THE NATIONAL FLAG. The emblems of union with Britain were retained in the American flag until the year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As they were then considered altogether inappropriate, Congress decreed, on June 14, 1777, that "the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." This was the basis of the present United States Flag, which only differs in the number of white stars cantoned on the blue, and is the first definitely recorded legislative act for the adoption of a National Flag. The original thirteen States were: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Some of the flags used, when only twelve of the States had ratified the articles of the Convention, bore only twelve stars. The resolution in relation to the Flag was published in the papers in August, but the design was not officially promulgated by Congress until the 3d day of September. There is a story that the National Flag was first unfurled by Paul Jones on the Ranger, he having been appointed to the command of that ship on the very day that Congress passed the National-flag resolution. It has long been accepted as a historical fact that the first military display of the Flag in battle was made August 2, 1777, when the American garrison at Fort Stanwick, New York, besieged by redcoats and Indians, raised a curiously improvised banner made up of shirts cut up to form the white stripes, bits of scarlet cloth joined for the red, and the blue ground for the stars composed of a cloth cloak. Although tradition speaks of the unfurling of the Stars and Stripes immediately after the Declaration of Independence, there is no definite evidence of the use of the flag of thirteen stars and thirteen stripes prior to its adoption by the American Congress. George Henry Preble, Rear Admiral, U. S. N., in his "History of the Flag of the United States of America," has this to say: "Beyond a doubt, the thirteen stars and stripes were unfurled at the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, eight days after the official promulgation of them at Philadelphia, and at Georgetown on the 4th day of October following; they witnessed the operation against and the surrender of Burgoyne, after the battle of Saratoga, October 17, 1777; and the sight of this new constellation helped to cheer the patriots of the army amid their sufferings around camp fires at Valley Forge the ensuing winter. They waved triumphant at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, September 19, 1781; looked down upon the evacuation of New York, November 25, 1783; and shared in all the glories of the latter days of the revolution." It is conceded by all authors of books touching upon the subject, that the first flag combining the stars and stripes was made and partially designed by Elizabeth or "Betsy" Ross, at No. 89 Arch street (now No. 239), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Ross made the flag after a rough drawing explained to her by General Washington, during the year 1776, for the use of the committee of Congress "appointed to design a suitable flag for the nation." After its adoption by Congress Mrs. Ross was for many years engaged in making flags for the Government. The National Flag of the United States is a growth rather than a creation. It is not known with any degree of accuracy by whom the stars were first suggested. Some ascribe their suggestion to John Adams, while others maintain that the design of the whole flag was borrowed from the arms borne by the Washington family. The earliest recorded suggestion of stars as a device is found published March 10, 1774, in the "Massachusetts Spy," in a song written for the anniversary of the Boston Massacre of the 5th of March. In poetic fancy, the writer foresees the victories of the American Flag: "A ray of bright glory now beams from afar, Which shall shortly flame wide through the skies." Still another origin is claimed for the National Flag, it being asserted that the blue field was taken from the banner of the Scottish Covenanters, and is, therefore, significant of "the League and Covenant of the United States against oppression." FIFTEEN STARS AND STRIPES. The thirteen stars on the blue canton in the flag of 1777 were arranged in a circle, although no special form for their disposition was officially prescribed. The stars were probably disposed in a circle to symbolize the perpetuity of the new Nation, as well as the equality which existed among the States. The National Flag in this form continued unchanged until May 1st, 1795. In the year before, Senator Bradley of Vermont, whose own State, on March 4, 1791, as also Kentucky on June 1, 1792, had been admitted to the Union, introduced a bill, which passed Congress and was approved January 13, 1794, as follows: "Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the first day of May, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the Flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field." This Flag floated throughout the war of 1812-14, and was the identical flag that the Chesapeake flew in its famous encounter with the Shannon, off Boston, in 1813. No provision, however, was made in the Act of 1794, for future alterations, and the admission of the states of Tennessee. June 1, 1796; Ohio, November 29, 1802; Louisiana, April 30, 1812; Indiana, December 11, 1816, and Mississippi, December 10, 1817, made a change in the Flag necessary. THIRTEEN STRIPES, WITH A STAR FOR EVERY STATE. In 1817, Congress took up the question of altering the Flag, and on the 2d day of January, 1817, a bill was reported embodying the suggestions of Captain Samuel C. Reid, a naval officer who gained renown for his defense of the brig General Armstrong, against a vastly superior British force in the Fayal Roads in 1813. Captain Reid recommended that the stripes be reduced to the original thirteen, and that stars equal to the number of States in the Union be adopted, formed into one large star, a new star to be added on the fourth of July next succeeding the admission of any new State. A long debate ensued, and no final action was taken upon the question during that session of Congress. In the session of 1818, a bill was finally passed fixing the number of stripes permanently at thirteen, but without any regulations for the arrangement of the stars beyond that there should be as many as there were States in the Union. This bill was approved by the President, April 4, 1818, and read as follows: "AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES. "SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the Flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field. "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the Flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission." The first flag, as thus established in 1818, was made by Mrs. S. C. Reid, of New York, wife of Captain Reid, under the direction of her husband. It was hoisted on the flagstaff of the House of Representatives April 13, 1818, though the law provided that the Act should not take effect until the following Fourth of July. The "Washington Gazette," under date of April 10, 1818, published the following: "By this regulation the thirteen stripes will represent the number of states whose valor and resources originally effected American independence; and the additional stars-the idea of which has been borrowed from the science of astronomy-will mark the increase of the states since the adoption of the present Constitution. This is the second alteration which has taken place in the Flag of the United States, and we trust it will be the last. There is a manifest inconvenience in altering a national Flag; and in the present instance it may, in some degree, prove injurious to our navigation, considering the number of licentious privateers that are abroad. Our merchants and navigators would do well to attend to the alteration in time. The time allowed for the alteration contemplated by the Act of the 4th instant is, we fear, too short. It does not allow three months to persons interested to prepare themselves for the change; and it will take one month at least before the provisions of the Act will be known at New Orleans." Stars were added to the constellation as new states were added to the Union in the following order: Illinois, on December 3, 1818, was the first state to be admitted after adopting the Flag, and following came Alabama, December 14, 1819; Maine, March 15, 1820; Missouri, August 10, 1821; Arkansas, June 15, 1836; Michigan, January 26, 1837; Florida, March 3, 1845; Texas, December 29, 1845; Iowa, December 28, 1846; Wisconsin, May 29, 1848; California, September 9, 1850; Minnesota, May 11, 1858; Oregon, February 14, 1859; Kansas, January 29, 1861; West Virginia, June 19, 1863; Nevada, October 31, 1864; Nebraska, March 1, 1867; Colorado, August 1, 1876; North Dakota, November 3, 1889; South Dakota, November 3, 1889; Montana, November 8, 1889; Washington, November 11, 1889; Idaho, July 3, 1890; Wyoming, July 10, 1890; Utah, January 4, 1896, and Oklahoma, November 16, 1907, thus altering the Flag from time to time, until it now contains forty-six stars. In consequence of the great increase in the number of stars, the circular arrangement, as on the Flag of 1777, had to be abandoned, and where the full number of stars are used they are now disposed in parallel lines. FLAGS OF THE ARMY AND NAVY. After the establishment of the Flag in 1818, the following circulars were issued: "NAVY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE, May 18, 1818. "SIR: The Navy Commissioners have to inform you that agreeably to the Act of Congress of the 4th day of April, 1818, entitled, 'An Act to establish the Flag of the United States,' our National Flag is, from and after the 4th day of July next, to be: Thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white. The union to be twenty stars, white in a blue field; one star to be added on the admission into the Union of every new State; such addition to be made from and after the 4th of July next succeeding the date of such admission. "The size of the flag must be in the proportion of fourteen feet in width and twenty-four feet in length, the field of the union must be one third of the length of the flag, and seven thirteenths of its depth, so that from the top to the bottom of the union there will be seven stripes, and six stripes from the bottom of the union to the bottom of the flag. The manner of arranging the stars you |