The Little Book of the Flag

OUR HISTORY AND OUR FLAG[1]

WILLIAM BACKUS GUITTEAU

Love of country is a sentiment common to all peoples and ages; but no land has ever been dearer to its people than our own America. No nation has a history more inspiring, no country has institutions more deserving of patriotic love. Turning the pages of our nation's history, the young citizen sees Columbus, serene in the faith of his dream; the Mayflower, bearing the lofty soul of the Puritan; Washington girding on his holy sword; Lincoln, striking the shackles from the helpless slave; the constitution, organizing the farthest west with north and south and east into one great Republic; the tremendous energy of free life trained in free schools, utilizing our immense natural resources, increasing the nation's wealth with the aid of advancing science, multiplying fertile fields and noble workshops, and busy schools and happy homes.

This is the history for which our flag stands; and when the young citizen salutes the flag, he should think of the great ideals which it represents. The flag stands for democracy, for liberty under the law; it stands for heroic courage and self-reliance, for equality of opportunity, for self-sacrifice and the cause of humanity; it stands for free public education, and for peace among all nations. When you salute the flag, you should resolve that your own life will be dedicated to these ideals. You should remember that he is the truest American patriot who understands the meaning of our nation's ideals, and who pledges his own life to their realization.

THE AMERICAN FLAG

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE

THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY

ROBERT C. WINTHROP

There is the national flag. He must be cold indeed who can look upon its folds, rippling in the breeze, without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country itself, with all its endearments. Its highest beauty is in what it symbolizes. It is because it represents all, that all gaze at it with delight and reverence.

It is a piece of bunting lifted in the air; but it speaks sublimely, and every part has a voice. Its stripes of alternate red and white proclaim the original union of thirteen States to maintain the Declaration of Independence. Its stars of white on a field of blue proclaim that union of States constituting our national constellation, which receives a new star with every new State. The two together signify union past and present.

The very colors have a language which was officially recognized by our fathers. White is for purity, red for valor, blue for justice; and altogether, bunting, stripes, stars, and colors blazing in the sky, make the flag of our country to be cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands.

AMERICA

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH

INDEX

• Albany, reached by the Dutch, 2.
• "Albany Plan," 18-19.
• Alexandria, 61.
• Alfred, the, the first American man-of-war, 35-38.
• Algiers, the Dey of, yields to America, 58.
• America, 3, 18, 25, 34, 46, 52;
  • overpowers the Dey of Algiers, 58.
• "Ancient flag," the, 3.
• Anderson, General, carries the flag from Fort Sumter, raises it again in 1865, 72-73;
  • burial of, 74.
• Andrea, Dona, saluted at one of the West Indian Islands, 45.
• Arch Street, home of Betsy Ross, 40, 42.
• Arizona, admitted to the Union, 66;
  • men from, at Santiago, 75.
• Asia, sought by Henry Hudson, 1-2.
• Atlantic Ocean, crossed by Henry Hudson, 1.
•  
• Bainbridge, Captain, carries Algerian ambassador to Constantinople, 57-58.
• Baltimore, 50, 61.
• Bedford, the flag of, 20-21.
• Beecher, Henry Ward, speech of, at Fort Sumter, 73.
• Bethlehem, 50.
• Bon Homme Richard, sinking of the, 45-47.
• Boston, arrival of stamps at, 15-16;
  • flag seen in, 34; 35.
• Boston Harbor, 5;
  • tea dropped into, 30.
• Brest Roads, 44.
• Britain, 34.
• British, besiege Fort Stanwix, 48.
• Broadway, 53.
• Brooklyn Navy Yard, flags for the navy made in the, 67.
• Bunker Hill, flags at battle of, 21; 28, 29, 30, 32.
• Bunting, not made in America until 1866, 66-67.
•  
• Cambridge, Indian volunteers come to, 29; 34, 39.
• Carleton, Sir Guy, delayed in New York, 53.
• Castle Island, ship made to strike her colors at, 5-6.
• Chapultepec, taken by Americans, 70-71.
• Charles II, and the New England coinage, 11.
• Charleston, the flag of, 11-12;
  • stamped paper in, 15;
  • liberty flag in, 16;
  • flag of, after Bunker Hill, 22;
  • Liberty Tree of, 30;
  • cut down by Sir Henry Clinton, 31; 72.
• China, the American flag in, 79.
• Christina, becomes queen of Sweden, 2.
• Civil War, the beginning of the, 71.
• Clinton, Sir Henry, cuts down the Liberty Tree in Charleston, 31.
• Columbus, 58.
• Concord, 20.
• Congress, 19;
  • sends a committee to Cambridge, 32;
  • orders building of cruisers, 35;
  • orders a flag, 41; 42; 43;
  • celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 51;
  • decrees the star-spangled banner, 63-64.
  • See also Continental Congress.
• Connecticut, regimental colors of, 22;
  • motto of, 30.
• Constantinople, Algerian ambassador carried to, 58.
• Constitution, frigate, 57.
• Continental Congress, 27;
  • weakness of the statement issued by the, 29;
  • Washington a member of the, 33; 37;
  • declares the colonies to be independent and decrees a flag, 39-40.
• Cook, Captain, to be aided by all American cruisers, 38.
• Copley, paints in the flag, 52.
• Cotton, Dr. John, advises concerning the King's Flag, 6-7;
  • Indian chief resembles, 59.
• Cuba, given up to the Cubans, 81-82.
• Culpeper Minute Men, 25.
•  
• Daiquiri, landing place of the Rough Riders, 75.
• Declaration of Independence, 32, 40;
  • flag made before the, 42;
  • first anniversary celebrated on the Delaware River, 51.
• Delaware River, Swedes settle on the, 2;
  • pine tree flag on the, 35;
  • stars and stripes on the, 42;
  • celebration on the, 51.
• Digby, Admiral, licenses a Nantucket skipper to go to London, 52.
• Dix, General, 81.
• Driver, Captain William, originates the name "Old Glory," 68.
• Dutch, establish trading posts on the Hudson River, 2;
  • overpowered by the English, 2;
  • opposed by New Englanders, 9-10;
  • government of, inquires concerning the American flag, 65.
• Dutch East India Company, Hudson sails in the employ of the, 1-2.
•  
• Elliot, Major, wife of, presents silken colors, 24.
• Endicott, John, cuts the cross from the English flag, 4-5; 87.
• England, flag of, brought to Jamestown, 2-3; 6; 18; 33;
  • flag of, pulled down in New York, 54; 66;
  • honors the Stars and Stripes, 84.
• English East India Company, flag of the, 34.
• Essex (county), 9.
• Essex Institute, "Old Glory" sent to the, 69.
•  
• "Father of his Country," 33.
• Fifteen stripes and fifteen stars, the flag of, 56-62.
• Fillmore, President, sends letter to Japan, 77.
• First Regiment of the United States Volunteer Cavalry, 74.
  • See Rough Riders.
• Flag anniversaries, 90-92.
• "Flag Day," 87.
• Flag etiquette, 85-89.
• "Flower flag," the, 79.
• Flamborough Head, 45.
• Fort George, 53.
• Fort McHenry, attacked by the British, 60.
• Fort Moultrie, 23.
• Fort Schuyler.
  • See Fort Stanwix.
• Fort Stanwix, flag made at, 48-49.
• Fort Sumter, firing upon, begins the Civil War, 71-72;
  • flag raised upon, 73.
• Fourth of July, Declaration of Independence on the, 39-40;
  • first anniversary of the, 51;
  • new stars to be added to the flag on the, 64;
  • honored in Sweden, 81.
• France, war with, 57;
  • sells the Louisiana Territory to the United States, 58.
• Franklin, Benjamin, proposes the "Albany Plan," 18-19; 24, 25, 26;
  • sent to Cambridge by Congress, 32; 34;
  • issues letters of marque, 37.
• Frederick, burial place of Francis Scott Key, 61.
• French, opposed by the New Englanders, 9-10;
  • meet the New Englanders at Louisburg, 12-13.
•  
• Gadsden, Christopher, speaks of possible independence, 30.
• Gage, General, 21.
• Gansevoort, Colonel Peter, commands Fort Stanwix, 49.
• George III, proclamation of, 54.
• "God Save the King," sung in St. Paul's Cathedral, 84.
• Grand Army of the Republic, 74, 86.
• Grand Council, part of the "Albany Plan," 18-19.
• "Grand Union Flag," made in Cambridge, 33;
  • designer not known, 34; 39.
• Great Britain, second war with, 57, 84.
• Gustavus Adolphus, plans a settlement in America, 2; 80.
•  
• Hall, Lieutenant, rescues the flag at Fort Sumter, 72.
• Hancock, John, presents a flag to General Putnam, 30.
• Harrison, Benjamin, sent to Cambridge by Congress, 32.
• Hart, Sergeant Peter, fastens the flag up on the ramparts at Fort Sumter, 72;
  • presents it to be raised, 73.
• Harvard College, used by troops, 28.
• Havana, 82.
• Hawthorne, tells the story of Endicott and the flag, 4-5;
  • of "The Pine-Tree Shillings," 11.
• Hemisphere, on a flag, 11.
• Henry, Patrick, 25.
• Hessians, 51.
• Holland, Hudson's vessel sailed from, the flag of, 1; 44.
• Holmes, "Old Ironsides," poem of, 56.
• House of Representatives, hoists the Star-Spangled Banner, 65.
• Hudson, carries the Dutch flag into the Hudson River, 1-2.
•  
• Indian, enters embrasure at Louisburg, 13.
• Indiana, 63.
• Indians, Hudson welcomed by the, 1;
  • method of warfare, 8;
  • given flags, 12;
  • volunteer at Cambridge, 29;
  • fought by Washington, 33;
  • besiege Fort Schuyler, 48;
  • raise the American flag, 59.
• Island of Knights, 80.
•  
• James I, changes the flag of England, 3.
• James II, sends a flag to New England, leaves England, 10.
• Jamestown, founded, 2.
• Japan, opened by Perry, 77-79;
  • embassy from visits the United States, 78;
  • the friend of the United States, 79.
• Jasper, William, rescues the flag at Fort Moultrie, 23-24.
• Jersey City, 65.
• Jones, John Paul, hoists a flag on the Alfred, 35-37;
  • forbidden to burn defenseless towns, 37;
  • put in command of the Ranger, 43;
  • receives a flag in Portsmouth and a salute in France, 43-45;
  • in command of the Bon Homme Richard, 45-47.
• Journal, of Congress, 32.
•  
• Kansas, first raising of the United States flag in, 59.
• Kentucky, admitted as a State, 56.
• Kettle Hill, battle of, 76.
• Key, Francis Scott, writes the "Star-Spangled Banner," 60-61.
• King Philip's War, flag used in, 9.
• "King's Flag," 3;
  • displayed at Castle Island, 6-7.
•  
• Lafayette visited by Pulaski, welcomed to Baltimore, 49, 50.
• Las Guasimas, 75.
• "Last battle of the Revolution," 53.
• Lexington, 31;
  • battle of, 35; 39.
• Liberty, the demand for, 14.
• "Liberty Elm," Massachusetts history associated with the, 30.
• "Liberty Hall," 16.
• Liberty Pole, cut down in New York, 31.
• "Liberty Tree," in Boston, 16, 17;
  • of South Carolina, 30;
  • Paine's poem on the, 31.
• Lincoln, President, 72.
• "Lion of the North," 2.
• London, 52;
  • honors the Stars and Stripes, 84.
• Longfellow, poem of, "Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem," 50.
• Louisburg, the New Englanders at, 12-13.
• Louisiana, admitted to the Union, 63.
• Louisiana Territory, purchased by the United States, 58.
• Lowell, quotation from, 63.
• Lowell (city), bunting made in, 66.
• Lynch, Thomas, sent to Cambridge by Congress, 32.
•  
• Maryland, 61.
• Massachusetts, troubles concerning the cross in the flag, 4-7; 8, 9;
  • flag of the "Three County Troop" in, 9;
  • use of "pine tree" in, 10, 11, 15;
  • flag of, after Bunker Hill, 22; 27;
  • motto of, 30;
  • decrees the use of the pine-tree flag, 35; 66; 68; 86.
• Mediterranean Sea, freed from Pirates, 58.
• Memorial Day, 81.
• Mexico, war with, 70.
• Mexico, the City of, captured by Americans, 70-71.
• Middlesex (county), 9, 20.
• Monroe, President, signs a bill decreeing the use of the Star-Spangled Banner, 64.
• Moravian Sisters, make banner for Pulaski, 50.
• Morris, Robert, 40.
• Mottoes on flags, 12, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28, 30, 36, 54.
• Moultrie, 71.
• Moultrie, Colonel, defends Fort Moultrie, 23-24.
•  
• Nantucket, 52, 53.
• Nashville, 68.
• National Museum, "Star-Spangled Banner" of Francis Scott Key in, 61.
• Netherlands, flag of the, 34.
• New Amsterdam, 2.
• Newbury, flag of the militia in, 8-9.
• Newburyport, patrol, of, 15.
• New England, alliance of the folk of, 9-10; 18.
• New Englanders, 10;
  • set off to capture Louisburg, 12.
• "New England Flag," the, 21.
• New Hampshire, 15, 43.
• New Haven, peace rejoicing in, 54.
• New Mexico, admitted to the Union, 66.
• New World, 2, 58.
• New York, founded by the Dutch, 2;
  • flag of, 15;
  • arrival of stamps at, 16;
  • liberty pole in, 17-18;
  • hoists flag with beaver device, 22; 27; 31;
  • State of, 48;
  • Sir Guy Carleton delayed in, 53; 64; 72.
• New York Sun, 82.
• North Pole, discovered by Admiral Peary, 83.
•  
• Ohio, admitted to the Union, 63.
• "Old Glory," origin of the name and story of, 68-69;
  • in three wars, 70.
• "Old Ironsides," frigate, poem by Holmes, 57.
• "Old Thirteen," 2.
• Oliver, hanged in effigy in Boston, 15-16.
• Oscar, king of Sweden, 81.
•  
• Page family, as color bearers, 20.
• Paine, Thomas, poem of on the "Liberty Tree," 31.
• Pearson, Captain, yields to John Paul Jones, 45.
• Peary, Admiral Robert E., carries the flag to the North Pole, 82-83.
• Pennsylvania, 32, 50, 55.
• Pennsylvania Gazette, 19.
• Pennsylvania Journal, 25.
• Perry, Commodore M. C., carries the letter of President Fillmore to Japan, 77-79.
• Philadelphia, 18, 37, 39, 40, 55.
• Philadelphia Light Horse Troop, escorts Washington to New York, 27;
  • flag of the, 27-28, 33.
• Phœnix, 74.
• Pike, Lieut. Z. M., and the Indians, 59.
• Pilgrims, 34.
• Pine tree, on flag, 10, 11, 21, 35;
  • used on the Delaware River, 35.
• "Pine-Tree Shillings, The," Hawthorne's story of, 11.
• Pope's Creek, birthplace of Washington, 61.
• Portsmouth, banner in, 15;
  • the "quilting party" flag, 43-47.
• Poughkeepsie, 49.
• Prospect Hill, 29;
  • flag raised on, 34.
• Pulaski, Count, the banner of, 49-50.
• Puritans, troubled by the cross in the flag, 4-7.
• Putnam, Major-General Israel, 29;
  • flag presented to, by John Hancock, 30.
•  
• Quaker City, the, 27.
•  
• Ranger, command of, given to Jones, 43;
  • the flag of, and its salute, 43-45.
• Rattlesnake, on flag of Charleston, 22;
  • a favorite emblem, 24-26; 35;
  • on flag of the Alfred, 37.
• Reid, Captain, S. C., designs the flag with stars arranged in one star, 65.
• Revere, Paul, 20.
• Revolutionary War, 21.
• Rhode Island, hoists a flag with the anchor device, 22.
• Roman Catholic Church, the cross regarded as the badge of the, 4.
• Rome, 48.
• Ross, Betsy, makes the first flag with stars and stripes, 40-42.
• Ross, Mrs. Elizabeth Griscom, 40, 48.
  • See Betsy Ross.
• Ross, Colonel, 40, 42.
• "Rough Riders," 74.
•  
• St. Andrew, the cross of, 3, 18, 33.
• St. George's Cross, united with the cross of St. Andrew, 3;
  • cut out of the flag by Endicott, 4-5;
  • in the flag sent by James II to New England, in the pine-tree flag, 10; 18; 21; 32; 34.
• St. Paul, Cathedral of, 84.
• Salem, cross cut from the flag in, 4-5, 8, 68.
• San Juan Hill, the battle of, 76.
• Santiago, attacked by the Rough Riders, 75.
• Savannah, flag hoisted at, 22, 24.
• Scotland, the flag of, 3; 33.
• Serapis, taken by Jones, 45-47.
• Six Nations, 18.
• Somerville, flag raised in, 34.
• Sons of Liberty, 15;
  • put up a liberty pole, 17-18;
  • meetings of the, 30.
• South Carolina, 11;
  • treatment of stamped paper in, 14; 30; 32.
• Spain, owner of the Louisiana Territory, 59;
  • war with, 74, 81.
• Spaniards, repulsed at Las Guasimas, 75.
• Spanish-American War, 81, 87.
• Stamp Act, 14;
  • repeal of the, 17; 30.
• Stars and Stripes, first salute to, 45;
  • replace the English flag in New York, 54;
  • at Fort McHenry, 60;
  • at Chapultepec, 71;
  • fired upon at Fort Sumter, 71-72;
  • raised again at Fort Sumter, 72-73;
  • in Japan, 78;
  • in China, 79;
  • in Sweden, 81;
  • honored in England, 84;
  • behavior towards the, 85-87.
• "Star-Spangled Banner, The," written by Francis Scott Key, 60-61;
  • played at Fort Sumter, 73;
  • sung in St. Paul's Cathedral, 84.
• Stiles, President, describes the New Haven rejoicing for peace, 54.
• Stockholm, 80.
• Suffolk (county), 9.
• Swartwout, Captain Abram, cloak of, used for flag at Fort Stanwix, 48-49.
• Sweden, American flag raised in, 79-81.
• Swedes, settle on the Delaware River, are overpowered by the Dutch, 2;
  • opposed by the New Englanders, 9-10.
•  
• Tennessee, admitted to the Union, 63; 68.
• Thames, the royal seal tossed into the, 10.
• "Thirteen," 51, 63.
• Thirteen stripes, first used, 28.
• Thomas, William W., raises American flag in Sweden, 79-81.
• Trenton, 51.
• Tripoli, war with, 57.
• Trumbull, battle of Bunker Hill painted by, 21.
•  
• "Union Flag," 18, 22;
  • made at Cambridge, 33;
  • worn by the Alfred, 37.
• Union Jack, 3;
  • given to the Indians, 12; 18; 84.
• United Colonies, 34.
• "Unite or die," motto of the "Albany Plan," 18.
• United States, 26, 51, 52;
  • left by British troops, 53; 54, 55, 58;
  • buys the Louisiana Territory, 58-59;
  • flag of, decided upon, 63-65;
  • flag manufactured in, 67;
  • opens intercourse with Japan, 78; 80;
  • flag of, hauled down in Cuba, 81-82; 83, 84, 87.
•  
• Vermont, admitted as a State, 56.
• "Victory Tower," Star-Spangled Banner floats from, 84.
• Virginia, 2, 3, 25, 33, 61.
•  
• Washington, 21;
  • goes to Boston, 27-29; 32;
  • coat-of-arms of, 33; 34; 40;
  • visits Betsy Ross, 41;
  • significance of the flag expressed by, 43; 61;
  • monument reared to in Baltimore, birthplace of marked, 61-62; 81.
• Watson, Elkanah, flag painted in portrait of, by Copley, 52.
• Wendover, Peter H., induces Congress to decree the Star-Spangled Banner, 64.
• Westminster Palace, 84.
• Westmoreland County, 61.
• West Point, burial place of General Anderson, 74.
• Wood, General Leonard, 75;
  • delivers Cuba to the Cubans, 82.
•  
• Yale, 54.