Mrs. Emma Look Scott

“ The breathless world was the audience. It was a bright, balmy April Sunday in a quiet Virginia landscape, with two veteran armies confronting each other; one game to the death, completely in the grasp of the other. The future was at stake. What might ensue? What might not ensue? Would the strife end then and there? Would it die in a death-grapple, only to reappear in that chronic form of a vanquished but indomi [156] table people, writhing and struggling, in the grasp of an insatiate but only nominal victor?
The answer depended on two men,—the captains of the contending forces. ”

“ Old Glory!” that echoed to the Distant hills the old sea flag unfurled and floated above the topmost pinnacle of the Capitol of Tennessee. Swarming over the city, bent on various quests, went the victorious Federals. Not so the old sailor. The revered flag, flaunting the colors so joyously above his head once more, was far too weather-beaten, he feared, to withstand long the stiff breeze blowing about the elevated site. Torn to ribbons it must not be, howsoever good the cause. ”

“ But I soon perceived that it was the defiance of a man desperate enough, if he could not conquer, to sink with his ship.”
The Bon Homme Richard’s sides were shot away; her prisoners loose; her decks strewn with the dead and dying; the Alliance, her companion ship, had turned traitor and fired into her. When the fight seemed well-nigh lost, a well-directed blow brought disaster to the Serapis, and she hauled down her colors. As Captain Pearson surrendered his sword, Commodore Jones remarked, “You have fought heroically, Sir. I trust your sovereign may suitably reward you.” ”

“ Ye American women, mix ye!
For the North and South, with a Southern chief,
Kept time to the tune of “Dixie.”
Wallace Rice.
[172]
SOLDIERS
SO many, many soldiers
At reveille fared forth;
Such ready, willing soldiers,
From sunny South and North.
So many gallant soldiers
At noon to face the fight;
So many weary wounded
Home-dreaming in the night.
So many quick to answer
To drum and bugle sound;
So many war-scarred sleepers
On death’s white-tented ground.
O soldiers, silent soldiers,
Calm-sleeping in the sun,
Beneath one happy flag again,
God rest you, every one. ”

“ As the British plowed through the waving corn,
For the birth-pang of Freedom rang that morn.”
The Battle of Bunker Hill that followed was but the natural sequence. Defeated though the patriots were in this their first real battle, it was a defeat that spelled for them ultimate victory. This they recognized dimly, but certainly, as they knew that they had gone into battle with a prayer on their lips for themselves, for their homes, and their country. Their hearts were fired anew for freedom. Their arms would be strengthened to their desires. ”

“ OLD GLORY WHILE every American citizen recognizes the significance of the term “Old Glory” as applied to the national flag, when and where and by whom the nation’s emblem was christened with this endearing and enduring sobriquet is a matter of historic interest less understood.
In the early epoch-making period of the nation’s history William Driver, a lad of twelve years, native of Salem, Mass., begged of his mother permission to go to sea. With her consent he shipped as cabin boy on the sailing vessel China, bound for Leghorn, a voyage of eighteen months. ”

“ His intrepid spirit brought the youthful mariner rapid and deserved promotion. His eighteenth year found him master of a vessel. Those were hazardous days upon the sea, and more than once his ship was subjected to indignity and outrage incident to seafaring of that period. But throughout a long career as master of a merchantman the Stars and Stripes was never lowered from the masthead nor sullied by defeat or by dishonor.
Captain William Driver. The sailor, of all men, venerates his nation’s flag. ”

“ At the mouth of the bay the two islands upon which the forts stood were less than a mile apart. The passage had been strewn with torpedoes by the Confederates, and only a narrow strip of water was left clear. Through this strip went Farragut’s fleet: the Tecumseh first, the Brooklyn next, the Hartford third. Suddenly the prow of the Tecumseh lifted: she veered and sank. The Brooklyn backed and held Farragut’s ship directly under the guns of Fort Morgan. Shot and shell hurtled in the air. The smoke grew dense. The fire from the cannons lit the heavens. Men shouted and fell. ”

“ Their fury speaking through their guns, their frenzy in their pace;
The sweeping onset of the Gray bears down the sturdy Blue,
Though Sherman and his legions are heroes through and through.
Though Prentiss and his gallant men are forcing scaur and crag,
They fall like sheaves before the scythes of Hardee and of Bragg;
Ah, who shall tell the victor’s tale when all the strife is past,
When, man and man, in one great mold, the men who strive are cast? ”

“ OLD GLORY ON THE ISLAND MEN who have had grave differences and looked at each other coldly and passed with unsmiling faces have, when some calamity threatened, sprang shoulder to shoulder and spent their united strength in defense of a common cause. ”

“ Neither indeed has the nation become unmindful of his great achievement, but upon each succeeding anniversary of the battle of New Orleans—that remarkable battle that gloriously ended the War of 1812, and restored the national pride [69] and honor so sorely wounded by the fall of Washington—celebrates the event in the chief cities of the United States. ”

“ Fort Stanwix stood at the head of navigation of the Mohawk River and was an important feature in the plan of General Burgoyne to cut off New England from the southern colonies and thus control the whole country. Embarking upon this expedition, he had instructed his army: “The services required are critical and conspicuous. Difficulty, nor labor, nor life are to be regarded. The army must not retreat.” ”

“ I have the honor to surrender to the loveliest woman the sword surrendered to me by one of the bravest of men,—the sword of Captain Richard Pearson, of his Britannic Majesty’s late ship the Serapis.”
“I have the honor to surrender to the loveliest woman the sword surrendered to me by one of the bravest of men.” The Royal Order of Military Merit with the title of Chevalier and the gift of a gold-mounted sword were conferred upon him by the king of France. Upon returning to America, he was given the rank of Head of the Navy. ”

“ Representing a New Constellation:
“Resolved—That Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the ship Ranger.”
Paul Jones’ remarks upon the resolutions were significant: “The flag and I are twins; born the same hour from the same womb of destiny. We cannot be parted in life or in death. So long as we can float we shall float together. If we must sink, we shall go down as one.”
Before the Ranger was launched, Jones was informed that he was to be the bearer of most important news to France. ”

“ Never in the annals of history has such a victory been recorded.
The loss to the English was two thousand killed, wounded, and captured. The American loss was but eight killed and thirteen wounded.
General Jackson marched his victorious troops into New Orleans, where he was received with the wildest enthusiasm.
The whole country applauded and rejoiced.
Andrew Jackson had become the Hero of the Nation. [76]
At Ghent, two weeks before the battle, the Treaty of Peace between England and the United States had been signed; but the ship bearing the news had not then reached this country. ”

“ AN IMMORTAL TWAIN IT is a coincidence worthy of note, and heretofore unremarked by historians, that, as in the hour of birth of the National Flag there was given to posterity the name of a great Revolutionary hero, the hour of birth of the Confederate Battle Emblem immortalized the name of a hero of the Confederacy.
At four o’clock in the afternoon of that hard-fought battle of Manassas (Bull Run) , July 21, 1861, the Federals were thinning out the lines in gray. Now they were directing their efforts against the wings of Jackson and Beauregard. Jackson’s solemn visage was growing more solemn ”

“ So overcome was Lord Cornwallis with the consciousness of his defeat by the “raw Americans,” that, feigning illness, he refused to appear.
The British troops in new uniforms, in striking contrast to the worn and faded garb of the colonists, followed the officer with colors furled. Coming opposite General Washington, O’Hara saluted and presented the sword of Cornwallis. A tense silence pervaded the assembly. General Washington motioned that the sword be given to General Lincoln. ”

“ The land troops were almost in sight of the city of their desires, when they were halted and held in check by American troops under General Sticker, whose name, it may be said, meant as it sounded, and who effectually prevented their further advance. But the fleet on the waters sailed into the bay of Baltimore and up to Fort McHenry at the mouth of the Patapsco River, in the determination to bombard the fortress and compel entrance to the city in that way. The British admiral had boasted the fort would fall to his hand an easy prey. ”

“ The eyes of many of the men were suffused with tears; others among them stamped upon their muskets in anger.
The colors had been preserved to the British army through the foresight of General Riedesel, who had handed them to his wife for safe-keeping. To the credit of the victorious Americans, it is said, they showed no disrespect to the defeated foe. “General Gates,” wrote Lieutenant Ansbury, one of the captured officers, “revealed exceeding nobleness and generosity toward the captives, commanding the troops to wheel round the instant arms were grounded. ”

“ WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES UNFURLED BURGOYNE was in the enemy’s country. He was cut off from reënforcements. His very efforts to separate the colonies now recoiled upon his own armies. He could neither advance nor retreat with safety. For two weeks the opposing armies had stood opposite each other without fire. In desperation the British general now hazarded another battle. After a sustained and terrible struggle Burgoyne went down in defeat. His best and bravest officers were lost and seven hundred of his men were killed. ”

“ Not the least remarkable of this aftermath, transcending all experiences of other nations, is the brotherhood, the kindly feeling of sympathy and understanding, that after the passage of but half a century now binds the once warring sections in indissoluble bonds of unity. ”

“ THE FLAG OF THE CUMBERLAND THE Confederate frigate, Merrimac, newly arisen from her briny bath in the Norfolk Navy Yards, with her sides new coated in an almost impenetrable mail of iron and rechristened the Virginia, steamed slowly down the river May 8th, 1862, to Newport News, where the Cumberland, the Congress, and the Minnesota of the Union fleet lay at anchor. ”

“ In 1831, as master of the brig Charles Daggett, about to set sail for a voyage around the world from Salem, Mass., Captain Driver was presented by the citizens with a large bunting flag in commendation of his services upon the sea and his well-known love for his country’s emblem. This flag, when presented, was rolled in the form of a triangle, and the halyards bent. A young sailor, stepping forward, said: “In ancient times, when an ocean voyage was looked upon with superstitious dread, it was the custom on the eve of departure to roll the banner in form of a triangle. ”

“ Ten thousand homes and hearts of North and South were there made desolate; and twice ten thousand men gave up their lives. The world looked on and wondered.
Albert Sidney Johnston, the hero of three wars, had staked his life and cause that April day, for victory or defeat. ”

“ From eye and posture and gesture emanated a certain indefinable force that attracted men to him, and created in them an enthusiasm for his cause. Old and young who came under his influence were ready to do his bidding. ”

“ He received also the disapproval of General Gates and the reprimand of Congress. The battle raged furiously until nightfall, when the proud Briton who had boasted “the British never retreat” fled under cover of the darkness. He gained the heights of Saratoga, where he found himself completely hemmed in by the Americans. With but three days’ rations between his army and starvation, he was forced to surrender. While he was holding consultation with his officers concerning this, a cannon ball passed over the table at which they were sitting, and, no doubt, hastened their conclusions. ”