General Scott and the Stars and Stripes
By E. E. Townsend
One day, as the general was sitting
at his table
in the office, the messenger announced that a
person desired to see him a moment in order to
present a gift.
A German was introduced, who said that he
was commissioned by a house in New York to
present General Scott with a small silk banner.
It was very handsome, of the size of a regimental
flag, and was made of a single piece of silk
stamped with the Stars and Stripes of the proper
The German said that the manufacturers who
had sent the banner, wished to express thus the
great respect they felt for General Scott, and their
sense of his importance to the country in that
The general was highly pleased, and, in accepting
the gift, assured the donors that the flag
should hang in his room wherever he went, and
enshroud him when he died.
As soon as the man was gone, the general
desired that the stars might be counted to see if
ALL the States were represented. They were ALL
The flag was then draped between the windows
over the couch where the general frequently
reclined for rest during the day. It went with him
in his berth when he sailed for Europe, after his
retirement, and enveloped his coffin when he
was interred at West Point.