Flag Named Old Glory (Flag Day Continued)

Flag Named Old Glory

The name "Old Glory" was first applied to the United States Flag by a young sea captain who lived in Salem, Massachusetts. On his twenty-first birthday, March 17, 1824, Captain William Driver was presented a beautiful flag by his mother and a group of Salem girls. Driver was delighted with the gift. He exclaimed, "I will name her 'Old Glory.'" Then "Old Glory" accompanied the captain on his many voyages.

Captain Driver quit the sea in 1837. He settled in Nashville, Tennessee. On patriotic days he displayed Old Glory proudly from a rope extending from his house to a tree across the street. After Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Captain Driver hid Old Glory. He sewed the Flag inside a comforter. When the Union soldiers entered Nashville on February 25, 1862, Driver removed Old Glory from its hiding place. He carried the Flag to the Capitol building and raised it above the state capitol.

Shortly before his death, the old sea captain placed a small bundle into the arms of his daughter. He said to her: "Mary Jane, this is my ship's Flag, 'Old Glory.' It has been my constant companion. I love it as a mother loves her child. Cherish it as I have cherished it."

The flag remained as a precious heirloom in the Driver family until 1922. It was then sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, where it can be seen today.