“Yes, sir; a spread eagle with the thirteen stars in a circle of rays of glory. It is said that many eminent men visited Mrs. Ross’ shop while she was at work on the flag and were deeply interested in it.”
“Well,” remarked Lulu thoughtfully, “if that flag was flung to the breeze in June of 1777, it is a mistake for people to say that the rough flag made and floated at Fort Schuyler the next fall was the first.”
“Quite true,” said her father, “though probably they—the makers of the Fort Schuyler flag—had not heard of the other and believed theirs to be the first. It is stated that Washington had displayed at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 2d, 1776, what might be called the original of our present banner. It had thirteen stripes of red and white with a St. Andrew cross instead of the stars.”
“Was there not another called the rattlesnake flag?” asked Rosie.
“Yes, in two forms: in one the figure was left complete, and under it were the words, ‘Don’t tread on me.’ In the other the snake was in thirteen pieces—in some cases with thirteen rattles—and the legend was ‘Join or die.’”
The captain paused a moment, then went on: “I was reading lately an account taken from an English paper of what was probably the first floating of the American flag in British waters. It was on February 3d, 1783, that the ship Bedford, a Massachusetts vessel commanded by Captain Moore, passed Gravesend, and on the 6th she was reported at the custom-house. The Lords of Council and the Commissioners of the Customs held a consultation, because of the many acts of Parliament still in force against the ‘rebels’ of America—as our British cousins were wont to style us—before allowing her regular entry. She was American built, manned wholly by American seamen, and belonged to Nantucket, Massachusetts.
“The article goes on to say she carried the ‘rebel’ colors and was the first to display the ‘rebellious stripes of America in any British port.’
“But before that the Stars and Stripes had appeared on British soil. A noted philanthropist and sturdy patriot of Philadelphia, named Elkannah Watson, had at the close of the Revolutionary War received four hundred guineas as a wager, and on the same day was dining with the painter Copley, whom he engaged to paint his portrait for the sum of money just obtained from the wager. The portrait was all finished but the background, which they had agreed should represent a ship bearing to America the news of the acknowledgment by the British government of our independence—the Stars and Stripes floating from her gaff and gilded by the rays of the rising sun was still wanting, the painter considering it imprudent to put it there at that time, as his gallery was the resort of royalty and the nobility. Watson speaks of ‘the glorious 5th of December, 1782,’ on which he and Copley listened to the speech of the king in which he formally received and recognized the United States of America as one of the nations of the earth. After that Watson went home with the artist to dinner; but before sitting down to the table Copley finished his picture, inviting his company to be present in his studio while ‘with a bold hand, master touch, and American heart’ he attached to the ship the Stars and Stripes.”
“That was displaying what the British had called the rebel colors very promptly upon the king’s acknowledgment, and very near his palace,” remarked Mr. Dinsmore with a smile of grim satisfaction.
“Yes; doubtless a bitter pill for his majesty to swallow,” laughed Rosie.