THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL FLAG
of the
United States of AMERICA.
BY
SCHUYLER HAMILTON,
Capt. by Brvt. U.S.A.
PHILADELPHIA,
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.
1853.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO, AND CO.,
in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United Statesin and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA:
T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS.
THIS RESEARCH
AS TO
THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE DEVICES COMBINED
IN
The National Flag of the United States of America,
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO
MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT,
AS A
SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED SERVICES,
AND
AS A MARK OF PERSONAL GRATITUDE,
BY
HIS FRIEND AND AIDE-DE-CAMP,
SCHUYLER HAMILTON,
Captain by Brevet, U.S.A.
PREFACE.
As nearly as we can learn, the only origin which has been suggested forthe devices combined in the national colors of our country is, thatthey were adopted from the coat of arms of General Washington. Thisimputed origin is not such as would be consonant with the known modestyof Washington, or the spirit of the times in which the flag wasadopted. We have, therefore, been at some pains to collect authenticstatements in reference to our national colors, and with these, haveintroduced letters exhibiting the temper of those times, step by step,with the changes made in the flag, so combining them as to form a chainof proof, which, we think, must be conclusive.
Should, however, the perusal of the following account of the origin andmeaning of the devices in the national flag of our country, serve noother purpose than that of impressing more strongly upon the mind ofthe reader the importance and the prominence those who achieved ourliberties and founded our government attached to the idea of Union, itspreparation will not have been a futile labor.
Emblems and devices, adopted under high excitement of the public mind,are chosen as epitomes of the sentiments prevailing at the time oftheir adoption. Those of the days of our Revolution afford proofs farmore striking than the most elaborate arguments, that, in theestimation of our forefathers, Union, and existence as a nation, wereinseparable.
The prosecution of our subject has made it necessary for us to dwellupon those devices, and to develop those proofs.
INTRODUCTION.
As a not uninteresting introduction to our research, we will glance atthe history of standards, from their inception to the present time. Weshall find that man's faculty of imitation has here, as elsewhere,found employment, modified in its operation by some cause peculiar tothe nation whose standard chances to be under consideration.
Fosbroke, in his Dictionary of Antiquities, has furnished uswith most of the information on this subject which is pertinent to ourdesign. We shall add such