GODDESS
BLESS
AMERICA
ISIS MOON TEMPLE
PAGAN PATRIOTIC
PAGE 3
OLD GLORY
This famous name was coined by Captain Stephen Driver, a shipmaster of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard the brig CHARLES DOGGETT - and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the BOUNTY - some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed "Old Glory!"
He retired to Nashville in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the Civil War erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver's "Old Glory." When Tennesee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.
Then on February 25th, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capital. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if "Old Glory" still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bedcover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24-starred original "Old Glory"!
Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned with the soldiers to the capitol. Though he was sixty years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted - and later adopted the nickname "Old Glory" as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver's devotion to the flag we honor yet today.
Captain Driver's grave is located in the old Nashville City Cemetery, and is one of three (3) places authorized by act of Congress where the Flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day.
I have so far been unable to determine where "Old Glory" resides today. A caption above a faded black and white picture in the book, The Stars and the Stripes, says only that " 'Old Glory' may no longer be opened to be photographed, and no color photograph is available." Visible in the photo in the lower right corner of the canton is an appliqued anchor, Captain Driver's very personal note. "Old Glory" is the most illustrious of a number of flags - both Northern and Confederate - reputed to have been similarly hidden, then later revealed as times changed.
FLAG DAY HISTORY
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary if the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day
AMERICAN BALD EAGLE
Haliaeetus Leucocephalus -
The bald eagle is truly an all-American bird -- it is the only eagle unique to North America. It ranges over most of the continent, from the northern reaches of Alaska and Canada down to northern Mexico. The bald eagle, our national symbol, is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 43 of the lower 48 states and listed as threatened in Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. (There are about 40,000 bald eagles in Alaska and none in Hawaii.) However, bald eagles have improved greatly in numbers, productivity, and security in recent years.
Male bald eagles generally measure 3 feet from head to tail, weigh 7 to 10 pounds, and have a wingspan of about 6 1/2 feet. Females are larger, some reaching 14 pounds and having a wingspan of up to 8 feet. This striking raptor has large, pale eyes; a powerful yellow beak; and great, black talons. The distinctive white head and tail feathers appear only after the bird is 4 to 5 years old.
Bald eagles are believed to live 30 years or longer in the wild, and even longer in captivity. They mate for life and build huge nests in the tops of large trees near rivers, lakes, marshes, or other wetland areas. Nests are often reused year after year. With additions to the nests made annually, some may reach 10 feet across and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. Although bald eagles may range over great distances, they usually return to nest within 100 miles of where they were raised.
Bald eagles normally lay two to three eggs once a year and the eggs hatch after about 35 days. The young eagles are flying within 3 months and are on their own about a month later. However, disease, lack of food, bad weather, or human interference can kill many eaglets; sometimes only about half will survive their first year.
The staple of most bald eagle diets is fish, but they will feed on almost anything they can catch, including ducks, rodents, snakes, and carrion. In winter, northern birds migrate south and gather in large numbers near open water areas where fish or other prey are plentiful.
Wildlife experts believe there may have been 25,000 to as many as 75,000 nesting bald eagles in the lower 48 states when the bird was adopted as our national symbol in 1782. Since that time, the bald eagle has suffered from habitat destruction and degradation, illegal shooting, and contamination of its food source, most notably due to the pesticide DDT. By the early 1960s there were fewer than 450 bald eagle nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.
Bald eagles have few natural enemies. But in general they need an environment of quiet isolation; tall, mature trees; and clean waters. Those conditions have changed over much of the bald eagle's former habitat.
History notes many wilderness areas were cleared for farms and towns, and virgin forests were cut for timber and fuel. And, today, an increasing number of people flock to the nation's waterways for recreation, with growing impacts on bald eagle habitat.
Meanwhile, these birds of prey became prey themselves. Although primarily fish and carrion eaters, bald eagles and other raptors were seen as marauders that killed chickens, lambs, and other domestic livestock. As a consequence, large numbers were shot by farmers, ranchers, and others.
In 1940, noting that the national bird was "threatened with extinction," Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act which made it illegal to kill, harass, possess (without a permit), or sell bald eagles. In 1967, bald eagles were officially declared an endangered species (under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973) in all areas of the United States south of the 40th parallel. Federal and state government agencies, along with private organizations, successfully sought to alert the public about the bald eagle's plight and to protect its habitat from further destruction.
The greatest threat to the bald eagle's existence arose from the widespread use of DDT and other pesticides after World War II. DDT was sprayed on croplands throughout the country and its residues washed into lakes and streams. There, they were absorbed by aquatic plants and small animals that were eaten by fish. The contaminated fish, in turn, were consumed by bald eagles.
The chemical interfered with the bald eagle's ability to develop strong shells for its eggs. As a result, bald eagles and many other bird species began laying eggs with shells so thin they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch. Their reproduction disrupted, bald eagle populations plummeted. As the dangers of DDT became known, in large part due to Rachel Carson's famous book Silent Spring, this chemical was banned for most uses in the United States in 1972.
In addition to the adverse effects of DDT, bald eagles also died from lead poisoning as a result of feeding on hunter-killed or crippled waterfowl containing lead shot and from lead shot that was inadvertently ingested by the waterfowl. (In 1991, a 5- year program to phase out the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)
Gradually, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assembled the largest colony of breeding bald eagles in captivity at its Patuxent Wildlife Research Center near Laurel, Maryland, in a major effort to return healthy eagles to the wild (the center is now run by the National Biological Survey).
Patuxent's scientists enhanced the species' breeding potential by removing the bald eagle's first clutch of eggs and incubating them artificially. The bald eagles would usually then lay a second clutch, which the birds were allowed to incubate themselves. In all, 124 bald eagles were hatched at Patuxent.
These captive-hatched bald eagles were an important source for restocking wild populations in certain areas of the country and helped to reestablish a broader distribution. Patuxent's program came to an end in 1988, as bald eagles began to reproduce more successfully in the wild, and the center turned its efforts toward other more critically endangered species.
Some states continue reintroduction efforts, and two methods are generally used. Eaglets used for reintroduction may be captive-hatched or, since usually only two young per nest survive, they may be transferred from a bald eagle nest with a clutch of more than two.
These "extra" eaglets are placed in the nest of an adult pair whose own eggs are infertile or fail to hatch. The "foster parents" readily adopt the chicks and raise them as their own.
Another method, called hacking, is a procedure adapted from the sport of falconry. At 8 weeks of age, nestling eaglets are placed on manmade towers located in remote areas where bald eagle populations are low or non-existent. The eaglets are kept in an enclosure and fed by humans who stay out of sight. When the birds are capable of flight, at about 12 weeks old, the enclosure around the artificial nest is opened and the birds are free to leave. Food is still provided at the release site until the birds learn to fend for themselves in the wild.
With these and other recovery methods, as well as habitat improvement and the banning of DDT, the bald eagle has made a remarkable comeback. From fewer than 450 nesting pairs in the early 1960s, there are now more than 4,000 adult bald eagles nesting pairs and an unknown number of young and subadults in the conterminous United States. This represents a substantial breeding population. In the last few years, several states have had breeding bald eagles for the first time in years. While habitat loss still remains a threat to the bald eagle's full recovery, most experts agree that it is making encouraging progress. Soon our national symbol soaring the skies may become a common sight for Americans to once again behold.
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