"Execrable Parricides!"

Washington did not linger over his victory. Even while the British fleet still hung about the harbor he began to send troops to New York to make ready for the next attack. He entered Boston in order to see that every precaution was taken against the spread of smallpox, and then prepared to depart himself. Two ideas, during his first winter of conflict, had taken possession of his mind, and undoubtedly influenced profoundly his future course. One was the conviction that the struggle must be fought out to the bitter end, and must bring either subjugation or complete independence. He wrote in February: "With respect to myself, I have never entertained an idea of an accommodation, since I heard of the measures which were adopted in consequence of the Bunker Hill fight"; and at an earlier date he said: "I hope my countrymen (of Virginia) will rise superior to any losses the whole navy of Great Britain may bring on them, and that the destruction of Norfolk and threatened devastation of other places will have no other effect than to unite the whole country in one indissoluble band against a nation which seems to be lost to every sense of virtue and those feelings which distinguish a civilized people from the most barbarous savages." With such thoughts he sought to make Congress appreciate the probable long duration of the struggle, and he bent every energy to giving permanency to his army, and decisiveness to each campaign. The other idea which had grown in his mind during the weary siege was that the Tories were thoroughly dangerous and deserved scant mercy. In his second letter to Gage he refers to them, with the frankness which characterized him when he felt strongly, as "execrable parricides," and he made ready to treat them with the utmost severity at New York and elsewhere. When Washington was aroused there was a stern and relentless side to his character, in keeping with the force and strength

which were his chief qualities. His attitude on this point seems harsh now when the old Tories no longer look very dreadful. But they were dangerous then, and Washington, with his honest hatred of all that seemed to partake of meanness or treason, proposed to put them down and render them harmless, being well convinced, after his clearsighted fashion, that war was not peace, and that mildness to domestic foes was sadly misplaced.

His errand to New England was now done and well done. His victory was won, everything was settled at Boston; and so, having sent his army forward, he started for New York, to meet the harder trials that still awaited him.

George Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge, Vol. I, p. 152.

CHAPTER XIV

THE STARS AND STRIPES AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The Commander-in-chief Invited to Confer with Congress

When President [of Congress] Hancock, under date of May 16, wrote to the commander-in-chief advising him of the resolution of Congress requesting his presence in Philadelphia, he added:

"I request the favor that you will please to honor me with your and your lady's company at my house, where I have a bed at your service, and where every endeavor on my part and Mrs. Hancock's will be exerted to make your abode agreeable. I reside in an airy, open part of the city, in Arch street, corner of Fourth street.

""

Washington, however, on his arrival at Philadelphia, received a note from Mr. Hancock, expressing his sorrow that it was not in his power to wait on him in person on account of a severe fit of the gout. From this note it does not appear that the General and Mrs. Washington availed themselves of the invitation.

Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to December 23, 1783, William S. Baker, p. 40.

Going to Philadelphia

Washington left New York on May 21 and arrived at Philadelphia on the 23d, at two o'clock in the afternoon, stopping on the way at Amboy, New Jersey, "to view," as he wrote to General Schuyler, "the ground, and such places on Staten Island contiguous to it, as may be proper

Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775, to December 23, 1783. William S. Baker, p. 39.

Consulting with Congress on the Coming Campaign

Agreeable to order, General Washington attended in Congress, and after some conference with him,

Resolved, that he be directed to attend again to

morrow.

Journal of Congress, May, 24, 1776.

Agreeable to order, General Washington attended, and after some conference with him,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with his excellency, General Washington, Major-general Gates, Brigadier-general Mifflin, and to concert a plan of military operations for the ensuing campaign."

Journal of Congress, May 25, 1776.

Attended by Indians, Washington Reviews the Troops

On Monday afternoon (May 27) General Washington, the members of Congress, Gen. Gates and Mifflin, reviewed the four battalions, the rifle battalion, the light horse, and three artillery companies of the city militia, amounting to near 2500 men, when they went through their manœuvres to general satisfaction. At the same time two battalions of the Continental troops were reviewed by the General. The Indians who are come to town on business with the Congress, attended the General in reviewing the militia.

Pennsylvania Gazette, May 29, 1776.

General Washington and the Stars and Stripes

The writer is indebted to the grandsons of Betsy Ross, Mr. William J. Canby and Mr. George Canby, for interesting and valuable information relative to the making of the first flag. Congress appointed General Washington, Colonel George Ross and Robert Morris a committee "authorized to design a suitable flag for the nation,"

and they called upon Mrs. Ross, who was conducting an upholstery business on Arch Street, below Third, in Philadelphia. Washington had frequently called upon Mrs. Ross before his appointment as commander-in-chief of the army, and knew her skill with the needle, having employed her to embroider his shirt ruffles and do needle-work of other kinds.

Mrs. Ross was shown a rough drawing of the flag, which was explained by General Washington. She objected to the six-pointed stars in the design, and suggested that they ought to have but five points. The sketch was redrawn in pencil by General Washington, the stars were changed to five-pointed, and other minor alterations were made.

The fact that in the original drawing the stars were six-pointed is strong evidence that they were not derived from the Washington arms, for those on his escutcheon were five-pointed, but one ingenious writer quotes Washington as saying that "he preferred a star that would not be an exact copy of those on his coat of arms, and that he also thought a six-pointed star would be easier to make." Mrs. Ross demonstrated the ease of making a five-pointed star, by folding a piece of paper and producing one by a single clip of her scissors.

The Stars and Stripes and Other American Flags, Peleg D. Harrison, p. 62.

Ordering the Flag Made

So they needed another flag-a real liberty flag. In June, 1776, only a few weeks before the great Declaration, a committee of three persons, General Washington, Robert Morris (who afterwards became the money manager of the Revolution) and Colonel George Ross, called on Mrs. Ross, the widow of Colonel Ross's nephew, to have a banner made. The members of the committee had evidently availed themselves of the advice of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, for he was interested in flags and had been chairman of the previous flag committee. Washington and his