The anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress, June 14th, 1777, should be observed by every American citizen.
In the year 1775, Congress appointed a Committee, of which Franklin was chairman, to consider and devise a national flag. This resulted in the adoption of the "King's colors," so called, as a union or corner stone, while thirteen stripes of alternate red and white stood as at present. This flag was publicly accepted, recognized and saluted at Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., January 2, 1776, from which fact it was often called the "Cambridge Flag," though sometimes the "Flag of the Union."
After the Declaration of Independence this flag lost its point, as nobody except the Tories wanted to see "King's colors." So in the Spring of 1777, Congress appointed another committee to design another suitable flag. George Washington and Robert Morris were members of the committee. So Washington and Robert Morris called upon Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, and from a pencil drawing of General Washington's, Mrs. Ross made the first flag. She suggested six pointed stars instead of five as Washington suggested and sketched. He accepted her suggestion, and so the flag was made.
Most interesting is the fact that the making of the American flag is largely woman's work. That the manufacture of flags has grown to be a large industry is proven by the fact that every year enough flags, great and small, are made to give one to every man, woman and child in the United States. Betsy Ross made flags for the government for many years; after her death, in 1836, her daughter, Mrs. Clarissa Wilson, succeeded to the business. Miss Sarah Wilson, great granddaughter of Betsy Ross, still makes duplicates of the original flag.
The great battle ships that are steaming around the world, flying our flag under circumstances that have made the nation assume a new importance in the eyes of millions who never before knew much about us, have the proper flag. It would never do for the American Government to fly an incorrect American Flag. It is a huge task to replace all the banners used. These are the facts, that keep busy hands at work, guiding the electrically driven sewing machines that take 3600 stitches a minute. Even though the machine that cuts the stars for the silk and wool bunting flags can create three thousand an hour, its operators have plenty to do. The stripes are cut from great rolls of colored bunting or silk, sometimes by skilled operatives, and again by machinery. The unions are cut in the same way. The stars are first pinned on the unions, and then sewed by machinery. That is, so far as the bunting flags are concerned. The silk flags are wholly hand work, even to the cutting out of the stars. The latter are embroidered on the blue field and then all the extra cloth is deftly scissored away.
The major number of small flags is printed. This is accomplished by the aid of the engraver and presses something like those on which newspapers are printed. Even in this mechanical work, women are found to be more serviceable than men. It always has been their field, and seems likely to so remain. There has been almost as much of an evolutionary process in the manufacture, as in the arrangement of the American flag.
On the same day that Congress adopted the stars and stripes, John Paul Jones received command of the Ranger, in Portsmouth. He immediately displayed the new flag at the main top, probably being the first person to hoist these colors over a United States warship. Jones is said to have remarked, pointing to the flag, "That flag and I are twins; we cannot part in life or in death. So long as we will float, we will float together; if we must sink, we shall go down as one."
The first recognition of our flag was by the flag of France. The first display over military forces took place on August 2, 1777, at Fort Stanwix, afterward Schuyler, New York. The fort was besieged by the British; its garrison had no colors, so they manufactured a standard of the approved pattern. They cut up their shirts as white material; for stars and stripes, an officer's coat supplied the blue; and small sections of red flannel undergarments furnished the third color. It is said that the flag thus pieced together was greeted with great enthusiasm and warmly defended.
The following September the stars and stripes were first displayed in battle at Brandywine. They first waved over a captured port at Nassau in the succeeding January. It was first borne around the world by Capt. John Kendrick, of the Ship Columbia, sailing from Boston in 1787. It had first been displayed in China, three years before, by Captain John Green, of the Empress. When the first ship appeared flying the Stars and Stripes, the new flag excited much interest and curiosity among the people of Canton. A strange new ship had arrived in port, they said, bearing a flag as beautiful as a flower, and everybody wanted to see the flower-flag ship. By this name of Flower-Flag the Chinese continued for many years to speak of our ensign, and its poetic beauty has often appealed to our own people. The sobriquet which appeals most strongly to the nation as a whole seems to be that of "Old Glory." Captain Stephen Driver was the first man to christen our flag "Old Glory." He was born at Salem, Mass., March 17, 1803. Just before he sailed on the brig Charles Doggett, in the year 1831, he was presented with a large American flag. As it was hoisted he called it "Old Glory" and this was the name he evermore used for it. This flag was always with the Captain on the sea and when he retired, he carried it home with him to Nashville, Tenn. His fondness for his flag was widely known, as also his being a Union man. During the late unpleasantness his neighbors desired to get hold of this particular flag but they searched his house and all in vain. The Captain had made a comforter out of it, having quilted the Old Glory with his own hands. He made his comforter his bed fellow. When peace was restored, he took the flag to the Capitol Building in Nashville. As he saw it on top of the building he exclaimed, "Now that Old Glory is up there, gentlemen, I am ready to die." He died in Nashville in 1886.
The original flag made by Betsy Ross remained unchanged until 1795. At this time, two new states had been added to the Union, Vermont and Kentucky, and it became evident some recognition of these States should appear upon the flag. Accordingly the number of stars was changed from thirteen to fifteen, though much opposition was shown to this change.