By this Act the duties of the Secretary are defined; and amongst them is a provision requiring him to visit, “at least once a year,” “all the magazines and deposits of public stores, and report the state of them, with proper arrangements, to Congress.”
Immediately after the confederation of the States, by the adoption of the Constitution, this legislation was superseded by an Act of Congress, approved on the seventh day of August, 1789, defining the duties of the department, which was again modified by the fifth Congress, in the Act of the thirtieth day of April, 1798, “To establish an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of the Navy.” Of the efficiency of this department, and its services to the Republic, there can be no better testimony than that which has been extorted from history, in the following words: “The United States, from the peace of Independence, in 1783, achieved by war, and merely acknowledged by treaty, have always (?) lost by treaty, but never by war.”
This sentiment, which is not as true now of our relations with Great Britain as in 1814, contains within it a compliment to the Department which, with limited means, and encountering the natural jealousy of civism, has so administered its scanty finances that the army has been made not only a defence for the frontiers, but a recognized national force, equal to the direst emergency, a nucleus around which, in any peril, the strength and bravery of the Republic may safely rally.
By the Act of the fourteenth of April, 1814, the Secretaries of War and of the Navy were placed in custody of the flags, trophies of war, etc., to deliver the same for presentation and display in such public places as the President may deem proper. Although many trophies, which a monarchical power would have jealously preserved, have been lost, or at least detached from their proper resting-place, there are still enough in both departments to stir the patriotic emotions of all who take the trouble to inquire for them.
The war of the Rebellion greatly increased these trophies. The Rebel flags taken in battle, and in surrender, and the Union flags, re-captured from the Confederates, now occupy large apartments in two buildings belonging to the War Department; and are all placed under the supervision of the Adjutant-General. In “Winder’s Buildings” hundreds of these flags are deposited, and many hundreds more in the Adjutant-General’s office on Seventeenth street. The front and back rooms on the lower floor of the latter house are exclusively devoted to their preservation. A polite “orderly” is in waiting, with a record-book, which gives the name and history of every flag in the building. The front room is devoted to the Union colors which were re-taken from the rebels. The back room is filled with Confederate flags of every device and hue. Here is the first Confederate flag adopted—an ugly rag, thirteen stars on a blue field, with white and red bars. Its motto: “We will collect our own revenues. We choose our own institutions.”
The colors of the Benjamin Infantry, organized April 24, 1861, bear the inscriptions: “Crown for the brave.” “Strike for your altars and your fires.”
An Alabama flag, of white bunting, with broad cross-bars of blue, sewed on by women’s hands, is inscribed: “Our Homes, our Rights, we entrust to your keeping, brave Sons of Alabama.”
“Sic Semper Tyrannis,” says a tattered banner of fine silk, presented in the first flush of rebellion-fever, with the confidence of assured victory, “by the ladies of Norfolk, to the N. L. A. Blues.” Again, says Virginia: “Our Rights we will maintain.” “Death to Invaders covered with blood.” “Death or Victory,” cries the Zachary Rangers—and again: “Tyranny is hateful to the gods.”
BLOOD-STAINED CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAGS, CAPTURED DURING THE WAR.
Sketched by permission of the Government from the large collection in possession of the War Department, at Washington.