"OLD GLORY"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 65, 15 June 1942, Page 5

"OLD GLORY"

WHENCE CAME THE STARS ANJ> STRIPES On January 1, 1776 there appeared on the top of a hill in Massachusetts an old flag with a new significance. It was hoisted byj the orders of George Washington, in command of the Continental Army, and it was displayed before the British as a symbol of resolution; but, as Washington wrote at the time, it was regarded by the "Boston Gentry" as a sign of submission.

The mistake as pardonable. Whatever may have been the intention of dinner party of December 13, 1775 ■ —where Washington and Benjamin Franklin took part in a discussion about the need of a flag—the flag actually hoisted was that of the East India Company: thirteen- stripes with red and white alternating, and the union of the Cross of St. George and the Cross of St. Andrew in the canton. Elsewhere the Red Ensign of the day: with the words "Liberty and Union" on the field had been raised, but the Continental Army's flag was hailed as the national flag. It had the authority of Washington behind it. This flag was flown, by the ships of the young American Navy, receiving official salutes from all governments but the British. It is known as the "Great Continental Union," the "Great Union,' and as the Cambridge Flag. But it lacked Congressional authority. It w r as the flag of the Colonists but it contained the British Union and when the new independent state was declared this design was hardly appropriate.

When the Congress had declared the existence of the United States the anomaly of the flag Avas attended to, and by resolution the legislators of the free states on June 14; 1777 decided "that the flag of the Unted States be thirteen stripes, alternately/ red and white, and that the union be thirteen stars; white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

The first design of the new com stellation was a circle of stars, a ring in which no star had precedence over any other; but the pattern was soon changed to three rows, two fours and a five. The stripes symbolised more states, Vermont and Kentucky, were admitted to the union two stripes were added in 1795. This meant that white stripes appeared at the top and bottom of the field' The stars, increased to fifteen, were arranged in five rows of three. As other states were admitted the idea of adding a star and a stripe for each had to be re-considered. The problem was salved in 1818 by fixing the stripes at thirteen to rel- - the "foundation" states and setting one star in the canton for each member of the union. At the time there Ave re twenty states and the stars Avere arranged in the pattern of a large star.. This did not last long, and it Avas replaced, by regular rows. To-day the canton holds 18 stars in six rows of eight. It is interesting to notice that the Congress of 1777 scorned heraldic language Avas suggested that the a little Aviiile the stars took various forms, some Avere six-pointed', some fiA'C, and some eAxn eight-pointed. To secure uniformity the live-point-ed star .ayas adopted. In strict her-' aldie terms this changed the "star,'" which in heraldry is six-pointed and wavy, to a mullet representing the rowel of a spur. The use of plain language has csugfgested that the* term "union" in the Congress resolution indicated the direct descent of the original Stars and Stripes, from the East India flag.

Old Glory, the name by which tha flag is affectionately known, camef into existence in 1831 and is credited by Captain William Driver of tlift brig Chas. Doggett. Its aptness ensures its acceptance. June 14 ay as adopted as Flag Day to commemorate the decision of the Congress in 1777 to make the Stars and Stripes the national flag, ami this year the day has been given a wider significance by President Roosevelt in making it a day for the (lags of nil the United Nations ar-» rayed against the enemies of freedom and democracy.