Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1894 — WHERE THE FLAG WAS BORN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHERE THE FLAG WAS BORN.

Birthplace of the Star Spangled BannerFlag* of the Colonies.

MgfeHE small two-story still standat 239 Aroh \li. stieet.below Third, Philadelphia, has an interesting his1N tory. In it the first Bp 7 flag, containing Sp thirteen stars and thirteen strijes, Mrs, John Ross. The de-

was made by Mrs.

sign for the flag was from, a drawing made by George Washington with a pencil, and the flag thus deigned was adopted by a resolution of Congress on the 14th aav of June, 1777. A committee of Congress, accompanied by General Washington, afterward called, upon Mrs. Ross and engaged her to make

a flag from this design. The flag then made is now known the world over as the Star Spangled Banner bf the United States. There is a striking resemblance between the design of our flag and the arms of General Washington, and it .is believed by many that the American flag was derived from this heraldic design. Several flags were used by the people of the States before the present one Ufa® adopted. In the month of March, 1775. a red flag was hoisted in New York, bearing on one side the inscription, “George Rex and the Liberties of America, and on the other side, “Mp Pqrery." In July, 1775, on Project mu, Sen. Israel Putnam raised a flag upon whioh was inscribed the rflotto of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “Qui transtulit sustinet. ” In October, 1775, the floating batteries of Bqston carried a flag with the motto, "An Appeal t 6 Heaven,” the design being a pine ttfefe on a white field. Virginia carried & flag in 1776—design, a rattlesnake coiled as if abdut to strike, and the motto, “Don't Tread on Me.” But It was not until Jhn. M, 1776, that the grand union flag,

bearing stars and stripes, was raised on thrf heights, near Boston. A number of flags appeared—.the rattlesnake, the pine tree, and the stvipdfl, the various designs of the different colonies—until July, 1777, when the blue union of tbs stars was added

to the stripes, and the law adopted this flag as the great national emblem. Afterward a strips was added with every new State; but, as it became manifest that in time the beauty of the emblem would be marred by the enormous proportions acquired bv ad-

ditional States, Congress reduced the Btripes to the original thirteen, and the stars were made to correspond with the number of States. The American flag is one of the most beautiful that floats upon any land or sea. Its proportions are perfect when it is properly made—cne-half as broad as it is long. The first stripe at the top is red, the next white, and there colors alternate, making the last stripe red. Tne blue field for the stars is the width and square of the first seven Btripes, viz., four red and three white. The colors of the American flag are in exnuisite relief, and it is altogether a splendid national emblem. Long may it wave untarnished!

WHERE OUR FIRST FLAG WAS MADE

THE PINE-TREE FLAG.

THE FLAG OF VIRGINIA 1775.