I17S1, and which is now preserved
in the rooms Of the Masonic grand
lodge in Raleigh
The first instance in which the
thirteen colonies were represented
on an emblem was in the flag car
| ried by the light horse troops Of
Philadelphia in esGorting Wash
ington to Kingsbridge, N. Y, on his
way to Cambridge to take COM
mand of the army. This flag was a
gorgeous banner of yellow silk,
trimmed with silver, and bearing in
its upper corner a square of thir-
teen white and blue stripes.
The first merchant slip to carry
the American flag to foreign port
was the Bedford, of Nantucket,
which arrived in England February
6, 1888, with a cargo of whale oil,
A London newspaper of that day
said: "She is manned wholly by
American seamen, wears the reb1l
colors, and belongs to the Island of
Nantucket, in Massachusetts"
Previous to 1884 the Chinese had
no word in their language as a
name for the young American re-
public. When the Stars and Stripes
was first carried there in that year
they described the flag as being
as handsome as flower, and
speaking of the vessel they called
it Kaw- Kee-Cheum, Flag Flower
Ship, and an American they called
Kaw-K ee -Kock-Yin, Flower Flag
countrymen.
Many writers have stated that
the patriots carried no flag in the
battle of Lexington. In this they
are mistaken. Nathaniel Page,
captain of the Minute Men of the
town of Bedford, had flag for his
company. When they received
word that the British were coming
they FASTENED to Lexington and
carried the flag with them. In the.
thickest of the fight it was laid up
on the ground for a while. When
the British retreated the Bedfor
men followed them carrying their
flag, which consisted of a maroon
field and a picture of an armored
arm and hand holding aloft
sword.
Until after the civil war all the
official United States flags were
made of bunting manufactured
abroad. On February rs, 1866,
General Bcnjamine f. Butler pre-
scented to congress a flag that was
made in his mill at Lowell, Mass,
the material for which was grown
and manufactured in the United
States, made by Americans on
American machinery. Congress
accepted 1t with a vote of thanks
and ordered that no foreign ma
terial should ever again be used
in making the official United States
flags.
The American flag was first
given the name of "Old Glory" by
Captain stephen Driver, an old sea-
dog of Salem, Mass. In 1881, when
admiring friends gave Captain
Driver a great flag for his ship, he
made short, but energetic speech,
at the close of which he raised his
hand toward the banner at the |
masts head, and shouted "Old
Glory" Ever afterward people
called him Old Glory Driver.
One of the last battles of the
revolution was over flag. 1t was
a single-handed fight between a |
Mrs. Day. keeper of a boarding
house in Greenwich street, New
York city, and Major Cunningham,
the British provost marshal. The
British had agreed to evacuate the
city at noon on November rs, 1888. |
About . o'clock in the morning
Mrs. Day hoisted the American flag
in front of her house. Majer Cum
ningham ordered her to take the
flag down, and upon her refusing,
he undertook to do it himself, and
she proceeded to beat him with a
broom. She won the battle and the
the flag remained.