Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 5: "My Staunch Companion and Protection"

Sea captain William Driver said, "It has ever been my staunch companion and protection. Savages and heathen, lowly and oppressed, hailed and welcomed it at the far end of the wide world. Then, why should it not be called Old Glory?"

He made his fortune in the tortoise-shell trade. His family tells of his seizing his ship's wheel in storms and even facing down a New Zealand tribal chief with pistol in hand and a dirk in his mouth.

He took a bit of his beloved America everywhere he went.

Driver gave up seafaring in 1837 after his wife died, leaving him with three small children. They all moved to Nashville where his three brothers had opened a store, and, at age 34, remarried a girl half his age and started another family.

"Old Glory" flew on every holiday, rain or shine. It was so large he'd attach it to a rope from his attic window and stretch it across the street on a pulley to a locust tree.

In 1860, he and his family repaired the flag, sewing on an additional ten stars and an anchor to signify his career.

But Secession Was Nearing and That's When the Famous History of the Flag Began. --Old Secesh