The American Flag, affectionately known as
“Old Glory”, has a storied history and tradition dating all the way back
to Betsy Ross. Unfortunately, not many are aware of the true beginnings
of the ensign chosen to represent the work against King George and his
British Redcoats. The story of its initial unfurling makes for
interesting reading.
In the finely crafted work of the late Tupper Saussy, Rulers Of Evil,
we find the story of the creation of the official Flag for the 13
Colonies and the Official designs of Independence from British Rule,
both Monarchial and Parliamentary. While official British policy through
its governmental agencies was being rejected by the Founding Fathers,
acceptance of British rule through Official economic entities was
another matter entirely.
Rulers of Evil informs us of this account.
“During the fall of
1775, Congress authorized a committee made up of Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Lynch, Benjamin Harrison, and George Washington to consider and
recommend a design for the first united colonial flag. The so-called
Flag Committee traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, according
the only known account of its proceedings, given in Robert Allen
Campbell’s book Our Flag (Chicago, 1890), the committee mysteriously
shared its authority with a complete stranger. This stranger was an
elderly European transient known only as “the Professor.”……….
At the evening session [December 13,
1775], Franklin turned the meeting over to “his new-found and abundantly
honored friend.” The subject was a flag. Addressing the committee as
“Comrade Americans,” the Professor explained that, since the colonies
were still dependent upon Great Britain, “we are not expected to design
or recommend a flag which will represent a new government or an
independent nation,” but instead one “that will testify our present
loyalty as English subjects,” a flag that was “already in use,” a flag
that had been recognized by the British government for “half a century,”
a flag having a field of alternate horizontal red and white stripes
with the Grand Union Flag of Great Britain in the upper left hand
corner.
“I refer,” he said, “to the flag of the East India Company.”
To hide the fact that Americans would be
fighting under the private flag of an international mercantile
corporation controlled by Jesuits, the Professor provides a plausible
cover whereby the flag could be “explained to the masses”:
The Union Flag of the Mother Country is
retained as the union [upper left corner] of our new flag to announce
that the Colonies are loyal to the just and legitimate sovereignty of
the British government. The thirteen stripes will at once by understood
to represent the thirteen Colonies; their equal width will type the
equal rank, rights and responsibilities of the Colonies. The union of
the stripes in the field of our flag will announce the unity of
interests and the cooperative union of efforts, which the Colonies
recognize and put forth in their common cause. The white stripes will
signify that we consider our demands just and reasonable; and that we
will seek to secure our rights through peaceable, intelligent and
statesmanlike means – it they prove at all possible; and the red stripes
at the top and bottom of our flag will declare that first and last –
and always – we have the determination, the enthusiasm, and the power to
use force – whenever we deem force necessary. The alternation of the
red and white stripes will suggest that our reasons for all demands will
be intelligent and forcible, and that our force in securing our rights
will be just and reasonable."
The Professor reminded
the committee that “the masses of the people, and a large majority of
the
leaders of public opinion, desire a removal of grievances, and a
rectification of wrongs, through a fuller recognition of their rights as
British Subjects; and few of them desire and very few of them expect –
at this time – any complete severance of their present political and
dependent relations with the English Government.” That severance would
occur “before the sun in its next summer’s strength” – indicating that
the Professor foreknew………..a July declaration of independence. At that
time, the East India Company flag could be “easily modified” by
replacing the Union Jack with stars against a blue background, “to make
it announce and represent the new and independent nation.”
Washington and
Franklin lavished the Professor’s idea with “especial approval and
unstinted praise.” The committee formally and unanimously adopted the
East India Company’s banner, known as “The Thirteen Stripes,” as the
general flag and recognized standard of the Colonial Army and Navy.”……..
On January 2, 1776, at
a formal ceremony attended by the Flag Committee, George Washington
personally hoisted the East India Company flag “upon a towering and
specially raised pine tree liberty pole,” unfurling it to the breeze and
displaying it for the first time “to his army, the citizens of the
vicinity, and the British forces in Boston.” The British officers at
Charleston Heights perceived the event
To mean that General
Washington had thus announced his surrender to them. At once, they
saluted “The Thirteen Stripes” with thirteen hearty cheers. They
immediately followed this spontaneous outburst of British Enthusiasm
with the grander and more dignified official salute of thirteen guns,
the thirteen gun salute being the highest compliment in gunpowder, the
military “God speed you.”……The redcoats were toasting the good health of the rebels, who in turn were fighting for the East India Company.”
How many remember learning this tidbit of
historical trivia from any history course? Yet, here it is! Can you
fathom the significance of such an event, one that finds your enemy
providing their highest military honor in the face of you unfurling the
chosen emblem of your official military resistance? And how about the
fact that the man who would later be chosen to General the Revolutionary
forces and become known as The Father of America is the one actually
lifting the ensign, the exact ensign of the mightiest entity ever
created by the British Government, The East India Company?
Could it be that we've missed something in
our details and understanding of the American Revolution? Is it possible
for such details like this, that have been ignored by many, to begin to
slowly paint an unfamiliar historical landscape for us to consider. Is
it possible that historical fact as recorded by the original actors and
spectators of American origins can undeceive modern American progeny?
Regardless, we should never fear the Truth!
