Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-06-12
Our Flag Is 154 Years Old.

June ID, Flag Day, will this year direct
the thoughts Of every good American to
the future as well as the past. The patri-
otto citizen will be reminded that June IA,
1881. marks the 154th anniversary of the
day when the Continental Congress passed
the resolution officially establishing. as the
emblem of the United States. flag "of
thirteen stripes alternate red and white
and "that the union be thirteen stars white
in blue field, representing new con-
stellation."
But every patriot will also look forward
to next year. when Flag Day will take on
still deeper meaning as one of the key
days in the ten months nationwide cele-
bration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary
of the Birth of George Washington. Ac-
cording to the plans of the United States
George Washington Bicentennial Commits
sion. every American. in every State and
city of the country. will then be encouraged
to honor the flag with appropriate cere-
monies and with new devotion, linked as
it is with the life and labors of George
Washington.
Historians may regard as unsupported
by fact the story of Betsy Ross stitching
the first American Flag. but no one dis
putes the fact that the legend has become
part and parcel of American folklore. In
any case it is known that Washington had
-. 81 ion Of n
national flag, and may have had part in
its design. And no one disputes the fact
that he accomplished more than any other
American in giving that flag a meaning
and in unfurling it over a strong and
united nation. In 1882 it will be the
countrys privilege to render new honors
to George Washington's memory, and new
loyalty to this immortal symbol of his
greatness.
Meanwhile, this year. it is well to recall
some of the great dates in the flags his
tory. Its first display by the Continental
Army was on August 8, l777. at Fort
Stanwix, the present city Of Rome, N. Y,
during an attack by the British. 1t was
first carried into battle by George WASH
ineton's troops at Brandywine on Septem-
Der II, 1777. 1t was first saluted by the
British at the surrender of Burgoyne at
Saratoga on October IL. 1777.
For the Navy, John Paul Jones took the first
salute to the Stars and Stripes on FEBRUARY
IA, 1878, when he sailed his ship Ranger"
into the harbor of Quiberon, France. In
the same ship he forced the first striking Of
colors to our Flag by the British ship
Drake. on April "a. 1878. The ship
Bedford" of Massachusetts carried the
first American Flag into British port on
February 8, 1888. 1t was first carried
round the world by the ship Columbia.
sailing from Boston in September, 1887
Captain John Greene, in the Empress Of
China" had previously taken it to China in
1884.
1t was first flown in battle in the Pacific
by the u. S. Frigate Essex, in 1878. The
next year Francis Scott Key wrote the "Stai
Spangled Banner" In 1878 Congress de-
creed that henceforth new star should
be added on the admission of each new
State to the Union but, before that. on
January 10, 1894, after Vermont and Ken
lucky had been admitted to the Union. the
stars and stripes were increased to fifteen
The Act of 1918 reduced the stripes to thir
teen and decreed new star for each new
State. which made jump at once to twent!
| stars.
On April 6, 1909. Admiral Peary planted
the first American flag at the North Pole
, Within the last decade, Admiral Byrd ha
carried it to both poles.
Wherever the flag has gone it has mean
achievement and new honors to our nation
: But next year Old Glory will float over tn
achievements of the greatest American
all, the man who made both the flag ant
the nation that flies it-GEORGE WASH
lNGTON.