USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 9
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FORT MANDAN
Lewis and Clark established at their camp a post which was known as Fort Mandan, consisting of two rows of huts or sheds, forming an angle where they joined each other. Each row had four rooms, fourteen feet square and seven feet high, with plank ceiling, and the roof slanting so as to form a loft above the rooms, the highest part of which was eighteen feet above the ground. The body of the huts formed a wall of that height. Opposite the angle the place of the wall was supplied by picketing, and in the rear were two rooms for stores and provisions. The American flag was raised over Fort Mandan for the first time December 25, 1804, and this was probably the first time that the flag floated in North Dakota.
THE FLAG ON FORT MANDAN
The flag raised by Lewis and Clark over Fort Mandan was the flag adopted by the United States Congress January 13, 1794, with fifteen stripes and fifteen stars, instead of the original thirteen stripes and thirteen stars provided by the act of June 14, 1777. Congress first met in Washington November 17, 1800, and Ohio, the seventeenth state, was the first one to be admitted in Washington and bears the date April 30, 1802. After that there were no states admitted
The United States Flag
Adopted June 14, 1777.
Flag of the free heart's hope and home By angels' hands to valor given; Thy stars have lit the welkin dense, And all thy hues are born in Heaven. Forever float that standard sheet! Where breathes the foe but falls before nis, With Freedom's soil beneath our feel, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us. - Joseph Rodman Drake.
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for ten years, or until Louisiana joined the Union, April 8, 1812. But not until the act of April 4, 1818, was provision made for adding a star for each state admitted.
OUR FLAG AND ITS DAY
"Your Flag and my Flag ! To every star and stripe The drums beat as hearts beat And fifers shrilly pipe ! Your Flag and my Flag- A blessing in the sky: Your hope and my hope- It never hid a lie !
Home land and far land, and half the world around, Old Glory hears our glad salute, and ripples to the sound !" -Wilbur D. Nesbit.
Since the dawn of our republic there have been at least four distinctive flags for which their devotees were willing to sacrifice their lives. They were the "Pine Tree State," the "Rattlesnake," "Liberty and Union," and the "Stars and Stripes" of 1777.
Flags of various designs had been in use by the soldiers of the American colonies in the early days and Revolutionary as well as more recent exploration periods, the "Bear Flag," for example, now being jealously guarded by the Pacific Coast pioneers.
The "New England Flag," used during the Colonial and Provincial periods, was white, bearing the red cross of St. George, with a pine tree in the corner. The pine tree is still borne on one side of the flag of the State of Massachusetts. The flag which was carried at the siege of Boston bore the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George in the corner.
Two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on October 21, 1774, the patriots of Taunton, a small town in the State of Massachusetts, as a protest against British rule, raised over the "Green," in the center of the town, a flag inscribed "Union and Liberty." It was the first flag of the Ameri- can colonies in opposition to the British, and has been immortalized in verse by Hezekiah Butterworth under the title of "The Red Flag of Taunton."
STARS AND STRIPES
The first stripes used on the American colors were borne by cavalry in 1775. The colors presented to the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop, organized 1774. were made of bright yellow (for cavalry) silk, forty inches long, thirty-four inches broad, and had thirteen blue and silver stripes alternate in the corner or canton. Over the crest in the center of the banner, a horse's head, were the letters "L. H." (Light Horse). Underneath was a scroll, with the words, "For These We Strive," and on the sides an Indian and an angel blowing a trumpet. The flag that flew from Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., first run up January 1, 1776, was composed of thirteen red and white stripes, with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew emblazoned on the blue space, instead Vol. 1-5
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of the stars. In February of that year from the fleet on the Delaware River the same flag floated.
TIIE ELEVENTH TOAST
At the celebration by Congress of the first anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Alliance, Amity and Commerce, which took place at Paris, February 6, 1778, whereby France recognized the independence of the United States, this being the first treaty made by the United States with any foreign power, thirteen toasts were drunk. The eleventh honored the flag in a practical manner :
"May the American stripes bring Great Britain to reason."
The flag then had thirteen stripes.
"My forefathers were America in the making; They spoke in her council halls; They died on her battlefields; They commanded her ships; They cleared her forests. Dawns reddened and paled, Stanch hearts of mine beat fast at each new star In the Nation's flag. Keen eyes of mine foresaw her greater glory;
The sweep of her seas, The plenty of her plains, The man-hives in her billion-wired cities. Every drop of blood in me holds a heritage of patriotism.
I am proud of my past. I am an American."
-Elias Lieberman.
The United States flag was first seen and saluted in foreign lands February 14, 1778, flying from the United States ship Ranger as she sailed into the harbor of Brest, in command of John Paul Jones, and received from the French commander the salute from the guns of his fleet.
The decline of the royal ensign took place on the 25th of November, 1783, when the British troops evacuated New York, the stars and stripes being hoisted in the city while the royal ensign was run down.
PROPORTIONS ADJUSTED
June 14, 1777, the United States Congress adopted a resolution that the flag of the thirteen independent states should be thirteen stripes alternate red and white, and that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation. The thirteen original states in order of settlement, were: Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, New Jersey, South Carolina, Penn- sylvania and Georgia.
The original domain of the United States over which the flag held dominion, comprised the thirteen states with the additional area acquired by conquest from Great Britain; the whole being bounded on the west by the Mississippi River, on the south by the thirty-first parallel of latitude,-the Florida boundary,- on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the north by the British possessions. The part of the area called the Northwest Territory, in which New York, Penn-
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sylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia originally held claims, was subsequently relinquished to the general government. Its domain is today (1916) estimated at three million six hundred and eighty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty square miles, including insular dependencies.
The public announcement of the adoption of the flag and the design, occurred on September 3, 1777, and it was first displayed at Fort Schuyler in 1777, on the site of the present city of Rome, N. Y., where there was a garrison of about eight hundred men to whom the new statute regarding the flag was announced on the evening of the second day of August, and a flag, composed of cloth cut out of wearing apparel, but complete according to the statute, was made, and the next day, with due formality, the drummer beating the "assembly," and the adjutant reading the resolution, the flag of the republic was raised on the north- east bastion of the fort, that being nearest the camp of the enemy. This much is absolutely certain regarding the flag's nativity. It cannot be antedated, and it had thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, and January 13, 1794, in order to add two more states,-Vermont (which produced many strong pioneers for the western states, and celebrated her one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary July 12, 1916) 1791, Kentucky, 1792-the flag was changed by law to take effect May 1, 1795, to comprise fifteen stripes alternate red and white ; the Union being represented by fifteen stars, white in a blue field, and this was the national flag during the War of 1812, and the one which was apostrophized by Francis Scott Key, the "Star-Spangled Banner," while waving over Fort McHenry, Sep- tember 14, 1814, at the unsuccessful bombardment of the City of Baltimore, Md., by the British, and which now reposes in the National Museum at Washington. It was presented, when its usefulness was over, to Colonel George Armistead, the commander of the fort, and was inherited by his daughter, Mrs. William Stuart Appleton, who in her will bequeathed it to her daughter, who also married an Appleton, and was the mother of William Sumner Appleton, now corresponding secretary of the Society for the Preservation of Antiquities in Boston. The will was broken and the flag passed to her son, Eben Appleton, of New York, who in 1915 presented it to the National Museum, where it can be seen by the people, "at last finding a safe resting-place," writes Sumner Appleton, "for which we must all be very glad."
It was the flag of 1795, under which General Andrew Jackson fought the battle of New Orleans, the flag raised by Lewis and Clark at Fort Mandan and Astoria, which gave Oregon to the United States, under which Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana were admitted to the Union of States. With the admission of Mis- sissippi the flag took thirteen stripes and twenty stars under the act of April 4, 1818. approved by President James Monroe, that required after the Fourth of July following, the flag of the United States should be thirteen horizontal stripes, alter- nate red and white, and that the union should comprise twenty stars, white on a blue field.
Also. (Section 2) it was further enacted that on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag, and that such addition should take effect on the Fourth of July next succeeding such admission.
The first flag of this description was hoisted on the flagstaff of the old house of representatives at Washington on April 13. 1818, and up to the present time
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this regulation has been observed upon the admission of each new state to the Union, except in respect to the United States revenue flag, the stripes on which number sixteen, running vertically, but in 100 years of vicissitude more or less aggrandizing, the banner seems to have become in a measure self-adjustable, for in 1912, by measurements in the process of preparing the pattern it was found that while the proportionate size of the blue field to the rest of the flag had not been increased, the proportion of blue in the national emblem had grown in a marked degree, while the stars had diminished in size.
THE COAST GUARD FLAG
The Coast Guard was created by act of Congress January 28, 1915, and takes the place of the Revenue Cutter Service, established in 1790, and the Life Saving Service which dates back to 1848, and constitutes a part of the military forces of the United States.
The distinctive flag flown from the foremast on all coast-guard cutters causes many inquiries as to its origin, and the following extracts from the annual report of the United States Coast Guard for 1915 will therefore be of interest :
"Nine years after the establishment of the Revenue Cutter Service, the forebear of the existing Coast Guard, Congress, in the act of March 2, 1799, provided that :
"'The cutters and boats employed in the service of the revenue shall be distinguished from other vessels by an ensign and pennant, with such marks thereon as shall be prescribed by the President. If any vessel or boat, not employed in the service of the revenue, shall, within the jurisdiction of the United States, carry or hoist any pennant or ensign prescribed for vessels in such service, the master of the vessel so offending shall be liable to a penalty of $100.'
"Under date of August 1, 1799, the secretary of the treasury, Oliver Wolcott, issued an order announcing that in pursuance of authority from the President the distinguishing ensign and pennant should consist of 'sixteen perpendicular stripes, alternate red and white, the Union of the ensign to be the arms of the United States in dark blue on a white field.'"
This picturesque flag, with its vertical stripes, now so familiar in American waters, was arranged with historical detail, inasmuch as in the union of the flag there are thirteen stars, thirteen leaves to the olive branch, thirteen arrows, and thirteen bars to the shield, all corresponding to the original number of states constituting the Union at the time of the founding of the Republic. The six- teen vertical stripes in the body of the flag are symbolical of the number of states composing the Union when this flag was officially adopted. Originally intended to be flown only on revenue cutters and boats connected with the customs service, in the passage of time there grew up a practice of flying this distinctive flag from certain custom-houses, and finally, by direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in 1874, it was flown from all custom-houses. From then until 1910 it was displayed indiscriminately on custom-houses, customs boats, and revenue cutters.
In order, therefore, that this distinctive ensign, the sign of authority of a cutter, should be used for no other purpose as originally contemplated. President Taft issued the following Executive Order on June 7, 1910:
A MANDAN VILLAGE
From a painting by Charles Bodmer from "Travels to the Interior of North America in 1832-3-4," by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 1843.
=
WINTER VILLAGE OF THE MINETAREEN
From a painting by Charles Bodmer from "Travels to the Interior of North America in 1832-3-4," by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 1843.
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"By virtue of the authority vested in me under the provisions of section 2764 of the revised statutes, I hereby prescribe that the distinguishing flag now used by vessels of the Revenue-Cutter Service be marked by the distinctive emblem of that service, in blue and white, placed on a line with the lower edge of the union, and over the center of the seventh vertical red stripe from the mast of said flag, the emblem to cover a horizontal space of three stripes. This change to be made as soon as practicable."
"Upon the establishment of the coast guard, which absorbed the duties of the Revenue-Cutter Service, the ensign described above became the distinctive flag of coast-guard cutters, which if flown from any other vessel or boat within the jurisdiction of the United States will subject the offender to the penalty of the law."
THE WINTER OF 1804-'05
The winter of 1804-'05, was a cold one. The mercury sometimes dropped as low as 47 degrees below zero, and yet there was much of interest occurring during that winter. The Indians were frequent visitors. bringing their corn and game in exchange for the work of the blacksmith .. Arrow points, made from iron hoops, and battle axes from a cast-off sheet-iron stove, were of particular value to them. While the Indians were jealous of the reputation of their wives and daughters, and resented any advances made by their brother Indians, they were not averse to attentions from their white visitors, and were solicitous to a degree for York, who was preferred to any one of the party.
The soldiers visited the lodges, sometimes dancing for the amusement of the Indians. York generally accompanied them and was the star attraction at all times, entertaining them with his stories. He assured them that he was a wild man until caught and tamed by Captain Clark, and told them other stories of like character.
The Indians made it a rule to offer food to the white men on their first entrance to their homes, indeed there was nothing too good to place before them and urge upon them, and the union of the whites with the natives, may account for the light hair and blue eyes found among the Mandans.
The women were noted for their industry and for their obedience to their husbands' commands. When their husbands desired to make a present to the little garrison of meat or corn, they brought it "on the backs of their squaws," whose services they were ready to lend for any other purpose for a slight con- sideration, or as an act of friendship.
Many little incidents occurred during the winter to endear the whites to the Indians of these villages, but nothing more than the fact that when the Sioux made a raid and killed some of their hunters, Captain Clark turned out nearly his entire force, armed and equipped, and offered to lead the Indians against the Sioux.
THE BEAUTIFUL AURORA BOREALIS
The extreme cold did not interfere seriously with the Indian sports, and Captain Lewis speaks of the beautiful northern lights, still characteristic of North Dakota. He writes:
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"Along the northern sky was a large space occupied by a pale but brilliant color, which, rising from the horizon, extended itself to nearly 20 degrees above it. After glistening for some time, its colors would be overcast and almost obscured, but again would burst out with renewed beauty. The uniform color was pale light, but its shapes were various and fantastic. At times the sky was lined with light-colored streaks, rising perpendicularly from the horizon and gradually expanding into a body of light in which we could trace the floating colunins, sometimes advancing, sometimes retreating, and shaping into infinite forms the space in which they moved."
Much of the winter was spent in gaining information from the Indians in relation to the country, and as to the number, habits, customs and traditions of the several tribes.
Rene Jessaume had resided at the villages about fifteen years. He was entirely familiar with the language and habits of the Indians, and was accordingly employed as a Mandan interpreter, and immediately took up his residence at the camp of the explorers. In the course of the winter Toussaint Charbonneau was employed as an Hidatsa interpreter, and he and his good wife Sakakawea, the "Bird-Woman," who became the Shoshone interpreter after reaching the plains of Montana, also took up their residence at the fort. Joseph Gravelines was the Arikara interpreter, and John B. LePage, who was also employed at the Mandan villages, the Cheyenne interpreter.
VISITING TRADERS
Hugh McCracken, an independent trader, associated usually with the North- West Company, was at the Mandan villages at the time of the arrival of Lewis and Clark, for the purpose of trading for buffalo robes and horses. The explorers took advantage of his presence to send special copies of their pass- ports to Mr. Charles Chaboillez and asked the friendly offices of the North-West Company on their trip to the Pacific Coast. In due time they received a reply, with the assurance that the North-West Company would afford them every assistance within their power.
They were also visited during the winter by Charles Mckenzie and Francois A. Larocque of the North-West Company, and later, by Hugh Heney, of the Hudson's Bay Company. Some of these parties visited Fort Mandan several times during the winter, and were allowed to trade at the villages without any interference.
When the river was breaking up in the spring, the Indians fired the prairie, and drove the buffalo on to the ice and killed many of them on cakes of ice and towed them ashore. A large number were drowned, and many of these were taken by the Indians and used for meat.
During the winter a large number of specimens were gathered or prepared by the party, and shipped to President Jefferson by the barge which left the villages the same day that Lewis and Clark left for the Pacific Coast.
The river broke up on the 25th of March, 1805, and April Ist, the boats were again placed in the water. Captain Lewis notes that the first rain since October 15th, fell on that day. They had spent a winter of bright sunshine, and such winters often occur now as well as 100 years ago.
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One day they were out on the river bottoms, in February, and killed 3,000 pounds of game, among the lot thirty-six deer. Deer are still found on the river bottoms. The buffalo are gone, but myriads of ducks and geese still come and go.
At the time of their departure for the Pacific Coast, Corporal Richard Warf- ington, whose term had expired, but who was held in the service for the purpose, left in the barge for St. Louis, with Joseph Gravelines, pilot, and six soldiers. They carried the specimens intended for the president, and were accompanied by an Arikara chief, who went to Washington in charge of Mr. Gravelines. The chief died in Washington, but Gravelines returned to the tribe in 1806, with the presents received by the chief, and a message from the President to the tribe.
On the 7th of April, 1805, the party then consisting of thirty-two persons, pulled out of Fort Mandan for the Pacific coast via the headwaters of the Missouri. The names of the party were as follows :
ROSTER OF THE COMPANY
Commissioned officers: Captains, William Clark, Meriwether Lewis. Non- commissioned officers : Sergeants, Patrick Gass, John Ordway, Nathaniel B. Prior and Corporal Richard Warfington, detailed for Washington; privates, William Bratton, John Colter, John Collins, Peter Cruzette, Joseph Fields, Reuben Fields, Robert Frazier, George Gibbon, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hull, Thomas P. Howard, Francis Labiche, Baptiste LePage, Hugh McNeill, John Potts, George Shannon, John Shields, John B. Thompson, William Werner, Joseph Whitehouse, Alexander Willard, Richard Windsor, Peter Wiser, York.
The interpreters were George Drewyer and Toussaint Charbonneau, a French- Canadian voyageur, the latter accompanied by his wife Sakakawea, and a child born February 11, 1805, in the camp of the explorers at the Mandan villages. Drewyer was a half-blood Indian, and was the hunter of the expedition. He was afterward associated with Manuel Lisa in the fur trade as George Drouillard. They used six canoes and two pirogues (a boat made out of a long soft wood lag) for their trip above the Mandan villages. One of the canoes was sunk the next day.
THE RETURN
The expedition returned from the Pacific Coast to the Mandan villages, Sep- tember 17, 1806. Fort Mandan had been destroyed by an accidental fire, but they were most cordially received by the Indians. They gave Le Borgne full recognition on his reporting that he had not received the presents sent him by Cherry on the Bush, and presented him with a new lot befitting his station. They, also, gave him the swivel gun which had been used to salute or "talk," as they called it, to all the tribes with whom they had dealings on their trip. This gift was received by Le Borgne with great satisfaction, and carried to his headquar- ters with much ceremony.
Independent British traders established a post at the mouth of the James River in 1804, after the expedition had passed that point and when Lewis and Clark returned in 1806, it was in charge of James Aird, representing Robert
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Dickson, then operating on the headwaters of the Mississippi and on the Minne- sota rivers.
Hastening to St. Louis the explorers gave by their arrival the first informa- tion relative to them which had been received in the states since they left the Mandan villages in April, 1805.
Charbonneau not wishing to return to the states, remained at the Indian villages. Rene Jessaume was employed as an interpreter, and accompanied the Mandan Chief Shahaka to Washington with Captains Lewis and Clark.
It was the middle of February, 1807, before they reached the national capital and on March 3, 1807, Captain Lewis was appointed governor of Louisiana Territory. He died October 11, 1809, at the age of thirty-four years, while in that position. His deathi was attributed to suicide, but there is reason to believe that he was murdered and robbed at the inn where he was stopping on his way to Washington in connection with the adjustment of his accounts. The owner of the inn where he died was tried for his murder but the evidence was not suf- ficient to convict. The body of Governor Lewis, when found, had but 25 cents in money on it, and the inn keeper after his acquittal, displayed considerable money which he had suddenly acquired. It is not probable that Governor Lewis would have taken an official trip without money for the payment of his bills. His body was buried within the limits of the State of Tennessee near the spot where he was shot, and a monument was erected by the state to commemorate his life and work.
March 12, 1807, Captain Clark was appointed by President Jefferson briga- dier-general of the militia of the Territory of Louisiana, and agent of the United States for Indian affairs in that department.
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