Fourth of July History and Traditions

State Street Merchants Dress as George Washington, Chicago, IL 1962

2010-08-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

State Street merchants dressed as George Washington to encourage shoppers on George Washington's birthday, February 20, 1962

Both the original negative and reproductions are available here: Merchants in George Washington costumes.

Patriotic Post-WWII Postcard, Remember Our Veterans

2010-08-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Now that our boys have won this war,
Brought peace back to our land,
Let's not forget the price they paid,
Behind each soldier stand.

Let's see the Veterans get their chance,
Unhampered to pursue,
The fruits of hard-earned victory,
They've won as their just due.

Postcard available at time of writing from Patriotic Postcard.

Fourth of July Desserts Suitable for Diabetics

2010-08-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

by Linda Wilson

July 4 is not only the birthday of our great country, it is also a day synonymous with the 5Fs; family, friends, fun, fireworks and food. And we diabetics don't want to be cheated on the food part of the celebration! Following, I have pulled together some great recipes that are suitable for diabetics and I believe, excellent dessert ideas for your Fourth of July celebrations.

AMERICANA PARFAITS

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 small package strawberry-flavored sugar-free gelatin

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

ice cubes

3/4 cup frozen sugar-free whipped topping, thawed

Wash fruit and pat dry on a paper towel; set aside. Reserve 3 strawberries with leaves still attached. Reserve 6 blueberries and set aside with the 3 strawberries. Get six parfait glasses and divide the remaining fruit evenly between them. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir boiling water into gelatin. Stir at least two minutes to dissolve gelatin completely. Put cold water in a two-cup measuring cup and add ice cubes to make 1 1/4 cups. Add to the gelatin and stir until slightly thickened. Remove any remaining bits of the ice cubes. Pour out 3/4 cup of the gelatin and set aside. Pour the remaining gelatin evenly over the fruit in the six parfait glasses. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set but not firm. Using a wire whisk, stir whipped topping into the remaining gelatin until smooth. Spoon over gelatin in parfait glasses. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Before serving, top half the glasses with the reserved strawberries and half with the reserved blueberries.

OREO COOKIE DESSERT

2 small pkgs sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups low-fat milk

8-oz light cream cheese, softened

8-oz carton frozen sugar-free whipped topping, thawed

16 Oreo sugar-free cookies, broken into pieces

Mix together pudding mix and milk on low speed of electric mixer; add cream cheese and mix until well blended. Add whipped topping and mix well with a large spoon (do not use mixer). Add cookie pieces and mix in. Chill for several hours or overnight before serving.

SUNSHINE CUPS

3/4 cup boiling water

1 small pkg sugar-free orange gelatin

1/2 cup cold orange juice

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup fresh raspberries

1 small can mandarin oranges, rinsed and drained

Put dry gelatin into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in boiling water and still at least two minutes until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in juice and cold water. Refrigerate approximately 1 1/2 hours until thickened to the point that a spoon drawn through the mixture leaves a definite impression.

Take 3/4 cup of the thickened mixture out and set aside. Stir raspberries and orange segments into the remaining gelatin mixture. Pour into 6 serving dishes or into 1 larger bowl. Beat the reserved gelatin on high speed of electric mixer until fluffy and approximately doubled in volume. Spoon over gelatin. Refrigerate at least 3 hours until firm.

If you don't mind heating up the oven—I suggest doing this early in the day—try these apple dumplings. We all know Apple Pie is considered very American but why not show your family and friends how creative you are by changing things up a little and going with Apple Dumplings instead?

APPLE DUMPLINGS

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup low-fat milk

5 cups chopped apples

1 cup Equal Sugar-Lite

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut flour into shortening as if making a pie crust. Add milk. Make into a dough and roll out into a rectangle. Add Equal and cinnamon to apples and mix together. Spread apple mixture over dough. Roll up jelly-roll style and cut into slices. Place into a baking pan and pour sauce over all. Bake 1 hour.

To make sauce: Bring to boiling:

2/3 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup Splenda and 1 1/2 cups boiling water

NOTE: The sauce in this recipe uses 1/2 cup sugar. You can substitute 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or go with the sugar if you don't like the applesauce results. But be aware of this when fitting this recipe into your diet!

CHERRY DELIGHT

1 sugar-free angel food cake

1 pkg (8 oz) light cream cheese, softened

1 small pkg sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp Splenda

1 can lite cherry pie filling or no-sugar-added cherry pie filling

1 small carton sugar-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/3 cup chopped pecans, if desired for garnish

Tear cake into bite size pieces and lay on bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. Mix pudding according to package directions and refrigerate until set. Mix cream cheese, vanilla and Splenda into the pudding. Pour mixture over top of cake pieces. Spread pie filling over pudding mixture. Top with whipped topping. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top. Refrigerate 1 hour before cutting to serve.

So whether you are diabetic or will be entertaining diabetics, try one of these easy, delicious recipes and enjoy dessert without feeling guilty or sabatoging your diet. Happy Holiday!

About the Author:

A grandmother with diabetes along with other autoimmune diseases. Linda likes to share what she's learned with others thru writing. She also writes novels. For more of her recipes and writings go to www.diabeticenjoyingfood.squarespace.com

Source www.articlesbase.com

Creative Commons License: Attribution

Debate over "Indian" in Fourth of July Parade

2010-07-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

When a couple new to Needham attended the town’s annual Fourth of July parade for the first time this year, they were shocked to see Fred Muzi, retired owner of Muzi Ford, dressed in a feather headdress with his skin painted red, riding bareback on a horse.

“We enjoyed the parade a lot, but when our 4-year-old daughter turned to us and asked why that man had paint all over him, we felt really uncomfortable,” said Emily Rothman, who moved to Needham five months ago with her husband, Greg Banks...

Read the rest of the article here.

What do you think, readers? Is this tradition outdated, offensive, or all right?

The Country Needs Your Help to Harvest the Cotton

2010-07-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ronald P. for sending this one in!

Fourth of July Salute, 1895

2010-07-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

Call Number: LC-D4-21237
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-D4-21237 DLC
Image courtesy the Library of Congress

Fourth of July Song

2010-07-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July song. Air: Star spangled banner.

LYRICS

Air: Star-Spangled Banner.

We hail, once again, the glad day that gave
A home to the exile, to Freedom a Nation:
That shattered the fetters that soon would enslave
The Land that now claims all our pure adoration:
And showed to the world, when our Flag was unfurled,
That Tyranny's force from our shores woul be hurled:
And, while o'er our heads our bright Banner shall fly,
We'll hail Freedom's birth on the Fourth of July!

'Twas on this bright day that our Forefathers swore,
By life and by fortune and honor, that never
Would Tyranny's Minions pollute our fair shore,
And that they would win Independence for ever!
And shall it be said that the oath of the dead
Shall be broken by us, while our life-blood is red?..
No! For, while above us our bright Banner shall fly,
We'll hail Freedom's birth on the Fourth of July!

And, tho' foul ambition may urge on a few
To madly dissever our Forefathers' Union,
The Mass of her children will ever be true,
And keep her united in Freedom's Communion.
And Cursed be the Land of the Dastard who'd stand
In Treason's array to destroy our fair Land!
And, while o'er our heads our bright Banner shall fly,
We'll hail, with devotion, the Fourth of July!

H. DE MARSAN, Publisher,
54 Chatham Street, New-York.

COLLECTION
American Songs and Ballads

REPOSITORY
Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress

July 4th's Forgotten Partisan History

2010-07-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Every year Americans celebrate our patriotic unity, but historian Sean Wilentz writes that from the start this day was used by opponents to score political points—and that we shouldn’t forget our history is as much about conflict as comity.

Even at a time of bitter political partisanship and ideological division, celebrating the Fourth of July remains a surpassing national ritual of patriotic unity. The hot dogs and picnics and fireworks are the show; beneath them stirs a common veneration for the Declaration of Independence and especially its opening passages about the self-evident truths of equality and humankind’s inalienable rights. Americans spend the rest of the year either taking those words for granted or fighting intensely—and, these days, bitterly—over what the words mean in our own political time. But for one blessed solitary day, we give the arguments a rest in order to express gratitude, delight, and even wonder at what Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues wrought in 1776. And many people lament a fancied bygone time when this basic unity pervaded American political life all year long, despite our many differences...

Read the rest of the article at The Daily Beast.

Happy Birthday, America! United We Stand

2010-07-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Heart and Soul

Click here for pricing and availability

Pride -- Young Boys with Hands Over Their Hearts Before a Game

2010-06-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Pride: American Flag

Inspirational Posters and More

Battle Cry of Freedom -- Rally Round the Flag

2010-06-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

Battle Cry of Freedom is a song written in 1862 by American composer George F. Root (1825–1895) during the American Civil War. A patriotic song advocating the cause of the Union, it became so popular that composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted it for the Confederate States of America. The Union version was used as the campaign song for the Lincoln-Johnson ticket in the 1864 presidential election. The song was so popular that the music publisher at one time had 14 printing presses going at one time and still could not keep up with demand. It is estimated that over 700,000 copies of this song were put in circulation. Charles Ives quoted the song in his own patriotic song, "They Are There."

There are two versions, a Union and a Confederate version. This is notable, because their citizens were enemies but sung the same patriotic song.

Lyrics (Union version)

Yes we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

(Chorus)
The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although he may be poor, not a man shall be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

Lyrics (Confederate version)

Our flag is proudly floating on the land and on the main,
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Beneath it oft we've conquered, and we'll conquer oft again!
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!

(Chorus)
Our Dixie forever! She's never at a loss!
Down with the eagle and up with the cross!
We'll rally 'round the bonny flag, we'll rally once again,
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!

Our gallant boys have marched to the rolling of the drums.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
And the leaders in charge cry out, "Come, boys, come!"
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

They have laid down their lives on the bloody battle field.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Their motto is resistance -- "To tyrants we'll not yield!"
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

While our boys have responded and to the fields have gone.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!
Our noble women also have aided them at home.
Shout, shout the battle cry of Freedom!--

Chorus

Chorus (1864 election campaign)

For Lincoln and Johnson, hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the rebellion and on with the war,
While we rally round the cause, boys, we'll rally in our might,
Singing the holy cause of freemen.

Modern Recordings

Ry Cooder performed this song as Rally 'Round the Flag on his Boomer's Story album.

Keith and Rusty McNeil perform both the Battle Cry of Freedom and Southern Battle Cry of Freedom on "Civil War Songs with Historical Narration". They also published a Civil War Songbook.

Billy Bragg wrote a song based upon the 'Battle Cry of Freedom' with a socialist slant called There is power in a Union on the Talking with the Taxman About Poetry album. For example the chorus goes:

The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union

The Fourth of July in a Southern Town, Harper's Weekly, 1888.

2010-05-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

Title: The Fourth of July in a southern town / W.L.S. ; from a sketch by Horace Bradley.
Date Created/Published: [1888]
Summary: African Americas celebrating, eating and drinking, buying and selling notions on Independence Day.

Image courtesy the Library of Congress, reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-96516

Fifty Nifty United States by Ray Charles

2010-04-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

We all sang it in grade school:

Fifty Nifty United States from thirteen original colonies;
Fifty Nifty stars in the flag that billows so beautifully in the breeze.
Each individual state contributes a quality that is great.
Each individual state deserves a bow, We salute them now...

But did you know that it was composed by Ray Charles?

Don't believe me? Well, here you go:

Fifty Nifty United States - 2-Part Choral Sheet Music

Fourth of July Celebration, Victor, Colorado circa 1895

2010-03-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July celebration, Victor

CREATED/PUBLISHED between 1895 and 1899.

SUMMARY Close-up view of Chief of Midland Band, Fourth of July celebration, 1895, Victor, Colorado; shows man in costume with feathered headdress holding large pointed staff, a young boy in street-clothes with suspenders and another man in costume with feathered headdress standing on each side. Background view is of commercial wooden frame false front buildings with boardwalk; a patriotic bunting hangs from cornice.

1890s Central City, Colorado Fouth of July

2010-02-07T23:23:00.000-08:00

CREATED/PUBLISHED between 1893 and 1897.

SUMMARY: People parade on Main Street in Central City, Colorado, wearing suits and hats, uniforms, and carrying United States flags. Spectators line the sidewalk; businesses are decorated with bunting.

Image courtesy the Library of Congress

Indian Bone Game on the Fourth of July

2010-01-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, America!

I've not been able to find much about the "Bone Game" -- can anyone enlighten me?

Call Number: NV9-CF27-17, Call Number

NV9-CF27-16
Image courtesy US Library of Congress

Participants in Flag Dresses for 4th July Independence Day Parade, Washington DC, USA

2009-12-12T20:37:00.001-08:00

Participants in Flag Dresses for 4th July Independence Day Parade, Washington DC, USA

Buy at AllPosters.com

George Washington, Independence Day, c.1919

2009-12-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

George Washington, Independence Day, c.1919

by Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Buy at AllPosters.com

Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American) Toby Keith

2009-12-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American) is a song written and performed by American country music singer Toby Keith. The song was written shortly after Keith's father's death in March 2001, and inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States later that year. The song topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and reached #25 on the Hot 100 chart becoming his biggest solo hit on that chart.

Background

On March 24, 2001, Keith’s father, Hubert Keith (H.K.) Covel, was killed in a car accident. That event and the September 11, 2001 attacks prompted Keith to write the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)", a song about his father’s patriotism and faith in the USA. It only took him 20 minutes to write the song. At first, Keith refused to record the song and only sang it live at his concerts for military personnel.

The reaction was so strong that the Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song. "It's your job as an entertainer to lift the morale of the troops," Jones said to Keith. "If you want to serve, that is what you can do." As the lead single from the album Unleashed (2002), "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" peaked at number 1 on the country charts over the weekend of July 4. It also ranked at #22 on Blender magazine's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever".

In a November 2003 interview with CBS, Keith gave his take on the song: “It wasn’t written for everybody. And when you write something from your heart - I had a dad that was a veteran, taught me how precious our freedom is - I was so angry when we were attacked here on American soil that it leaked out of me. You know, some people wept when they heard it. Some people got goose bumps. Some people were emotionally moved. Some cheered, turned their fists in the air.”

Controversy

ABC invited Keith to sing "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" on a patriotic special it was producing; however, the host of the show, Canadian-born newsman Peter Jennings, requested Keith soften the lyrics of the song or choose another song to sing. Keith refused both requests and did not appear on the special. The rift gave the song a considerable amount of publicity, which led to many national interviews and public performances of the song. During an interview with 60 Minutes, Keith spoke about his public comments about Jennings, saying "I thought it was hilarious. My statement was, 'Isn't he Canadian?' to a bunch of press. They laughed and then I said, 'Well, I bet Dan Rather wouldn't kick me off his show,'" says Keith."

Keith had a public feud with the Dixie Chicks over both the song and comments they made about President George W. Bush. The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, publicly stated that the song was "ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant." Keith responded by belittling Maines' songwriting skills, and by displaying a backdrop at his concerts showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On May 21, 2003, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters FUTK on the front at the Academy of Country Music Awards. While a spokesperson for the Dixie Chicks said that the acronym stood for "Friends United in Truth and Kindness", many, including host Vince Gill, took it to be an obscene shot at Keith and understood the acronym to mean "F—— You, Toby Keith." In the 2006 film Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Maines admitted that the FUTK shirt was, in fact, a shot at Keith. In August 2003, Keith publicly declared he was done feuding with Maines "because he's realized there are far more important things to concentrate on."

Music Video

The music video was directed by Michael Salomon and premiered in the summer of 2002.

Inaugerating the Glorious Fourth, Harper's Weekly, 1878

2009-11-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

Title: Inaugurating the glorious Fourth. / drawn by C.S. Reinhart from a sketch by H.N. Cady.
Date Created/Published: 1878 July
Summary: Boys loading and firing pistols, blowing horns, and setting off firecrackers on the Fourth of July.
Image courtesy the Library of Congress

Boys, The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground -- Story of a Patriotic Song

2009-11-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

"Boys The Old Flag Never Touched The Ground" was a patriotic song sung at events by Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. William H. Carney. It celebrates his actions during the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War. After Carney's death in 1908, Henry Mather and George E. Lothrop put his song to music and published it. The chorus celebrates Carney's actions:

'Twas the Blue against the Gray, Boys,
And he said to all around,
"I've only done my duty boys,
The old Flag never touch'd the ground.
"I've only done my duty boys,"
He said to all around,
"I've only done my duty boys,
It never touched the ground.

The account of Sgt.Carney's action as it appears on his Medal of Honor citation May 23, 1900:

When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.

The account of Sgt. Carney's action as it appeared in 'The United States Service Magazine, 1864:

As our forces retire, Sergeant Carney, who has kept the colors of his regiment flying upon the parapet of Wagner during the entire conflict, is seen creeping along on one knee, still holding up the flag, and only yielding its sacred trust upon finding an officer of his regiment. As he enter the field-hospital, where his wounded comrades are being brought in, they cheer him and the colors. Though nearly exhausted with the loss of blood, he says, "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground."

Samuel Adams -- The Man and the Beer

2009-10-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

Samuel Adams is an American brand of beer. It is produced by the Boston Beer Company brewing company, founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, Harry M. Rubin, and Lorenzo Lamadrid in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The brand name of Samuel Adams (often abbreviated to Sam Adams, even in advertisements), was chosen in honor of Samuel Adams, an American patriot famous for his role in the American Revolution and Boston Tea Party. According to tradition, he was also a brewer. It is now the largest American-owned brewery, after Anheuser-Busch was sold to InBev in 2008

Samuel Adams (September 27 1722 – October 2, 1803) the person was a statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.

Born in Boston, Adams was brought up in a religious and politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics. As an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, Adams was a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 circular letter calling for colonial cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. To help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, in 1772 Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Continued resistance to British policy resulted in the 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution.

After Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which was convened to coordinate a colonial response. He helped guide Congress towards issuing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution. Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was eventually elected governor.

Samuel Adams is a controversial figure in American history. Accounts written in the 19th century praised him as someone who had been steering his fellow colonists towards independence long before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. This view gave way to negative assessments of Adams in the first half of the 20th century, in which he was portrayed as a master of propaganda who provoked mob violence to achieve his goals. Both of these interpretations have been challenged by some modern scholars, who argue that these traditional depictions of Adams are myths contradicted by the historical record.

Women Awake! Your Country Needs You — Patriotic Recruitment Poster, 1916

2009-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Women awake! Your country needs you--Learn to be of national service - join the Navy League--Help the Navy - local headquarters

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

The Bonnie Blue Flag / We are a Band of Brothers -- The Story Behind a Patriotic Song

2009-09-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Bonnie Blue Flag", also known as "We Are a Band of Brothers", is an 1861 marching song associated with the Confederate States of America. The words were written by Irish born entertainer Harry McCarthy, with the melody taken from the song "The Irish Jaunting Car". The song's title refers to the unofficial first Flag of the Confederacy, the "Bonnie Blue Flag that bears the single star" of the chorus.

"The Bonnie Blue Flag" holds special significance to the Texas brigade. The song was premiered by lyricist Harry McCarthy during a concert in Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1861 and performed again in September of that same year at the New Orleans Academy of Music for the First Texas Volunteer Infantry regiment mustering in celebration.

The New Orleans music publishing house of A.E. Blackmar issued six editions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" between 1861 and 1864 along with three additional arrangements. The "Band of Brothers" mentioned in the first line of the song is a reference to the St. Crispin's day speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V.

Lyrics revision
The Bonnie Blue Flag, referred to in the song.

The first verse of the song goes:

We are a band of brothers and native to the soil,
Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far,
Hurrah! for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

The second line is sometimes given as "fighting for our liberty with treasure, blood, and toil". A copy of the 1861 song sheet posted on a website by University of San Diego professor Steve Schoenherr illustrates the "property" version.

According to Schoenherr, the song sheet was first published in 1861 by A. E. Blackmar and Brother in New Orleans. When Major General Benjamin Butler captured New Orleans, he allegedly arrested Blackmar, fined Blackmar $500, destroyed all copies of the music, and ordered that anyone caught whistling or singing "The Bonnie Blue Flag" would be fined $25 (about $482 in 2005). Eleven other editions of the song were published with different lyrics.

Complete lyrics of the common version

We are a band of brothers and native to the soil
Fighting for our Liberty, With treasure, blood and toil
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!

Chorus:
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Southern rights, hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

As long as the Union was faithful to her trust
Like friends and like brethren, kind were we, and just
But now, when Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

First gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand
Then came Alabama and took her by the hand
Next, quickly Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

Ye men of valor gather round the banner of the right
Texas and fair Louisiana join us in the fight
Davis, our loved President, and Stephens statesmen rare
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

Now here's to brave Virginia, the old Dominion State,
With the young Confederacy at last has sealed her fate,
And spurred by her example, now other states prepare
To hoist high the bonnie blue flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

Then cheer, boys, cheer, raise a joyous shout
For Arkansas and North Carolina now have both gone out,
And let another rousing cheer for Tennessee be given,
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag has grown to be eleven.

Chorus

Then here's to our Confederacy, strong we are and brave,
Like patriots of old we'll fight, our heritage to save;
And rather than submit to shame, to die we would prefer,
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.

Chorus

Lyrics Historically Inaccurate

The third verse of the song misstates the order in which the states seceded from the Union. The dates on which the states seceded are as follows:

South Carolina (December 20, 1860), Mississippi (January 9, 1861), Florida (January 10, 1861), Alabama (January 11, 1861), Georgia (January 19, 1861), Louisiana (January 26, 1861), Texas (February 1, 1861), Virginia (April 17, 1861), Arkansas (May 6, 1861), North Carolina (May 20, 1861), and Tennessee (June 8, 1861).

Thus, Alabama did not take South Carolina by the hand, but delayed its secession until the departure of Mississippi and Florida. The most likely reason for the discrepancy is literary license and a desire to fit within a certain poetic meter.

1776 The Musical

2009-09-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. It is based on the events leading to the writing and signing of the United States Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1776.

The musical was produced on Broadway in 1969, running for 1,217 performances, and was made into a film of the same name in 1972. The show was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including Best Musical.

Missed seeing it or not born during its original run? You can purchase a CD of the original Broadway Cast recording:

Fourth of July Customs -- How Americans Celebrate

2009-08-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Independence Day is a national holiday marked by patriotic displays. Similar to other summer-themed events, Independence Day celebrations often take place outdoors. Independence Day is a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions (like the postal service and federal courts) are closed on that day. Many politicians make it a point on this day to appear at a public event to praise the nation's heritage, laws, history, society, and people.

Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue and take advantage of the day off and, in some years, long weekend to gather with relatives. Decorations (e.g., streamers, balloons, and clothing) are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Parades often are in the morning, while fireworks displays occur in the evening at such places as parks, fairgrounds, or town squares.

Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner", "God Bless America", "America the Beautiful", "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", "This Land Is Your Land", "Stars and Stripes Forever", and, regionally, "Yankee Doodle" in northeastern states and "Dixie" in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.

Firework shows are held in many states, and many fireworks are sold for personal use or as an alternative to a public show. Safety concerns have led some states to ban fireworks or limit the sizes and types allowed. Illicit traffic transfers many fireworks from less restrictive states.

A salute of one gun for each state in the United States, called a “salute to the union,” is fired on Independence Day at noon by any capable military base.

In 2009, New York City had the largest fireworks display in the country, with over 22 tons of pyrotechnics exploded. Other major displays are in Chicago on Lake Michigan; in San Diego over Mission Bay; in Boston on the Charles River; in St. Louis on the Mississippi River; in San Francisco over the San Francisco Bay; and on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..

During the annual Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, Detroit, Michigan hosts one of the world's largest fireworks displays, over the Detroit River, to celebrate Independence Day in conjunction with Windsor, Ontario's celebration of Canada Day.

While the official observance always falls on July 4th, participation levels may vary according to which day of the week the 4th falls on. If the holiday falls in the middle of the week, some fireworks displays and celebrations may take place during the weekend for convenience, again, varying by region.

The first week of July is typically one of the busiest American travel periods of the year, as many people utilize the holiday for extended vacation trips.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Blood on the Risers — An American Paratroopers Song

2009-08-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

"Blood upon the Risers" is an American paratrooper song from World War II. It is sung by the United States 82nd Airborne Division, the United States 101st Airborne Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division. This song has been featured on the television miniseries Band of Brothers and the video game Brothers in Arms. Sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", the song tells of the final jump of a paratrooper whose parachute does not work. This results in him falling to his death.

Members of the United States military who attend the United States Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia are sometimes required to memorize the lyrics as part of their training.

Lyrics

Chorus Confusion

It is disputed as to whether the chorus says "Gory, Gory," "Gory, Glory," or "Glory, Glory," like the original "Battle Hymn of The Republic." Since the song is often sung at a shout, it is hard to distinguish whether there is in fact an "l" sound when it is sung. Most likely, however, it should be "Gory" due to the relation the word has with the rest of the song (being about a paratrooper in training with two faulty chutes).

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with pride
He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tied;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

(CHORUS)
Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

"Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,
Our Hero feebly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up;
He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,
The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;
The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;
He thought about the medic corps and wondered what they'd find,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

He hit the ground, the sound was "Splat," his blood went spurting high,
His comrades they were heard to say: "A hell of a way to die!"
He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore,
And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(CHORUS)

(slowly, solemnly)
There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper suit,
He was a mess; they picked him up, and poured him from his boots,
And he ain't gonna jump no more

Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more!

Bagpipe Book

2009-07-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

You've all heard the skirl of the pipes at Fourth of July celebrations, and watched the pipers and drummers march by. What's more American than a Scottish pipe band?

Joanne, your blog host at Fourth of July History, has just released a new book of folklore and mythology that is all about bagpipes and pipers. Now you can read centuries old stories about the piping tradition.

You can learn more about the book by visiting Bagpipe Folklore, Legends, and Fairy Tales. There you will find vintage photos, engravings, and other images of bagpipes and pipers from around the world, as well as stories, legends, and true-life tales related to piping.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Fourth of July in the Country, 1867 Engraving

2009-06-22T02:40:00.000-07:00

Title: The Fourth of July in the country / drawn by Charles G. Bush.
Date Created/Published: 1867.

Summary: Man dancing and man playing fiddle, surrounded by group while bearded man speaks from platform in background.

Courtesy the Library of Congress

The Battle Hymn of the Republic -- The Story Behind a Patriotic Tune

2009-06-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is an American abolitionist hymn. The lyrics were written by Julia Ward Howe in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It became popular during the American Civil War. Since that time it has become an extremely popular and well-known American patriotic song.

History

The tune was written around 1855 by William Steffe. The first known lyrics were called "Canaan's Happy Shore" or "Brothers, Will You Meet Me?" and the song was sung as a campfire spiritual. The tune spread across the United States, gaining a reputation as the best song of its time.

Thomas Bishop, from Vermont, joined the Massachusetts Infantry before the outbreak of war and compiled a popular set of lyrics, circa 1860, titled "John Brown's Body", which became one of his unit's walking songs. According to writer Irwin Silber, author of Soldier Songs And Home-Front Ballads Of The Civil War, the original lyrics were only obliquely about John Brown, the famed abolitionist. More particularly the lyrics were about a Scotsman of the same name who was a member of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment, and the lyrics were composed to poke some good-natured fun at the runty, mild-mannered Scotsman who shared the same name as the much more famous and fearsome abolitionist.

Bishop's battalion was dispatched to Washington, D.C. early in the Civil War, and Julia Ward Howe heard this song during a public review of the troops outside Washington on Upton's Hill, Virginia. Rufus R. Dawes, then in command of Company "K" of the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, stated in his memoirs that the man who started the singing was Sergeant John Ticknor of his company. By this time the association with the diminutive Scotsman John Brown was forgotten or unknown to most listeners, who heard only a rough and somewhat oddly-phrased marching song about John Brown the abolitionist. Howe's companion at the review, the Reverend James Clarke, suggested to Howe that she write new words for the fighting men's song. Staying at the Willard Hotel in Washington on the night of November 18, 1861, Howe awoke with the words of the song in her mind and in near darkness wrote the verses to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Of the writing of the lyrics, Howe remembers, "I went to bed that night as usual, and slept, according to my wont, quite soundly. I awoke in the gray of the morning twilight; and as I lay waiting for the dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to twine themselves in my mind. Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, 'I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.' So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed, and found in the dimness an old stump of a pen which I remembered to have used the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper."

Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly of February 1862. The sixth verse written by Howe, which is less commonly sung, was not published at that time. The song was also published as a broadside in 1863 by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments in Philadelphia.

"Canaan's Happy Shore" has a verse and chorus of equal metrical length and both verse and chorus share an identical melody and rhythm. "John Brown's Body" has more syllables in its verse and uses a more rhythmically active variation of the "Canaan" melody to accommodate the additional words in the verse. In Howe's lyrics, the words of the verse are packed into a yet longer line, with even more syllables than John Brown's Body. The verse still uses the same underlying melody as the refrain, but the addition of many dotted rhythms to the underlying melody allows for the more complex verse to fit the same melody as the comparatively short refrain.

Both "John Brown" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" were published in Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Music: A Collection Of The Most Favorite Tunes in 1874 and reprinted in 1889. Both songs had the same Chorus with an additional "Glory" in the second line: "Glory! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!"

Julia Ward Howe was the wife of Samuel Gridley Howe, the famed scholar in education of the blind. Samuel and Julia were also active leaders in anti-slavery politics and strong supporters of the Union.

Score

One version of the melody, in C major, begins as below. This is an example of the mediant-octave modal frame.

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" melody beginning

Lyrics

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,
Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.

Biblical references

The song alludes to several Biblical passages. The first verse draws on the Book of Revelation, which describes an angel casting grapes into "the great winepress of the wrath of God" (14:19), and later describes the Word of God who wields "a sharp sword" and "treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (19:15). The third verse refers to YHWH Elohim's (God's) statement in Genesis 3:15 that the woman's (Eve's) offspring will step on and bruise (or crush) the head of the serpent (and/or its seed), while the serpent will strike at his heel. Indirectly, this also refers to Revelation (Apocalypse in Catholic/Orthodox bibles) 12:1-10, where a woman (often interpreted as being The Blessed Virgin Mary and/or the newly formed Christian Church and/or the ancient Israel) bears a child while engaged in struggle with a dragon/serpent. The dragon/serpent is defeated. The fourth verse alludes to 2 Corinthians 5:10, which states that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." The fifth verse refers to the doctrine that Christians can be made holy through the death of Christ (Colossians 1:21–22). The sixth verse refers to the Earth as the footstool of God, a claim that appears in Isaiah 66:1, Matthew 5:35, and Acts 7:49.

Notes

In later years, when this song was sung in a non-military environment, the clause "let us die to make men free" was sometimes changed to "let us live to make men free". This change can be seen in most modern hymnals. In addition, the term "bosom" in the fifth verse is often changed to "being". Sometimes, gender-neutral language is used and it is sung as "as he died to make us holy, let us live to make all free".

The sixth verse is often omitted, as is the third. Also, a common variant changes "soul of Time" to read "soul of wrong", and "succour" to "honor".

Also, when the sixth verse is omitted, the fifth verse can be sung at a slower pace than the rest of the song.

Influence

Popularity and widespread use

In the years since the Civil War, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has been used frequently as an American patriotic song. This song is often heard at the national conventions of both the Republican Party and Democratic Party,and is often sung at Presidential inaugurations.

Influence on other media
Words from the first verse gave John Steinbeck the title of his 1939 masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath. The title of John Updike's In the Beauty of the Lilies also came from this song, as did Terrible Swift Sword and Never Call Retreat, two volumes in Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War.

The lyrics of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" appear in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermons and speeches, most notably in his speech "How Long, Not Long" from the steps of the Montgomery, Alabama Courthouse on March 25, 1965 after the 3rd Selma March, and in his final sermon "I've Been to the Mountaintop", delivered in Memphis, Tennessee on the evening of April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination. In fact, the latter sermon, King's last public words, ends with the first lyrics of the "Battle Hymn", "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Battle for Americans / Battle for Uncle Sam

2009-05-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

"Ballad For Americans" (1939) is an American patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled "The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally written for a WPA theatre project called Sing for Your Supper. Sing For Your Supper opened on April 24, 1939. Congress abolished the Project on June 30, 1939. The “Ballad of Uncle Sam” had been performed 60 times.

Producer Norman Corwin then had Robinson sing “Ballad of Uncle Sam” for the CBS brass. CBS was impressed and hired Paul Robeson to perform the song. Corwin retitled the song Ballad for Americans. Robeson and Robinson rehearsed for a week. On Sunday, November 5, 1939, on the 4:30 pm CBS radio show The Pursuit of Happiness, Robeson sang “Ballad for Americans” (Time, November 20, 1939). Norman Corwin produced and directed, Mark Warnow conducted, Ralph Wilkinson did the orchestration (in Robeson's key), and Lyn Murray handled the chorus. Robeson subsequently began to perform the song, beginning with a repeat on CBS on New Year’s Eve. Robbins Music Corporation published the sheet music.

Victor Records decided to record and release the song. Robinson recommended the American People’s Chorus for the recording and he re-rehearsed them in Robeson’s key. (Robinson had written the song to the key of E.) Nathaniel Shilkret conducted the recording. Time mentioned the album on the May 6, 1940 issue. On May 14, 1940, a full page ad for the records (a four-sided album on 78 rpm records) appeared in the New York Daily News. Each side of the album ended with the lyrics “You know who I am.” By the end of 1940, the album had sold more than 40,000 copies.

On July 6, 1940, Bing Crosby recorded the song for Decca. MGM included the song as the finale of the 1942 movie Born to Sing (choreographed by Busby Berkeley and sung by Douglas McPhail). Jules Bledsoe, James Melton and others performed the song. Lawrence Tibbett performed it on NBC for the Ford Hour. The British premiere was in September 1943 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hugo Weisgall.

In the 1940 presidential campaign it was played at both the Republican National Convention (by baritone Ray Middleton) and that of the Communist Party. Its popularity continued through the period of World War II— in autumn 1943, 200 African American soldiers performed the piece in a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. After the war, Robeson transferred from Victor to Columbia Records. Victor responded by withdrawing Robeson’s Ballad from their catalogue. In 1966, Vanguard Records released Robeson’s recording on a 33 1/3 rpm record. It has been periodically revived, notably during the United States Bicentennial (1976). There is also a well-known recording by Odetta, recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Robeson's recording is currently available on CD

Invoking the American Revolution (it names several prominent revolutionary patriots and quotes the preamble of the Declaration of Independence), and the freeing of the slaves in the American Civil War (there is a brief lyrical and musical quotation of the spiritual "Go Down Moses"), as well as Lewis and Clark, the Klondike Gold Rush, and Susan B. Anthony, the piece draws an inclusive picture of America: "I'm just an Irish American, Negro, Jewish American, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish American, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech and double-check American — I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Atheist, Roman Catholic — [etc.]"

The lyrics periodically point at elite skepticism toward its inclusive American vision ("Nobody who was anybody believed it") before coming back to its refrain:

For I have always believed it,
And I believe it now,
And now you know who I am.
(Who are you?)
America! America!

Many performers of the "Ballad" have made minor changes in the lyrics. For example, in the passage quoted above, the NYC Labor Chorus make several changes, including changing "Negro" to "African" and substituting "Jamaican" for "Litvak". Similarly, they add "Moslem" to the list of religions. In a passage near the end that begins "Out of the cheating, out of the shouting," Robeson in his 1940 recording adds "lynchings" to the list; the NYC Labor Chorus attempt to bring the piece up to date with:

Out of the greed and polluting,
Out of the massacre at Wounded Knee,
Out of the lies of McCarthy,
Out of the murders of Martin and John…

Patriotic Flight Formatino

2009-05-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Patriotic United We Stand

Buy at AllPosters.com

Fruits of Victory -- Victory Garden Poster

2009-05-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort, these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. This made victory gardens become a part of daily life on the home front.

In March of 1917, Charles Lathrop Pack organized the National War Garden Commission and launched the war garden campaign. During World War I, food production had fallen dramatically, especially in Europe, where agricultural labor had been recruited into military service and remaining farms devastated by the conflict. Pack conceived the idea that the supply of food could be greatly increased without the use of land and manpower already engaged in agriculture, and without the significant use of transportation facilities needed for the war effort. The campaign promoted the cultivation of available private and public lands, resulting in over five million gardens and foodstuff production exceeding $1.2 billion by the end of the war.

Amid regular rationing of canned food in Britain, a poster campaign ("Plant more in '44!") encouraged the planting of victory gardens by nearly 20 million Americans. These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all the vegetable produce being consumed nationally.

It was emphasized to home front urbanites and suburbanites that the produce from their gardens would help to lower the price of vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops, thus saving money that could be spent elsewhere on the military: "Our food is fighting," one US poster read. In Britain the slogan "Dig for Victory" was ubiquitous.

Although at first the Department of Agriculture objected to Eleanor Roosevelt's institution of a victory garden on the White House grounds, fearing that such a movement would hurt the food industry, basic information about gardening appeared in public services booklets distributed by the Department of Agriculture, as well as by agribusiness corporations such as International Harvester and Beech-Nut. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 20 million victory gardens were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home and community plots was estimated to be 9-10 million tons, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh vegetables.

Victory gardens were planted in backyards and on apartment-building rooftops, with the occasional vacant lot "commandeered for the war effort!" and put to use as a cornfield or a squash patch. During World War II, sections of lawn were publicly plowed for plots in Hyde Park, London to publicize the movement. In New York City, the lawns around vacant "Riverside" were devoted to victory gardens, as were portions of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

In 1946, with the war over, many residents did not plant victory gardens in expectation of greater produce availability. However, shortages remained in the United Kingdom.

The Fenway Victory Gardens in the Back Bay Fens of Boston, Massachusetts and the Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis, Minnesota, remain active as the last surviving public examples from World War II. Most plots in the Fenway Victory Gardens now feature flowers instead of vegetables while the Dowling Community Garden retains its focus on vegetables.

Since the turn of the century there has existed a growing interest in victory gardens. A grassroots campaign promoting such gardens has recently sprung up in the form of new victory gardens in public spaces, victory garden websites and blogs, as well as petitions to both renew a national campaign for the victory garden and to encourage the re-establishment of a victory garden on the White House lawn. In March 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted an 1,100 square foot "Kitchen Garden" on the White House lawn, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's, to raise awareness about healthy food

Columbia: Gem of the Ocean — The Story of a Patriotic Song

2009-05-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

"Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" is a United States patriotic song which was popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used occasionally as an unofficial national anthem in competition with "Hail, Columbia" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" until the latter's formal adoption as the national anthem of the United States during 1931. For some years the song's melody was used as the Voice of America's interval signal.

History

"Columbia" was a common poetic nickname for the United States of America during the 19th century. Graphically, in illustrations and cartoons, the United States was represented often by a heroic female figure named Columbia, dressed in flag-like bunting. Other nations used similar figures, notably the French Marianne, and the British Britannia.

The specific origins of "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," are uncertain, because a British patriotic song, entitled 'Britannia, the Pride of the Ocean', used the same melody and had very similar lyrics, resulting in mutual accusations of plagiarism.

Historical sources generally agree that during the autumn of 1843 an actor named David T. Shaw wanted a new patriotic song to sing at a benefit performance. He gained the assistance of a fellow performer, Thomas á Becket, who wrote the lyrics and melody for him. Evidently, Shaw published the song by his own name, but Becket was able to prove his authorship by means of his original handwritten composition. There remains some disagreement as to whether other versions of the song predated Becket's composition or followed it.

Certain lyrics hint that Becket's metaphor is the nation as a ship, or ship of state: the song refers to Columbia as an "ark" with a "crew" which rides safely through a storm. This lyrical play associates the song, and the Columbia symbol, with the warships also named Columbia, both before and after the song became popular.

Lyrics

O Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee;
Thy mandates make heroes assemble,
When Liberty's form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
When borne by the red, white, and blue,
Thy banners make tyranny tremble,
When borne by the red, white and blue.

When war wing'd its wide desolation,
And threaten'd the land to deform,
The ark then of freedom's foundation,
Columbia rode safe thro' the storm;
With her garlands of vict'ry around her,
When so proudly she bore her brave crew;
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue,
The boast of the red, white and blue,
The boast of the red, white, and blue,
With her flag proudly floating before her,
The boast of the red, white and blue.

The Union, the Union forever,
Our glorious nation's sweet hymn,
May the wreaths it has won never wither,
Nor the stars of its glory grow dim,
May the service united ne'er sever,

But they to their colors prove true.
The Army and Navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue,
The Army and Navy for ever,
Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

(A slightly different third verse)

The star spangled banner bring hither,
O'er Columbia's true sons let it wave;
May the wreaths they have won never wither,
Nor its stars cease to shine on the brave.
May thy service united ne'er sever,
But hold to the colors so true;
The army and navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!
The army and navy forever,
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue

Get it as an MP3 here: Columbia, The Gem Of The Ocean

Ballad of the Green Berets — The Story Behind the Patriotic Tune

2009-04-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

"The Ballad Of The Green Berets" is a patriotic song in the ballad style about the Green Berets, an elite special force in the U.S. Army. It is one of the very few songs of the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light, yet it became a major hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts for five weeks in 1966. It was also a crossover smash, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and No. 2 on Billboard's Country survey.

The song was written by Robin Moore and Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, while the latter was recuperating from a leg wound suffered as a medic in the Vietnam War. Moore also wrote a non-fiction book, The Green Berets: The Amazing Story of the U.S. Army's Elite Special Forces Unit, about the force. Lyrics include:

"Back at home a young wife waits/ Her Green Beret has met his fate/ He has died for those oppressed/ Leaving her this last request

Put silver wings on my son's chest/ Make him one of America's best/ He'll be a man they'll test one day/ Have him win the Green Beret"

The lyrics were written in honor of Green Beret James Gabriel, Jr., the first native-born Hawaiian who died in Vietnam, who was executed while on a training mission by the Viet Cong on April 8, 1962.

Sadler debuted the song on television on January 30, 1966 on The Ed Sullivan Show

The song was the No. 1 hit in the U.S. for five weeks in 1966, and was the No. 21 song of 1960s, despite the later unpopularity of the Vietnam War. It has sold over nine million singles and albums. It was the top single of a year in which the British Invasion, led by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, dominated the U.S. charts.

African-American Fourth of July Parade from Harper's Weekly, 1876

2009-04-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Title: "De jubilee am come"--Fourth of July, 1876 / W.H. Redding, sc.; drawn by Sol Eytinge, Jun.
Creator(s): Redding, W. H., engraver

Mickey Mouse Salutes America

2009-04-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Mickey Salutes America

Walt Disney Posters and More

Clear the way! Buy bonds, Fourth Liberty Loan. WWI Poster

2009-03-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Title: Clear-the-way!! Buy bonds--Fourth liberty loan
Creator(s): Christy, Howard Chandler, 1873-1952, artist
Date Created/Published: [191-]
Summary: Woman symbolizing America above naval gun crew in action.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-2011 Image courtesy the Library of Congress

What is a Liberty Bond?

A Liberty Bond was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time. The act of congress which authorized the Liberty Bonds is still used today as the authority under which all U.S. Treasury bonds are issued.

Securities, also known as Liberty Bonds, were issued in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to finance the rebuilding of the areas affected.

Default of the Fourth Liberty Bond

The first three bonds were retired during the course of the 1920s but the fourth Liberty Bond lasted into the 1930s, leading to a technical default on the bond the terms of which were for payment in gold. The fourth Liberty Bond had the following terms:

Date of Bond: October 24, 1918
Coupon Rate: 4.25%
Callable Starting: October 15, 1933
Maturity Date: October 15, 1938
Amount Originally Tendered: $6 billion
Amount Sold: $7 billion

The U.S. Treasury called this bond on April 15, 1934, but refused to redeem the face value of the bond in gold as required by the terms of bond which read:

The principal and interest hereof are payable in United States gold coin of the present standard of value.

The legal basis for the refusal of the U.S. Treasury to redeem in gold was House Joint Resolution 192, dated June 5, 1933. This resolution was later held to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since the United States had devalued the dollar from $20.67 per troy ounce of gold (the 1918 standard of value) to $35 per troy ounce in the preceding year the 21 million bond holders lost $2.866 billion dollars, approximately 41% of the bond's principal.

African-American Independence Day Celebration, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

2009-03-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Title: Fourth of July picnic, St. Helena Island, S.C.
Creator(s): Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Date Created/Published: 1939 July
Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

St. Helena Island is one of the Sea Islands in Beaufort County, South Carolina that are historic sites of early European colonization of North America. St. Helena is also the center of African-American Gullah culture and language. It is sometimes claimed to be the oldest settlement in the United States. St. Helena is today connected to Beaufort, the county seat, by U.S. Highway 21, and its largely rural population is included as part of the Hilton Head Island-Beaufort Micropolitan Area by the U.S. Census Bureau. The island has a land area of 165.212 km² (63.789 sq mi) and a population of 8,407 as of the 2000 census.

The Caisson Song — The Army Goes Rolling Along

2009-03-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

The song is based on the "Caisson Song" written by field artillery First Lieutenant (later Brigadier General) Edmund L. Gruber, Lieutenant William Bryden, and Lieutenant (later Major General) Robert Danford while stationed at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines in March 1908. The tune quickly became popular in field artillery units. In 1917 the Secretary of the Navy and Army Lieutenant George Friedlander of the 306th Field Artillery asked John Philip Sousa to create a march using the "Caisson Song." Sousa changed the key, harmony, and rhythm and renamed it "U.S. Field Artillery." The recording sold 750,000 copies. Sousa didn't know who had written the song and had been told that it dated back to the Civil War. Although an Army magazine claims that Sousa passed on his royalties to Gruber, other sources state that Gruber became involved in a prolonged legal battle to recover the rights to music he had written and that had been lifted (unknowingly or not) by Sousa and widely sold by sheet music publishers who reaped profits while Gruber received nothing. The music became so popular that it was also used in radio ads by firms such as the Hoover Vacuum Company. Gruber lost his battle in the courts. They ruled that he had waited too long to complain and that his music was by that time in the public domain.

"The Caisson Song" was never designated as the official U.S. Army song likely because the lyrics were too closely identified with the field artillery and not the entire army. The official song retains Gruber's music, but with re-written lyrics.

Search for an Official Song

As the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard had already adopted official songs, the Army was anxious to find a song of its own. In 1948, the Army conducted a contest to find an official song, but no entry received much popular support. In 1952, Secretary of the Army Frank Pace asked the music industry to submit songs and received over 800 submissions. "The Army's Always There" by Sam Stept won the contest, and an Army band performed it at President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inaugural parade on January 20, 1953. However, many thought that the tune was too similar to "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," so the Army decided to keep Gruber's melody from the "Caisson Song" but with new lyrics. A submission of lyrics by Harold W. Arberg, a music advisor to the Adjutant General, was accepted. Secretary of the Army Wilber Marion Brucker dedicated the music on Veterans Day, November 11, 1956. The song is played at the conclusion of most U.S. Army ceremonies, and all soldiers are expected to stand at attention and sing. When more than one service song is played, they are played in the order specified by Army regulations: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Caisson Song (1908, original version)

Over hill over dale we have hit the dusty trail
As our caissons go rolling along.
Up and down, in and out, Countermarch and right about,
And our caissons go rolling along.

For it's hi-hi-hee in the Field Artillery, Shout out the number loud and strong.

Till our final ride, It will always be our pride
To keep those caissons a rolling along.
(Keep them rolling - keep them rolling)
Keep those caissons a rolling along.
(B-a-t-t-e-r-y H-a-l-t!)

U.S. Field Artillery (1917)

(by Gruber, arranged by Sousa, copyright and published by Carl Fischer)

Verse:

Over hill, over dale
We have hit the dusty trail,
And the Caissons go rolling along.
In and out, hear them shout,
Counter marching and right about,
And those Caissons go rolling along.

Refrain:

For it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
count out your numbers loud and strong,
And where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.

Verse:

In the storm, in the night,
Action left or action right
See those Caissons go rolling along
Limber front, limber rear,
Prepare to mount your cannoneer
And those Caissons go rolling along.

Refrain:

For it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong,
And where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.

Verse:

Was it high, was it low,
Tell me where did that one go?
As those Caissons go rolling along
Was it left, was it right,
Now we won't get home tonight
And those Caissons go rolling along.

Refrain:

For it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong,
And where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.

The Army Goes Rolling Along (1956, current official version)

typically only the first verse and refrain are sung (not including the intro)

Intro:

March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We're the Army and proud of our name
We're the Army and proudly proclaim

Verse:

First to fight for the right,
And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Refrain:

Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong

For where e’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Verse:

Valley Forge, Custer's ranks,
San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks,
And the Army went rolling along
Minute men, from the start,
Always fighting from the heart,
And the Army keeps rolling along.

(Refrain)

Verse:

Men in rags, men who froze,
Still that Army met its foes,
And the Army went rolling along.
Faith in God, then we're right,
And we'll fight with all our might,
As the Army keeps rolling along.

(Refrain)

References in popular culture

The tune was used by the Hoover Company in vacuum radio advertisements during the 1940s.
The tune was used in commercials for Hasbro's G.I. Joe toyline during the 1960s. The words: "G.I. Joe...G.I. Joe...fighting man from head to toe...on the land...on the sea...in the air."
The tune was used in at least ten movies
A sped-up version of the tune is the official fight song of North Carolina State University.
Robert A. Heinlein used the 1908 Caisson Song as the basis for "The Road Song of the Transport Cadets," official song of the fictional United States Academy of Transport in his short story "The Roads Must Roll". However, characters in the story refer to the origin as both "Song of the Caissons" and the "field artillery song.".
The song was parodied in The Jetsons Season 1 Episode 6 "The Good Little Scouts" that aired on October 28, 1962. It was the marching song of Elroy Jetson's Space Troop.

Courage -- Patriotic American Eagle

2009-03-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Courage

Patriotic Posters

Patriotic Freedom

2009-02-27T23:54:00.000-08:00

Patriotic Freedom

Fourth of July Posters

Tug-of-War Match, Fourth of July, Skagway, Alaska

2009-02-17T04:07:00.000-08:00

Title: Tug-of-war, Fourth of July

Creator(s): Carpenter, Frank G., 1855-1924, photographer

Date Created/Published: between 1900 and 1916

Summary: Tug of war contest on street in Skagway, Alaska, on the 4th of July showing participants and a large group of spectators.

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Tug of war, also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war or rope pulling, is a sport that directly pits two teams against each other in a test of strength. The term may also be used as a metaphor to describe a demonstration of brute strength by two opposing groups, such as a rivalry between two departments of a company. In this scenario, there is a third party who is often considered the "rope" in the tug of war.

The origins of tug of war are not clearly known, though they must be very old. It may have originally been a ritual or religious contest. According to the Tug-of-War Federation of India:

There is no specific time and place in history to define the origin of the game of Tug of War. The contest of pulling on the rope originates from ancient ceremonies and rituals. Evidence is found in countries like Egypt, India, Myanmar, New Guinea... The origin of the game in India has strong archaeological roots going back at least to the 12th Century AD in the area what is today the State of Orissa on the east coast. The famous Sun Temple of Konark has a stone relief on the west wing of the structure clearly showing the game of Tug of War in progress.

Although the origins of tug of war are uncertain, it is beyond dispute that this once royal sport was practised in ancient Egypt and China, where it was held in legend that the Sun and Moon played Tug of War over the light and darkness.

The bas-relief of the Churning of the Sea of Milk shows Vishnu in the centre, his turtle avatar Kurma below, asuras and devas to left and right, and apsaras and Indra above. This is a tug of war between the asuras and demons.

Tug of war stories about heroic champions from Scandinavia and Germany circulate Western Europe where Viking warriors pull animal skins over open pits of fire in tests of strength and endurance in preparation for battle and plunder.

1500 and 1600 – tug of war is popularised during tournaments in French châteaux gardens and later in Great Britain

1800 – tug of war begins a new tradition among seafaring men who were required to tug on lines to adjust sails while ships were under way and even in battle.

The Oxford English Dictionary says that the phrase "tug of war" originally meant "the decisive contest; the real struggle or tussle; a severe contest for supremacy". Only in the 19th century was it used as a term for an athletic contest between two teams who haul at the opposite ends of a rope.

Victory Boys — A Million Boys Behind a Million Fighters

2009-02-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

Title: Every American boy should enroll in the Victory Boys
Date Created/Published: Chicago : Rogers and Company, 1917

Summary: Soldier holding rifle and boy standing behind him, with his hand on soldier's back.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-7768 Courtesy Library of Congress

"Victory Boys" was an attempt by the federal government to elicit the financial help of children in the war effort. Portraying the hand of a young boy on the back of a soldier, the poster encourages "every American boy" to "Earn and give to help keep our fighters happy."

Anchors Aweigh -- The Story Behind a Patriotic Song, with Lyrics

2009-02-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

"Anchors Aweigh" is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy, and strongly associated with the United States Navy, composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmerman with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. Zimmerman was at the time a Lieutenant, and had been bandmaster of the United States Naval Academy Band since 1887. Miles was Midshipman First Class at the Academy, in the class of 1907, and asked Zimmerman to assist him in composing a song for that class, to be used as a football march. Another Academy Midshipman, Royal Lovell (class of 1926) later wrote what would be adopted into the song as its third verse.

The original lyrics, in two verses by Miles, were:

Stand Navy down the field, sails set to the sky.
We'll never change our course, so Army you steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll up the score, Navy, Anchors Aweigh.
Sail Navy down the field and sink the Army, sink the Army Grey.

Get underway, Navy, Decks cleared for the fray,
We'll hoist true Navy Blue So Army down your Grey-y-y-y.
Full speed ahead, Navy; Army heave to,
Furl Black and Grey and Gold and hoist the Navy, hoist the Navy Blue

Blue of the Seven Seas; Gold of God's great sun
Let these our colors be till all of time be done-n-n-ne,
By Severn's shore we learn Navy's stern call:
Faith, courage, service true with honor over, honor over all.

The Lottman-Savino version published around 1950 in London by Francis, Day & Hunter is:

Verse 1

Anchors Aweigh, my boys
Anchors Aweigh
Farewell to college joys
We sail at break of day, 'ay 'ay 'ay
O'er our last night ashore
Drink to the foam
Until we meet once more
Here's wishing you a happy voyage home!

Bridge

Heave a ho there! sailor
Ev'rybody drink up while you may
Heave a ho there! sailor
For you're gonna sail at break of day
Drink a-way, Drink a-way,
For you sail at break of day, Hey!

Verse 2

Stand Navy, down the field, sails set to the sky.
We'll never change our course, so Army you steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll up the score, Navy, Anchors Aweigh
Sail, Navy, down the field and sink the Army, sink the Army Grey.

The current lyrics include three verses and two bridges; the second verse is the one most commonly sung.

Verse 1 (la la la tune)

Stand Navy out to sea
Fight our battle cry:
We'll never change our course
So vicious foes steer shy-y-y-y
Roll out the T. N. T.
Anchors Aweigh
Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Bridge

Yo ho there shipmate
Take the fighting to the far off seas
Yo ho there messmate
Hear the wailing of the wild banshees
All hands, fire brands
Let's Blast them as we go. So

Verse 2

Anchors Aweigh my boys
Anchors Aweigh
Farewell to foreign shores (or "Farewell to college joys")
We sail at break of 'ay 'ay 'ay 'ay
O'er our last night ashore
Drink to the foam
Until we meet once more
Here's wishing you a happy voyage home!

Bridge

Heave a ho there sailor
Everybody drink up while you may
Heave a ho there sailor
For your gonna sail at break of day
Drink away, Drink away,
For you sail at break of day, Hey!

Verse 3

Blue of the Mighty Deep
Gold of God’s Sun
Let these our colors be
Till all time be done
By Severn Shore we learn
Navy’s stern call
Faith, Courage, Service True
With Honor Over, Honor Over All.

As of the Summer of 2004, the verses taught at Navy Boot Camp are:

Verse 1

Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll out the TNT , Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Verse 2 (most widely sung)

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
Farewell to foreign shores, We sail at break of day, of day.
Through our last night on shore, Drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home!

The bridge is kept, and that the references to college are completely dropped.

Another widely sung version of the lyrics was published in the children's songbook Wee Sing America:

Anchors aweigh, my boys, anchors aweigh.
Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.
Stand Navy out to sea, through swirling foam.
Until we meet once more, here's wishing you a happy voyage home!

History

The song was first played during the Army–Navy football game on December 1, 1906, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Before a crowd in excess of 30,000 Navy won the game 10-0, their first win in the match up since 1900.

The song was gradually adopted as the song of the U.S. Navy; although there is a pending proposal to make it the official song, and to incorporate protocol into Navy regulations for its performance, its status remains unofficial as of 2006. Its lyrics were considered too specific to the Academy and not representative of the Navy at large, and so were rewritten by George D. Lottman (note the reference to "farewell to college joys"). Its melody was also slightly rewritten by Domenico Savino.

The song is also is used in the US Navy bootcamp in Great Lakes IL, recruits when passing through an underground tunnel heading away from the barracks sing the first verse and sing the second verse on the way back.

Meaning

To "weigh anchor" is to bring it aboard a vessel in preparation for departure. The phrase "anchor's aweigh" is a report that the anchor is clear of the sea bottom and, therefore, the ship is officially underway.

"Weigh" as a verb means to "bear" or "move", thus giving it several shades of meaning and derivation, including "weight" or heaviness. This lends itself to obvious plays on words, as with Flip Wilson's old routine about Christopher Columbus. "Columbus cried, 'Weigh anchor'. A few minutes later, a crewman reported, 'Two thousand, one hundred thirty six pounds'."

The Story Behind America the Beautiful

2009-01-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, Pikes Peak, first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. The poem was titled America for publication. Ward had originally written the music, Materna, for the 1600s hymn O Mother dear, Jerusalem in 1882. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled America the Beautiful. The song is one of the most beloved and popular of the many American patriotic songs. From time to time it has been proposed as a replacement for The Star-Spangled Banner as the National Anthem.

In 1893, at the age of thirty-three, Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach a short summer school session at Colorado College. Several of the sights on her trip inspired her, and they found their way into her poem, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its alabaster buildings; the wheat fields of America's heartland Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 16; and the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Zebulon's Pikes Peak.

On the pinnacle of that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room at the original Antlers Hotel. The poem was initially published two years later in The Congregationalist, to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public's fancy. Amended versions were published in 1904 and 1913.

Several existing pieces of music were adapted to the poem. A hymn tune composed by Samuel A. Ward was generally considered the best music as early as 1910 and is still the popular tune today. Just as Bates had been inspired to write her poem, Ward too was inspired to compose his tune. The tune came to him while he was on a ferryboat trip from Coney Island back to his home in New York City, after a leisurely summer day in 1882, and he immediately wrote it down. He was so anxious to capture the tune in his head, he asked fellow passenger friend Harry Martin for his shirt cuff to write the tune on, thus perhaps the off the cuff analogy. He composed the tune for the old hymn "O Mother Dear, Jerusalem", retitling the work "Materna". Ward's music combined with Bates' poem were first published together in 1910 and titled, America the Beautiful.

Ward died in 1903, not knowing the national stature his music would attain, as the music was only first applied to the song in 1904. Miss Bates was more fortunate, as the song's popularity was well-established by her death in 1929.

At various times in the more than 100 years that have elapsed since the song as we know it was born, particularly during the John F. Kennedy administration, there have been efforts to give "America the Beautiful" legal status either as a national hymn, or as a national anthem equal to, or in place of, "The Star-Spangled Banner", but so far this has not succeeded. Proponents prefer "America the Beautiful" for various reasons, saying it is easier to sing, more melodic, and more adaptable to new orchestrations while still remaining as easily recognizable as "The Star-Spangled Banner." Some prefer "America the Beautiful" over "The Star-Spangled Banner" due to the latter's war-oriented imagery. Others prefer "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the same reason, or for the reason that it does not directly invoke God. While that national dichotomy has stymied any effort at changing the tradition of the national anthem, "America the Beautiful" continues to be held in high esteem by a large number of Americans.

Popularity of the song increased greatly following the September 11, 2001 attacks; at some sporting events it was sung in addition to the traditional singing of the national anthem. During the first taping of the Late Show with David Letterman following the attacks, CBS newsman Dan Rather cried briefly as he quoted the fourth verse.

Ray Charles is credited with the song's most well known rendition in current times (although Elvis Presley had success with it in the 1970s). Charles' recording is very commonly played at major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, and WrestleMania; Charles gave a live performance of the song prior to Super Bowl XXXV, the last Super Bowl played before the September 11 terrorist attacks. He places the third verse first, after which he sings the usual first verse. In the third verse (see below), the author scolds the materialistic and self-serving robber barons of her day, and urges America to live up to its noble ideals and to honor, with both word and deed, the memory of those who died for their country.

Symbolically, Marian Anderson (a noted opera singer of her day) sang a rendition of America on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being refused use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her skin color.

An all-star version of "America the Beautiful" performed by country music singers Trace Adkins, Billy Dean, Vince Gill, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Toby Keith, Brenda Lee, Lonestar, Martina McBride, Jamie O'Neal, Kenny Rogers and Keith Urban reached #58 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in July 2001. The song re-entered the chart following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

When Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China in 1972, this song was played by Chinese as the welcome music. The Chinese characters for United States literally mean "Beautiful Country."

The song is often included in songbooks in a wide variety of religious congregations in the United States.

To learn more, read America the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation's Favorite Song.

Protect the Nation's Honor — Enlist Now! Patriotic Recruitment Poster

2009-01-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Title: It's up to you--Protect the nation's honor, enlist now / Schneck.
Date Created/Published: New York : Acme Litho. Co., [191-]
Summary: Uncle Sam, pointing, behind personification of America.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-1960 Courtesy the Library of Congress

Patriotic Boy Valentine

2009-01-09T22:05:00.001-08:00

Valentine Greetings, Patriotic Child
Available as an art print

Picnic on the Fourth of July, 1864

2009-01-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

Title: The picnic on the fourth of July "A day to be remembered"
Arist: Painted by Lilly M. Spencer; engraved by Saml. Hollyer & J. Rogers.
Summary: Illustration shows a group of people gathered around a man in the center of a grove, he sits on the ground with the remains of a swing that has broken under his weight; others separated from the group are engaged in various pursuits.

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Benjamin Franklin Join or Die Poster

2008-08-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

Join, or Die is a famous political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. The original a publication by the Gazette is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America. It is a woodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initial of a British American colony or region. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity. During that era, there was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset.

Role During French and Indian War

At that time, the colonists were divided on whether to fight the French and their Indian allies for control of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, in what came to be known as the French and Indian War. It became a symbol for the need of organized action against an outside threat posed by the French and Indians in the mid 18th century. Writer Philip Davidson states that Franklin was a propagandist influential in seeing the potential in political cartoons.[4] Franklin had proposed the Albany Plan and his cartoon suggested that such a union was necessary to avoid destruction. As Franklin wrote,

"The Confidence of the French in this Undertaking seems well-grounded on the present disunited State of the British Colonies, and the extreme Difficulty of bringing so many different Governments and Assemblies to agree in any speedy and effectual Measures for our common defense and Security; while our Enemies have the very great Advantage of being under one Direction, with one Council, and one Purse...."

Role Prior to and during the American Revolution

Franklin's political cartoon took on a different meaning during the lead up to the American Revolution, especially around 1765-1766, during the Stamp Act Congress. British colonists in America protesting British rule used the cartoon in the Constitutional Courant to help persuade the colonists. However, the Patriots, who associated the image with eternity, vigilance, and prudence, were not the only ones who saw a new interpretation of the cartoon. The Loyalists saw the cartoon with more biblical traditions, such as those of guile, deceit, and treachery. Franklin himself opposed the use of his cartoon at this time, but instead advocated a moderate political policy; in 1766 he published a new cartoon "MAGNA Britannia: her Colonies REDUC'D" in 1766. Because of this cartoon, the "Courant" was thought of in England as one of the most radical publications.

The difference between the use of "Join or Die" in 1754 and 1765 is that Franklin had designed it to unite the colonies for defense against France, but in 1765 American colonists used it to urge colonial unity against the British. Also during this time the phrase "join, or die" changed to "unite, or die," in some states such as New York and Pennsylvania.

Soon after the publication of the cartoon during the Stamp Act Congress, variations were printed in New York, Massachusetts, and a couple months later it had spread to Virginia and South Carolina. In some states, such as New York and Pennsylvania, the cartoon continued to be published week after week for over a year.

Legacy of the Cartoon
The cartoon has been reprinted and redrawn widely throughout American history. Variants of the cartoon have different texts, e.g. "Unite or Dead", and differently labeled segments, depending on the political bodies being appealed to. During the American Revolutionary War, the image became a potent symbol of Colonial unity and resistance to what was seen as British oppression. It returned to service, suitably redrawn, for both sides of the American Civil War.

Click on image for enlarged view or go to Join or Die

Last of the British Leave New York

2008-08-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Painted around 1783, this image is available as a high-quality art print from Boatload of Brits.

Sybil Ludington, the "Female Paul Revere"

2008-08-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sybil Ludington (1761–1839) was the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, the commander of the local militia near Fredericksburgh Precinct, New York (later renamed Ludingtonville, and now part of the town of Kent) during the American Revolution.

She was born and raised in what was then part of Dutchess County, New York, near the Hudson river. The eldest of 12, she was often responsible for looking after her younger siblings (Rebecca, Mary, Abigail, Archibald, Henry, Derick, Tertullus, Anna, Fredrick, Sophia, and Lewis). On the night of April 26, 1777, she was putting them to bed when her family received word that British troops had begun burning Danbury, Connecticut, which was only 25 miles away. Her father's troops were scattered over a large area around the house, and Sybil convinced her father to let her ride to warn them.

At the time of the ride, she was 16 years old and would have been considered a young adult.

Her ride started at 9:00 P.M. and ended around dawn. She rode 40 miles, more than twice the distance of Paul Revere, into the damp hours of darkness. She could see the sky aglow from the burning town. "Muster at Ludington's," she shouted at the farmhouses of the millitiamen. She rode through Carmel, on to Mahopac, thence to Kent Cliffs, from there to Farmers Mills and back home. She used a stick to prod her horse and knock on doors. She managed to defend herself against a highway man with her father's musket. When, soaked from the rain and exhausted, she returned home, most of the 400 soldiers were ready to march.

The men arrived too late to save Danbury. At the ensuing Battle of Ridgefield, however, they were able to drive General William Tryon, then governor of the colony of New York, and his men to Long Island Sound.

Sybil was congratulated for her heroism by friends and neighbors, and by General George Washington.

After the war, in 1784, Sybil married a lawyer from Catskill named Edgar Ogden. They had one child, Henry, whose son founded Fort Riley, Kansas. Sybil lived in Unadilla until her death on February 26, 1839. She was 78 years old. She was buried near her father in the Maple Avenue Cemetery in Patterson, New York.

A statue of Sybil, sculpted by Anna Hyatt Huntington, was erected along her route near Carmel in 1961 to commemorate her ride. A smaller copy of the statue is located on the grounds of the DAR Headquarters in Washington, DC and another one is located in Danbury, Connecticut, on the grounds of the public library. In 1975 she was honored with a stamp in the "Contributors to the Cause" United States Bicentennial series.

Each April since 1979, the Sybil Ludington 50-kilometer footrace has been held in Carmel, NY. The course of this hilly road race approximates Sybil's historic ride, and finishes near her statue on the shore of Lake Gleneida.

Paul Revere Calling the Lexington Minutemen to Arms, c.1775

2008-08-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Paul Revere Calling the Lexington Minutemen to Arms, c.1775. Click on image for enlarged view or go to Paul Revere's Ride

Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2008-08-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

"Paul Revere's Ride" is an American poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775. The poem was written on April 19, 1860 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in January 1861. It was later published in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn in 1863. Longfellow's poem is credited with creating the national legend of Paul Revere, a previously little-known Massachusetts silversmith. Longfellow's poem begins:

Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive[4] Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street Wanders and watches, with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the sombre rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade,-- By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, In their night encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"

A moment only he feels the spell Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread Of the lonely belfry and the dead; For suddenly all his thoughts are bent On a shadowy something far away, Where the river widens to meet the bay,-- A line of black that bends and floats On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse's side, Now he gazed at the landscape far and near, Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle girth; But mostly he watched with eager search

The belfry tower of the Old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet; That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night;

And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. He has left the village and mounted the steep, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; And under the alders that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. He heard the crowing of the cock, And the barking of the farmer's dog, And felt the damp of the river fog, That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock, When he galloped into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, black and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the bleating of the flock, And the twitter of birds among the trees, And felt the breath of the morning breeze Blowing over the meadow brown. And one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read How the British Regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard wall, Chasing the redcoats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm, A cry of defiance, and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo for evermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

The Minute Men of Massachusetts

2008-07-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

THE MINUTE MEN OF MASSACHUSETTS

One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.
-- from “Paul Revere’s Ride” by William Wadsworth Longfellow, 1860

The image of the Minute Man was probably the first symbol of our fledgling nation. During the late 1700s, villages were sometimes responsible for raising their own troops. Communities such as Concord, Massachusetts voted to raise a company that could “stand at a minute’s warning in case of alarm.“ Such troops became known as “Minute Men.” The Minute Man soon became synonymous with such virtues as strength and bravery. On April 15, 1775 Paul Revere roused the Minute Men of Lexington and Concord, and they gathered to face the British troops. It is unclear who fired first, but it became “the shot heard round the world” and started the American Revolution, where we fought off tyranny.

The Minute Men were not soldiers by trade. They were made up of ordinary people -- farmers, shopkeepers, bakers, fishermen, blacksmiths -- who could often respond to emergencies more quickly than the regular militia could. They proved that even ordinary people could become heroes.

You may visit the significant historic sites, structures, properties and landscapes associated with the opening battles of the American Revolution at Minute Man National Park, established in 1959.

Minute Man National Historical Park 174 Liberty St. Concord, MA 01742
PhonePark Head Quarters
(978) 369-6993
Fax (978) 318-7800
http://www.nps.gov/mima/index.htm

Americus / Amerigo Vespucci, Was America Named for an Italian?

2008-07-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

NAMED FOR AN ITALIAN?

Just who was Amerigo (Americus) Vespucci and what did he do to have not one, but two continents named after him?

Vespucci was born, raised and educated in Florence, Italy -- at one time he even studied with Michaelangelo! He worked as a merchant and banker, and went to Spain in 1492, the same year his fellow Italian, Christopher Columbus, reached the New World. Vespucci became the director of a company that supplied ships for long voyages, and eventually made his own expedition in 1499. He explored the mouth of the Amazon River and charted the coast of Venezuela. He was able to determine that the lands Columbus “discovered” were not part of Asia, but were in fact a separate continent. (Right up until his death, Columbus was convinced he had reached Asia.) In letters home, Vespucci described everything he saw, including the indigenous people and their religion. These letters were translated again and again, and it seems that everyone in Europe was aware of these discoveries.

Vespucci can thank a German clergyman, Martin Waldseemuller, for naming these vast regions “America.” Waldseemuller was working on a map of the world, and after reading of Vespucci’s adventures he printed a map with “America” written across the new continents. Hundreds of these maps were printed and distributed throughout Europe. The name stuck, and when Gerardus Mercator printed his World Map in 1538, the continents were named North America and South America.

The "Discovery" of America by Christopher Columbus

2008-07-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

THE “DISCOVERY” OF AMERICA

When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher taught us that Columbus “discovered” America. We made models of his ships the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria and hung them up on the classroom wall. Mrs. Zimmerman even made us memorize a catchy rhyme, “In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue,” so that we would never forget the date. To my young mind, America was a vast, uninhabited wilderness until the Europeans arrived.

Nowadays, everyone realizes that people traveled to America long before Columbus set sail from Europe. In fact, America was full of people. The Native Americans are descendants of Asian peoples who came here tens of thousands of years ago. And there were many other European explorers who traveled here. The Vikings reached North America around the year 1,000, and claims have been made that the Irish St. Brendan the navigator made it here in the 7th Century. It is also thought that Chinese and Japanese fishermen reached South America long before Columbus left Spain. So why does Columbus get all the credit?

Cristoforo Colombo was an Italian mariner and navigator born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. Although he taught himself how to read and write, he received little in the way of a formal education. His career at sea began very early, and he made voyages to ports in England, Ireland, Iceland, and North Africa. In 1476 he even survived a shipwreck off Cape St. Vincent, swimming to shore.

He soon became obsessed with the idea of finding a shorter route to Asia by sailing West. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain financed the venture, desiring to increase Spain’s wealth and role as a European nation. On August 3rd, 1492 Columbus and his small fleet sailed toward the setting sun. After weeks at sea, they finally reached landfall in what is likely modern San Salvador in the Bahamas. He thought he had reached the East Indies, and so named the people he found “Indians.” Further exploration led him to Cuba (which he thought was mainland China) and Hispaniola (which he believed was Japan). He returned to Europe loaded down with treasure, exotic spices, and human captives. On a second voyage, also backed by the monarchs of Spain, he declared himself governor of Hispaniola and hoped that it would become a major trading post for European settlers. He left his brothers in charge and put the native people to work mining gold. It was the start of the aggressive conquest and colonization that would define the coming centuries.

Until he died, Columbus thought he had reached Asia. His “re-discovery” of these lands is the single most significant event in the development of the New World. In all, he made four voyages from Spain, establishing trade relations and sparking permanent settlement by European citizens. Prior to his voyage, very few Europeans even suspected that there were lands across the western oceans. His voyages forever altered the course of history, and that is why he is sometimes referred to as the father of America.

In recent decades there has been a fierce debate over Columbus’ moral character, particularly in his harsh treatment of the native populations. Very few people still refer to his voyage as a “discovery” of America, but rather as an “encounter.” However, Columbus Day is still on our national calendar and falls on the Monday closest to October 12th, the date of his first landfall. Love him or hate him, if you’re one of the lucky ones you still get that day off from work.

Manchester Massachusetts Fourth of July

2008-07-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Main Street, USA. What could be more patriotic? This image by Kindra Clinef is available as a reproduction print from: Manchester Massachusetts

Fourth of July by Artist David Coolidge

2008-07-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

This could be any street in my home town. It is available as a reproduction art print from: Fourth of July.

Fourth of July 1916, Frederick Childe Hassam

2008-07-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful, timeless image. It is available as a high-quality art print from: Fourth of July.

Spirit of '76 by A.M. Willard, c. 1880

2008-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

I think nearly every classroom of my grammar school had this print. It is available as a reproduction from: Spirit of '76.

Front Porch, Main Street, USA

2008-07-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Title: Fourth Of July
Artist: Zhen-Huan Lu

This image is available as an art print (framed or unframed) from: Front Porch.

Declaration of Independence, Reproduction Print

2008-07-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Every American home should have a copy of the Declaration of Independence proudly displayed. Get yours here at: Declaration of Independence.

George Washington by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, 1919

2008-07-22T20:19:00.001-07:00

George Washington, Independence Day, c.1919
Artist: Joseph Christian Leyendecker.

A reproduction of this cover is available as an art print from:
Leyendecker Washington

July 2nd--The Real Fourth of July?

2008-07-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

During the American Revolution, the legal separation from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a committee with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

One of the most enduring myths about Independence Day is that Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The myth had become so firmly established that, decades after the event and nearing the end of their lives, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had come to believe that they and the other delegates had signed the Declaration on the fourth. Most delegates actually signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776.

Girl Dressed in American Flag, Vintage

2008-07-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite images. I remember a teacher of mine back in the fifth grade complaining that girls would disgrace the American flag by wearing it as a t-shirt, skirt, or bikini. I think of it as a celebration--apparently, a fashion statement that has been going on for over a hundred years! This image is available as a poster from here: Girl in American Flag.

Keith Haring American Flag

2008-07-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

American Flag, Keith Haring

About the Artwork

Internationally acclaimed artist Keith Haring (1958-1990) catapulted to fame during the eighties art boom when his graffiti-inspired chalk drawings appeared in New York subway stations. A sculptor, painter, graphic artist and muralist, his art’s pulsating energy and explosive colors embody the vibe of New York street culture. A compulsive worker, Haring created murals and sculptures in the U.S. and in foreign countries, often slaving over the details from concept to completion. Painting with the exuberance of a precocious child, he marked this kinship as an activist for children, as he also was involved with AIDS-related organizations.

This high-quality art print is expertly produced to capture the vivid color and exceptional detail of the original. Click here for availability.

Hurrah for the USA

2008-07-04T18:06:00.001-07:00

Hurrah for the USA. 1915

by W. E. Howard

First line: I love to be in a land that's free from tumult
Chorus: Hooray! hooray! for the good old U.S.A.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
Chicago, Illinois, Modern Music, 1915

Fourth of July Historian

2008-07-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

DC native finds calling in Fourth of July history

by NAFEESA SYEED, via Associated Press

CLARKSBURG, Md. (AP) — Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years: In the 19th century, canons fired, church bells sounded and fireworks exploded.

Indianapolis residents watched in 1911 as two trains purposely collided at full speed, the locomotive personnel bailing out before the crash.

The gray-haired, bespectacled academic has chronicled just about everything there is to know about commemorating the birth of the United States. His 360-page, factoid-packed book, "The Fourth of July Encyclopedia," was published last year, and he's now moved on to researching a book about Fourth-related music. He has a weighty Web site on the Fourth, making him a resource for TV shows, politicians, re-enactors and even high school students writing term papers.

Heintze, a 65-year-old retired librarian at American University in Washington, has dedicated more than a dozen years to researching the history of this single day — a passion that began with his interest in Independence Day music. He found himself spending long days reading microfilms of articles and rare documents, at times taking verbal notes on a voice recorder in libraries that prohibited pencils and pens.

"What's fascinating about it is the hunt for treasure ... finding bits of American heritage," Heintze said.

In the study of his Clarksburg, Md., home, Heintze displays an original 1866 "Red, White and Blue Songster" pamphlet with Fourth lyrics. Heintze's otherwise calm monotone voice gains gusto as he reads aloud excerpts from his research on lively parades.

He's found that the festive spirit goes way back. On Independence Day in 1778, in New Brunswick, N.J., General George Washington gave his army a double allowance of rum and issued an artillery salute. In 1808, the people in Richmond, Va., decided that only U.S.-made liquor could be consumed on the Fourth. At a clam bake held in 1840 in Providence, R.I., 220 bushels of clams were eaten.

It was not uncommon for couples to get married on Independence Day. In his database of Fourth-themed popular postcards from the early 20th-century, a woman hugs a firework with these words printed on the rocket: "I will go off with you on the 4th."

Heintze notes that events on the Fourth have been tied to social and political movements. In 1827, for example, New York emancipated its slaves on the holiday. And in 1867, the Friends of Universal Suffrage met in South Salem, Mass., including Susan B. Anthony, who fought for women's voting rights.

Heintze's family has tolerated and even supported his obsession with all things Fourth. "You don't see him for days," said his wife, Yolanda, a fifth-grade U.S. history teacher who often infuses his research into her lessons. "He disappears. It's hard to find him. He forgets about sleeping, eating, everything. ... He just gets excited."

To celebrate this year's Fourth, Heintze had planned an Independence Day concert at his home. Heintze, who's played the piano since he was 4, is planning to play songs and composers whose patriotic tunes are no longer as well known, such as "Rail Road March. For the Fourth of July" from 1828 by Christopher Meineke.

He traditionally visits the National Archives and watches the Fourth of July parade in downtown Washington. This year, he also had plans to head to Richmond, Va., to hear more Fourth musical performances.

"It's a day of continued reflection," he said. "It's emotional and it's a day where I renew what I believe in."

Fourth of July Celebrations Database:

http://gurukul.american.edu/heintze/fourth.htm

Yankee Doodle Dandy

2008-07-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I thought for today I'd feature one of the most patriotic movies of all time: Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney.

Yankee Doodle Dandy is a 1942 biographical film about George M. Cohan, starring James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.

The movie was written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph, and directed by Michael Curtiz. According to the special edition DVD, significant and uncredited improvements were made to the script by the famous "script doctors" twin brothers Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein.

Background and production
The song "Yankee Doodle Boy" was Cohan's trademark piece, a patriotic pastiche drawing from the lyrics and melody of the old Revolutionary War number, "Yankee Doodle". Other Cohan tunes in the movie include "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Harrigan", "Mary's a Grand Old Name", "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There".

Cagney was a fitting choice for the role, as a fellow Irish-American who had been a song-and-dance man himself early in his career. His unique and seemingly odd presentation style, of half-singing and half-reciting the songs, reflected the style that Cohan himself used. His natural dance style and physique were also a good match for Cohan. Newspapers at the time reported that Cagney intended to consciously imitate Cohan's song-and-dance style, but to play the normal part of the acting in his own style. Although director Curtiz was famous for being a taskmaster, he also gave his actors some latitude. Cagney and other players improvised a number of "bits of business", as Cagney called them.

Although a number of the biographical particulars of the movie are Hollywoodized fiction (omitting the fact that Cohan divorced and remarried, for example, and taking some liberties with the chronology), care was taken to make the sets, costumes and dance steps match the original stage presentations. This effort was aided significantly by a former associate of Cohan's, Jack Boyle, who knew the original productions well. Boyle also appeared in the film in some of the dancing groups.

Awards and nominations

The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Cagney), Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Sound, Recording. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Walter Huston), Best Director, Best Film Editing for George Amy, Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Story. In 1993, Yankee Doodle Dandy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In 1998, this film ranked #100 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies list. In 2006 it was ranked #18 on AFI's 100 Years of Musicals. The 2005 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes also voted James Cagney's line of "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you." number 97 on its list.

Patriotic themes

A popular myth about this movie, or at least a stretching of the truth, was that it was written in response to accusations that James Cagney was a communist. Supposedly, Cagney learned that he was in danger of being blacklisted for having communist sympathies, so he decided to make the most jingoistic movie he possibly could, and thus clear his name. This myth has its chronology a bit askew, as the McCarthy Era did not begin until the early 1950s. Also the Second Red Scare did not begin until the late 1940s, well after the film was made. In other versions of this legend, either Robert Buckner or Edmund Joseph were the accused.

The DVD specials discuss this story in some detail. A Congressman named Martin Dies was investigating possible communist influence in Hollywood in 1940; he in fact had a cordial meeting with Cagney. The actor reassured him that, although he was a liberal and supported Roosevelt's New Deal, he was also a patriot who had nothing to do with communism. That was the end of it, except that James' producer-brother William saw the Cohan story as a good opportunity to dispel any possible concerns about Cagney's loyalty. It was not written in response to the Dies investigation, as Cohan himself had been shopping his own story around for a while before Jack L. Warner bought the rights, and Cohan retained final approval on all aspects of the film.

As the DVD also points out, production on the film was just a few days old when the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. The film's cast and crew resolved to make an uplifting, patriotic film. It was timed to open around Memorial Day in 1942, and was regarded as having achieved its goal in grand fashion.

Info courtesy Wikipedia.

A History of the Fourth of July: America at 232

2008-07-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

A History of the Fourth of July: America at 232

Today is the Fourth of July, the 232nd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the day when America officially renounced King George III and England, claiming the United States of America was no longer subject to British rule. Simply put, July 4 became America's birthday.

The making of the Declaration, though, its creation, its promises, and its ramifications have been anything but simple. They are quite complex on numerous levels. A revolutionary manifesto to renounce a king has become an ideal of the American Dream. It promises that everyone has a chance, even though the Declaration was written by a man who still owned slaves at the time of his death 50 years later.

The Declaration is complicated, yet glorious, in its lines, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness ..."

Read more at Hispanic Business.

Uncle Sam Selling Liberty Bonds

2008-07-03T23:57:00.000-07:00

Lady Liberty

2008-07-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

Goddesses named for and representing the concept "Liberty" have existed in many cultures, including classical examples dating from the Roman Empire and some national symbols such as the British "Britannia."

Classical examples
The ancient Roman goddess Libertas was honored during the second Punic War by a temple erected on the Aventine Hill in Rome by the father of Tiberius Gracchus. A statue in her honor was also raised by Clodius on the site of Marcus Tullius Cicero's house after it had been razed. The figure also resembles Sol Invictus, the Roman god of sun.

Neoclassical references
In 1793, during the French Revolution, the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral was turned into a "Temple to Reason" and for a time "Lady Liberty" replaced the Virgin Mary on several altars.

National embodiments of Liberty include Britannia in the United Kingdom, "Liberty Enlightening the World," commonly known as the Statue of Liberty in the United States of America, and Marianne in France.

Depictions

One of the 50 Lady Liberty statues donated by the Boy Scouts of America is located on Michigan’s Mackinac Island in historic Haldimand Bay.

In the United States, "Liberty" is often depicted with the five-pointed American stars, usually on a raised hand. Another hand may hold a sword downward. Depictions familiar to Americans include the following:

The monumental Statue of Liberty, which in turn has been depicted on a number of postage stamps

Many denominations of American coinage have depicted Liberty in both bust side-view and full-figure designs

The flags of the States of New York and New Jersey (along with various signs and government-owned items bearing the Seal of New Jersey)

On the dome of the U.S. Capitol as Freedom

On the dome of the Georgia State Capitol as Miss Freedom

On the dome of the Texas State Capitol

On the dome of the Allen County Courthouse in Fort Wayne, Indiana

On the dome of the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, New Jersey

On both Union and Confederacy flags

Uncle Sam with Britannia

2008-07-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

Flag Day and My First Flag

2008-06-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

This was originally written for my other blog, The Box House:

When I was in college, I played the bagpipes with the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders--and I was terrible. Just ask any of my roommates from that time period. And my parents, would you believe they actually showed up to one of my performances wearing ear plugs? (Although I really can't blame them too much; a dozen pipers in an enclosed auditorium are rather loud.)

Still, I had a blast. I loved playing them. And when I was a junior (the year John Goodman was the Grand Marshall), the entire band--pipers, dancers, and drummers--went down to New Orleans to march in the Endymion Parade, the largest of the 80 or so parades that take place during Mardi Gras week. (And no, I didn't flash myself to get beads--rude Endymion krewe members told me I didn't have much to flash, anyway. Phooey.)

I can't remember the reason why, but when it came time to step off, we were short a flag carrier. Usually, two of the dancers held a banner proclaiming who we were, and two others would hold the American and Scottish flags while the others danced. Well, we could only carry one flag in that parade, and I advocated for it to be the St. Andrew's Cross, a white cross on a blue field which represented the patron saint of Scotland. A few of the older band members--we did not limit membership to just students, anyone in the community could join and I think the oldest people were in their 40s--were horrified that I would select the Scottish flag over the American flag. But we were a Scottish bagpipe band, and I was a young and perhaps naive 21-year-old whose heart had never truly been stirred by the Flag and all it represented.

We ended up carrying the American Flag.

A lot has happened to me since then. I've traveled the world and been to over two dozen countries where I've seen the U.S. flag both celebrated and ridiculed, and sometimes even burned. I've found myself an unwitting spokesperson for what it is to be an American, and to try to explain, defend, and often apologize for my government's actions. Since college, I've witnessed a direct attack on our country, and the unbridled patriotism that swept us all in the aftermath of 9-11, and I've seen what has been an absolutely amazing Democratic primary this year where both an African-American man and a woman were the top contenders to be the party's candidate. What an amazing place we are privileged to live in.

I don't know what it is, but the older I get, the more I find that I love my country--warts and all. There are many things I'd like to change and see changed, of course; we're far, far from perfect. But in recent years, I find myself overly sentimental when I hear such things as James Cagney sing "It's a Grand Old Flag" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." I end up a teary-eyed mess on the Fourth of July when The 1812 Overture is played (while this piece by Tchaikovsky has no historical connection with American history, it is often played along with Independence Day fireworks.)

So it should come as no surprise that last week, while shopping at Jewel, our local grocery store, I picked up a full-size American flag. We have a pole holder on the front of the house (placed by the previous owners) just begging for a flag, and I found just the one for it. Would you believe that it's my very first American flag ever? Crazy, eh?

So, as Mom reminded me this morning, today is Flag Day, and I took the opportunity to clamber up on the front porch and lean way the heck out there in order to put the flag in place. (Really, was this the best spot for the previous owners to put the holder? I might have to find a better, easier-to-access location.)

I knew Flag Day was celebrated each year, but I couldn't remember why, exactly. Why June 14th? The all-knowing Internet provided the answer. From the National Flag Day Foundation:

The Stars and Stripes, the official National symbol of the United States of America, was authorized by Congress on that Saturday of June 14, 1777 in the fifth item of the day's agenda. The entry in the journal of the Continental Congress 1774-1789 Vol. Vlll 1777 reads “Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be Thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

In Waubeka, Wisconsin, in 1885, Bernard John Cigrand, a nineteen-year-old school teacher in a one room school, placed a 10-inch, 38-star flag in an inkwell and had his students write essays on what the flag meant to them. He called June 14th the flag’s birthday. Stony Hill School is now a historical site. From that day on Bernard John Cigrand dedicated himself to inspire not only his students, but also all Americans in the real meaning and majesty of our flag.

Wikipedia adds

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, though on June 14, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) U.S. state to celebrate Flag Day as a state holiday.

So, goofy, sentimental me was thrilled to be able to fly the flag today, Flag Day 2008. It was cool to see a few other older homes and bungalows in the neighborhood flying them, too.

Molly Pitcher

2008-04-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

"Molly Pitcher" was the nickname given to a woman who may have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Some Historians differ on who the "real" Molly Pitcher was, or even if she existed at all. Since the various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, historians now often regard Molly Pitcher as folklore rather than history. However, "Molly Pitcher" may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield during the war. This water was not for drinking, as is popularly believed, but for swabbing the cannons.

The Legend & The Evidence

Molly Pitcher is generally identified as Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, who married William Hays, or Mary Ludwig Hays, Molly then being a frequent nickname for women named Mary. Biographical information about her, including her actual name and year of birth (1752 is suggested as an approximate birth year), is sparse. According to one version of the story, she was born to a German family in Pennsylvania. Regardless, solid records first appear in 1778; she attended her husband William Hays, an artilleryman who had enlisted in a Pennsylvanian artillery unit in 1777, to the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey on June 28, 1778. When William fell wounded, possibly from heat stroke, Mary took her husband's post at his cannon. After the battle, General George Washington issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer, and she was thereafter known by the nickname "Sergeant Molly". However, some of these details may have been borrowed from the actions of a leading candidate for another Molly Pitcher, a woman named Margaret Corbin.

Mary and William had a son named John L.Hays. Her husband, William Hays, died in 1787 when their son was five years old. Mary married again to one John McCauly (some sources believe his name may have been George McCauley); he died in 1813. Afterwards, she became a nurse and housekeeper.

On 21 February 1822, the state of Pennsylvania awarded her an annual pension of $40 for her heroism. She died 22 January 1832, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at the age of 78.

Information from Wikipedia

Little Boy, Big Fireworks

2008-04-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Our Glorious Fourth

2008-04-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

I really do wonder what the statistics were a century ago for injuries causes by fireworks.

Handing Out Flags

2008-03-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

Hasty Pudding

2008-01-30T17:53:00.000-08:00

And there we saw the men and boys as thick as hasty pudding...

Hasty pudding is a pudding or porridge grain cooked in milk or water; Indian pudding is an American variant made with maize.

Since the 16th century at least, hasty pudding has been a British dish of wheat flour cooked in boiling milk or water until it reaches the consistency of a thick batter. In some regions, it refers to an oatmeal porridge. In the United States, it invariably refers to a version made of ground maize or corn.

Hasty pudding was used as a term for an oatmeal porridge in England when Hannah Glasse wrote her 18th-century book The Art of Cookery.

The North American version, also known as corn mush or Indian mush, in its simplest form is corn meal cooked slowly in water until it thickens. It may be eaten hot, or left to cool and solidify. Slices of the cold pudding may then be fried. Hasty pudding was once a popular American food because of its low cost, long shelf life, and versatility, and was eaten with both sweet and savory accompaniments, such as maple syrup, molasses, or salted meat. Count Rumford, an American inventor who disapproved of the Revolution and went to live in Europe, still liked his hasty pudding, hot, in a bowl of milk.

Eliza Leslie, the influential American cookbook author of the early 19th century, includes a recipe for flour hasty pudding in her 1840 Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches, and calls the corn type Indian mush (she calls an oatmeal version burgoo). She stresses the need for slow cooking rather than haste, and also recommends the use of a special mush-stick for stirring to prevent lumps.

This mush-stick is perhaps related to the pudding stick of the nursery rhyme beating.

Hasty pudding, itself, is memorialized in a verse of the early American song Yankee Doodle:

Fath'r and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Goodin',
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty puddin'

("Goodin" is a New England pronunciation of Goodwin).

Indian pudding

Indian pudding is a more elaborate form of hasty pudding. It consists of milk, cornmeal, maple syrup and honey, ( or, alternatively, molasses and sometimes sugar), spices (nearly always including cinnamon and ground ginger), butter, and usually raisins and nuts, baked in a slow oven for several hours. It is a traditional New England dessert, usually served with vanilla ice cream or hard sauce.

Polenta and Mămăligă

Polenta is the Italian version of hasty pudding, with corn substituted for the wheat originally used by the Romans. Mămăligă is the Romanian version, also made with corn.

Article from Wikipedia.
Posted by The Box House Blog.

Eagle Fourth of July Greeting

2008-01-29T21:57:00.001-08:00

Two Children with Firecrackers

2008-01-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Look out, Uncle Sam! An eagle with a firecracker is right behind you!

2008-01-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Cosmic Fourth of July

2008-01-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

This one is a bit trippier than most fourth of july postcards, it looks like they are out in space.

An Alternate Version

2008-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Brian Dewan sings an uncensored version of "Yankee Doodle."

Yankee Doodle Dandy

2008-01-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

I was watching cable this week, and saw an extended preview on American Movie Classics for an upcoming broadcast of what is, for me, James Cagney's greatest film. It made me look on YouTube for clips, and I found this:

Sammy Song, Canada Woos the United States

2008-01-03T01:05:00.001-08:00

Sammy, oh, oh, oh, Sammy for you I’m pining/When we’re apart/Sammy, when you come wooing, there’s/Something doing around my heart...

Those Fireworks Sure Are Scary

2008-01-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

It's always the girls in these vintage postcards cowering in fright...

Lady Liberty Greetings

2008-01-01T01:08:00.000-08:00

I really like this image; it's a clean, simple Lady Liberty holding a laurel branch and the American Flag.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Whitney Houston Sings The Star-Spangled Banner

2007-12-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

This is one of the best renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner" I have ever heard. Whitney Houston sang her heart out for this one.

The Star Spangled Banner

2007-12-22T23:42:00.000-08:00

One of two surviving copies of the 1814 broadside printing of the Defence of Fort McHenry, a poem that later became the national anthem of the United States.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. Key, a 35-year-old amateur poet, wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club. "The Anacreontic Song" was already popular in the United States and set to various lyrics. Set to Key's poem and renamed, "The Star-Spangled Banner" would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O thus be it ever when free men shall stand ...") added on more formal occasions.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a Congressional resolution on 3 March 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 USC §301).

Prior to 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. Most prominent among them, "Hail Columbia!" served as the national anthem de facto from Washington's time and through the 18th and 19th centuries. Following the War of 1812 and the outbreak of subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to compete for popularity at public events, among them "The Star-Spangled Banner."

History

On September 3, 1814, Key and John S. Skinner, an American prisoner-exchange agent, set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by U.S. President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro, a friend of Key’s who had been captured in his home. Beanes was accused of aiding in the arrest of British soldiers. Key and Skinner boarded the British flagship, HMS Tonnant, on September 7 and spoke with Major General Robert Ross and Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner, while they discussed war plans. At first, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes, but relented after Key and Skinner showed them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment.

Because Key and Skinner had heard details of the plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were held captive until after the battle, first aboard HMS Surprise, and later back on HMS Minden. After the bombardment, certain British gunboats attempted to slip past the fort and effect a landing in a cove to the west of it, but they were turned away by fire from nearby Fort Covington, the city's last line of defense. During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort’s smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shelling had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered, and the larger flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a treasure of the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.

Aboard the ship the next day, Key wrote a poem on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket. At twilight on 16 September, he and Skinner were released in Baltimore. He finished the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel, where he was staying, and he entitled it "Defence of Fort McHenry."

Key gave the poem to his brother-in-law, Judge Joseph H. Nicholson. Nicholson saw that the words fit the popular melody "To Anacreon in Heaven", an old British drinking song from the mid-1760s, composed in London by John Stafford Smith. Nicholson took the poem to a printer in Baltimore, who anonymously printed broadside copies of it—the song’s first known printing—on 17 September; of these, two known copies survive.

On 20 September, both the Baltimore Patriot and The American printed the song, with the note "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven". The song quickly became popular, with seventeen newspapers from Georgia to New Hampshire printing it. Soon after, Thomas Carr of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore published the words and music together under the title "The Star-Spangled Banner", although it was originally called "Defence of Fort McHenry." The song’s popularity increased, and its first public performance took place in October, when Baltimore actor Ferdinand Durang sang it at Captain McCauley’s tavern.

The song gained popularity throughout the nineteenth century and bands played it during public events, such as July 4 celebrations. On 27 July 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military and other appropriate occasions. Although the playing of the song two years later during the seventh-inning stretch of the 1918 World Series is often noted as the first instance that the Anthem was played at a baseball game, evidence shows that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed as early as 1897 at Opening Day ceremonies in Philadelphia and then more regularly at the Polo Grounds in New York City beginning in 1898. However, the tradition of performing the national anthem before every baseball game began in World War II. Today, the anthem is performed before the beginning of all NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL games, as well as in a pre-race ceremonies portion of every NASCAR race.

On 3 November 1929, Robert Ripley drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon, Ripley's Believe it or Not!, saying "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem." In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor, stating that "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key’s "soul-stirring" words. By a law signed on 3 March 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States.

Lyrics

1
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

2
On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

3
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

4
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

New York 4th of July Parade of Nations, 1911

2007-12-16T19:47:00.001-08:00

A series of images from the Library of Congress showing different immigrant groups marching in a New York Independence Day Parade. Click on each image for a larger view.

Uncle Sam's Birthday Poster, 1918

2007-12-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

From the Library of Congress. Uncle Sam's Birthday, 142 years young and going strong!

Independence Day Poster, 1939

2007-12-06T18:30:00.001-08:00

Downers Grove, DuPage County, Northern Illinois. Fourth of July Poster, 1939. Produced for the Federal Art Project.

Fourth of July, Takoma Park, Maryland, 1922

2007-12-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

Click on the the above image for a larger view.

18,000 Soldiers Create Statue of Liberty During WWI

2007-12-02T19:27:00.001-08:00

My Aunt Sheila forwarded this image to me. The caption reads: "Human Statue of Liberty, 18,000 Officers and Men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, IA. Col Wm. Newman, Commanding. Col. Rush S. Wells, Directing."

Veterans Day 2007, Honoring Those Who Served

2007-11-12T20:32:00.001-08:00

Today I remember and honor my father, Ronald Asala (1944-2004), who served in the U.S. Army in the late 196os, and my grandfather, Lon Dawson (1923-2004), who served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

I Want You for the U.S. Army

2007-11-03T21:50:00.001-07:00

"I Want You for the U.S. Army" is available as a poster.

Text from American Treasures from the Library of Congress

Originally published as the cover for the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie's Weekly with the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" this portrait of "Uncle Sam" went on to become—according to its creator, James Montgomery Flagg—"the most famous poster in the world." Over four million copies were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the United States entered World War I and began sending troops and materials into war zones.

Flagg (1877-1960) contributed forty-six works to support the war effort. He was a member of the first Civilian Preparedness Committee organized in New York in 1917 and chaired by Grosvenor Clarkson. He also served as a member of Charles Dana Gibson's Committee of Pictorial Publicity, which was organized under the federal government's Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel.

Because of its overwhelming popularity, the image was later adapted for use in World War II. Upon presenting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a copy of the poster, Flagg remarked that he had been his own model for Uncle Sam to save the modeling fee. Roosevelt was impressed and replied: "I congratulate you on your resourcefulness in saving model hire. Your method suggests Yankee forebears."

Uncle Sam is one of the most popular personifications of the United States. However, the term "Uncle Sam" is of somewhat obscure derivation. Historical sources attribute the name to a meat packer who supplied meat to the army during the War of 1812—Samuel (Uncle Sam) Wilson (1766-1854). "Uncle Sam" Wilson was a man of great fairness, reliability, and honesty, who was devoted to his country—qualities now associated with "our" Uncle Sam.

Irish-American Greeting

2007-11-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this would have been sent to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or if it was sent for the Fourth of July to an Irish-American. The caption simply reads "Greeting."

Decoration Day Postcard (Memorial Day)

2007-11-02T10:55:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action.