Our National Flag

Co ri ht 1 b Schu ler Ha milton . py g , 8 87 , y y P R E F A C E .

1852 - In the author, by request of General Win

ﬁ a r mo o eld Scott, prep red with great ca e a n graph v , , on the National Flag of t he United States of North m A erica .

hi o me t al un - This st ry with gener acceptance, but fortunately the bulk of the edition was destroyed

ﬁr n n c by e . The freque t i quiries as to where opies can be procured has induced the preparation of the following condensed a cca nt of our national ﬂag .

Every school- boy and school- girl in th elan d should be familiar with the chief points in the history of

’ u Ho w their co ntry s ensign . few of our citizens m know them , even a ong those who by land and sea

r of r have pe iled their lives in defense it, is matte

f - o r . o o su prise The auth r vouches, with ut hesita m of . tion, the general accuracy his state ents

CHU YLE R H MI TO S A L N,

Major Gener a l.

NE W Y RK CITY October 1886 O , , .

U R N A T I O N A L F L A G O ,

- T H E S T A R S PA N G L E D B A N N E R .

T H E H I S T O R Y O F I T .

O all t M NG the nations of antiquity, especially he

n of heathe nations, their ensigns ,the origin “ , in si no in the word is g , sign of , were in one way

or fﬁ of or r - another the e gy , something rep esent

- ing, the god or gods they worshiped . It would be

m - idle to atte pt to enumerate them . Nor was this

ﬁ t o practice con ned heathen nations . When the Israelites strove with Amalek and the victory

m of vic - rested with Israel, Moses, in me ory this

al tory, caused an tar to be built and inscribed

Jehova h L our upon it, ord is ensign ,

, or banner .

of a r of is The ensign e ch t ibe Israel, it said, was an illustration upon the tribal which

was of the color of the stone in the breast-plate

of h of — of the igh priest, as an emblem the tribe,

of of the blessing Jacob to his son, the progenitor 6 OUR N TIO G A NAL FLA ,

“ F or The the tribe . example , Lion of the tribe , of . , Judah, etc ,Genesis, chap . lix . ,

After the Roman Emperor Constantine was con - t v verted o Christianity by a cross in the hea ens,

’ or I n hoo si no mn and the legend words, g oes “ , In this sign the cross became a

mm n m f . o m co on ensig The e perors Ro e, however,

n adhered to the eagle . Whe the Roman Empire became divided into the Eastern and Western E m-

of pires, the emperors each portion claimed the i sovereignty of the whole, and to typ fy it used a double - h e a de d eagle .

This double -h e a de d eagle became the ensign of

d of Russia, as it is to ay, on the marriage Ivan I . of r of Russia to a Grecian p incess, heiress the

Eastern Empire . With the title of Roman Emperor it passed from the Western Empire to the Emperor of Aus -

A double - h e a de d tria . eagle is at present the

of A ensign ustria . t The crescent, now he ensign of the Turks, was

a n d m a Christian symbol, for ed from all antiquity

n the symbol of Byzantium or Constantinople . O m m II w . the overthro Of this e pire by Moham ed ,

di - the Turks, regar ng the crescent, which every where m et their eye ou the churches and cathe - dr als of t Constantinople, as a good omen, adop ed it as their chief bearing . “ , THE - AN B NN STAR SP GLED A ER . 7

Colonel Moultrie, during the struggle between N A Great Britain and the colonies of orth merica, m caused a blue ﬂag to be ade, with a crescent in

m he on e t t . corner, to be in unifor wi h troops It

’ was used in the taking of Fort John ston on James s

Island, South Carolina . It was doubtless as an “ emblem of sovereignty , it was adopted by Colonel

ul Mo trie .

A m of o t the ti e the Crusades, the P pe gave to

n T o each natio a special cross . the English a red

o on cr ss a white banner, the standard of the cross

r vertical, the cross piece horizontal, called the C oss r of . St Geo ge, and their war cry was St . George

, T o and Merry England . the Scots was assigned

of A li the Cross St ndrew, a pecu ar cross called a , , a or t on s ltire sal ier, white a blue ground, extending from corner to corner of the square blue

On m banner and crossing at the center . a si ilar

w s - cross St . Andre is upposed to have been cruci f ﬁ d. o e . The cross St Patrick is also a saltier,

on n 1 1 1 . O 80 but red a white ground January , , on of t the union Great Bri ain and Ireland, the f cross o St . Patrick was introduced into the great union ensign of Great Britain by laying upon the f o . A f white saltier St ndrew the red saltier o St .

Patrick . The white banner from which it came and

i St . A the wh te saltier of ndrew, upon which it was v v as it were o erlaid, are preser ed by the white 8 OUR NATIONAL FLAG,

ul ma margin, according to the r es of heraldry, as y be seen by examining any ensign of Great Britain f and Ireland o the present day . The national ﬂag

’ of Ch amb ers s E n c clo e - Ireland, according to y p

, hi t on dia, ex bi s a golden harp with silver strings

ﬁ of, a green eld . The origin the harp seems to be

in m lost the azes of antiquity .

The Scots and English, constantly at war with

of each other, were jealous to the last degree their

. A respective banners banner, by the way, is

n or always square . A k ight knight bachelor, as

all n o or ui he was c ed, carried a pe n n g don with an indent similar to the tail of a swallow . The word guidon is a corruption of the Norman French words guyd- hommo In the United States m service every co pany of cavalry has its guidon . di m When a knight bachelor stinguished hi self,

in t mm especially ba tle, he was su oned before the

of n n king, and in the presence the troops the i de t

his d - was cut from pennon or gui on, thus transform

t n m ing i i to a square banner, and fro thenceforth

or n he was styled a knight banneret, knight beari g a banner . It has been said above the Scots and English were excessively jealous of their respective ban -

m , I m o ners . When Ja es . of Scotland beca e als f f . o o N James I England , his subj ects orth and

ri a s h a d South B tain, they were called, frequent , T HE ST R - SP G E B N ER A AN L D A N . 9

ﬁ on v ghts the high seas , e en cannonading each

o ther, because each claimed the other should ﬁrst

his o n lower col rs in salutatio . ut c d K To p a stop to su h isorders, ing James f ordered his heralds to prepare a ﬂag, a union o

“ ’ , the two ﬂags, and called the king s colors . This

b c o n ﬂag all his su je ts , both Sc tch and E glish, were

on hi r ordered to wear their s ps , on thei maintop ;

on of and their foretop, those South Britain or

England, the red cross, as they were wont ; and the subjects of North Britain or of t , Sco land, on their foretop the white cross, as they were accustomed . It was th e custom for soldiers marching under a banner such as above described to wear a short shirt over their armor with the cross of their ban -

b or ner inscri ed upon it, before and behind, else

- upon the shoulders . From this came our term cru sade rs I n F crois, or - , rench , cross bearer This

f n shirt was usually the color o the ban er . Hence

of the red coats the British soldiery, and the blue c bonnets, blue oats, and blue ribbons of the lowland

of Scotch . The Highlanders wore the plaid their

— clan . The pretty nursery ballad,

Oh dea r , ha t ca n the ma tter be , w

“ Dear , dea r , wha t ca n the matter be 3

h dea r wha t ca n the ma tter be O , , ,

’ John ny s so lon g a t the fa ir , 10 OUR TIO G NA NAL FLA ,

He promised to brin g me a bunch of blue r1bb on s

onn o To tie up my b y br wn ha ir.

He rom sed to br n m e a ba sket of os es p i i g p i ,

A a a n d of ili s a a a n d of o g rl l e , g rl r ses

A little straw h at t o se t off th e blue ribbons

, Tha t tie up my b onny brown ha ir

arose from th e pride of th e Scotch maidens in their l national co or . The shirts worn over the armor were called

a nd jacques or jackets, hence the ﬂags bearing the f . o o crosses were called jacks We hear t day St .

’ ’ . A George s j acks, St ndrew s jacks, and union jacks . The union jack of the United States is the simple whit e - st arre d union Of our national ensign , at the same time the highest grades of officers in the navy an d army are distinguished

ul by a star or stars upon their epa ettes, and the sailors by stars upon the collars of their blue

“ hi of , s rts . Sailors got their name Jack Tars “ from wearin g shirts similar t o those described

v for n abo e ; the same reaso , even, the heavy boots “ of the cavalry were called jack boots . On the union of En gland a n d Scotland into the

of kingdom Great Britain, under the treaty entered r 10 1707 ’ m into on Janua y , , the king s colors beca e

t of and t the grea union ﬂag Great Britain, wi h a red ﬁeld was the ensign for all British merchan t ships , - 11 THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER .

an d the ordinary British ensign by sea and land,

“ , and was commonly called the Union ﬂa g .

- To go back for a moment to the red cross ﬂag .

m - Mr . Endicott at Sale , Massachusetts, cut a por n tion of the cross out of the e sign, averring the cross savored of popery . At the next General d Court Mr . En icott was called in question about

’ n n ll defaci g the cross in the ensig , and sti later was sharply censured and left out of the magistracy

n o so for havi g d ne , among other reasons because

“ his act might give the state of England reason f , to think ill o us .

N t o o of evertheless, owing the superstiti n the

- for people, the red cross ﬂag was laid aside a i s time, and red and wh te ro es substituted for it .

F n 1651 m of - i ally, in ,it was the ti e the Common in n n C wealth Engla d,, the Ge eral ourt passed

“ o m a res lve that, inasmuch as the Parlia ent of

a K n Engl nd in the war with i g Charles I . had

- of used the red cross ﬂag, and it being a badge distinction between the English and the other n all ations, in places of the world, till the state Of

h r England alter the same, w ich we much desi e , we,

of m of being the sa e nation , the captain the fort at Boston will advance the same upon the castle

, all - upon necessary occasions . The state of E ng

n ﬁt la d did not see to alter the ensign , and the red - cross , ﬂag continued the ensign of England 12 O UR TIO G NA NAL FLA , and its dependencies until the union with Scot-

of land, when the banner St . George and the

. A dr c banner of St n ew onjoined, as previously

r r . desc ibed, became the ensign of Great B itain

In regard to the great union ﬂag of Great Brit-

v . K ain, there are se eral things to be noticed ing

K n m James was a Scot . i g Ja es was learned in

’

t r . A the Bible, and he blue g ound of St ndrew s ’ ﬁ banner was God s color . In the fteenth chapter 5 “ A of N 3 7 — 3 9 nd umbers, verses , it is written L the ord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto

dr of l an d m the chil en Israe , bid the that they make them fringes in the borders of their

m u gar ents througho t their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue , And it shall be unto you for

it - a fringe, that ye may look upon , and remem m o f t Lo ber all the command ents he rd, and do m , the , etc . It will be observ ed that the red cross laid on the

A ’ m n St . ndrew s banner had a white argi , to show

o it came from a white ﬂag . Here we must g back a momen t ; but all history is going back to what

of ’ went on before, with the reason it. Endicott s cutting a part of the cross out of the ensign because it savored of popery and was esteemed idolatrous

ill - has been mentioned . It w , perhaps, be some wh at surprising t o learn that more than a century , - 1 T HE STAR SPANGLED BANNER . 8 later the same senti ments still swayed the common mind . When the remarkable effort of New England v I n 1745 the igor , which, resulting in capture of

L ui h o sburg, Cape Breton , astonis ed the world,

on of was set foot, many the men raised by ll New England under Colonel Wm . Peppere , of N lli ew Hampshire, were unwi ng to march under

of c of the great Union ﬂag Great Britain , be ause

’ , ll - the crosses . To sti men s minds, Colonel Pep

er ell p asked the eminent Methodist divine , George fi White eld, then itinerating through the colonies, him hi to give a motto for the Obnoxious flag, w ch fi perforce had to be used . White eld gave the

“ Nil dos or a ndum Christa Duoe N motto, p , othing is

of to be despaired , Christ being the This f gave the undertaking the character o a crusade . Louisburg surrendered.The troops employed were paid by Massachusetts in paper money . This was the

ﬁrst time paper money was used on this continent . During the popular excitement which led to our v Re olution, Union ﬂags, bearing various mottoes, were displayed throughout the colonies . They were

, simply the British ensign . The colonists claimed

F on e only the rights of British subj ects . Every then knew a Union ﬂag was the en sign of Great n v k Britai , though probably ery many did not now why . No one paused to describe them . 2 14 OUR TION G NA AL FLA ,

The ﬁrst blood shed in our Revolution was at 7

L s A l 19 17 75 . exington, Mas , pri , June

’ il ul the battle of Bunker s H l was fought . On J y

18th 1775 u of , , General Israel P tnam , in command

t of v the Continental roops in front Boston, ha ing received a declaration of the Congress of the Colo -

c for nies, setting forth the causes and ne essity taking up arms, caused it to be read to the troops,

of Ma ssa chu - and a red ﬂag, bearing the mottoes

di a on setts and Connecticut in gold, was spl yed f . o c Prospect Hill The motto Massa husetts was,

, A . ppeal to Heaven That of Connecticut was,

“ , a i tra nsta lit sa stinet , He who brought u s across the ocean sustains Thus this ﬂag sig- niﬁe d union .

A Committee of Conference was sent by Con - gress t o arrange with General Washington the

of h details of the organization the new army, whic 2 1 776 . went into being January , This committee f c o F . L onsisted Benjamin ranklin, Mr ynch, and li n f Mr . Harrison . Dr. Frank n had urged the unio o the colonies by a serpent at the head of his news-

The Phila del hia Gazette hi - paper, p , divided into t r teen parts, each part marked with the initials of H B . N . . . the colony it represented, viz , . , M , Conn . , f a . o c etc ,Maine was then a part M ssa husetts , and ll Massachusetts was ca ed Massachusetts Bay,, and

“ , or . A the motto, Join die fter the union was , T HE - N NN 1 STAR SPA GLED BA ER . 5

e ffected he changed the head-piece of hi s paper to a

or united whole serpent with the motto, Union is , strength . This wise statesman and patriot and

c al hin c ul his oadjutors, notably Gener Was gton, o d not forget the object of the then pending struggle was - not independence, but the rights and liber

for ties of British subjects . So an ensign for the c fi of olonies, they xed upon the great Union flag c c h Great Britain in the upper anton, or orner, wit thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, a stripe fi c c . t for ea h colony, onstituting the eld The s ripe, or old aldic ribbon, though an her emblem, was especially appropriate for the flag of the colonies to distinguish it from that of the mother country .

Shortly after assuming command of the army with - out n l hin uniforms before Bosto , Genera Was gton

of 14 23 1775 under the dates July and July , published orders directing that the comman der -in - chief would be distinguished by a light blue ribbon worn across hi s breast between his coat and waist- c ma or- en erals oat ; the j g , by a purple ribbon

- bri a dier en e rals n . and the g g , by a pi k ribbon The ﬁeld oﬁicers were to have red or pink cockades in

th e c or ff their hats ; aptains, yellow bu ; and the

- a . sub lterns, green The sergeants were to be dis ting uish e d by an epaulette or stripe of red cloth

“ c sewed upon the right shoulder, and the orporals

n - by o e of green . Sometimes the portraits of Gen 16 OUR N TIO G A NAL FLA ,

eral Washington exhibit this blue ribbon . Some have deemed this the insignia of a Marshal of

- France . General Washington never was a Mar shal Of France . The blue ribbon was simply the distinctive badge ﬁrst worn by him as commander- in - hi f c e .

The display of the great union ﬂag of the colo -

or m - nies, striped union ﬂag, as it was called so e

n times, General Washington says, in a letter writte

- at the time to Joseph Reed, Secretary to the Com “ mitt e e nf , of Co erence, farcical enough , without “ knowing or intending it, gave great joy to the

, of Boston gentry . It seems that a speech the king of Great Britain had been sent into the camp of c the rebels, as the colonists were called, whi h they burned . Immediately after its receipt the great

th e union ﬂag of the colonies was displayed, and British sign al ofﬁcer in Boston mistook it for two

it — ﬂa ﬂags, and so reported , the British Union g

of ir - above the ﬂag th teen stripes, which he sup

of c posed to be the ﬂag the olonies , and therefore interpreted it as a token of submission .

On e v a cution s the of Boston by the British, thi , F th e standard, The Great Union lag of Colonies,

t Am I was, on the entrance of he erican army nto

n s. Boston, carried by Ensig Richard This ﬂag ﬂoated over the American army in it s L t retreat from ong Island, the defeat a White

18 O UR TIO G NA NAL FLA ,

’ cre st -b orn n in - , shall be co sidered ; he likewise formed me that the ancients considered the ser-

a n m m of m a n d a pent as e ble wisdo ; , in a cert in

t of n ir m- at itude, endless duratio , both which c cu

- o m a , . stances, I supp se, y have been had in iew Hav t ing gained this intelligence, and recollec ing that countries are sometimes represented by animals

’ u m rr th e - pec liar to the , it occu ed to me that rattle snake is foun d in no other quarter Of the world

Am m a besides erica, and y, therefore, have been chosen on that account to represent her . “ But , the r t ’ then , wo thy proper ies of a snake,

w out . t I judged, ould be hard to point This ra her raised than suppressed my curiosity ; and having l m frequent y seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in y mind every property by which she was distin-

uish e d n m n o g , not o ly fro other a imals, but fr m

of m or Of m e u - those the sa e genus class ani als, de av o rin g t o ﬁ, so me meaning to each not wholly

mm - inconsistent with co on sense . “ I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness

t m a n d - tha of any other ani al, that she has no eye

m o m a n m . a r r lids She y, the ef e, be estee ed e blem

n Sh e n or of vigila ce . never begins an attack, ,

n h - w o n rr . hen nce e gaged, ever su e ders She is, t ere f m m o a n o . f re, emblem agnani ity and true courage

- As if anxious t o prevent all preten sion s of qua rel .

ing with her, the weapons with which nature has , - AN T HE STAR SPANGLED B NER . 19 furnished her she conceals in the roof of her

t o mouth so that, those who are unacquainted

t o . with her, she appears be a defenseless animal

An d even when those weapons a r e shown and ex-

- tended for defense, they appear weak and con te m tible p ; but their wounds, however small , are

al of hi decisive and fat . Conscious t s, she never

a s wounds till she h generously given notice , even

n to her enemy, and cautioned him agai st the

f on o . danger treading her Was I wrong sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and

“ conduct of America 3

“ The poison Of her teeth is the necessary means of - digesting her food, and at the same time is cer

This m a un - tain destruction to her enemies . y be derstood t o intimate that those things which are destru ctive to our enemies may be to us not only

c - harmless, but absolutely ne essary to our exist ence . I confess I was wholly at a loss what to

of I o make the rattles, till went back and c unted

m n c the , and found them just thirtee , exa tly the number of the colonies united in America ; and I

, of recollected, too , that this was the only part the snake which increased in number . “ h Per aps it might be only fancy, but I conceived the painter had shown a h alf- forme d additional rattle h ma , w ich I suppose y have been intended to ’ T represent the province of Canada . is curious 20 OUR TIO G NA NAL FLA , and amazing to Observe how distinct and indepe nd-

h ni ent of eac other the rattles Of this a mal are, and

ﬁr ml yet how y they are united together, so as never t o be separated but by breaking them to pieces .

One of these rattles sin gly is incapable of produc - ing sound ; but the ringin g of thirteen together is

o m n sufﬁci ent to alarm the b ldest a living . The

r a nd a rattlesnake is solita y, ssociates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preserva-

t m of m tion . In win er the war th a nu ber together

n will preserve their lives, while si gly they would

o - probably perish . The p wer of fascination attrib ut e d n to her, by a ge erous construction may be understood to mean that those who con sider the

A ffo liberty and blessings which merica a rds , and

m r s e once co e over to he , never afterward l ave her,

n - but spe d their lives with her . She strongly resem

l A i in b es merica in this, that she is beaut ful youth ,

, and her beauty increaseth with her age ; her tongue also is blue, and forked as the lightning,

’ and her abode is among impenetrable rocks .

“ Having pleased myself with reﬂections of this mm m kind, I co unicated my senti ents to a neighbor of n - mine, who has a surprising readi ess at guess ing at everythin g which relates t o public aﬁ air s ;

of and, indeed, I should be jealous his reputation

w a not n l in that y, was it that the event co stant y

h as u shows that he g essed wrong. He instan tly “ , - 2 THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER . 1 declared it as his sentiments that the Congress meant t o allude to Lord North’s declaration in the

of m House Com ons, that he would never relax his measures until he had brought America to his feet ;

n and to i timate to his lordship, that if she was

o his ul - br ught to feet, it wo d be dangerous tread

U m o ing pon her . But I a p sitive he has guessed

for n ul - wrong, I am sure that Co gress wo d not con de sce n d at of da t f this time y, to ake the least notice o f his lordship, in that or any other way . In which opi ni on I am determined to remain your humble

, servant .

The seal of the War D epartment bears the rattle sn ake of with its rattles as the emblem union , and a liberty cap in contiguity with the liberty cap enveloped by the body, so that the opened mouth may defend the rattles and liberty cap ; or union

“ 7 , 11 . and liberty with the motto, This we defend 4 1 6 77 . July , , independence was declared The A i merican ﬂag, however, remained unchanged unt l

- — 14 1777. Br s men of war ﬁ i June , The iti h nd ng it easy to sew some strips of white canvas on the red

ﬁ of B eld the great ritish Union ensign , and thus

of convert it into the great union ﬂag the colonies, thus decoyed into their power and captured many

American vessels .

“ 14 1777 R esolved Congress, June , , , That the ﬂag f o the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, 22 OUR TIO G NA NAL FLA , alternate red and white ; That t he union be thir-

ﬁ re re se ntin a teen stars, white, in a blue eld, p g new , con stellation .

The drawin g of this ﬂag in the State Depart - th i rteen ment shows the stars arranged in a circle, m the e blem Of perpetuity ; but the soldiers, who,

o d t like sail rs, a here to heir traditions with extreme

- tenacity, could not forget the Old crosses, and ar ranged the stars so as to still preserve the design of crosse s — th re e t the stars at the top, three in he m d m two m - w id le, three at the botto , stars id ay

an d m two between the top iddle row, and stars between the middle and the bottom row . The stars in the rows of two stars each rested upon what had

of . A been the saltier St ndrew, and thus the union

f o A of o . . the crosses St Ge rge and St ndrew, were indicated on the ﬂag . This was the stars and

or a - Of our Re v olu- stripes, the st r spangled banner tionary War . Such a ﬂag as this had never been displayed by

a n o y nati n nor by any human hand . The nearest type of it was at the passage of the Red Sea by

n the Israelites . Israel was e camped over against

- f h o . r the tall light house Pi ahiroth Pha aoh, by the

of th e m on Pih ahi- advice agicians, had erected

roth a huge brazen serpe nt — B a al Typh on — t o h f check t e passage o the Israelites . The serpent

was then the great emblem Of divinity in Egypt . , H E - T STAR SPANGLED BANNER .

Otherwise Moses would n ot have been ordered by

A his rod God to cause aron to cast before Pharaoh, that it might turn to a serpent to prove to Pharaoh

n mmi that Moses acted under a divi e co ssion . When the pillar of cloud and ﬁre moved to the rear of Israel and enveloped the ho sts of Egypt in

of the darkness as death, the pathway of Israel f glo wed with the radiance o God . The pellucid azure

i of m of Of the n ght Egypt, studded with its yriads

o stars like molten silver, and striped with the gl ry of div ur m the ine a ora, ade the very heaven itself a

of starry banner blue, red, and white, displayed by

L . r n Jehovah, ord God Of Sabaoth The b azen serpe t,

o of ﬁr e of - gl wing as if , made it the type the over f h t throw O Pharaoh . W en the Israelites lusted af er

ﬂe sh - ot s Of ﬁ the p Egypt, they were punished by ery

a n d ur serpents, c ed by an act of faith, in looking up to a brazen serpen t erected by Mo s e s by divine

m m o v com and, which recalled the tre end us e ent in d which the Jehovah they proposed to esert had,

“ , o m ori o - as M ses sung, triu phed gl usly . The rais ing upo n a p ole of the braz en serpent in the wilderness by Moses had evident reference to this gre at salvation of a defenseless and unorganized

l n n u ot ow . m titude, by a right hand their The

il o u N parallel would be read y Obvi s to icodemus, A m , r aster in Israel, when a greate than Moses “ A t o him s e said , Moses lift d up the serpent in the 24 O UR NATIONAL FLAG

m t of if wilderness, even so us the Son man be l ted

, up .

of In a design for a great seal the United States, submitted to Con gress by a committee of no less

t D . F k A m eminent men han r ran lin, Mr . John da s,

ﬂ r n . e e so and Mr Thomas J , the crest was to be the

v , eye Of Pro idence in a triangle, its glory extending

- . E luri over the whole shield, etc , with the motto, p “ bus i ma m o of , One c mposed on the back . Rays from the pillar Of ﬁr e and cloud beamed Upon

h Re d Moses as Pharaoh was overt rown in the Sea,

t o b lli wi h the mott , Re e on to tyrants is Obedience , to God . This design, however, was not adopted .

Our an cestors drew most of th eir anti- types from

- of - the Bible . The grape vines in the arms Con n e cticut mo a i tra nsta lit sa stinet , with the tto, ,

“ , Who brought us across the ocean sustains us , , the tree on the early coins of Massachusetts ; the

“ , o A green tree, with the m tto, ppeal to Heaven , on of the ﬂag the ﬂoating batteries before Boston,

u and the Massachusetts cr isers, were used as

’ types of God s chosen people a n d relian ce upon the

n nio n protection of Provide ce . U n and depe dence upon Providence in the coat - Of- arms of the United

hi n O States are the c ef beari gs . ur coins bear the

“ m In , E la riba s i ma God . stamp, p , and we trust “ A writer in the Massachusetts Historical Collee -

, tions intimates the tree on the coins commonly

26 OUR NATIONAL FLAG .

stripes, alternate red and white ; that the union be

ﬁ . A on twenty stars, white, in a blue eld nd that m the ad ission of a new State into the Union , one star be added to the union of the ﬂag ; and that such addition take effect on the 4th day of July

, next succeedin g such admission . The ﬂag planted on the national palace of the

City Of Mexico by the United States army comman de d by General Winﬁeld Scott had thirty stars

a n d Of in the union, , course, the thirteen alternate stripes of red and white .

O O 1886 thirt - ei ht ur ﬂag, now, ctober, , has y g in l stars its union , thanks to the peop e of the

i s n United States, under the r great leader Pre ide t L fﬁ incoln ; thanks to the courage of the o cers, soldiers and sailors who followed the wise and e adership of General Grant and Admiral

u for Grant, in journeying aro nd the world his ’ v own and his country s sake, recei ed ovations from the potentates of the wh ole world such as never

n before fell t o the lot of mortal ma .

n n Abraham Li coln died doi g his duty . The

din n n - whole world, inclu g Chi a , Japa , and the far

off of . isles the sea, bewailed his death The country

f r o he lived and died o lives and pr spers . God bless our ﬂ a g forever ,