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HOW THE FLAG BECAME OLD GLORY
HOW THE FLAG BECAME OLD GLORY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO John Trotwood Moore. BY EMMA LOOK SCOTT WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. C. VALENTINE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1915 All rights reserved Copyright, 1912 , By EMMA LOOK SCOTT. Copyright, 1915 , By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1915. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwi
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THE FLAG GOES BY
THE FLAG GOES BY
HATS off! Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, A flash of color beneath the sky; Hats off! The flag is passing by! Henry Holcomb Bennett....
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OLD GLORY
OLD GLORY
WHILE every American citizen recognizes the significance of the term “Old Glory” as applied to the national flag, when and where and by whom the nation’s emblem was christened with this endearing and enduring sobriquet is a matter of historic interest less understood. In the early epoch-making period of the nation’s history William Driver, a lad of twelve years, native of Salem, Mass., begged of his mother permission to go to sea. With her consent he shipped as cabin boy on the sailing vessel Ch
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IN THE LIGHT OF THE OLD NORTH CHURCH
IN THE LIGHT OF THE OLD NORTH CHURCH
“History points no struggle for liberty which has in it more of the moral sublime than that of the American Revolution.” THEY were a godly people, these revolutionary fathers of ours. They prayed as they thought; and they fought as they believed and prayed. They sought no quarrel with the mother country; they asked only independent action, considering themselves full grown in point of knowledge of their needs and desires, although but infants in age as compared with other subjects of Great Brita
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LEXINGTON
LEXINGTON
With one impulse the colonies sprung to arms; with one spirit they pledged themselves to each other, “to be ready for the extreme event.” With one heart the continent cried, “Liberty or Death!” Bancroft. SLOWLY the mist o’er the meadow was creeping, Bright on the dewy buds glistened the sun, When from his couch while his children were sleeping, Rose the bold rebel, and shouldered his gun. Waving her golden veil Over the silent dale, Blithe looked the morning on cottage and spire; Hushed was his
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ON THE EVE OF BUNKER HILL
ON THE EVE OF BUNKER HILL
The consequences of the battle of Bunker Hill were greater than those of any ordinary conflict. It was the first great battle of the Revolution, and not only the first blow, but the blow which determined the contest. When the sun of that day went down, the event of independence was no longer doubtful. Webster. June 16, 1775 'TWAS June on the face of the earth, June with the rose’s breath, When life is a gladsome thing, and a distant dream is death; There was gossip of birds in the air, and the l
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THE FLAG OF FORT STANWIX
THE FLAG OF FORT STANWIX
TRITE but true is the old adage that necessity is the mother of invention. The first flag that flew over an American fort was constructed from an “ammunition shirt, a blue jacket captured from the British, and a woman’s red petticoat.” The garrison at Fort Stanwix (Fort Schuyler) had no flag; but it had possession of the fort despite the siege of twenty days against it by the British; and it had five British standards taken from the enemy. So it improvised a flag and, with cheers and yells befit
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THE KNIGHT OF THE SEA
THE KNIGHT OF THE SEA
( Our First European Salute ) INSEPARABLY connected with the Stars and Stripes must ever be the name of John Paul Jones. The “Untitled Knight of the Sea,” the Duchess de Chartres—mother of Louis Philippe, afterward King of France; and granddaughter of a high admiral of France—was fond of calling him. For albeit John Paul Jones was of Scotch peasant ancestry, his associates were people of the highest intellect and rank. In appearance he was handsome; in manner prepossessing; and in speech he was
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WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES UNFURLED
WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES UNFURLED
BURGOYNE was in the enemy’s country. He was cut off from reënforcements. His very efforts to separate the colonies now recoiled upon his own armies. He could neither advance nor retreat with safety. For two weeks the opposing armies had stood opposite each other without fire. In desperation the British general now hazarded another battle. After a sustained and terrible struggle Burgoyne went down in defeat. His best and bravest officers were lost and seven hundred of his men were killed. General
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THE SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE
THE SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE
October 17, 1777 BROTHERS, this spot is holy! Look around! Before us flows our memory’s sacred river, Whose banks are Freedom’s shrines. This grassy mound, The altar, on whose height the Mighty Giver Gave Independence to our country; when, Thanks to its brave, enduring, patient men, The invading host was brought to bay and laid Beneath “Old Glory’s” new-born folds, the blade, The brazen thunder-throats, the pomp of war, And England’s yoke, broken forevermore. General John Watts De Peyster....
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THE YOKE OF BRITAIN BROKEN
THE YOKE OF BRITAIN BROKEN
THE final scene in this stupendous drama of American Freedom was enacted in Virginia. In September, 1781, Washington began a three weeks’ siege against Yorktown, held by the British under Lord Cornwallis. Finding himself there completely surrounded by both land and water, Cornwallis was forced to surrender. Now was the yoke of Great Britain at last broken. Seven thousand English and Hessian soldiers and eight hundred and forty sailors laid down their arms and became prisoners of war. The formal
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FROM THE OTHER SIDE
FROM THE OTHER SIDE
(1812) THE year 1812 witnessed our second war with Great Britain. In an effort to prevent emigration from her shores England claimed the right to seize any of her subjects upon any vessel of the high seas. America denied her right to do this on American ships. Disagreement broke into open rupture. War with the mother country was again declared. The doughty American seamen would not wait for attack upon them, but went forth aggressively against the squadron of the British. Oddly enough, consideri
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THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Francis Scott Key....
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THE DEFENSE OF THE CRESCENT CITY
THE DEFENSE OF THE CRESCENT CITY
UPON every recurrence of January the eighth, the city of New Orleans dons gala attire and shouts herself hoarse with rejoicing. She chants the Te Deum in her Cathedrals; and lays wreaths of immortelles and garlands of roses and sweet-smelling shrubs upon the monument of Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square. “The Saviour of New Orleans,” the inhabitants called Jackson in the exuberance of their gratitude for his defense of the city, and their deliverance from threatened peril, that fateful day of Jan
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THE CIVIL WAR
THE CIVIL WAR
(1861) THE War between the States in 1861 was one of the most terrible conflicts known to modern times. Many causes led up to it, chief among which was a difference in the interpretation of the Constitution by the people of the North and of the South. The slavery question was also a point of dispute; and several minor causes brought about a dissension in the two sections that resulted in the gigantic struggle of friend against friend, brother against brother, father against son. The early engage
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FREDERICKSBURG
FREDERICKSBURG
Dec. 13, 1862 THE increasing moonlight drifts across my bed, And on the church-yard by the road, I know It falls as white and noiselessly as snow. ’Twas such a night two weary summers fled; The stars, as now, were waning overhead. Listen! Again the shrill-lipped bugles blow Where the swift currents of the river flow Past Fredericksburg: far off the heavens are red With sudden conflagration: on yon height, Linstock in hand, the gunners hold their breath: A signal-rocket pierces the dense night, F
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CIVIL WAR[2]
CIVIL WAR[2]
"RIFLEMAN, shoot me a fancy shot Straight at the heart of yon prowling vidette; Ring me a ball in the glittering spot That shines on his breast like an amulet!” [2] The above has been sometimes entitled “The Fancy Shot.” It appeared first in a London weekly and is commonly attributed to Charles Dawson Shanly, who died in the late seventies....
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’ROUND SHILOH CHURCH
’ROUND SHILOH CHURCH
WITHIN Shiloh Church that fateful day of 1862, no sound of song or praise was heard. But all without the leaden missiles rang and sang in chorus of red death. Green blades of grass, dew-tipped, sprang up to greet the sun that April morn, but ere night fell were bowed to earth with weight of human blood. Ne’er before had little church looked out on such a scene. Ten thousand homes and hearts of North and South were there made desolate; and twice ten thousand men gave up their lives. The world loo
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ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON
ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON
I HEAR again the tread of war go thundering through the land, And Puritan and Cavalier are clinching neck and hand, Round Shiloh church the furious foes have met to thrust and slay, Where erst the peaceful sons of Christ were wont to kneel and pray. Kate Brownlee Sherwood....
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OLD GLORY AT SHILOH
OLD GLORY AT SHILOH
SPRING on the Tennessee; April—and flowers Bloom on its banks; the anemones white In clusters of stars where the green holly towers O’er bellworts, like butterflies hov’ring in flight. The ground ivy tips its blue lips to the laurel, And covers the banks of the water-swept bars With a background of blue, in which the red sorrel Are stripes where the pale corydalis are stars. John Trotwood Moore....
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THE FLAG OF THE CUMBERLAND
THE FLAG OF THE CUMBERLAND
THE Confederate frigate, Merrimac , newly arisen from her briny bath in the Norfolk Navy Yards, with her sides new coated in an almost impenetrable mail of iron and rechristened the Virginia , steamed slowly down the river May 8th, 1862, to Newport News, where the Cumberland , the Congress , and the Minnesota of the Union fleet lay at anchor. The crews of the latter vessels were taking life leisurely that day, and were indulging in various pastimes beloved of seamen. The Merrimac as she hove in
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THE CUMBERLAND
THE CUMBERLAND
AT anchor in Hampton Roads we lay, On board of the Cumberland , sloop of war; And at times from the fortress across the bay The alarum of drums swept past, Or a bugle blast From the camp on the shore. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow....
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THE MONITOR
THE MONITOR
TWO old Spanish ships had, prior to the sinking of the Cumberland , met a like fate at the hands of the Confederates; and the signal success of the Merrimac now augured well for the break of the blockade. The South was greatly elated. The North was disquieted. Twenty-four hours later the trend of events was changed. There appeared in Hampton Roads a strange new craft, called the Monitor . It was unlike any vessel before seen, having a revolving round tower of iron, that enabled the gunners to tr
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THE CRUISE OF THE MONITOR
THE CRUISE OF THE MONITOR
Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 9, 1862 OUT of a Northern city’s bay, ’Neath lowering clouds, one bleak March day, Glided a craft,—the like I ween, On ocean’s crest was never seen Since Noah’s float, That ancient boat, Could o’er a conquered deluge gloat....
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THE NIGHT OF CHANTILLY
THE NIGHT OF CHANTILLY
IN March, 1862, McClellan set out from Washington to capture the Confederate capital. At Yorktown he was held in check for a month by an inferior force of Confederates. It was the last of May before he reached Fair Oaks (Seven Pines), seven miles from Richmond. The Confederates here attacked him, and a furious battle of two days’ duration ensued, when the Confederates were driven back. A notable event of this engagement was the appointment of General Robert E. Lee, as commander in chief of the C
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KEARNEY AT SEVEN PINES
KEARNEY AT SEVEN PINES
SO that soldierly legend is still on its journey,— That story of Kearney who knew not how to yield! ’Twas the day when with Jameson, fierce Berry, and Birney, Against twenty thousand he rallied the field. Where the red volleys poured, where the clamor rose highest, Where the dead lay in clumps through the dwarf oak and pine, Where the aim from the thicket was surest and nighest,— No charge like Phil Kearney’s along the whole line. Edmund Clarence Stedman....
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THE CAVALRY CHARGE
THE CAVALRY CHARGE
WITH bray of the trumpet And roll of the drum, And keen ring of bugle, The cavalry come. Sharp clank the steel scabbards The bridle chains ring, And foam from red nostrils The wild chargers fling. Francis A. Durivage....
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AN IMMORTAL TWAIN
AN IMMORTAL TWAIN
IT is a coincidence worthy of note, and heretofore unremarked by historians, that, as in the hour of birth of the National Flag there was given to posterity the name of a great Revolutionary hero, the hour of birth of the Confederate Battle Emblem immortalized the name of a hero of the Confederacy. At four o’clock in the afternoon of that hard-fought battle of Manassas (Bull Run), July 21, 1861, the Federals were thinning out the lines in gray. Now they were directing their efforts against the w
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STONEWALL JACKSON
STONEWALL JACKSON
NOT midst the lightning of the stormy fight, Nor in the rush upon the vandal foe, Did Kingly Death with his resistless might Lay the great leader low. Henry Lynden Flash....
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THE HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG
THE HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG
A CLOUD possessed the hollow field, The gathering battle’s smoky shield: Athwart the gloom the lightning flashed, And through the cloud some horsemen dashed, And from the heights the thunder pealed. Will Henry Thompson....
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UNITED
UNITED
ALL day it shook the land—grim battle’s thunder tread; And fields at morning green, at eve are trampled red. But now, on the stricken scene, twilight and quiet fall; Only, from hill to hill, night’s tremulous voices call; And comes from far along, where camp fires warning burn, The dread, hushed sound which tells of morning’s sad return. Benjamin Sledd....
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OLD HEART OF OAK
OLD HEART OF OAK
TO the Navy is ascribed the larger shares in the Civil War, of overcoming the prowess of the South. “The blockade sapped the industrial strength of the Confederacy.” A powerful factor in this blockade was David G. Farragut. Farragut was a Southerner by birth—a Tennessean—and fought, as it were, against his own hearthstone. Yet, when it is considered that from early youth he was in the marine service of the government and by arms upheld the national flag, and when it is remembered with what rever
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FARRAGUT
FARRAGUT
FARRAGUT, Farragut, Old Heart of Oak, Daring Dave Farragut, Thunderbolt stroke, Watches the hoary mist Lift from the bay, Till his flag, glory-kissed, Greets the young day. William Tuckey Meredith. August, 1864....
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PINE AND PALM
PINE AND PALM
(GRANT AND LEE) Charles Francis Adams in address before Chicago Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, June 17, 1902. I NOW come to what I have always regarded—shall ever regard as the most creditable episode in all American history,—an episode without a blemish,—imposing, dignified, simple, heroic. I refer to Appomattox. Two men met that day, representative of American civilization, the whole world looking on. The two were Grant and Lee,—types each. Both rose, and rose unconsciously, to the full height of
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THE CONQUERED BANNER
THE CONQUERED BANNER
LIKE several other poems of renown, “The Conquered Banner” was written under stress of deep emotion. Abram J. Ryan (Father Ryan) had been ordained as a Catholic priest. Shortly after his ordination he was made a chaplain in the Confederate army. When the news came of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox he was in his room in Knoxville, where his regiment was quartered. He bowed his head upon the table and wept bitterly. He then arose and looked about him for a piece of paper, but could find not
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THE CONQUERED BANNER
THE CONQUERED BANNER
FURL that Banner, for ’tis weary; Round its staff ’tis drooping dreary; Furl it, fold it—it is best; For there’s not a man to wave it, And there’s not a sword to save it, And there’s not one left to lave it In the blood which heroes gave it; And its foes now scorn and brave it; Furl it, hide it—let it rest! Abram Joseph Ryan....
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DEATH OF GRANT
DEATH OF GRANT
AS one by one withdraw the lofty actors From that great play on history’s stage eternal, That lurid, partial act of war and peace—of old and new contending, Fought out through wrath, fears, dark dismays, and many a long suspense; All past—and since, in countless graves receding, mellowing Victor and vanquished—Lincoln’s and Lee’s—now thou with them, Man of the mighty day—and equal to the day! Thou from the prairies?—and tangled and many veined and hard has been thy part, To admiration has it bee
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ROBERT E. LEE
ROBERT E. LEE
A GALLANT foeman in the fight, A brother when the fight was o’er, The hand that led the host with might The blessed torch of learning bore. Julia Ward Howe....
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OLD GLORY ON THE ISLAND
OLD GLORY ON THE ISLAND
MEN who have had grave differences and looked at each other coldly and passed with unsmiling faces have, when some calamity threatened, sprang shoulder to shoulder and spent their united strength in defense of a common cause. Thus in the Spanish-American spurt of war,—serious enough, too serious, alas, in some aspects; but great in some of its beneficent results. In that call, “To Arms!” was laid to rest—forever forgotten—the old enmity between the North and the South, engendered by the Civil St
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WHEELER’S BRIGADE AT SANTIAGO
WHEELER’S BRIGADE AT SANTIAGO
'NEATH the lanes of the tropic sun The column is standing ready, Awaiting the fateful command of one Whose word will ring out To an answering shout To prove it alert and steady. And a stirring chorus all of them sung With singleness of endeavor, Though some to “The Bonny Blue Flag” had swung And some to “The Union For Ever.” Wallace Rice....
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SOLDIERS
SOLDIERS
SO many, many soldiers At reveille fared forth; Such ready, willing soldiers, From sunny South and North. John Howard Jewett. Printed in the United States of America....
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