PatriotPix: Flag 017 (800 x 600)

The Meaning of "Old Glory"

"Old Glory" is a common nickname for the flag of the United States, bestowed by upon it by William Driver, an early 19th century American sea captain. It also refers specifically to the flag owned by Driver, which has become one of the country's most treasured historical artifacts.

Early History

The original "Old Glory" was made and presented to the young Captain Driver by his mother and some young ladies of his native Salem, Massachusetts. The year is uncertain, but it was probably sometime in the 1820s. It is a large flag, measuring 10 feet by 17 feet, having 24 stars, heavily constructed, having been designed to be flown from a ship's mast. The captain was very pleased with his gift, and kept it with him always.

By most accounts, he first hailed the flag as "Old Glory" when he left harbor for a trip around the world in 1831-1832, as commander of the whaling vessel Charles Doggett. "Old Glory" served as the ship's official flag throughout the voyage. Some weathering and fraying almost certainly occurred during this severe service, and the flag shows evidence of patching on more than one occasion.

During the Civil War

Driver retired from the sea in 1837 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He flew his beloved flag on all patriotic occasions, using a rope suspended across the street, and "Old Glory" thereby became well known to Nashville's citizenry.

In 1861, his wife (or possibly his daughter) modified it to show 34 stars, the number of states then in the Union.

When the Civil War broke out and Tennessee seceded from the Union, Driver feared that the rebel Confederate government would attempt to destroy the locally-famous "Old Glory". He therefore had the flag sewn inside a comforter to conceal it. When Union forces retook Nashville the following year, Driver brought his beloved flag out from hiding, and hoisted it from the state capitol spire, the final time that it would fly from a flagpole. A unit of Federal troops, the Sixth Ohio Regiment, was present at this flag raising, and accordingly adopted "Old Glory" as their motto. These dramatic events were reported by many newspapers, and "Old Glory" became nationally famous.

After the Civil War

Driver passed "Old Glory" on to his daughter, Mary Jane Driver Roland, on the occasion of her marriage in 1873, and continued living in Nashville until his death in 1886.

Mary Jane and her husband Charles, a Union veteran, later moved to Wells, Nevada, where they occasionally displayed the flag. Around 1907, Mary Jane sewed the deteriorating flag to a bedsheet in order to stabilize it, and subsequently took it with her when she moved to California.

In 1922, Mary Jane presented the flag to President Warren G. Harding. The President replied with a formal letter of thanks, and transferred Old Glory to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remained for 80 years.

The Nashville Exhibit

In 2006, the Smithsonian acceded to a request from the Tennessee State Museum to display "Old Glory" in Nashville once again. Coupled with other related artifacts and memorabilia from the state library and archives, it is being shown from March to November, in an exhibit entitled "Old Glory: An American Treasure Comes Home". Due to its age and fragility, officials of the Smithsonian have stated that once the Nashville exhibit closes, it will never be permitted to travel again.

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PatriotPix

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Flag 017 (800 x 600)

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