| |
|
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
Standing on the steps of the
County Court House in Centre Square on
July 8, 1776,Robert Levers, the County
Clerk, read the Declaration of
Independence to the assembled citizens
of Northampton County. To mark this
momentous event, the assembled crowd
unfurled a homemade, hand sewn flag. |
| |
|
| |
We believe that the flag displayed
in the Marx Room is the same flag that
was present in Centre Square in 1776. |
| |
|
| |
The flag appeared again on September
6, 1814, when it was presented by George
Beidleman's 14 year old daughter,
Rosanna, to Captain Abraham Horn's
Company as they left for Camp DuPont,
Marcus Hook, for service in the War of
1812. |
| |
|
| |
At the conclusion of
the war, the Company disbanded and returned home
with the flag. Members of Captain Horn's
Company, along with Captain Peter Nungesser's
Company of Light Infantry, formed the Easton
Union Guards in 1816. In 1821 they decided to
deposit the flag with the Easton Library Company
for safe keeping in Library Hall on North Second
Stree |
| |
|
| |
At the time of the Sesquicentennial
held in Philadelphia in 1926, the flag
was removed from its pole, placed
between two pieces of plate glass and
framed for exhibition. On its return, it
was bolted to the east wall of the
Easton Public Library's marble stairway
in the front entrance to the Carnegie
building. |
| |
|
| |
In 1947, Katharine F. Richey
stitched the flag to Irish linen using
the best preservation techniques at the
time. The flag, in its heavy oak case,
was moved to its new location in 1968
when the addition to the Library was
completed. The flag was removed from its
case in 2000 for conservation and
restoration by Fonda Ghirardi Thomsen,
whose firm, Textile Preservation
Associates, Inc., restored all the Civil
War flags in Harrisburg. |
| |
|
| |
Careful examination of the banner
shows that each of the thirteen, eight
pointed stars, which are seven inches
across from point to point, is slightly
different from all the others. The flag
is made of two kinds of material, the
stripes being grosgrain and the field
India silk. The indigo blue field is in
two pieces. The stripes were pieced
together, the white stripes showing more
patching than the red. The flag measures
overall 55" by 97". |
| |
|
| |
Precise dating of the flag has been
a matter of controversy and historical
research since the 1890s. Locally, it is
felt that the women of Easton actually
made the flag for the occasion of the
reading of the Declaration, and it was
forgotten for some years until the War
of 1812. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
