“The Stars and Stripes are nailed to the North Pole”

It is an old tradition for explorers to plant flags. In 1492 Columbus planted Spain's flag thus establishing a pattern in the New World. Spanish, French, British and American explorers carried flags on their expeditions. Over four centuries after Columbus, Apollo 11's crew planted the United States flag on the moon. Two twentieth century polar explorers, also following this practice of "planting" the U.S. flag. Robert Peary carried the flag during journeys deep into Arctic regions, and almost two decades later Richard Byrd also carried the flag during a flight over the South Pole. Interestingly, the claims of both polar explores drew skeptics. Also interestingly, both men displayed the Stars and Stripes in somewhat unorthodox ways. While both men intended to honor the flag of their country, their handling of Old Glory may seem curious today. Some might even consider their display of the flag desecration. Yet, it should be remembered that the U.S. Flag Code was first created in 1923, and it was not until 1942 that the Federal Government adopted it.

In 1898 Peary's wife made a forty-five star United States flag for her explorer husband. The forty-five star flag was the one adopted when Utah became a state. On Peary's several arctic expeditions, he often carried the flag wrapped around his body under the top layer of his clothing. Reaching objectives he would break out the flag, "planting" the flag at locations all over the far North. Actually, his idea of planting the flag was quite literal. He would then cut a rectangular piece from the flag and "cache" it at the site. Upon his return from each expedition his wife would inset a piece of white material to replace the "cached" part of the flag. At lectures he displayed his flag to dramatize his Peary's Patched Forty-five Star Polar Flag exploits. In poetic words he announced to the world in 1909 that he had reached the North Pole, "The Stars and Stripes are nailed to the Pole."

At a 1910 Hudson-Fulton Celebration in Elmira, New York, Peary's "North Pole" flag drew the unwanted attention of an attorney named Roswell R. Moss. He filed a legal action charging Peary with flag desecration. Peary's lawyer filed a demurrer maintaining that the law cited was unconstitutional. A demurrer is a legal term for a challenge to the form of the charging document. It does not consider the merits of the case. The court sustained Peary's position and dismissed the charge.

In 1954, Peary's widow presented the flag to the National Geographic Society. Today, the patched flag is preserved as a treasured historic artifact.

Richard E. Byrd reported that he and Floyd Bennett flew over the North Pole in 1926. Three years later, after Bennett's death, Byrd flew over the South Pole. With him he had carried a stone taken from Bennett's grave. He tied the stone to an U.S. flag and dropped stone and flag from the plane as he flew over the South Pole. The thus weighted flag fluttered down and was "planted" in the ice and snow below.

These two examples may appear to be strange attempts to honor the flag. They certainly don't seem to follow the rules of the United States Flag Code. However, the Flag Code states in summary, "No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America . . . ." Certainly, neither man intended any disrespect for the flag. Rather, both explorers made the Stars and Stripes a part of their proudest accomplishments. The flag was important to them. They carried U.S. flags with them and "planted" them in the Polar Regions of the globe.

The Lineage of the Stars and Stripes

Some assume that because of our revolutionary past, that the Stars and Stripes sprang into existence on June fourteenth of seventeen seventy-seven, almost an act of spontaneous generation. Nevertheless, the flag of the United States has a lineage that stretches back to European roots. Like all genealogies, it has some lines of descent that are proven by the historical record. Some lines are less certain when records are incomplete or missing. Some purported pedigrees may be based on false claims resting on coincidence rather than relationship. Finally, some ancestry remains undiscovered.

As with the thirteen original colonies, the flag's parentage rests with Britain. They saw England in a very real sense as the mother country. The United States flag inherited at least three things from this parentage. First, the national colors of red, white and blue. Second, a flag divided into two parts: a field and a canton or union. Third, the very idea that the flag symbolizes a political union.

"What do the colors signify?" Congress apparently gave no thought to the meaning of the colors when the flag was first adopted. Red, white and blue were simply inherited from the British flag that came before. Where, we may ask, did these colors originate in their British use? The colors came from the flags of England and Scotland.

England's flag of St. George is a red cross on a white field. By legend Saint George, England's patron saint, slew a dragon to save a maiden. George carried the white shield of purity and innocence. Dipping his lance into the dragon's blood, he outlined a red cross on his shield. English medieval soldiers wore St. George's cross front and back to identify them in battle. Thus red and white come from England.

Scotland's Cross of St. Andrew also supplied two colors: blue and white. Saint Andrew suffered crucifixion on an X-shaped cross, know in heraldry as a saltire. Seeking divine intervention in battle, the ancient Scots beheld an X-shaped formation of white clouds against a blue sky. Victorious, they adopted this sign as their emblem. Thus Blue and white come from Scotland.

In 1603 England's virgin queen, Elizabeth I, died and King James VI of Scotland inherited the British throne. At the beginning of his reign, each of his two kingdoms flew their own flags. St. George's cross in England and St. Andrew's cross in Scotland. Conflict arose at sea. Sailors from each realm competed to fly their own flag in preference to the other. To end the conflict, the king's heralds designed one flag to symbolize both nations. They simply superimposed the cross of St. George over the cross of St. Andrew. This formed the first British Union flag, known familiarly as the Union Jack. This union, however, was the personal union of two kingdoms with one sovereign. Political union of the two realms followed in 1707.

In heraldry, a shield is often divided into four parts or quarters. They are numbered one through four, beginning in the upper left had corner and rotating clockwise around the shield. The first quarter, is considered the most honorable. It is closest to the sword arm of the knight as he would carry the shield. The canton is a named smaller division of the first quarter. Perhaps like the heart of the watermelon, the canton is the best part of the quarter. British nautical flags also made use of the canton. At one time, British ships were identified as being part of the red, white or blue squadrons. Squadrons flew colored ensigns matching their designation. In the canton of each colored flag was placed the cross of St George or the cross of St. Andrew as appropriate for England or Scotland. These gave way to placing the union design in the canton.

By the time of the American Revolution, the British Red Ensign had become the merchant flag of the British Empire. This flag was the most used by the colonists before their break with the mother country. The colors, the canton and the concept of political union symbolized by the Red Ensign furnished the model for the flag of a new nation. Colonists replaced the red field with thirteen red and white stripes. The British Union gave way to a new American union device, thirteen white stars on a blue field, a new constellation. Just as a constellation rises in the night sky, the new nation rose to take her place among the nations of the world.

O’ Columbia Gem of the Ocean

Famed as the first ship to carry the Stars and Stripes around the globe, the Sailing Ship Columbia Rediviva is commonly known as the Columbia. Indeed in 1773, this merchant ship was christened simply as the Columbia. This designation was and is a poetic nickname for the United States and honors Christopher Columbus. Columbia was rebuilt in 1787 and given the added Latin name Redivivia meaning revived. The ship's full formal name thus translates from Latin roughly as "land of Columbus reborn." There is something symbolic in her full name. The Boston Tea Party took place the same year the Columbia was first launched. The struggle for independence was then beginning. The Revolution ended in 1784 by the Treaty of Paris, and thirteen British colonies had a rebirth as an independent nation. Three years later, Colombia Rediviva departed from Boston carrying the flag of the newly independent United States of America, indeed she lived up to her name Columbia reborn.

The voyage began on September 30^th of 1787. From her rigging, Columbia Rediviva flew a flag displaying thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. Her voyage took her around South America to the Pacific coast of the continent where she discovered, named and explored the lower reaches of the Columbia River. Continuing westward across the Pacific, she made her way around the Asian land mass and Africa back to the Atlantic Ocean. Finally returning to Boston in 1790, she had circumnavigated the globe displaying the Stars and Stripes to the world.

 

What did the U. S. flag look like that was first carried around the world? We don't know exactly. There were many versions of the first Stars and Stripes. The pattern of stars existed in many variations. The stars usually had five points. Nonetheless, stars on flags sometimes boasted six or more points. Even the stripes showed variety. The flag was most often a red field with six white stripes. In this arrangement the top and bottom stripes are red. Still, a white field with six red stripes was not unknown. Then, the top and bottom stripes were white. On occasion, the stripes were even red, white and blue.

A replica of Columbia Rediviva plies the waters of Disneyland's Rivers of America. She flies the version of the thirteen star flag that is best known, today. Usually called the Betsy Ross flag, this flag displays thirteen five-pointed stars in a circle. Common for most of our nation's later history, this version was uncommon during the revolution. Some flag historians have even asserted the ring of thirteen stars was not contemporary to the American Revolution. However, it appears to have been used. Also used occasionally, was a circle of twelve stars with the thirteenth star at the center. More common is a pattern of stars in rows of three, two, three, two and three. Less common but also used, the stars appeared in rows of four, five and four. Any one of these star patterns could have been shown on the flag carried around the world by Columbia Rediviva. Nevertheless, the voyage lasted more than a year and more than one flag was likely used.

Columbia continued under sail until salvaged in 1806. Yet, she still served as inspiration for the nation. Three U.S. Navy vessels have been named for the Sailing Ship Columbia. Disneyland in 1956 launched a replica of Columbia to honor the vessel. In 1969, the Apollo 11 command module for the first lunar landing bore the name Columbia. The space shuttle Columbia became the world's first reusable space craft flying space missions beginning in 1981. Tragically, she and her seven astronaut crew perished on reentry in 2003. Only Disneyland's Columbia continues in service having sailed the waters of Frontierland for over fifty-four years.

In 1843, Columbia Gem of the Ocean appeared as a patriotic song that still inspires Americans. The song missed being selected in 1931 as our national anthem. It was beat out by another song with a flag connection, the Star Spangled Banner. In the song Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, its name serves as a metaphor for the nation or ship of state. Still, the song concludes with words that must echo shouts that greeted Columbia Rediviva on her return from circumnavigating the globe, "Three cheers for the red, white, and blue."

The Flag's Own Right

When the National Flag Conference of 1924 established the rules of flag display, the believed that they were following the rules of heraldry in determining how the flag should be displayed. The upper left of the shield is called the dexter chief, and is the most honorable quarter of the shield. A square portion of the dexter chief is called the canton. In heraldry cantons are often awarded by the monarch as augmentations of honor to commemorate some notable achievement. The committee, therefore, decided that the union of stars would always be displayed in the dexter chief or canton corner of the flag. That is why the union of stars is often called the canton. That is also why the blue starry field is always displayed in the upper left-hand corner when the U.S. flag is hung flat on the wall.

However, the committee allowed one exception to this rule. When the flag is draped on the casket the blue field is placed over the left shoulder of the deceased person. If the rules placing the union in the "canton" corner were applied, the blue field with stars would be placed over the right shoulder.

To explain such inconsistencies, romantic stories often emerge. Two such romantic stories to explain flag draped coffins appeared. First, and most often related, is the explanation given by Colonel James Moss, a respected flag historian: "For generations the customary way of indicating death, the opposite of life, has been to reverse objects." The second story, also described by Moss, "Another explanation—a romantic one—is that the soldier having devoted his life to his Country, the Flag of his country embraces him in death, necessitating the flag facing the soldier which places the blue field to the Flag's right, which is the same as the right of the observer who faces the casket." The second story is harder to understand. Basically, if the flag—as does a person—has a left and right, it has a front side and back side. It the flag is flipped over reversing the position of the canton, then the flag is facing down and symbolically embracing the fallen soldier. Nice stories, but likely an incorrect explanations.

There is another understanding of heraldic rules that was dismissed by the committee. This view is actually the better one. The rules of heraldry were promulgated to facilitate the designing and display of shields and crests. Some rules can be and are applied to the display of flags. Other rules of heraldry do not neatly apply to the design or display of flags. A vexillologist (a student of flag study) could argue that flags should not be viewed as a subsection of heraldry. Heraldry and its rules do not control vexillology.

To begin with, a flag is not a shield. A flag has two sides, a front or obverse and a back or reverse. A shield has a front, but the reverse side carries no design. The back of a shield simply has the straps by which the shield is held and wielded. So, when a shield is displayed, it is never flipped over to show its back.

The U.S. flag has a front and back. Many believe that the front and back of the American flag are the same. Nonetheless they are actually different. The back of the flag is the mirror image of the front. When the flag is displayed on a wall with the stripes running horizontally, we see the front or obverse. When the stripes run vertically, we see the back or reverse of the flag.

If we stretch the design of the United States flag over a shield (see above) with the stripes running horizontally, the stripes in heraldry are called bars. If we stretch the flag over a shield so that the stripes run vertically, the stripes are then called pallets in heraldic terms. The resulting shields are not identical, but are two similar yet distinct designs. If either shield is rotated to cause the stripes to run another direction, the canton moves from the observer's left (dexter) side to the observer's right (sinister) side.

Had this interpretation of heraldry been adopted, we would simplify things by always displaying the front or obverse of the United States flag. Whenever the flag is rotated to change the direction of the stripes from horizontal to vertical, the union would move from the observer's left to the observer's right. This would have the added advantage that when flags include lettering, such as the with the Utah State flag, they could be displayed uniformly with the U.S. flag without words and designs appearing backwards.

This explains the origin of placing the stars over the deceased left shoulder when the flag is draped on a casket. It is simply done to show the front of the flag. Many draped flags have been banners bearing royal arms or other coats of arms. If the design were flipped to place the dexter chief over the right shoulder of the deceased, the reverse of the flag would be displayed. The design would be backwards. The place where a person stands to view the casket determines how the flag appears. The most important thing is to show the front of the flag.

At the right is a picture of the coffin of Denmark's King Frederick IX. The front the flag is displayed. The same pattern in followed in the United Kingdom. The United States military no doubt followed the European pattern for draping military caskets with flags.

Heraldry and the flag's own right? There is more than one way to look at it. The National Flag Convention of 1924 might not have picked the best interpretation.

Mormon Founders of Las Vegas Celebrate the Fourth of July in 1855

Celebrating the Fourth of July in 1855, Mormon founders of Las Vegas' Old Fort raised an improvised flag of Deseret.
Named Las Vegas, meaning the meadows in Spanish, the valley boasted springs which attracted travelers on the Old Spanish Trail. In 1855, Brigham Young sent William Bringhurst and thirty men to establish a way station in the Las Vegas Valley. The area was part of the proposed State of Deseret, but was not included in the Utah Territory established in 1850. Young, however, recognized the strategic importance of Las Vegas as a stopping place between Salt Lake and San Diego.
John Steele recorded in his Journal and in a letter to George A. Smith the 1855 Independence Day celebration at the Old Mormon Fort. "On the Fourth of July" Steele wrote, "we made preparations to celebrate independence, and indeed we did it justice according to our situation." Not having an artillery piece to fire a salute, Steele reported, "the blacksmith's anvil answered for a cannon." The cavity of an anvil was packed with black powder with an inverted anvil placed upon it. The seam was sealed with mud and a fuse leading to the powder lit. The resulting explosion launches the second anvil about on hundred feet into the air. This "shooting off of the anvils" imitated the sound of a firing cannon. This and "many volley of musketry gave the sleeping native to know something was up."
Bringhurst gave Steele 1 ½ yards of white cloth to make a flag. Steele also scrounged a red flannel shirt and some blue denim from an old pair of jeans. Tearing the red and white fabric into stripes, he "took some blue[from the jeans] and made stars." Eighteen small stars were cut in all. They were placed with "nine [stars] on a side [of the flag], with a large eight pointed star in the center representing Deseret." 

This vague description is open to several interpretations. One version has been made up and is on display at the Old Mormon Fort in Las Vegas. A careful reading of the description found in both Steele's journal and letter lead me to a different interpretation of the probable design. My interpretation is also made having had the experience of making several flags with stars and stripes in their design. Neither version is probably completely accurate. We don't know how many red and white stripes were made. The size of the union is unknown. The pattern of the stars is not disclosed. Nevertheless, the stars were most likely blue on a white canton with nine stars and a larger star of Deseret on the front of the flag with the remaining stars on the back of the flag. While this may seem strange to modern eyes, the design is consistent with other flags of Deseret made during the period.
The flag was not ready to be raised at sunrise. Steele completed the flag by early afternoon. Not having "good timber" for a liberty pole, the men "got a mesquite stump, a false wagon tongue, and a tall willow, and made a pole 30 feet high." Here at two o'clock in the afternoon, they "shook out the flag at the sound of guns [and ] three cheers." At the Old Fort's bowery, the men enjoyed "spirited speeches, songs, and toasts…." These pioneers indeed did justice in their celebration of the Fourth.
Today, Las Vegas lies in Nevada, not Utah. Nonetheless, its Flag of Deseret remains an illuminating example in the story of Utah's flags.

Folding the United States Flag

  A United States Air Force Honor Guard conducts a flag-folding ceremony at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

  

We Americans often believe that the traditions we observe in displaying our flag are centuries old and universal. In fact, some rules of flag display only had their origin in the Twentieth Century. Some flag traditions may spring from our history as a nation. Other details of our flag usage have origins obscured by the mist of time. Yet through it all the traditions of flag display continue to grow. Franklin K. Lane, the Interior Secretary expressed it well when he said, speaking for the flag, "I am what you make me; nothing more."

One tradition has grown dramatically in recent times, folding the United States flag. The latest embellishment on the folding ceremony counts the number of folds and gives each fold a symbolic meaning. This adds symbolism to a ceremony that has long been impressive. The United States military makes the folding of burial flags a touching part of funerals. Youth organizations have long taught their members to fold the U.S. flag into a triangle forming a cocked hat shape. Nevertheless, we may wonder where this tradition began.

First of all, folding a flag in a triangular pattern is not a universal flag custom. Other nations have no ceremonial fold for flags. Flags are simply folded in a practical way for storage. Actually, when folding any textiles, the simpler the fold the better. Each fold adds stress to the fibers of the material. For new flags currently in use, the number of folds is not that significant. Conversely, for antique flags the number of folds and their complexity can damage fragile fibers hastening the fabric's deterioration. Museums avoid folding flags for storage whenever they can. Flags, rather, are rolled on acid free cardboard tubes backed with acid free tissue paper and covered with cloth or nonreactive polyethylene plastic.

In fact folding the flag into the triangle is not required by the United States Flag Code. The flag may be folded in any appropriate way. The important thing is to care for and store the United States flag in ways that protect it from becoming damaged or soiled. Folding the flag into a triangle is impressive, but it is not required.

Our folding of the U.S. flag probably began at sea. Flags and ensigns are necessary nautical gear. Ships without flags may be considered pirates. Still, storage space at sea is at a premium. Over the centuries sailors have learned to stow nautical gear efficiently. The saying "a place for everything and everything in its place" had particular meaning at sea. In British naval tradition, the ship's ensign when lowered is brailed. A brail is a rope or line used to furl or gather in a sail. In like manner, a flag is furled by folding it lengthwise several times and then rolling it tightly. The roll is then secured with a brail that has been sewn into the flag's heading. Thus brailed, the ensign is stowed until it is again hoisted. To break out the ensign at hoisting, the brailed flag is attached to the halyards by the rope or line sewn into the flag's heading. Still brailed, it is raised to its full position in the rigging. Then, a tug on the halyard frees the rolled flag and it unfurls dramatically in the wind.

Folding the United States flag in its accustomed triangular fold serves much the same purpose as brailing a flag. The triangular fold produces a neat envelope or packet where the flag is wrapped in itself. When the last flap is folded into the pocket produced by folding, the flag is neat and orderly. It is ready to be "stowed" or stored away until its next use.

How did Americans start folding into a triangle? It is often explained that the triangle symbolizes a three cornered cocked hat as worn during the American Revolution. This is likely a romantic explanation created later. The origin is somewhat obscured by the passage of time. However the custom began, early Americans did not record how they folded the flag and why.

There is one narrative that ties to the story of the historical American flag known as Old Glory. Several versions of the story give slightly different details. However, the substance of the story remains the same.

In 1824 a New England ship's captain prepared to embark on a sea voyage. Several ladies of Salem, his home port, made a ship's ensign for the new captain. His mother was part of the group that presented the flag to William Driver. To consecrate the flag, it was folded into a triangle which represented the Christian Trinity. Narrations explained that his was an "ancient custom of the sea." A minister or priest is said to have blessed the flag in the names of the Trinity intoning each blessing while emphasizing corners of the folded flag. As the clergyman said the words "In the name of the Father," the onlookers responded by chanting the word "glory." The word glory was repeated as the names of the Son and the Holy Ghost were added to the blessing. Then Captain Driver hoisted his new ship's flag and informed the crew "I'll call her old glory, boys, old glory."

Having retired from the sea, Driver moved to Nashville, Tennessee. During the Civil War, he hid the flag from Confederates intent on confiscating and destroying it. When Federal troops captured Nashville, Driver met soldiers from the Ohio 6^th Infantry and raised Old Glory over the Tennessee State Capitol. The 6^th Ohio adopted the motto "Old Glory" as its own. Apparently, Driver gave the regiment a smaller U.S. flag. Did he fold the gift flag in a triangle that was copied by the soldiers for folding other U.S. flags? That is possible, though certainly not documented.

United States Military Regulations of the Nineteenth Century do not mention folding the flag. Even current regulations mention it mainly as a part of funeral ceremonies. How to fold the United States flag is more important to us today than it was in the past.

Narrations have been written giving symbolic interpretation for each fold that is made when folding the United States flag. These can add new meaning to the ceremony as the flag is folded. This will not be the last change to our flag customs. They continue to evolve to reflect the ideals that we find important. They give new meaning to our flag. The Flag of the United States of America is what we make it. It has the meaning we give it. The flag and its meaning will grow as does our nation.

U.S. Flag in the Twentieth Century

The Twentieth Century saw the number of U.S. States increase from forty-five to fifty. Five flags mirrored that growth. An increase from forty-five to forty-six in 1908 for Oklahoma; a jump from forty-six to forty-eight for New Mexico & Arizona in 1912; Alaska made forty-nine in 1959; and finally, in 1960, Hawaii brought the total to fifty. There it has remained for fifty years. Only the forty-eight star flag, with 47 years, approaches the longevity of the fifty star flag.

The common pattern of stars and stripes has existed since the American Revolution. But the admission of new states has hardly been smooth or predictable. For most of the flag's history, the pattern of stars has been anything but "regulation." Sometimes the Army and the Navy had different versions of the flag. During the Civil War, the white stars even turned gold on Army National Colors. Silver paint oxidized and turned the stars black. For that reason gold paint, which does not oxidize, was substituted. Cavalry standards of the era even cut a "v" from the stripes to form a swallow tale flag. American flags were anything but uniform.

The regularity we take for granted did not come into being until 1912. President William Howard Taft appointed a blue ribbon, or perhaps better described, a red, white and blue committee. Spanish American War hero, Admiral George Dewey, served as chairman. Very much like a military formation, the stars were arranged in six even rows of eight stars each. Looking at that pattern of stars, one can almost hear the military order, "Dress and Cover!" For those who have not enjoyed the privilege of standing a military formation. The stars in the forty-eight star flag lined up evenly horizontally and vertically, not in staggered rows as we have known before and since. Nevertheless, the real innovation of 1912 came with the establishment of ratios for all the elements of the United States flag: the ratio of length to width, the ratio of the dimension of the blue union to the whole. Even the stars were assigned a ration of 0.0616 of the hoist. Why 0.0616 and not 0.0615? I envisioned President Taft sitting up in the Lincoln bed with a yellow legal pad and a slide rule working it out. Actually, 0.0616 is the decimal version of the relation of the diameter of the stars to the width of the stripes. A stripe is ⅟13^th of the width of the flag or 0.0769 which rounds off to 0.077. The stars are ⅘^th or 0.8 of the width of the stripes. The decimal number 0.077 time 0.8 equals 0.0616. I don't know who figured that one out; probably not President Taft. Nevertheless, it was President Taft who made it all official. He made the forty-eight star flag official by Presidential Proclamation. That is the pattern that has been followed by succeeding presidents when new stars have been added to the flag.

Are the stars actually that exact ratio? Well, not exactly. The stars on U.S. flags used to be appliquéd on the blue field. Considering the number of stars front and back, that becomes a tedious and expensive process. Fifty stars on the front and fifty stars on the back for one hundred stars on each flag. Flag makers have learned tricks to make producing starry unions easier. Nonetheless only stars on large flags are appliquéd in place today. Most flag have printed or embroidered stars. The beautiful embroidered stars look elaborate. Many people assume they are costly to make. Yet they are actually embroidered by sophisticated machines that produce starry field rapidly. While the machines are expensive, once purchased they produce large numbers of star spangled unions that are much more cost effective that appliquéd ones would be. Still, they can only produce stars of a few standard sizes. Flag makers get as close to the 0.0616 as possible. Even President Taft and Admiral Dewey would agree that these flags are beautiful.

Figuring the dimensions of the United States flag using the proportions scaled using the ratios based on the hoist or with is nonetheless awkward. Basing the ratio on the width of the stripe actually makes the task of constructing the flag easier. It is logical that if the width of the stripe is defined as one, the width of the flag is thence thirteen. Converting the rest of the ratios established in 1912, we find that the length of the flag is 24.7 which rounds to 25 units equal to the width of the stripe. The diameter of the star is no longer the complex 0.0616 ordained in 1912; it is now simply four fifths or eight tenths of the width of the stripes. See the diagram shown below to find the ration of the flag's elements in ratio to the width of the stripes. Flags of different sizes can be easily drawn, painted or sewn.

How do we make a five pointed star? Heavens to Betsy. The story of Samuel Wetherill, his safe and Betsy Ross' star is one that is seldom told. Well, that's another story for another time.