| Show v i w jt jl j y app 5 iri iti tir starry emblem of our country rich in history and honor jand the grand old banner will soon be making more history and receiving great 4 er honor on the battlefields of northern france and belgium HOUGH as yet the baby of nations uncle sam has many flags of which he has reason to be proud most of them are in the possession of the government but a few are owned by individuals or army posts one of them now kept at the statehouse at annapolis md was carried by the maryland troops during the war of the american revolution and Is made in accordance with the act of congress june 14 1777 it Is positively known to have been the regimental flag of the third maryland regiment commanded by col john eager howard at the battle of cow pens S C in january 1778 in which fight it was held by william bachelor bachelor was sent home to baltimore wounded and took his flag with him after bachelor death in march 1781 the flag remained in his family and when the british in faded maryland in 1814 this same flag was carried by william bachelors eon in the battle of north point as a banner for the twenty seventh maryland regiment this william bachelor died in 1885 the flag in 1907 was presented to the state of maryland and has since then reposed jn its capital building at annapolis another famous banner Is the battle flag of commandant oliver hazard perry the same which flew successively on the masts of his flagships the niagara and the lawrence in the battle of lake erie september 1813 this flag had been made at perry s express command but at the suggestion of purser hambleton he added the words it bore dont give up the ship the last uttered by captain lawrence killed in the fight in june 1813 between the english and american forces these words have erroneously been attributed to perry but are in fact an adoption of laurences lawrences Lawren ces sentence to perrys flag the banner Is a bunting of one solid color bearing its famous motto in arge letters across its face and Is now kept at the united states naval academy af annapolis A british trophy in the same chamber a the academy Is a gor standard which was captured from the parliament house when the capital of canada fell in 1813 into american hands it Is a magnificent ensign with five all in radiant tones the heraldic blazonry being such as was used in the time of george IH in one corner Is a red lion poised in air to denote scotland tn another Is the golden harp of ireland two other quarters contain three golden rampant lions for england while in the central quartering Is a combination of the arms of saxony hanover brunswick and luneburg with some emblems of the holy roman empire in the national museum in washington Is the real star spangled banner the came flag which floated over fort mchenry in september 1814 when it was attacked by the british and the one around which key wrote his immortal poem being 86 by 26 feet it will hang from the second story of a building to the first floor in eplite of time it Is well preserved and the stars and stripes which gleamed through the perilous fight are still plainly to be seen mexican trophies are to be seen at the naval academy these flags are all unique in design bearing the mexican condor standing on a cactus with a snake in its mouth there are several of this war one of ahem being the flag captured by gen scott and commodore matthew perry at the fall of vera cruz in 1847 in the antechamber to the rooms of the secretary of war in washington Is the famous flag which flew over fort sumter in april 1801 when it was fired on by the confederate lotteries lat teries this was the shot which opened the great war between the states the flag of the merrimac Is now owned by the family of the late capt beverly littlepage formerly of washington another flag of the merrimac is in the posses jj jj ij dij t s f if sa ft faw wg www 2 27 AT affa filon of mr C F gunther of chicago this was the first one raised but was shot away the flag owned by the Is the second one run up 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 la lUch mond in civil war times many federal soldiers were prisoners among them a timothy J regan regan 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 it was thrown to the wind at once in a place which was sheltered from the view of the guards then torn into strips and divided among the men after the war regan by persistent effort managed to get together all the pieces and had them sewn into a flag which la now at roxbury the flag of the maine the ship whose sinking precipitated the spanish american war in 1808 la dept at annapolis near by the banners captured by dewey at manila from the spanish as well aa trophies of the battle of santiago the banner which floated over the north pole raised there april 0 1009 by commander robert E peary now lies for safekeeping in the vaults of n safe deport company in washington it was made by mrs peary the stars being worked in silk embroidery it was flown in the wind on the shores of the bolar feea for more than a fourth of its circumference mhd bits of white with which it Is dotted indicate the fragments which the explorer left with records at different places in his journey some were deposited at cape morris K jessup the farthest northern point of land on earth one was left at cape thomas nub bard another at the starting point of the dash for the pole cape columbia five bits are in the ice of peares farthest north in 1900 and one Is yet in the eternal stillness 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 banner of john paul jones on the very day the law was enacted establishing a national flag for the united states 0 america june 4 1777 congress appointed john paul jones to be commander 0 the ranger history does not relate with authority tho rity the exact date of the making of the rangers flag but it must have been very soon after the congressional enactment because the war department states that the ehla ranger bearing the stars and stripes and commanded by capt paul jones arrived at a french port about december 1 1777 and her flag received on february 14 1778 the first salute ever paid to an american flag by foreign naval vessels later paul jones set his loved ensign high above the bon hoarne richard and it waved triumphant over many a fierce encounter with the foes of the new country the roost notable of these was when it came in contact with the brit ath ship in 1770 and went down commodor jones rescued his precious starry flag and hoisted it over the captured Sera pla bringing it home covered with honor the museum authorities believe this to be the act bius aws w wf WJ t beigl Bi igl first american flag that came into existence after the enactment of congress As evidence of tha theory they point to the 12 stars instead of 13 had this flag had an official predecessor the mistake in the number of stars would hardly have occurred this historic standard kept intact by long and loving care shows its age in much frayed edges and worn patches the 12 stars arranged in three parallel perpendicular rows still stand out on their unstable foundation for the blue field and the 13 red and white stripes have grown pathetically threadbare the museum contains n collection oil remnants of flags that participated in naval en fl gage ments from the time of the revolutionary war to the war with mexico also those of foreign vessels of war captured by the navy during those periods this display of fragments Is quite interesting it was collected by peter force of washington and presented by him to the library 0 congress which transferred it to the national museum among these remnants Is a piece of the british flag of la guerriere used during her encounter with the constitution and of the java worsted by the same indomitable american as well as a fragment of the flag of the algerene Alger lne brig zoura captured under decatur A division of the museums flag collection relates to the civil war and the most interesting of these Is the garrison flag of fort le in charleston harbor south carolina this flag was lowered december 26 when maj robert anderson first united states artillery moved his forces to fort sumter the flag was secured by his second in command capt abner double dav and remained in his possession until presented to the institution at washington in the national museum also Is the united states flag raised in new orleans by the volunteer flag committee after the occupation in 1802 this was the first federal flag raised by citizens ot any of the confederate states after the commencement of hostilities here too Is the flag of the united states ship kearsarge in use at the time of the surrender of the confederate cruiser alabama also the first united states flag raised in richmond after the surrender this was used na headquarters flag by gen E 0 C ord U S A when he took possession of the city the history of our war with spain Is illustrated at the national by n saries of flags of picturesque interest there Is here the spanish garrison flag used at fort san crestobal san juan porto rico during the entire war and floated over the fort during the bombardment by the american fleet may 12 1898 there Is too the flag lowered from the customhouse at the plaza ponce porto rico when it surrendered to the united states the yellow stripe in this flag was painted red to give it n chance to escine identification another flag here was taken from the trenches before santiago and still another la a guidon used by spanish infantry at porto rico the museum Is also custodian of the pennant flown by admiral schley on the brooklyn during the battle of santiago the united states marine corps has a number of flags of vital import it Is proud of its trophies and well it may be for it was the foremost in winning them the marine corps possesses the first american flag under fire in cuba this flag was raised by the marine battalion at gianta guanta namo the tenth of june and flew during the hundred hours of continuous fighting by the marines at that point after its use in this engagement ga ft was hauled down and sent to headquarters at washington another noteworthy flag belonging to the corps Is the flag used by sergeant quick at tho battle of cuzco during the engagement the fleet stationed in the bay while firing on the enemy was seriously endangering the unseen marines on land who already had the spaniards surrounded A volunteer was requested to go out and signal to the fleet to stop firing sergeant quick immediately responded and in full view of tho enemy stood and wigwagged wig wagged the dolphin to stop firing the signal flag was rent in several places but the sergeant escaped injury for this act he received a medal and honorable mention some later flags to come into possession of the marine corps Is the large united states flag used by the marines during the siege of the legation in peking at the time of the boxer riots it may be recalled that the guard of the oregon served in peking this was their post flag and w as planted on the tartar city wall where it was jealously guarded later it was hoisted on tho ruins of the imperial achlen men as a signal tv the allied forces and it has the honor of the first signal the latter had that their frienda were still living the flag shows its hard usage at the hands of its enemies being torn in eral places by olics of shot and shell assailing it another chinese memento possessed by the ma rine corps Is a large imperial flag captured on the walls of by the marines when they it tacked the city this Is n large pennant shaped affair of turkey red with enigmatical characters in its center |
