Highlighting Lewis County: First U.S. Flag in Lewis County Flew July 4, 1853

Posted

As the nation celebrates its independence tomorrow, plenty of red, white and blue banners will wave from businesses, homes and hands.

The 13 stripes mark the original British colonies that declared independence from England. The 50 white stars represent each of the states. Red stands for the bravery and valor of men and women who have died for the freedom that flag represents. Blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice, while white stands for purity and innocence, according to statesymbolsusa.org

The first U.S. flag, called the Grand Union Flag, consisted of 13 red and white stripes but looked a bit like the British Union Jack in the upper corner. Lt. John Paul Jones first hoisted the Continental forces’ flag above the colonial warship Alfred in the Delaware River Dec. 3, 1775.

As emigrants moved west, they brought their patriotism with them. After settlement of a boundary dispute between England and the United States in 1846, Oregon Territory formed and the first U.S. flag flew in its capital, Oregon City, July 4, 1848, during a celebration marked by parades, speeches, a picnic, and a 31-gun salute (one for each U.S. state). Congress passed the act officially creating Oregon Territory Aug. 14, 1848.

But it was too large, and those living north of the Columbia River sought to form a separate territory. Twenty-six early pioneers met at Cowlitz Landing, near present-day Toledo, August 29, 1851, and signed a petition asking Congress to create a separate territory called Columbia. Among those signing the petition were well-known founders of local communities such as Michael T. Simmons of Tumwater; Schuyler Saunders of Chehalis; and James Cochran, adoptive father of Centralia founder George Washington; as well as John R. Jackson, who built Washington’s first courthouse; Olympia settler John B. Chapman; Warbassport founder Edward D. Warbass; early Centralia residents Sidney S. Ford and Joseph Borst; and former Hudson Bay Co. employees, French-Canadians Simon Plamondon and Marcel Bernier.

Congress didn’t act immediately, and more settlers gathered Nov. 25, 1852, at Monticello, near present-day Longview. They passed a similar resolution and forwarded it to Washington, D.C. Only 11 days later, Dec. 6, 1852, Oregon Territorial Delegate Joseph Lane introduced legislation to create a separate territory. Congress approved it but changed the proposed name from Columbia to Washington Territory. President Millard Fillmore signed the measure March 2, 1853. Six weeks later, news reached settlers in the new Washington Territory.

To celebrate, Jackson ordered cloth from San Francisco for a United States flag. When the red, white and blue wool bunting arrived, Matilda Jackson and women and men from twenty miles around convened with needle and thread to sew the flag. Among those helping in June 1853 were the families of John MacDonald and Captain George Drew.

The flag, patterned after the nation’s first banner, measured 6 feet by 15 feet. It contained thirteen white muslin stars but only eight stripes because they ran out of material to create more, according to a July 4, 1958, article in the Tacoma News Tribune by Pat Winkler.

Beside his peeled log cabin home, Jackson erected a long flag pole to fly the banner, first unfurled for the Independence Day celebration July 4, 1853.

During the celebration, Jackson said, “The rising generation of Washington Territory—May they grow up like the cedars of our forest, unequaled in the world and never surpassed  by our sister States, kindred or tongue.”



Later in the day, Jackson served as master of ceremonies at a celebration at Cowlitz Landing. An article in the Columbian Newspaper in Olympia on July 16, 1853, described “The Cowlitz Celebration.”

“Having no guns, we put powder into thirteen of the large fir logs and touched them off at sunrise,” wrote the settler who submitted the report. “The people gathered quite early and raised a Liberty pole. At twelve o’clock a procession of thirty couples formed and marched, with music, to the dinner table on the bank of the river. The table was canopied with boughs 

and spread with an abundance of good cheer.”

John R. Jackson, president of the day, introduced R.S. Robinson, the reader of the Declaration of Independence. The crowd cheered and played music after he finished reading. The Reverend J.W. Goodell, orator of the day, “delivered one of those appropriate addresses, instructive and gratifying to every American citizen.”

They toasted Independence Day, Washington Territory, and the president of the United States. The crowd responded to the toasts with “huzzas.”

Decades later, Jackson’s descendants donated the flag to the Washington State Historical Society.

 

•••

Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.