The only Revolutionary War fought in Delaware was the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge.
The American flag is said to have flown in battle for the first time, during Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware on September 3, 1777. Patriot General William Maxwell ordered the stars and stripes banner raised as a detachment of his infantry and cavalry met an advance guard of British and Hessian troops.
The U.S. light infantry was in the woods on either side of the road leading toward Cooch’s Bridge. Calling up reinforcements, they flushed the Americans out and drove them across the bridge. The rebels were defeated and forced to retreat to General George Washington’s main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania. About twenty Patriots are buried in an unmarked grave there.
Three months earlier, on June 14, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” General Washington shared his sentiments: “We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.”
The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.
You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev’ry heart beats true
‘neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there’s never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev’ry heart beats true
‘neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there’s never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.
Written in 1906, George Coan penned these words for his musical, “George Washington, Jr.” The song has never lost its popularity, and this flag has been followed into many battles by the men and women of our country.
Sheila Ingle 