A FLAG DAY SALUTE

The history of the American flag is as rich and diverse as the history of the nation it represents. It has been displayed in one-room schoolhouses and has waved in triumph on the surface of the Moon. It has been sprinkled in pieces near the North Pole. It has covered the caskets of thousands of brave military men and women. And every June 14, on Flag Day, it hangs proudly on front porches across the United States.While militiamen and regulars still fought off the British in lonely farm fields, it was clear the new United States would need its own flag to represent the country. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution: “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” The Congress detailed the meaning of the colors, writing that, “White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; Blue signifies Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.”As America gained new states, additional stars were added to the flag design. The Flag Act of 1818 designated the 4th of July following a state’s admission as the day that its new star would be placed on the flag. Over the years, the flag has changed 26 times to accommodate the additions of new stars. (Early flags had a variety of designs using the same number of stars). On July 4, 1960, the 50th star was added to the flag in honor of Hawaii, which entered the Union on August 21, 1959.

The flag bore 15 stars and 15 stripes in 1812 when another war with the British threatened the young nation. By September of 1814, the British had gained some devastating victories. The White House had been burned and President Madison and his beloved wife had fled to safety. During the night of September 13, 1814, the British naval fleet bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor. For nearly 25 hours they fired their cannons at the American defenses. Francis Scott Key watched the attack from the deck of a British prisoner-exchange ship. Throughout the battle bombs exploded in the air above the fort and the new Congreve rockets shone red across the sky. Then, silence commandeered the dark night, and the young American lawyer and his friends feared that Fort McHenry had surrendered. As the dawn’s first glimmers began to waken the sky, however, the three men were delighted to see that magnificent flag still flapping over the battered fort. The British invasion of Baltimore had been prevented. The flag above Fort McHenry was massive in size. Each individual stripe measured two feet in width. The impressive sight inspired Key to write the poem that later became our national anthem.

“The Defense of Fort McHenry” was published in the Baltimore Patriot on September 20th, 1814, and then many more times in other papers around the country. “The Star Spangled Banner” (as the poem came to be called) became one of several popular national songs, and was adopted as the United States’ national anthem on March 3, 1931. Two original copies of the poem exist today, one owned by the Maryland Historical Society and one preserved in the Library of Congress. The enormous Ft. McHenry flag, now fragile with age, may be still be viewed in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History.

President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed “Flag Day” to be a national celebration day in 1916. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed the National Flag Day Bill, which proclaimed June 14 a day of national observance and honor of the flag. On Flag Day in 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill that added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. In reference to this act, he once wrote “These words (“under God”) will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded.”

For the past 235 years it has represented our nation and served as a symbol of freedom and valor. It embodies what is best about America. Thus long may it wave, over the land of the free and the home of the brave.