When the United States was at war with Spain in 1898, a Spanish fleet crossed the Atlantic and sailed into Santiago Bay. Commodore Schley at once sailed his squadron of ships there to prevent the escape of the Spanish fleet, and he was soon joined by Rear-admiral Sampson, who took charge of the whole American fleet. The entrance to Santiago Bay is so long and narrow, that, knowing it was full of mines and protected by forts on either side, the American Government would not allow Sampson’s fleet to try to force an entrance. So all the ships could do was to shell the forts along the coast and keep watch day and night. The Americans knew that if a storm arose and their ships should be obliged to run out to sea, the Spanish admiral would take advantage of it and run out of the harbor and possibly attack some of the ill-defended coast towns. The navy was very anxious to find a way of blocking the harbor so that the Spanish fleet could not get out. Admiral Sampson decided to run the Merrimac into the channel at night, swing it across the narrow point and sink it there, thus making a barrier which could not easily be removed. “Who will undertake this service of sinking the Merrimac?” was the question, and immediately there were far more men than could be used. Naval Constructor Hobson, with some brave volunteers, was assigned the task, which seemed in all probability to mean certain death. At three o’clock in the morning the Merrimac entered the narrow channel and steamed in under the guns of the great Morro Castle. The stillness of the night was broken by the wash of a small patrol boat approaching from the shore. The boat ran close up under the stern of the Merrimac and fired several shots, one of which carried away the rudder. In a moment the guns from the Spanish ships and forts were turned upon the Merrimac; and although torpedoes exploded all around them, and mines went off under them, Hobson coolly gave his orders. The torpedoes were touched off, and as the Merrimac sank, he and his men were swept overboard into the chilling waters. There, escaping death as by a miracle, they clung to an old raft. When the Merrimac sank the Spaniards cheered wildly, thinking they had sunk an American ship trying to steal into the harbor unseen. Many boats pushed out from the shore to examine the wreck. A Spanish launch came toward the raft. Hobson and his men agreed to capture this boat and run away. But just as she came close the heads of half a dozen Spanish soldiers peeped up and each man pointed his rifle at the heads of the Americans. “Is there any officer in that boat to receive a surrender of prisoners of war?” Hobson shouted. An old man leaned out under the awning and waved his hand. It was Admiral Cervera. The soldiers lowered their rifles, and the prisoners were helped into the launch. Hobson and his brave companions spent more than a month in Spanish prisons, but at length an exchange of prisoners made it possible for them to be returned in safety, and ever since the story of Hobson and the sinking of the Merrimac has been told as one of the most heroic deeds in the history of modern times.
26. BETSY ROSS AND THE FLAG
Americans who have lived some time in other countries say that when they see the American flag floating from the mast of a ship in a foreign land a lump rises in the throat and “the Stars and Stripes,” with its bright red, white, and blue, seems to be the most beautiful emblem in all the world. Do you know how it was first made, and why? When George Washington was leading his soldiers in the war for liberty, he felt that the new nation needed a flag. He said: “We must have a flag, one flag for all the Colonies.” Every country needs a flag to float over the homes of its people, to carry in parades, to wave on the masts of the ships at sea and in foreign harbors, and to inspire its citizens and soldiers to patriotism. At first there had been flags of all kinds among the colonists, the commonest having a rattlesnake upon it, with the motto, “Don’t tread on me,” and another, called the Union flag (with stripes as at present, and the double cross of the British flag instead of stars), was unfurled for the first time on New Year’s Day, 1776, at Cambridge. The matter of a new flag for the new people was talked over, and on June 14, 1777, by a resolution of Congress, it was decided upon. Washington, assisted by a committee, drew a picture of the flag he wanted—one with thirteen stripes to represent the thirteen States that had fought for freedom. These stripes were to be one red and one white. On a field of blue in the corner, near the staff, there were to be thirteen stars. Then, of course, those men knew they must find a woman to make the flag. The men could plan for it, but a woman must make it.
In Philadelphia there lived a young woman named Betsy Ross, who, with her husband, kept a small furniture and upholstering shop, and who did a great deal of sewing. She sewed beautifully, and had often been hired to make flags for the river-boats and other kinds of boats. One day, as she sat sewing in her shop, she heard a knock at her door. She opened it, and there stood George Washington and another gentleman. The general showed her a picture of the flag he wanted with its stripes and six-pointed stars. “No,” she said, “that will not do. The stars must be prettier than those. A correct star has only five points.” She quickly folded up a piece of paper just right and with one snip of her scissors clipped the paper, and there was a beautiful five-pointed star. Washington was greatly pleased with the star and also with the skilful fingers of Betsy Ross, and so she was given the order for the first American flag. This first flag was made the next day in the little shop, still standing at 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia, where she continued to carry on the flag business many years after the death of her husband, who was wounded during the war while guarding some military stores. Her children succeeded her in the business at her death. Since the first flag with its thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, there has been added a new star for every State admitted to the Union.
One of the first American war vessels, named the Reprisal, is said to have been the first vessel that, in 1777, carried “Old Glory” on the ocean. Ever since, whenever this American flag has floated in the air, its message has been, “America, the land of the free.” Its red sings, “Be brave”; its blue says, “Be true”; its white means, “Be pure.”
27. THE MAN WHO WROTE “AMERICA”
The beautiful hymn, “America,” our national anthem, which is loved and sung all over our land, and all over the world wherever the Stars and Stripes is honored, was composed by Dr. Samuel Francis Smith. He was born in Boston, Mass., October 21, 1808. In childhood he lived not far from the Old North Church. When he looked up at the tower in which Paul Revere hung the lantern, perhaps there came into his heart that love for his country which years afterward he put into his song. One holiday when his grandmother was coming on a visit to his home, he stood at the window, expecting she would bring him a present. When she came without a present the little fellow said solemnly, “All days are alike!” He was so obedient that when he went out to play he would ask, “How many slides may I take, mother?” And when he had taken just the number his mother told him, he would come in.
When Samuel was eight years old a pet cat belonging to one of the neighbors died, and was buried in the garden. The next morning the owners of the cat found on its grave a stick with a piece of paper fastened to it, and on the paper some verses. This was his first poem. At twelve he wrote another, and after that, many more. He went to what is now the Eliot School in North Bennett Street, Boston, where he won the gold medal. From there he went to the Boston Latin School, and there, also, he won the medal. Then to Harvard, and to the Andover Theological Seminary. He graduated from Harvard in 1829, in the class with Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who sang of him in his poem, “The Boys”:
And there’s a nice youngster of excellent pith,
Fate tried to conceal him by calling him Smith,