Finding the Real Old Glory-- Part 3: "My Ship, My Country, My Flag. 'Old Glory'"

The flag was originally made to fly from a ship's mast and was homemade with 24 stars in 1824, sewn by William Driver's mother and other Salem females to celebrate his appointment, at age 21, as a master mariner and commander of his own ship, the Charles Doggett.

Legend has it that when he raised the flag, he lifted his hat and said, "My ship, my country, and my flag. Old Glory."

However, historians have found no definite proof that he actually said it. Most likely, he named the flag when writing about his twenty-year seagoing career which took him all over the world. At one point he even ferried survivors of the HMS Bounty from Tahiti to Pitccairn Island.

--Old Secesh