Wall Street Journal: Seeing Stars: Innkeeper's View of Powder Horn Carving Unfurls Flag Debate

Before we close for the July 4 American Independence Day holiday we received from one of our regular readers a link to a Wall Street Journal story.

Today's Wall Street Journal features a story entitled 'Seeing Stars: Innkeeper's View of Powder Horn Carving Unfurls Flag Debate,' by Rachel Emma Silverman. In part the story reads:

"Barnabas Webb has been dead for nearly two centuries. But the Revolutionary War soldier—or, at least, the powder horn he used to carry gunpowder—is vexing the world of vexillologists, or flag researchers.

"A Virginia innkeeper and history buff claims the engravings decorating Mr. Webb's powder horn, which depict the end of the Siege of Boston in March 1776, contain the earliest known representation of the stars and stripes together on an American flag.

"If correct, it could mean that Colonial Americans united stars and stripes more than a year before the 1777 Flag Act declared that the national flag should contain 13 stripes and 13 stars, potentially rewriting the early history of the Grand Old Flag."

Highly recommended reading and timely indeed for the July 4 holiday. Enjoy!