FLAG HISTORY:

Burgoyne, the British General operating in northern New York, in the Revolutionary War, heard that the Americans had collected some military supplies at Bennington, Vermont. He sent an expedition of 1,000 men to capture them. Colonel John Stark, a hero of Bunker Hill, with 2,000 Americans set out to oppose the British. They fought under the Bennington Flag. When Stark saw the British advancing down the road he pointed them out to his brave troops and said: “Boys, there they are. We beat them today, or Molly Stark’s a widow.”The Green Mountain Boys, fighting Indian fashion, practically annihilated the British Regulars. Only about 100 of them ever got back to Burgoyne’s Army. It was the loss of these 900 men that contributed much to the failure of Burgoyne’s campaign, which ended in disaster with the surrender of his Army at Saratoga, New York, October 7, 1777, a death blow to the British.The Bennington Flag was presented to Colonel Stark’s Army by Nathaniel Fillmore, the father of the future President. It was made of homespun linen and hand sewed.

FLAG HISTORY:

Resolved that the flag of the thirteen states to be thirteen stripes alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.” With these simple words Congress created the American Flag on June 14, 1777.The stripes came from the field of the Grand Union Flag and were presumably taken from the Washington coat of arms. It is probable that the stars were also taken from that emblem, and changed to white for color harmony. It is generally conceded that General Washington had a hand in designing this flag and it is fair to assume that the idea of the stars originated with him.The first Stars and Stripes displayed in the face of an armed enemy was at Fort Stanwix, August 3, 1777. The Flag was improvised. The white stripes and stars came from the soldier’s shirts; a captain’s cloak supplied the blue of the union; and the red stripes came from the flannel petticoats of the women of the garrison, who gladly donated them for the purpose.

FLAG HISTORY:

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