Young folks' history of the United States . nt. This was the courageous feeling with which the Dec- Tue bold- . ness of the laration of Independence was received. Yet at this step,very time the enterprise seemed so daring, and the con-dition of the American army was so poor, that Adjutant-General Reed, who, from his position, knew the stateof military affairs better than any one else, had writtenthus a few days before : — Every man, from the generalto the private, acquainted with our true situation, isexceedingly discouraged. Had I known the true posi-tion of affairs, no consideration would ha
Young folks' history of the United States . nt. This was the courageous feeling with which the Dec- Tue bold- . ness of the laration of Independence was received. Yet at this step,very time the enterprise seemed so daring, and the con-dition of the American army was so poor, that Adjutant-General Reed, who, from his position, knew the stateof military affairs better than any one else, had writtenthus a few days before : — Every man, from the generalto the private, acquainted with our true situation, isexceedingly discouraged. Had I known the true posi-tion of affairs, no consideration would have tempted meto take an active part in this scene. After the Declaration of Independence had been The na- ^ tional flag adopted, it was thought to be time that the UnitedStates should have a flag of its own, as being an in-dependent nation. At the opening of the war a varietyof flags had been used. That carried by the first war-vesselr commissioned by Washington was called the 200 YOUNG FOLKS UNITED STATES. Adoptionof a nat-ional pine-tree flag, and originated with the MassachusettsColony. It had a white ground, a tree in the middle,and the motto, Appeal to Heaven,This is the way the English papersdescribe the flag taken from a colonialvessel in 1776 ; and a map of Bostonwas published in Paris that same*year, which represented this flag. TheAmerican troops still sometimes usedthe British flag, considering themselvesstill a part of the British nation. WhileWashington was in command at Cam-bridge, he unfurled before the army anew flag, which had thirteen stripes ofred and white, as now, but had upon itscorner the red and white cross whichthen marked the British flag. Thiswas the flag carried by the Ameri-can troops into Boston when theroyal troops marched out; butCongress voted, June 17, 1777,that the flag of the thirteenUnited States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, andthe union be thirteen whitestars in the blue field. The first person to hoistthis new fla
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