Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 12

That same year, the Peabody Essex also sent its "Old Glory" to the Smithsonian who regards Roland's flag as the real one for these reasons. It was directly descended from William Driver and there is documentary evidence in the Tennessee State Library and Archives suggests the one hidden in the quilt and presented to Union troops is Roland's.

Plus, it is common sense that Driver would have hoisted his largest flag over the dome.

So, Is "Old Glory" the One That Is Displayed? --Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 11; Who Has the Real Flag?

Continued from October 22nd. After William Driver's death, this is when the family feud began. His niece, Harriet Ruth Waters Cooke, a Salem-born socialite claimed to have inherited it. She presented her flag to the Essex Institute of Salem, now the Peabody Essex Museum.

One has to wonder why Driver would have given "Old Glory" to a niece in faraway Massachusetts, unless he was worried about his pro-Confederate family in Nashville.

However, the Nashville-born daughter of Driver, Mary Jane Roland, came up with the history of the flag her father had given her and published it in 1918. In 1922, she presented her "Old Glory" to President Warren G. Harding, who, in turn, delivered it to the Smithsonian.

So, Whose "Old Glory" is Real? --Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 10: "I Have Always Cherished It"

William Driver spent the rest of the war as provost martial in Nashville and worked in hospitals.

According to his daughter Mary Jane Roland, several years before his death, he gave her "Old Glory" on July 10, 1873, saying, "This is my old ship flag Old Glory. I love it as a mother loves her child; take it and cherish it as I have always cherished it; for it has been my steadfast friend and protector in all parts of the world--savage, heathen and civilized."

William Driver died on March 3, 1886, and is buried in Nashville.

The Man Sure Loved His Flag. --Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 9

The confusion over which flag is the "Real Old Glory" began that night. A storm developed and threatened to tear "Old Glory" to pieces and William Driver apparently replaced it with a newer, stronger one and once-again took "Old Glory" home with him. There were also reports that Diver gave the flag to the Sixth Ohio when it left Nashville.

According to expert Rowand, the real one remained in the Driver home until December 1864 at the second battle of Nashville when Confederate General John Bell Hood destroyed his army trying to recapture the city.

During the battle, Driver hung his flag out of his third-story window "in plain sight" of the southerners. He then went to defend the city,saying "If Old Glory is not in sight, I'll blow the house out of sight too."

--Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 8: Up High and Flying Proud

The bed quilt was carefully opened and the large American flag pulled out. William Driver handed it to Gen. Nelson saying, "This is the flag I hope to see hoisted on the flagstaff in place of the [damned] Confederate flag set there by that [damned] rebel governor, Isham G. Harris. I have had hard work to save it; my house has been searched for it more than once."

General Nelson accepted the flag and ordered it run up on the statehouse flagstaff, whereupon it was greeted with "frantic cheering and uproarious demonstrations by soldiers."

The Sixth Ohio especially enjoyed it and later would adopt the name "Old Glory" as its motto.

--Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 7: "Over My Dead Body"

Locals made another attempt to take the flag. When an armed squad arrived on his front porch, William Driver confronted them, "If you want my flag you'll have to take it over my dead body." They retreated.

Driver was now convinced that the flag was in imminent danger and with the help of Unionist women in the neighborhood, had it sewn into a coverlet where it remained until late February 1862 when Nashville was taken, the first Confederate capital to be captured.

Union troops led by the 6th Ohio entered the city. When Driver saw the Stars and Stripes and regimental flags go up on the flagstaff of the Capitol building, he made his way to General William "Bull" Nelson and introduced himself as a former sea captain and loyal Unionist and then produced his coverlet.

And the General's Sitting There Wondering, "What?" --Old Secesh

Finding the Real "Old Glory"-- Part 6: "Produce Your Warrant!"

As secession came nearer for Tennessee, not surprisingly William Driver's flag became a source of contention between him and his neighbors. Even his own family was bitterly divided. Two of his sons were fervent Confederates and enlisted in local regiments; one of them would die of his wounds at the Battle of Perryville.

In March 1862, a sad Driver wrote, "Two sons in the army of the South! My entire house estranged...and when I come home...no one to soothe me."

Confederate authorities tried to get Driver's "Old Glory soon after the state seceded. A committee came to house to demand the flag and Driver met them at the door saying, "Gentlemen...if you are looking for stolen property in my house, produce your search warrant." The committee left.

Yes, just try to fly your Confederate flag ANYWHERE these days and see where it gets you.

Don't Mess With My Flag. --Old Secesh

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

Finding the Real Old Glory-- Part 4

I knew that "Old Glory" refers to the U.S. flag in general, but I always thought if it referred to a specific flag that would be the Fort McHenry flag.

I did not know anything about this particular flag (and the Smithsonian Magazine has a picture of it where it appears quite worn).

Well, Now I know. Thanks Smithsonian. --Old Secesh

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

Finding the Real Old Glory-- Part 1: The Nashville, Tn. One

From the October 2013 Smithsonian Magazine "Glory, Glory" by Sally Jenkins.

"A tale of fidelity, family feud and argument over ownership is the subject of a new inquiry by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Old Glory, the weather-beaten 17-by 10-foot banner that has long been a primary NMAH artifact, is second only to Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner as a patriotic symbol, and is the source of the term now applied generically to all American flags.

"During the Civil War, no flag became a more popular symbol of Union loyalty than the worn and imperiled standard belonging to 19th-century sea captain William Driver, who was originally from Salem, Massachusetts. His defiant flying of it--from his Nashville, Tennessee household during the midst of the conflict--made national news."

And-I'd Never Heard of This Particular Flag Or Its Story Before. --Old Secesh

Old Glory and the New Lincoln in the Smithsonian

From the October 2013 Smithsonian Magazine.

Two very interesting articles in this month's Smithsonian Magazine. The first is titled "The New Lincoln" by Frandz Lidz, about the very likely identification of Abraham Lincoln in the famous photograph of the Gettysburg Address. The other is on a famous flag named "Old Glory" by Sally Jenkins. I'll go into some more detail in the next two posts, but best if you get ahold of a copy of the artciles which will also have pictures.

I knew about the Lincoln photograph (but not the new image), but didn't know there was an actual flag named "Old Glory." I just thought it referred to the U.S. flag in general.

Always Interested In Anything Civil War. --Old Secesh