Department buys what
are needed. Manufacturers make large numbers for general sale; between
nine and ten million a year even in times of peace.

The pet name, "Old Glory," is believed to have been given to the flag
by Captain William Driver. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, became
a shipmaster, and at length made his home in Nashville, Tennessee.
When the Civil War broke out, he stood boldly by the Union, even
though his own family were against him. More than thirty years before
this date, just as he was starting on a voyage, some of his friends
made him a present of a handsome American flag. When the breeze first
caught it and spread out its folds, Captain Driver exclaimed, "Old
Glory!" and "Old Glory" it was to him all the years of his life. The
flag went to Tennessee with him, and was hung out on every day of
public rejoicing. When the war broke out, his Confederate neighbors
tried their best to get possession of that flag; but they did not
realize the resources of the old captain. Sailors know how to sew, and
he had carefully quilted his beloved banner into his comforter. No
wonder that he had not the least objection to having his house
searched for it. When the Union troops entered the city, Captain
Driver asked permission to run up his flag over the State Capitol.
This was granted, and with an escort he marched to the building and
ran up the flag. As he stood gazing at it with tears in his eyes, he
said, "I have always said that if I could see it float over that
Capitol, I should have lived long enough; now Old Glory is up there,
gentlemen, and I am ready to die." The captain's own particular "Old
Glory" was full of years and weakened by service, and on the following
day he reverently took it down and ran up a flag that was new and
strong. For a quarter of a century he saw the Union flag float over
the Capitol of his chosen State. Then, at his death in 1886, his own
"Old Glory" was sent to the Essex Institute at his birthplace.

CHAPTER XI

THE FLAG IN WAR

"Old Glory" has flown over the battle-fields of three wars; the
Mexican, the Civil War, and the war with Spain. In the war with Mexico
victory depended upon taking the City of Mexico, and the path to that
lay in the capture of the strong castle of Chapultepec. Long before
sunrise one bright September morning, the American guns began to roar.
All day long the Americans fired from below and the Mexicans from
above. Fortunately for the attackers,