History of the Flag: Part 4 Martin Link

THE GREAT STAR FLAG

By the spring of 1846, when war was officially declared against the Republic of Mexico, the United States had twenty-six states. Prior to that date, in 1835, the unique design for the twenty-five stars was a great star. In 1837 with the admission of Michigan, a twenty-sixth star was simply placed in the center.

With the outbreak of the Mexican War, this flag accompanied Gen. John C. Fremont as his army invaded northern California, and also Commodore Robert Stockton when he landed his marines at the port of Los Angeles.

This flag also accompanied Gen. Stephen W. Kearny and a detachment of Missouri Volunteers under Col. Alexander Doniphan, as he led the Army of the West from Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, along the Santa Fe Trail in July and August 1846, with orders to subdue the Territory of New Mexico. He raised this flag over the town of Las Vegas on August 15th, when he read his proclamation of annexation, and again on August 18th in Santa Fe, when he replaced the Mexican government and the Mexican flag on the Palace of the Governors with the Stars and Stripes.

Gen. Kearny and his Army of the West soon left for California, but Col. Doniphan stayed behind for a while to help the new government deal with the various Indian tribes. Doniphan, with the Great Star flag fluttering in the autumn breeze, met the Navajo leaders at Shush bi’ Toh (Bear Springs), the future site of Fort Wingate, and signed a treaty of mutual peace on November 22, 1846.

History of the Flag: Part 4

By Martin Link

The Second Flag Act, January 13, 1794 — “Be it enacted that the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes alternate red and white. The Union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field.” This brought more standardization to the flag, at least in the colors of the stripes and position of the stars. It was generally agreed that both a stripe and a star would be added for each state that was brought into the Union, but that concept wasn’t adhered to.

When the fifteen-starred, fifteenstriped flag flew over Ft. McHenry on that fateful morning of September 14, 1814, it was already outdated. Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), and Louisiana (1812) had brought the number of states to eighteen. It wasn’t until 1815, when the war with England was over, that Congress started thinking about making a change in the design, by reducing the number of stripes to the original thirteen; but a definite decision was never made during its perennial debates in Congress. During this time Indiana became the nineteenth state in 1816, and on December 10, 1817, Mississippi became the twentieth state. At that point, under the encouragement of Rep. Peter H. Wendover of New York, Congress took the flag dilemma seriously, and on April 4, 1818, passed the third and final Flag Act. Thus, the first flag created under this Act has always been considered as the first official American flag.

THE FIRST OFFICIAL FLAG

The third Flag Act, April 4, 1818 — Be it enacted........that the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be twenty stars, white in a blue field. And be it further enacted, that on the admission of every new state to the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag, and that such addition shall take

effect on the fourth of July then next succeeding such admission.

Technically, this flag was short-lived, with the admission of Illinois, in 1819, and Alabama and Maine in 1820.

Flying the flag at half-staff is one of the oldest customs dealing with the flag

In somber times, we recognize the flag at half-staff as a symbol of a nation in mourning. The practice is observed in nearly every country across the world, in mourning of important people or events and is always related to death. Folklore indicates that the origins of this practice may extend back to the sixteenth century.

One of the earliest accounts in the United States of the flag being lowered to halfstaff was to mourn the death of the first president, George Washington, during the latter half of December 1799.

There are also the anniversaries of tragic events when the flag is flown at halfstaff, including

Memorial Day, Pearl Harbor Day (December 7th), and Destruction of Twin Towers Day (September 11th). Russia still flies its flags at half-staff on June 22nd to commemorate the Nazi invasion of the USSR, and in Israel their flag is lowered for Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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