PART VII.

THE DISTINGUISHING FLAGS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

1776-1880.

THE FLAGS, COLORS, STANDARDS, AND GUIDONS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 1880.

THE SEAL AND ARMS OF THE UNITED STATES.

1782-1880.

AMERICAN YACHT CLUBS AND FLAGS.

1880.

NATIONAL AND PATRIOTIC SONGS.

"A nation's character is the sum of its splendid deeds; they constitute one common patrimony, the nation's inheritance. They awe foreign powers, they arouse and animate our own people." - Henry Clay.

"Americans! your fathers shed

Their blood to rear the Union's fame;

For this our fearless banner spread

On many a gory plain.

Americans! let no one dare,

On mountain, valley, prairie, flond,
By hurling down that temple there,
To desecrate that blood!

The right shall live, while faction dies!
All traitors draw a fleeting breath;
But patriots drink from God's own eyes
Truth's light, that conquers death."

William Ross Wallace.

"Stand by the flag! its folds have streamed in glory, —
To foes a fear, to friends a festal robe,-
And spread in rythmic lines the sacred story
Of freedom's triumphs over all the globe.
Stand by the flag! on land, and ocean billow;
By it your fathers stood, unmoved and true;
Living, defended; dying, from their pillow,

With their last blessing, passed it on to you.

"Stand by the flag! though death-shots round it rattle,
And underneath its waving folds have met,
In all the dread array of sanguine battle,

The quivering lance and glittering bayonet.
Stand by the flag! all doubt and treason scorning,
Believe, with courage firm and faith sublime,
That it will float until the eternal morning
Pales in its glories all the lights of time."

Anonymous.

PART VII.

THE DISTINGUISHING FLAGS OF THE UNITED STATES

NAVY.

1776-1880.

From the formation of our navy to the present time, a long and narrow pennant, or coach-whip, as generally called, has been the designating mark of a captain in the navy, and of officers of inferior rank when in command of a United States vessel of war.1

One of the earliest laws of the Continental Congress, on the subject of a navy, forbade merchant ships or privateers wearing this symbol of rank and authority when in the pres

Flag of the Naval Commander-in-chief,

1776.

ence of a vessel of war.

The first commander-in-chief of the American navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, wore for his standard a square yellow silk flag, blazoned with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the act of striking, and underneath it the motto, "Don't tread on me." One description of this flag says, the rattlesnake was at the foot of a pine-tree.

How long this flag continued in use,

1 When Van Tromp, the Dutch admiral, hoisted a broom at his masthead, to indicate his intention to sweep the English from the sea, the English admiral hoisted a horsewhip, indicating his intention to chastise the insolent Dutchman. Ever since that time, the narrow, or coach-whip, pennant, symbolizing the original horse-whip, has been the distinctive mark of a vessel of war, adopted by all nations.

It is the custom in England to hang a broom at the masthead of a vessel offered for sale at auction.

The following is an advertisement of signals used in the royal navy as early as 1722:

JUST

UST published the Sailing and Fighting Instructions or Signals, as they are observed in the Royal Navy of Great-Britain; being a neat Pocket Volume, Engraven on Copper Plates, and printed on a superfine Elephant Paper, with a Ship to each Signal, and the various Signal Flags, painted in their own proper Colours. Very useful and nec