OCR Text |
Show K - , pVK TVOTIf ,,vf I Jj T-H 'SVfAfOlS ''5rA?Y STAG" OF Q&SvIq first American flag that came into existence after the enactment of congress. As evidence of the theory they point to the 12 stars instead pf 13. Had this flag had an official predecessor the mistake mis-take 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 stanchly on their unstnble foundation, for the blue field and the 13 red and white stripes have grown pathetically threadbare. The National museum contains a collection of remnants of flags that participated in naval engagements en-gagements from the time of the Revolutionary war to the war with Mexico ; also those of foreign vessels ves-sels of war captured by the navy during those periods. This display of fragments Is quite interesting. inter-esting. It was collected by Peter Force of Washington, Wash-ington, and presented by htm to the library of congress, which transferred it to the National museum. Among these remnants is a piece of the British Brit-ish flag of La Guerriere, used during her encounter encoun-ter with the Constitution, and of the Java, worsted by the same indomitable American, as well is a . fragment of the flag of the Algerine brig Zoura, captured under Decatur. A division of the museum's flag collection relates re-lates to the Civil war, and the most interesting of these Is the garrison flag of Fort Moultrie, in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. This flag was lowered December 26, 1860, when Maj. Robert Anderson, First United States artillery, moved 1 Starry emblem of out-country out-country rich in history and honor :: And the grand old banner will soon be making more history and receiving greater great-er honor on the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium fTnOUGH as yet the baby of nations, Uncle Un-cle 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 state-house state-house at Annapolis, Md., was carried by the Maryland troops during the war of the American Revolution, and Is made in accordance accord-ance with the act of congress, June 14, 1777. It Is positively known to have been the regimental Hag of the Third Maryland regiment, commanded by Col. John Eager Howard, at the battle of Cow-pens, 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's death in March, 17S1, the flag remained In his family, and when the British Invaded In-vaded Maryland in 1814 this same flag was carried by William, Bachelor's son, in the battle of North Point, as a banner for the Twenty-seventh Maryland Mary-land regiment. This William Bachelor died in 1885. The flag, in 1907, was presented to the state of Maryland and has since then reposed in its capital building at Annapolis. Another famous banner Is the battle flag of Commandant Com-mandant 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 sug-gestion of Purser Hambleton, he added the words it bore, "Don't 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 Lawrence's sentence to Perry's flag. The banner is a bunting of one solid color bearing Its famous motto in large letters across its face, and is now kept at the United States Naval academy at Annapolis. A British Trophy. In the same chamber at the academy Is a gorgeous gor-geous royal British standard which was captured from the parliament house when the capital of Canada fell, in 1813, into American hands. lb is a magnificent ensign with five quarterings, all In radiant tones, the heraldic blazonry being such as was used In the time of George in. In one corner Is a red Hon poised in air, to denote Scotland ; In 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 com-bination of the arms of Saxony, Hanover, Brunswick Bruns-wick and Luneburg, with some emblems of the Holy Roman empire. In the National museum In Washington is the real Star Spangled Banner, the same 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 Be-ing 86 by 26 feet, it will hang from the second story of a building to the first floor. In spite 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 them being the flag captured by Gen. Winfield Scott and Commodore Matthew Perry Per-ry at the fall of Vera Cruz in 1847. In the antechamber to the rooms of the secretary secre-tary of war, in Washington, Is the famous flag which flew over Fort Sumter In April, 1S61, when it was fired on by the Confederate batteries. 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 for-merly of Washington. Another flag of the Merrimac is in the posses- sion of Mr. C. F. Gunther of Chicago ; this was the first one raised, but was shot away. The flag owned by the Llttlepages is the second one run up. Regan'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 soldiers sol-diers 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 di-vided 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 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 floated over the North pole, raised there April 6, 1909, by Commander Robert E. Peary, now lies for safekeeping In the vaults of a safe deposit 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 Polar sea for more than a fourth of its circumference. The 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 Hubbard, Hub-bard, another at the starting point of the dash for the pole Cape Columbia five bits are in the Ice of "Peary's Farthest North," in 1906, 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 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 appointed John Paul Jones to be commander of the Ranger. History does not relate, with authority, au-thority, the exact date of the making of the Ranger's flag, but it 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 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 Homme Richard and it waved triumphant tri-umphant over many a fierce encounter with the foes of the new country. The most notable of these was when it came in contact with the British Brit-ish ship Serapis in 1779 and went down. Commo-dor Commo-dor Jones rescued his precious "starry flag" and hoisted it over the captured Serapis, bringing it home covered with honor. The museum authorities believe this to be the his forces to Fort Sumter. The flag was secured by his second In command, Capt. Abner Double-day, Double-day, and remained in his possession until presented present-ed to the Smithsonian 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 1862. This was the first Federal flag raised by citizens of any of the Confederate states after the commencement commence-ment 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, Ala-bama, also the first United States flag raised in Richmond after the surrender. This was used as headquarters flag by Gen. E. O. C. Ord, U. S. A., when he took possession of the city. The history of our war with Spain Is illustrated illus-trated at the National museum by a series of flags of picturesque interest. There is here the Spanish garrison flag used at Fort San Cristobal, San Juan. Porto Rico, during the entire war, and floated over the fort during the bombardment by the American fleet, May 12, 1S98. 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 a chance to escape identification. Another flag here was taken from the trenches before Santiago, and still another is a guidon used by Spanish infantry at Torto 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, tro-phies, 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 Gunnta-narao, Gunnta-narao, the tenth of June, 189S, and flew during the hundred hours of continuous fighting by the marines at that point. After its use In this engagement en-gagement It was hauled down and sent to headquarters head-quarters at Washington. Another noteworthy flag belonging to the corps is the signal flag used by Sergeant Quick at the battle of Cuzcn. 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 Im-mediately responded, and In full view of the enemy stood and wig-wagged the Dolphin to stop firing. The signal flag was rent In several places, hut the sergeant escaped injury. For this act he received a medal and honorable mention. Among some later flags to come into possession of the Marine corps is the large United Slates 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 was planted on the Tartar city wall, where it was jealously guarded. Later it was hoisted on the ruins of the Imperial Chien Men as a signal to the allied forces, and it has the honor of being the first signal the latter had that their friends were still living. The flag shows its hard usaire at the hands of Its enemies, being torn In several sev-eral places by volleys of shot and shell assailing assail-ing It. Another Chinese memento possessed hy dip M:1. rine corps is a large imperial (lag captured on the walls of Tientsin by the marines when they attacked at-tacked the city. This Is a large pennant-slmped affair of turkey red, with enigmatical Chinese characters in its center. |