American Declaration of Independence - Aftermath

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56

men  who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,

and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;

another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or

hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their

fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and

large plantation owners; men of means, well-educated,

but they signed the Declaration of Independence

knowing full well that the penalty would be death if

they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and

trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by

the British Navy. He sold his home and

properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British

that he was forced to move his family almost

constantly.  He served in the Congress without pay,

and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions

were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall,

Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and

Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson,Jr., noted that

the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson

home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General

George Washington to open fire. The home was

destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.

The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was

dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his

gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in

forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his

children vanished.

 

We thank these early patriots,

as well as those patriots now fighting to KEEP our freedom!

 

F. Loeffelbein's WHATCHAMA COLUMN; "A Look at the Cool Sites We've Lost On the Internet""

      I love browsing in used book stores because I often come across a tome that is intriguing enough for a column. Such was the case when I recently found a copy of "Cyber Hound's Internet Guide to the Coolest Stuff Out There", printed by a company called Visible Ink Press, a division of Gale Research, Inc. Gale, for many years, has specialized in printing reference books for libraries.
     Though this was printed in 1996, which is not long ago in human life years, practically everything I Googled from it has disappeared. The book is composed of 364 pages of then-current websites, showing how fast the Internet chews up and spits out the ideas and imaginations of us submittors. What a shame we will no longer be able to browse and learn from such sites as these:

Aaron A. Aardvark's Aardvark Abstract, which was a computer graphics video gallery featuring, among other things, a comic strip starring an aardvark and a nerdy turtle.

Angelnet, aimed at the inherent flower child in each of us, featured angels, yoga, dolphins, mages and music; a labyrinth to explore; meditation guides and angel water for sale; stories of angelic encounters, even an interactive poem.

Art Crimes' goal was "to help preserve and document the constantly disappearing works of the graffiti art movement." It included a graffiti FAQ, glossary, and bibliography; graffiti-related magazines and videos, tips for photographing graffiti, scanning images for use on the Web, and transferring images using FTP, critical reviews of graffiti literature, essays and calendars of graffiti art shows and events.

Ask Puddy was a cat who answered your questions about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on business, medicine and affairs of the heart.

The Asylum, submitted by someone in Cal Tech's education department, offered a gallery of peg-light art, a scratch pad they could draw on, an interactive "fiction therapy" salon, a cuckoo clock (with sound), a mascot that could be fed or smushed, a "core dump" of useless stuff. and a chance to immortalize oneself among the ranks of The Asylum's inmates.

 Avenger's Front Page was where one could find revenge strategies ranging from lively April Fool-type pranks to how to properly and definitely say goodbye to your old job, as well as links to o
other revenge-related resources, including how to pick a lock and the ultimate list of practical jokes. 

     And these few samples take us only through the A's - the sites are listed alphabetically A through Z - and page 33. What a shame we have lost the myriad musings offered by these hundreds of expectant Website authors. Like our earth in the deep-space universe, though, this fulsome listing is a mere speck in the vastness of the present day Internet! I guess that's why this book so intrigued me.

R. Loeffelbein's WHATCHAMA COLUMN: "Top 10 Summer Cooler Drink Recipes"

      It’s summer time and the living is HOT! It is the time we wrack our recipe files for summer day coolers, to relieve the heat, and hot sippers, to allay early morning or evening chills, while, at the same time, trying to please everyone’s palate.
      Whether it is just for one person’s after-work pick-me-up or for a group foray on a punch bowl on the patio or at a picnic, give up small prayers of thanks to all those who have spent past years experimenting with assorted ingredients and taste testing the ten resulting esoteric, tasty non-alcoholic recipes following that I have begged, borrowed, bought and bartered from family, friends and assorted other hosts.
      There is, of course, a place for the more mundane “Kool-Aid” and simple spinoffs I personally appreciate, like adding two rounded teaspoons of cherry or strawberry Kool-Ade/Country Time to a cup of cold milk, as well as the jillion assorted soda pops, flavored waters or bottled iced cappuccinos on the market, but it seems more sociable if a host offers self-mixed drinks, especially if they are unusual enough to serve as conversation starters. An upside is the host gaining an instant aura of sorts among the guests as being inventive, offbeat and fun. That’s no little thing.

1) Start with the SUPER SIMPLE SLUSH, incorporating two items usually consumed separately, lemonade and ice cream, A 13-year old girl passed this recipe on to me: In a tall glass of lemonade (either packaged or fresh from scratch) add enough vanilla ice cream to form a heavy slush. Stir to a smooth consistency. Best lemonade you’ll ever drink!

2) Cooler #2? Iced soup! No kidding. It’s cool, refreshing AND filling. I call it RED EYE.

After emptying 10 ½-ounce can Tomato soup into pan, fill soup can half full of water and add to soup.
Add one tablespoon lemon juice, saving the lemon peel for garnish.
Add small bottle club soda just before serving, to keep bubbles fresh.
Pour over cracked ice in wide-mouth glasses. Garnish with lemon peel.
Makes 3-4 servings.
     If you want some go-with-it treat, try brown-and-serve rolls stuffed with chili, or refried beans, or a mix of tuna fish, mayonnaise, mustard and pickle relish.

3) If anything can replace the coffee break, CONNIE KELLY PUNCH is it. I don’t even know who Connie Kelly was, but you will become the most popular person at work with a jug of this for TGIF afternoon sharing. And you won’t even need anything to go with it. Kelly may live in perpetuity for this, though in anonymity.

Refrigerate one 6-ounce can frozen lemonade and one 6-ounce can frozen orange juice until ready to  use.
Then mix them together in a large pitcher (or large thermos), with ¾ cup white granulated sugar, one teaspoon vanilla and two tablespoons honey, and pour into 10 cups cold water. Add ice.

4) The ALL-AMERICAN PICK-ME-UP includes several ingredients eaten in copious quantities, just not usually combined.  But what is more American than peanut butter, especially with apples, honey and yoghurt, which are its ingredients.
      Try a peanut butter and sliced sweet pickle sandwich with it. Or a peanut butter and jelly one sprinkled with raisins, mixed nuts and M&Ms or gumdrops. Or experiment if you want. I’ve even served ice cream with peanut butter topping for dessert.

Combine in blender and process until smooth (1-2 minutes at high speed):
1 ½ cups apple juice (or cran-apple juice),
One 8-ounce carton plain yoghurt,
 ¼ cup either creamy or chunky peanut butter,
 Two tablespoons honey.
Add two ice cubes, blending until all ice is crushed.
Serve cold. Makes about three cups.

5) “Tailgate” picnics have long been popular at football games, parades, rodeos or wherever else station wagon or pickup truck owners find themselves temporarily cut off from customary food and drink supply sources. Self-service food and drink is set up on these vehicles’ tailgates, thus the nomenclature. TAILGATE NOG is a quick energy drink, healthful, refreshing and a supplemental source of calcium and minerals. And it tastes good too.

Chill one 12-ounce can papaya nectar.
Peel one medium-sized banana and cut into chunks of slices.
Combine all in blender and process two to three minutes at high speed until smooth.
Serve cold. Makes about three cups.

6) Hawaiian themes are popular and easy to arrange. Have everyone come in print shirts and sarongs or muumuus, drape strips of flowers around everyone’s neck, float more flowers in the punch bowl or pool and bring in a hula instructor. Set plates around of stone ground crackers or tortilla chips and bite-size pepper cheese chunks, sweet and sour pickle chips and Polish Kielbasa sausage slices. (Never mind that these have nothing to do with Hawaii. No one will care. They go great with HAWAIIAN LUAU PUNCH.)

Ingredients:
3 large lemons, 4 tablespoons black tea, 2 cups white granulated sugar,
1 teaspoons vanilla, 1 teaspoon almond extract,
2 28-ounce bottles ginger ale, 1-2 cans Hawaiian pineapple tidbits (or fruit cocktail).
Freeze cans of pineapple (or fruit cocktail).
Wash lemons, extract juice, add rinds to sugar and 4 cups of cold water in sauce pan, then heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Boil 2 cups water and pour over black tea and steep for 10 minutes.
Strain tea and add it. Cool. Stir in vanilla and almond extract.
Chill until serving time. Serve in punch bowl, adding chilled ginger ale.
Extract pineapple as whole cylinders (or fruit cocktail) from cans and float in punch.
Makes 15 cup servings.

7) Eager to impress boss, new neighbors or critical in-laws? Try LASSI, a yoghurt-based drink typically found in Yugoslavia and Middle Eastern homes. Prepare it in front of guests, giving a running spiel on yoghurt’s economy, nutritional qualities and mythic ability to promote longevity.

Combine one cup flavored yoghurt, one teaspoon ground cumin,
one teaspoon salt in a deep bowl and whisk until smooth.
Slowly pour 3 cups ice water in to desired consistency until ingredients are blended.
Taste for seasoning, Pour into glasses and garnish with lemon wedges or mint sprigs.
Makes four servings.

8) Even the ingredients in SUNSET SIESTA TEA  - cinnamon and almond - seem to blend just right into a restful respite at sunset while rocking with good friends on the front porch or sipping in the hot tub.

Ingredients:
One individual Pekoe tea bag (or ¼ cup freshly brewed, or very hot instant/freeze dried coffee, if preferred)
4 drops almond extract. 2 dashes cinnamon and one cinnamon stick, 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar, one rounded teaspoon non-dairy creamer, a dollop of whipped topping.
Place almond extract, cinnamon and tea bag (or coffee) in mug.
Add 1/4 cup boiling water and brew 3-4 minutes. Remove tea bag.
Add sugar and creamer and stir. Garnish with whipped topping and cinnamon stick.
Makes one serving.

9) This change-of-pace hot drink, RUSSIAN TEA, might be called the anorexia nervosa breakfast, because it is a stimulating waker-upper for those days when breakfast just doesn‘t sound like a good enough reason to get up.

Combine ¾ cup instant tea, 2 ½ cups (or one 18-ounce jar) orange-flavored instant breakfast drink, 1 ¼ cups white granulated sugar, one teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground cloves and a dash of salt in large jar.
Store in jar, tightly covered, until ready to serve.
To serve, place one well-rounded teaspoon of mix in cup or glass.
Add boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Garnish with lemon slice and cinnamon stick.

10) “Tope” is an out-of-favor word designating an interjection used in wishing good health before drinking. It is apropos for gatherings where guests may be young enough to require boozeless punch. Citrus to the rescue.

Chill one 23-ounce bottle sparkling water, 6 cups orange juice, and 3 cups grapefruit juice.
Thickly slice two oranges.
Combine orange and grapefruit juices, 2 tablespoons grenadine, one tablespoon honey in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve honey.
Add orange slices. Just before serving add sparkling water.
Makes about 24 4-ounce servings.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
TEABERRY PUNCH combines two rounded tablespoons of instant tea, 2 cups cranberry juice cocktail, ¼ cup lemon juice, and sugar to taste in one quart of cold water. Makes 6 glasses.
RASPBERRY PUNCH incorporates ½ gallon vanilla ice cream, melted, and 3 10-ounce packages of frozen raspberries, thawed, mixed with 3-4 quarts of chilled ginger ale in a punch bowl and stirred until smooth. Makes about a gallon.

      Of course, there is no accounting for differing tasters since everyone has preferences acquired from various venues over time. To point up just how disparate tastes can be, a BOOBY PRIZE selection is also offered.
      Swedish millionaire and retired tennis professional Bjorn Borg used to swig his own concoction by the gallon for quick energy pickups while on the tennis tour. He never named it, so we’ve done that for him. We’ll call it BJORN’S BELLYASH.
      Mix carbonated lemonade with black currant syrup. That’s it! Personally, I have to wonder how anyone could do that to their taste buds!

R. Loeffelbein's WHATCHAMA COLUMN: "Father's Day Origins"

     The first Father's Day may have been celebrated in 1908...or 1909...or maybe 1910. It might have been 1916 or even 1936!
     Most sources credit a Spokane, Washington, woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, for being the driving force behind this observance, when she stated fathers deserved equal recognition with mothers, who had been recognized decades earlier.  
     Mother's Day, according to World Book, was suggested in 1872, but didn't really receive national recognition until May 9, 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress for it. The next year, he proclaimed it an annual national observance.
     Dodd, as well as her five siblings, including a newborn, were raised by their father, William Jackson Smart, after their mother died giving birth to the newborn. Dodd began calling for a Father's Day in 1909, after hearing a sermon promoting a national Mother's Day. But a statewide celebration was first held June 19, 1910, in the state of Washington, according to World Book Encyclopedia.
     Other sources deliver other claimants, of course. For example, Mrs. Charles Clayton of Wes Virginia had promoted, unsuccessfully, such a holiday as early as 1908. But the idea gained wide acceptance over the next half-dozen years, even being approved by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Finally a national Father's Day Committee was formed, in 1936.
     Even then it was not until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. And it was left to President Richard Nixon to make it an official permanent national observance.

R. Loeffelbein's Whatchama Column: "NEW PUNCTUATION MARKS WE NEED"

      It was Thrasymachus, in the third century B.C., who started using the period to indicate the end of a sentence. Before that people just kept writing until they stopped. But after that I can’t remember the last time a new punctuation mark was added to our comma, exclamation mark, et al. But it hasn’t been for lack of trying.
     Some years back a writer named Carl I. Huss made a stab at it in one of the writers’ magazines. It may have been written as wry humor rather than as a serious attempt at upgrading English punctuation, but the germ of an interesting idea is there. So here are the marks he proposed, seriously or not.
      First, the “deflation point”, which would be an inverted exclamation point, showing lack of enthusiasm, opposite of the exclamation point. Example: You ask the boss for a raise and he says, “I’ll think about it (insert deflation point).”
      Of course, the computer keyboard will need the new character inserted on it. If you remain one of the dwindling number of typewriter users, however, this character may be produced by typing a colon, backspacing and penning a vertical line through the bottom dot. For those few still writing letters and reports in cursive or hand- printing, of course, the deflation point could be used as soon as it is approved.
      Secondly, Huss offers the “never-mind” mark, which would look like a question mark with a comma at the bottom instead of a dot. (Computer users are screwed on this one also. Typewriters could make it by over-striking the question mark with the comma. Handwriters, again, no problem.)
      This mark is used for the gossip or other non-stop talker, who never pauses long enough for a conversational cut-in. Example: “I was talking to Minnie on the phone - you know Minnie (“never-mind” mark insertion) - and she said Ellen has a wild new hairdo - have you seen it yet - and that her husband said….” As you can see, it is a question, but doesn’t end the sentence. It’s sort of a mark replacing “etc”, giving the reader/listener a chance to stop listening/reading at the point where the writer/talker should have stopped.
      Speaking of “etc”, that may be the single most useless punctuation mark needing elimination. Basically it is a sign to make others think you know more than you do. Dropping it would, of course, necessitate a lot of thinking that is not done at present though.
      Buzzfeed.com on the Internet has come up with a variation on this “never mind“ mark, the “snark”. It looks like a svelt snaky question mark retaining the comma underneath. It gives a statement a second meaning, as irony or sarcasm. This snark mark may possibly be the most needed new mark of all.
      The “never mind” mark has been revised more recently, also at Buzzfeed.com, which offers the “exclamatory comma”, an exclamation point with a comma in place of the dot under it. It is used to show excitement in a comment but not to shut off further exclamation or other content. Not possible for typists, but a beautiful punctuation mark for handwriters.
       Another new mark is called the “colosemi”, a reversed semi-colon, with the comma part on top and the dot part on the bottom. Its use? Combining two unrelated sentences, like “We were watching TV (colosemi mark inserted) gee, Bert, are you getting bald?” NG on the computer, OK on typewriter by over-striking a colon with a single quotation mark, fine for handwriters.
       Writer Huss admitted he is “one of the saps” who never remember where to put the apostrophe in showing possession - Huss’, Huss’s or Husss’. So he invented the “sapostrophe”, which puts one in all three versions. It’s a thing of beauty, with an overline across all the s letters with apostrophes in the appropriate spots, thus: Huss’s’ss’.
      Buzzfeed.com also adds the “interrobang”, a combination of the question mark with a strikeover exclamation point. It combines an exclamation of wonderment, for instance, with a question (like wondering whether the statement is true or not). It’s sort of like texting OMGwtf?!
      My own addition would be the “end-of-argument” mark, a colon following the vertical slash mark (located above the left-to-right slash mark on the keyboard) thus |: . It would show the knowledge that an argument is not really over, that it is merely postponed for the present, rather like an argument with the wife or girlfriend.

R. Loeffelbein's Whatchama Column: 12 RELIGIONS WITH THE SAME PRIME THOUGHT: THE "GOLDEN RULE"

                   
      I was surprised to learn it was Frederick the Great, one of the most astute military minds in history, who said, “All religions must be tolerated, for every man must get to heaven in his own way.”
      Yet, when we study religion, we wonder how people - living within other religions than ours - can do some of the things they do. Until we know more about these other religions, and the people who follow them, though, how can we know they don’t believe basically as we do, just with different interpretations?
      Are we looking at the road others are taking, rather than at the destination?  Maybe we need to take a look at the religion in our diverse religions. Perhaps if all religions could be brought together to discuss a common goal, differences could be lessened.
      A start might be made by realizing that the 12 major religions in the world today all have a guiding tenet that presents an amazing parallelism. It was first introduced to me from a now forgotten philosophy textbook used in 1948 at Washington State College (now University). An article in it, titled “A Sheaf of Golden Rules from Twelve Religions”, impressed me enough so I copied and filed it for periodic reference through intervening years. The piece had no listed author, though the book was authored by Ross Hoople, Raymond Piper and William Tolley of Syracuse University.
      We know the Christian religion is summed up in the Golden Rule: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Our surprise, however, is that each of these other 11 major religions all have a similar “law” in their teachings. Here they are.

Baha’i: “If thou lookest toward justice, choose thou for others what thou choosest for thyself. Blessed is he who prefers his brother before himself.”

Buddhism: “In five ways should a clansman minister to his friends and familiars: by generosity, courtesy, and benevolence, by treating them as he treats himself, and by being as good as his word.”

Confucianism: “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life? The Master said, ‘Is not Reciprocity (Sympathy, Consideration) such a word? What do you not want done to yourself, do not do to others‘.”

Hebrewism: “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.”

Hinduism: “This is the high religion which wise men esteem: the lifegiving breaths of other creatures are as dear to them as the breaths of one’s self. Men gifted with intelligence and purified souls should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated.”

Islamism: “No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

Jainism: “Indifferent to worldly objects, a man should wander about treating all creatures in the world as he himself would be treated.”

Sikhism: “As thou deemest thyself, so deem others; then thou shalt become a partner in Heaven.”

Taoism: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and regard your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”

Tenrikyo Shintoism: “Irrespective of their nationality, language, manners and culture, men should give mutual aid, and enjoy reciprocal, peaceful pleasure by showing in their conduct that they are brethren.”

Zoroastrianism: “Him who is less than thee consider as an equal, and an equal as a superior, and a greater than him as a chieftain.”

      Interesting, isn’t it, that the 12 main religions of the world have one thought uppermost? Couldn’t that be a great starting point for world peace?
###

R. Loeffelbein's Whatchama Column: Real Designer of America's Flag

Capt. Samuel Chester Reid,
The Real Designer of Our Present-Day “Stars & Stripes”

By Robert L. Loeffelbein

The most protected myth in the United States is that Betsy Ross designed and sewed the first American Stars & Stripes flag.
A 2008 survey noted persons over 45 years of age had listed Betsy as one of our top ten historically important persons because of this belief. That shows how publicity and the passing on of incorrect information can distort history.
Philadelphia, where her former home has been heavily commercialized as the site of the sewing, has built a large tourist trade on that early, and still common, belief. They aren’t going to give that up, but it is quite well documented as untrue by records in the Smithsonian Institution, as recorded in The United States Flagbook: Everything About ‘Old Glory’ (McFarland 1996). That book, used by Smithsonian researchers there in flag reference queries, is backed up by Smithsonian files as well as notation in A Dictionary of American Biography, as edited by Dumas Malone for the American Council of Learned Societies (1943).
Elizabeth “Betsy” (Griscom) Ross and her descendants - she lived to age 84 and was married three times - were upholsterers-turned-flag makers until 1858, but she did not originate the design or color scheme for the Star-Spangled Banner, nor did she sew it. Smithsonian records show she did make and receive pay for some ships’ flags for Pennsylvania’s Navy, and it may have been the order for these that was mistaken for the request for an ensign.
According to some of her descendents, Betsy did claim to have originated the United States flag. A paper read to the Pennsylvania Historical Society on March 14, 1870 by William J. Canby, Betsy’s grandson, claimed that George Washington, George Morris and George Ross came to Betsy in June 1776, showed her a design and asked her to make it up. He said she did and the flag was taken to the state house and adopted by Congress as the flag of the United States.
Canby said the paper had been dictated to him in 1856 by his aunt, Betsy’s  daughter, who said her mother had told her the story many times. Yet actual records contradict the paper’s account.
This popular misconception was perpetuated by the United States Postal Service by issuing a 1952 stamp commemorating the 20th anniversary of Betsy Ross’s birth, picturing her showing a stars-and-stripes flag to the committee of three who supposedly contacted her to do the job.
The flag-making company of Annin of New Jersey also contributed to the myth, from time to time, by presenting a Betsy Ross Award to individuals who furthered the cause of patriotism.
A different flag-making story which saw print, though without proof, described how some girls of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, made a Stars & Stripes from ballroom gowns for John Paul Jones in July 1777. This flag was supposed to have gone down with his ship, the Bon Homme Richard.
Some experts still admit the possibility that Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey judge and signer of the Declaration of Independence who served two years as chairman of the Navy Board, might have had something to do with the design of the flag. He was a noted draftsman as well as an acknowledged expert on heraldry.
A letter is on file from him to the Admiralty Board suggesting payment of nine pounds for his work “designing sundry seals and devices, also the Flag of the United States”. But his request was denied. Members of Congress seem not to have been convinced he had been the sole designer of all the things he claimed, including some issues of paper money.
Flag Day Commemorates Design
On June 14, 1777 (which present-day Flag Day commemorates) the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress offered a resolution, duly adopted, “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation”. No specific pattern for the stars was stated. Who suggested this design, however, is not definitely known.
One story that lingers on is that it was taken from a new coat of arms of the Washington family. That is doubtful and unproven.
When two new states were brought into the Union in 1795 two new stars and stripes were added to the flag. It was this 15-starred and striped flag that was made by Mary Pickersgill in Baltimore’s Flag House and flew over Fort McHenry to become Francis Scott Key’s inspiration for the American national anthem.
By 1816, with more new states already accepted and others clamoring to be admitted, it was decided the flag would become unwieldy by adding a star and a stripe for each new state. In 1818 New York Representative Peter Wendover consulted Reid and Congress turned to the newest American hero, Captain Samuel Chester Reid, who had staged one of the most heroic defenses of the flag’s honor in history, to come up with a workable lasting design.
He and his wife made up a model, returning the original thirteen stripes, for the thirteen original states, with a blue field to which a new star could be added for each new state, with the stars in parallel rows for military use and arranged in one great star for other purposes. Congress approved the design and President James Monroe signed the act making the flag official as of April 4, 1818. A flag made by Mrs. Reid was hoisted on the Capitol eight days later with the president in attendance..
Captain Reid’s story is well documented. It was recognized by Congressional Committee (House Report 160, 35 Congress, 1 Session, Feb. 5, 1859), retold by James Poling in a national newspaper supplement some years ago under the title “He Designed Our Flag” and mentioned also in a biography of Reid in A Dictionary of American Biography.
Reid’s Act of Heroism
Reid’s act of heroism took place toward the end of the War of 1812 when he sailed the 246-ton privateer General Armstrong into Fayal, a neutral port in the Portuguese Azores. While taking on water, three British warships under the command of Commodore Edward Lloyd, entered Fayal en route to join forces concentrating at Jamaica against New Orleans.
Reid started moving his ship in under the Portuguese fort’s protection about seven in the evening, but found four armed boats approaching from the Carnation with the evident purpose of  making a surprise capture. Reid challenged, they continued, so he fired into them. The British suffered about 20 casualties while Reid lost just one man and had his Lieutenant wounded.
The Portuguese port governor sent a warning to the British, but they ignored it and attacked again near midnight with 12 to 14 boats, holding some 400 men. Reid and his 90 men, with nine mounted guns, drove a boarding party off in fierce hand-to-hand skirmishing, killing 120 British sailors and wounding 130 more. Reid’s crew suffered only two fatalities and seven other injuries.
Next day at daylight, the 18-gun Carnation  commenced a cannonade broadside but, within ten minutes, was so badly damaged by exacting fire from Reid’s “Long Tom” 42-pounder it was forced to retire.
But, when the other two warships - the 74-gun Plantagenet and 38-gun Rota - attacked, Reid realized he stood no chance. He ordered his men ashore and scuttled his ship, which was burned by the enemy.
When the British commodore notified Reid he and his crew would be taken prisoners, Reid ordered a defensive stand in an abandoned convent. But next day, in an unprecedented and unexpected move, a group of British officers invited Reid to the British consulate and honored him with cheers and toasts. The British remained in port for ship repairs and burying their dead. The Commodore insisted on examining the American force for British deserters, but otherwise left them unmolested.
As it turned out, the delay caused by Reid here ultimately greatly aided General Jackson’s defense of New Orleans.
Back home after the war Reid was showered with accolades, among them the equivalent of a pension by appointment as sailing master in the Navy on July 3, 1843, a sword from the New York legislature, a silver service from the New York merchants, and the honor of designing the new flag.
Reid Biography
Reid was born August 25, 1783 in Norwich, CT, son of Lieutenant John Reid, a former British naval officer and member of a distinguished Glasgow family, who resigned his commission to join the cause of the American Revolution after being captured. He remained in the U.S. after marrying Rebecca Chester of Norwich.
Young Samuel went to sea at age 11, was captured by a French privateer and imprisoned for six months at Bassel-Terre, Guadaloupe, then served as acting midshipman on the USS Baltimore in the West Indies for a year. At age 20 he was master of the brig Merchant out of New York and later became master of the privateer General Armstrong when it left New York on September 9, 1814. On September 26 he reached the Azores, site of his historic battle.
Reid, Sr., had married Mary, daughter of Captain Nathan Jennings of Fairfield, CT, June 8, 1813, and they ultimately had eight children, including Samuel Chester, Jr., whose name was first known to the public in connection with the publication of an account of his experiences during the Mexican War under the title The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch’s Texas Rangers (1847). During his last years he wrote a history of his father’s career.
Reid, Sr., served as harbor master in New York for many years and was noted for working to improve pilot boat service, securing a lightship off Sandy Hook and publishing a signal code for American vessels. In 1826 he also devised and demonstrated a system whereby messages could be sent from New York to New Orleans in just two hours, though a bill for his system’s adoption was killed by the advent of electric telegraphy.
Reid, Sr., died at his home near Franklin Square, New York City, January 28, 1861 and is buried in Lot 13108, Section 172, at Green-Wood Cemetery, Fifth Avenue at 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY. A memorial was placed at the grave site after Representative Francis E. Dorn (Brooklyn, NY) drafted a bill to Congress to provide it.

(Source: The United States Flag Book: Everything About "Old Glory" by Robert L. Loeffelbein.,McFarland Press, 1996)