“OLD GLORY”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1942, Page 4

“OLD GLORY”

WHENCE CAME THE STARS AND STRIPES. AMERICAN UNION FLAG. On January 1, 1776, there appeared on the top of a hill in Massachusetts an old flag with a new significance. It was hoisted by 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 was pardonable. Whatever may have been the intention of the 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 was 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 was attended to, and by resolution the legislators of the free states on June 14, 1777 decided “that the flag of the United 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 constellation 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 the thirteen colonies which had become the original states, and when two more states, Ver-

mont ana Keniucxy, were auimueu 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 reconsidered. The problem was solved in 1818 by fixing the stripes at thirteen to represent the “foundation” states and setting one star in the canton for each member of the union. At the time there were twenty states and the stars were arranged in the pattern of a large star. This did not last long, and it was replaced by regular rows. Today the canton holds 48 stars in six rows of eight.

It is interesting to notice that the Congress of 1777 scorned heraldic language in describing the flag. For a little while the stars took various forms, some were six-pointed, some five, and some even eight-pointed. To secure uniformity the five-pointed star was adopted. In strict heraldic 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 suggested 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 the flag is affectionately known, came into existence in 1831 and is credited to Captain William Driver of the brig Chas. Doggett. Its aptness ensures its acceptance. I ' ■ June 14 was adopted as Flag Day to cbinmernorate the decision of the Congress in 1777 to make the Stars and Stripes the national flag, and this year the day has been given a wider significance by Presiderit Roosevelt in rnaking it a day for the flags of all the United Nations arrayed against the enemies of freedoq) and democracy. ’