6 things you didn’t know about the flag…..

 

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6 Things You Didn't Know About the Flag

These surprising facts will change the way you look at the Stars and Stripes.

BY REBECCA DECZYNSKI at Good Housekeeping

 

1. There have been 27 official versions of the American flag, each with a different number of stars in the blue union. The official original flag contained 13 stripes and 13 stars, both symbolizing the first colonies.

2. The flag didn't always have 13 stripes. In 1794, Kentucky and Vermont were added to the Union, resulting in a 15-star, 15-stripe flag that inspired Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner," which was written after the battle at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.

3. The latest version of the American flag is the longest to last, celebrating its 54th anniversary this year.

4. There is no written record of Betsy Ross being the creator of the American flag. The story was largely unheard of until 1870 when Ross's grandson, William Canby, brought it up to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The family swears by the oral history and recorded government payments to Betsy Ross seem to suggest that what they say is true.

5. The colors of the flag are symbolic. Red stands for valor, white stands for purity, and blue stands for perseverance and justice.

6. The flag was first called "Old Glory" by a young sea captain named William Driver in 1824.

The flag is, after all, the greatest emblem of our nation. As President Coolidge said:
"We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth. It represents our peace and security, our civil and political liberty, our freedom of religious worship, our family, our friends, our home. We see it in the great multitude of blessings, of rights and privileges that make up our country."

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The red,white, and blue!

 

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The Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Joining the party at:

Savvy Southern Style

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Flag etiquette……

 

With Independence Day just a few days a way I

thought everyone could use a refresher course on flag

etiquette courtesy of Country Living .

Have a great week my friends!!!!!

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