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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2026 15 The Flag Resolution (1777) e Second Continental Congress resolved that the ag be 13 stripes, alternate red and white, with 13 white stars in a blue eld, representing a "new constellation." e original design had 13 stars arranged in a circle, though the specic arrangement was not explicitly mandated at rst. Legend suggests Betsy Ross sewed the rst ag in June 1776, proposing ve-pointed stars instead of six-pointed ones. While she was a Philadelphia ag maker, no ocial documentation proves she designed the rst one. Historian evidence suggests Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate and signer of the Declaration of Independence, designed the ag. e colors represent red for valor/bravery, white for purity/innocence, and blue for vigilance/justice. Before 1777, the "Grand Union Flag," which combined the British Union Jack with 13 red and white stripes, was used. June 14, the date of the 1777 resolution, is now celebrated annually as Flag Day. The Battle of Kettle Creek e Revolutionary War in the southern colonies oen resembled a civil war, with neighbors and communities divided between Patriot and Loyalist loyalties. One example of this conict occurred at the Battle of Kettle Creek in Georgia in 1779. Patriot militia forces surprised a Loyalist group that had gathered along Kettle Creek while preparing food and supplies. e ghting unfolded in wooded terrain and swampy ground rather than on a traditional open battleeld. e Patriot victory prevented a large Loyalist force from joining British troops operating in the region. is outcome helped weaken British eorts to secure control of Georgia and the Carolinas during the war's southern campaign. FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2026 15 The Bear Facts omas Jeerson kept two grizzly bear cubs for a short time in 1807, housing them on the White House lawn. Sent by explorer Zebulon Pike, the bears were kept in cages on the south lawn. Due to the dangers and care required as they grew, Jeerson sent them to Charles Willson Peale's museum in Philadelphia within a few months. Double Agent James Armistead Lafayette was an enslaved African American who served the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War under the Marquis de Lafayette, and later received a legislative emancipation. As a double agent, he reported the activities of Benedict Arnold aer he had defected to the British and of Lord Charles Cornwallis during the run-up to the siege of Yorktown. He fed the British false information while disclosing very accurate and detailed accounts to the Americans.

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