Beginning with that epochal day in late December, 1775, when Lieutenant John Paul Jones first unfurled the silken rattlesnake ensign—of “Don’t Tread on Me” fame—on the American man-of-war Alfred down to the present time, our Navy has figured both conspicuously and intimately in the nation’s flag history. With the passing years most of that history has been published.
However, some time ago the writer accidentally came across an old manuscript letter pertaining to the Stars and Stripes which so aroused his interest that he resolved to pursue the subject further, with the hope of finding the complete chain of related correspondence. Happily, a measure of success crowned his efforts, and the fruits of that search constitute some very important and valuable hitherto unpublished documentary links in the colorful history of Old Glory. It seems clear that our flag historians have entirely overlooked these particular letters. And as they represent official records of certain early nineteenth century activities of the United States Navy, those manuscripts offer additional evidence of the close relation which has always existed between the Navy and the development of American flag history.
The subject manuscript documents evolved from the following Congressional Act “to establish the Flag of the United States,” passed on March 31, 1818, and signed by President Monroe on April 4, 1818:
Sect. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.
Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take affect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission.
At that period of our national history the following twenty states comprised the Union: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi.
A few days after the above Act became law, President Monroe directed the Navy Department to prepare the U.S. frigate Guerrière for a diplomatic cruise to Europe, to transport the American Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr. George W. Campbell, to his post at the Russian Court in St. Petersburg, as outlined in the following letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the Board of Navy Commissioners:
Navy Department
April 22d, 1818
Sir:
The President of the United States directs the immediate equipment of the frigate Guerrière to take the Hon’ble Mr. Campbell to St. Petersburg as Minister Plenipotentiary &c to that Court.
The Commissioners are requested to give the necessary orders for the Ship’s being prepared and furnished with the necessary Stores & provisions for the cruise,—the recruiting Rendezvous are ordered to be opened to recruit the complement of men. Captain Thomas Macdonough is ordered in command of the Guerrière, and Captain J. Jones to the frigate Constitution—the accommodation of two temporary state rooms will be required for Mr. Campbell & family, & it is suggested for your consideration, whether the Guns of the Guerrière ought not to be proved again, previous to leaving the United States.
I am, very respectfully,
Your Obt. Servt.,
B. W. Crowninshield
John Rodgers Esqr.,
President of the Board of Navy Commissioners
We shall now observe how certain circumstances attending the preparation of the Guerriere for that mission induced the specific phase of our flag history presented in this article. For when Commodore Isaac Hull, U. S. Navy, then commandant at Boston Navy Yard, received the orders from the Board of Navy Commissioners to fit out that vessel for this cruise, he addressed the following self-explanatory letter to the President of the Board:
Navy Yard
Charlestown, Mass.,
May 6, 1818
Sir:
The Guerrière will require some new colours, and as the law altering the flag does not say how the Stars shall be placed in the Union, and believing some general plan should be adopted, particularly for our Ships of War, I should be much pleased to be informed what the wishes of the Commissioners are on the subject.
I have caused a rough draft of an Ensign to be made. Shall the Stars be placed as in the draft or otherwise?
I have the honor to be, Sir,
with great respect,
Your Mo. Ob. Servt.,
Isaac Hull
Commodore John Rodgers
A missing link in our present historical chain is the “rough draft” of the flag mentioned by Commodore Hull in his above letter. Although diligent search has been instituted in an effort to find the sketch, it is regretted that to date no trace of it has been found. But it is earnestly hoped that the missing sketch may yet come to light or that some additional information bearing upon its details of design may be discovered, in order properly to round out this early chapter of the flag’s naval history.
However, Commodore Hull’s foregoing letter to the Navy Commissioners was instrumental in promptly bringing forth from that Board detailed dimensional specifications, including the arrangement of stars, for the flag to be used on American men-of-war and at naval stations, as outlined in their following reply:
Navy Commissioners Office
Washington, D. C.
15 May 1818
Sir:
In reply to your letter of the 6th inst., upon the subject of the National flag, the Navy Commissioners have to inform you, that, agreeably to the Act of Congress of 4 April 1818, entitled “an act to establish the flag of the United States,” the flag is from and after the 4th day of July next, to be 13 horizontal stripes, alternate red & white.
The Union to be 20 stars, white in a blue field, one star to be added on the admission into the Union of every new State.
The dimensions of the flag must be in width and length as 14 to 24 feet. The Union to be in breadth 7/13ths of the breadth of the flag, & 1/3rd of the length of the flag, in length. The manner of arranging the stars you will perceive by the following sketch.
Respectfully,
John Rodgers
President
Capt. Isaac Hull,
Boston
In the accompanying photographic reproduction of the file copy of the Commissioners’ above letter to Commodore Hull may be seen the rough pen-and-ink sketch of the flag mentioned therein.
The Guerrière sailed from Boston on July 25, 1818, with Mr. Campbell and family on board, and on August 22, Captain Macdonough reported his arrival at Cowes, England, after “25 days from Boston.” It seems patent therefore that the Guerrière was the first man-of-war to fly the newly designed flag across the Atlantic.
The adoption of the foregoing design as 1 specified to Commodore Hull by the Navy Commissioners having been approved by the Secretary of the Navy, the Commissioners on May 18 issued the following circular letter to the several principal naval commands, afloat and ashore, promulgating the adoption of this flag design for the naval service:
(CIRCULAR)
Navy Commissioners Office
Washington, D. C.
May 18,1818
Sir:
The Navy Commissioners have to inform you that agreeably to the Act of Congress on the 4th of April, 1818, entitled, “An Act to establish the flag of the United States,’’ our national flag is, from and after the 4th day of July next, to be: Thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white. The union to be twenty stars, white in a blue field, one star to be added on the admission into the Union of every new State; such addition to be made from and after the 4th of July next succeeding the date of such admission.
The size of the flag must be in the proportion of fourteen feet in width and twenty-four feet in length, the field of the union must be one-third of the length of the flag, and seven-thirteenths of its depth, so that from the top to the bottom of the union there will be seven stripes, and six stripes from the bottom of the union to the bottom of the flag. The manner of arranging the stars you will perceive by the subjoined sketch.
The upper and lower stripes to be red.
Respectfully,
John Rodgers
President
The arrangement of the stars in the subjoined sketch issued with the foregoing circular communication is shown, Fig. 1, being identical with that transmitted to Commodore Hull by the Commissioners in their letter of May 15.
Although reference has often been made to the above circular letter by flag historians, it has been especially quoted in full in this article as of pertinent historic importance in view of certain subsequent developments respecting a change in the design—a rearrangement of the stars—of the flag adopted for the Navy in that circular communication. Moreover, this change in design necessitated the issuance four months later of another circular letter to the naval service by the Board of Navy Commissioners, the history of which modification in design, the writer believes, has never before been published. Publication of the correspondence and circumstances surrounding the promulgation of this second circular letter thus constitutes one of the particular features of this article.
Accordingly, it will be noted in the sketch of the flag transmitted to Commodore Hull by the Navy Commissioners in their letter of May 15, and as also specified in their circular letter of May 18, that the stars are arranged in “staggered” rows. Whereas, as will later be seen in the sketch issued with the Boards second circular letter of September 18, 1818, the rows of stars are not staggered.
This change in arrangement of the stars resulted from the following previously unpublished letter from Mr. Benjamin Homans, chief clerk of the Navy Department—signed “By order of the President of the United States”—transmitting to the Navy Commissioners the “pattern” of the flag, in colors, which had been approved by President Monroe:
Navy Department
Washington, D. C.
Sept. 9th, 1818
Sir:
The President of the United States directs, that from and after the 4th of July 1818, the Flag of the United States shall conform to the pattern, herewith transmitted, Viz: twenty stars in a blue Union, and thirteen Stripes, red and white, alternately, according to the Act of Congress passed on the 4th of April last; of which you will please to give due notice to the Naval Commanders, and the necessary directions for making the Flags.
I am, very respectfully,
Sir,
your most obt. Servant,
By order of the President of the United States,
Benjamin Homans
John Rodgers Esq.
President Navy Board
It should here be stated that, at the time President Monroe’s foregoing instructions were transmitted to the Board of Navy Commissioners, Secretary Crowninshield was absent from Washington, he having departed from the capital city late in May, in company with President Monroe and the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, on an inspection trip down Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis and Norfolk, and later proceeded to his home in Massachusetts, arriving there early in July. Doubtless this accounts for the fact that the above letter bore the signature of Mr. Benjamin Homans. And of incidental flag interest linked with President Monroe’s visit to Norfolk on that occasion was a toast proposed by Captain John Cassin, U. S. Navy, at a banquet given by the citizens of that city in honor of the presidential visit: In drinking to the President’s health the commanding officer of near-by Gosport also lifted his glass to “the Ship of the Line at Gosport. May the flag which she displayed on the visit of the President, never be struck to an equal force.” The ship of the line thus honored was the U.S.S. Delaware (74), then building at Gosport Navy Yard, and later bearer of that renowned figurehead so revered by all midshipmen at Annapolis—Tecumseh, the Navy’s famous “Old God of Two- Five.”
Accompanying this article is a photographic reproduction of the original “pattern” of the flag approved by President Monroe and as transmitted to the Board of Navy Commissioners by Mr. Benjamin Homans in his above letter of September 9. This sketch of the 20-starred flag of 1818 is considered an important “find,” forming as it does a very valuable pictorial link in the chain of our flag’s early history.
On the day following the receipt of President Monroe’s approved pattern of the flag, the arrangement of the stars in which was different to that previously adopted for the naval service, the Navy Commissioners issued the aforementioned second circular letter on the subject, in modification of their circular of May 18, as follows:
(CIRCULAR)
Navy Commissioners Office
Washington, D. C.
10 Sept., 1818
Sir:
Since our circular of the 18th May last relatively to the flag to be worn by the vessels of the United States & at Naval Stations, it has been determined by the President of the United States that the arrangement of the stars shall correspond with the pattern below—the dimensions & relative proportions of the flag continue as stated in our circular. You will govern yourself accordingly. On first hoisting the flag you are to fire a salute of twenty guns.
I am &c,
John Rodgers
President
Figure 2 shows the altered arrangement of the stars, covered in the Board’s second circular letter, to accord with the design of the flag approved by President Monroe.
Although the above second circular letter from the Board of Navy Commissioners has frequently been cited by flag historians, the detailed background of its raison d'etre has remained historically obscure for close upon a century and a quarter.
Then came the activity decreed by that communication for the Navy’s quartermaster gangs—ripping off the twenty staggered stars from their newly spun banners and stitching them on again in regularized rows as patterned in the Monroe design. But the altered flags, heralded by the 20-gun salute, were soon flying to the breezes again from Navy flagstaffs. A contemporary press notice from Boston stated that
On Thursday (September 24, 1818) the new flag of the United States was displayed at the Navy Yard, Charlestown, and on board the national Ships of War in Boston harbor. The “Star Spangled Banner” was saluted by each vessel, by direction of the Navy Department. Similar honors are to be paid on its being hoisted at all the stations.
That the Navy Commissioners were somewhat nonplused by President Monroe’s instructions altering the design of the flag is apparent from a letter which Admiral Rodgers, in absence of Secretary Crowninshield from the Navy Department, addressed to the President four days after the Board’s receipt of the letter from Mr. Benjamin Homans. Manifestly unaware of the background of President Monroe’s decision in the matter, Admiral Rodgers thus reviews the circumstances leading to the adoption of the flag design for the Navy in the following letter to the President:
Navy Commissioners Office
Washington, D. C.
14 Sept., 1818
Sir:
The Board of Navy Commissioners received on the 9th ins. through Mr. Homans, your orders relatively to the change in the flag of the United States, & have acted in conformity therewith.
The flag now in use in the naval service of the United States was changed on the 4th of July last; prior to that date the Board had been applied to by Comm’re. Hull for instructions in what manner to make the flag of the Guerriere, then bound on foreign service, & they submitted a pattern of the flag to the Secretary of the Navy who approved it and directed its adoption. The order for the first alteration having passed through this Board they have felt apprehensive lest it may be considered that they have arrogated to themselves a duty which did not belong to them.
They trust, Sir, that their solicitude on this subject will plead their apology for troubling you.
I have the honor to be with highest consideration &c,
Yr. Mo. Obt. &c,
John Rodgers
President
To the President of the United States
And now comes an important and hitherto unpublished letter from President Monroe, dated at Highland near Milton, in his native State of Virginia, as penned in his own handwriting to Admiral Rodgers in reply to the Admiral’s letter of September 14. In this letter the President contributes some additional nuggets of history respecting the 20-starred flag design, and also takes occasion in excellent manner promptly to set the Board of Navy Commissioners at ease relative to the flag design promulgated for the Navy in their circular letter of April 18. President Mon- roe’s letter follows:
Highland near Milton
Octr. 4,1818
Sir:
I receiv’d in due time your letter of the 14th Sep’r., & should have answer’d it sooner, had I not expected to have been in Washington, before this. I shall set out on Tuesday if the weather permits, & expect to be there the last of the week, or first of the ensuing.
I can never harbour for a moment the idea, that your board, assume any power not properly belonging to it. It is very probable, that Mr. Crowninshield, consulted me, respecting the alteration of the flag, which was adopted on your suggestion, on the 4th of July last, and that I approved it. I have no recollection however of the fact. Two models were put to me, by Mr. Calhoun, here, &, according to my recollection in concert with Mr. Homans, that one of them might be approv’d, & I gave the preference to that which is now in service. Had I known any thing of what you state, or, perhaps speaking more correctly, recollected, any thing of it, I should certainly, have delayed any decision, untill I heard from you.
With great respect & esteem,
I am Yr. very obt. servant,
James Monroe
In absence of other records to the contrary, it is assumed that the “Mr. Calhoun” mentioned in the President’s letter may have referred to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War. As Secretary Crowninshield had remained away from Washington since arriving at his Massachusetts home early in July, and did not return to his post before resigning as Secretary of the Navy in the following October, it would thus appear from President Monroe’s letter that, sometime during Mr. Crowninshield’s stated absence, Secretary Calhoun and Mr. Benjamin Homans had conferred with the President relative to the flag design which subsequently received presidential approval for adoption; and, that possibly those two gentlemen were at that time unaware that Secretary Crowninshield might have previously mentioned to President Monroe the flag adopted for the Navy in the Commissioners’ circular letter of April 18, 1818.
In any event, an important and—so far as the writer has been able to determine— at present unanswered question which here emerges is: Who drafted the union in the design of the 20-starred flag of 1818 as approved by President Monroe? It will be observed that the dimensions and relative proportions of this flag remained as originally specified by the Board of Navy Commissioners.
Another question the correct answer to which might prove equally intriguing to those especially interested in flag history is: What was the arrangement of the stars in the draft of the ensign submitted to the Board of Navy Commissioners by Commodore Isaac Hull in his letter of May 6, 1818?
At present the answers to those two questions are as missing links in the long, golden chain of Old Glory emblazoned history.
Who can supply the missing links?
The Merchant Marine and the Navy are independent, hut interdependent. The Navy is our First Line of Defense. Merchant ships have been called the country’s Second Line of Defense. They serve as auxiliaries to the Navy, and in time of hostility may themselves be converted into fighting ships.
The American Navy was originally a Merchant Marine affair. The Colonists went to war with England without a single ship of war. In December, 1775, Congress ordered the construction of 13 sailing vessels, to be completed by the following April, at an estimated cost of $866,000. All of the ships were ordinary merchantmen, pierced for guns. Among them were brigs, sloops and schooners.—Shorts about Ships.