Giant American Flag being hoisted aloft at Washington’s Headquarters.
By Mary McTamaney
Who remembers the combined feelings of sorrow, defiance and patriotism that filled most Americans after September 11, 2001? As happens after shocking moments, people came out to react together. They filled streets and stadiums joining in ceremonies to mark the tragedy and resolve to face whatever came next as a united front. American flags appeared everywhere: on homes, at the doors of businesses and flying from car windows.
This week again marks the national commemoration of Flag Day. June 14, 1777 was the date that the Continental Congress adopted the emblem that we have since called “The Stars and Stripes.”
Continental troops carried it into Newburgh when they headquartered here during the War for Independence. The unique American flag has been displayed around this community every since, particularly at special celebrations.
In 1883, Newburgh was the center of the national Peace Centennial a century after peace was declared here by George Washington. The stars and stripes were visible to thousands of visitors that season, not only on flagpoles but draped around nearly every structure.
Newburgh was the home of the Betsy Ross Flag Company that produced all sizes of flags and buntings. Workers were busy for months before the big centennial week in the flag company’s sewing rooms, appropriately located on Washington Street (where today’s municipal parking lot is located).
A quarter century later, flags flew everywhere again for the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration, a statewide event where Newburgh was the centerpiece. One special flag was located outside City Hall during that celebration weekend. It was made not of cotton and linen but of dozens of Newburgh’s children standing on a massive bleacher that filled the intersection of Grand Street at Broadway. The youngsters wore red or white robes to line up and form the thirteen stripes and some wore deep blue to form the corner field displaying thirteen stars (which they crafted and held aloft). Choral music filled Broadway, probably including the home-grown composition “In America” just written for the occasion by Newburgh musician Ulysses Alsdorf.
No one living now remembers seeing those children standing proudly, but some of us may recall another giant flag moment. In the aftermath of 9/11, one healing activity was the journey of a few massive American flags around the country. They were carefully folded into specially built cases that traveled on long flatbed trucks. At each stop, with the help of a locally-donated crane, residents were asked to join in raising the flag at a place of importance to their hometown. Newburgh signed up for the visit of the giant flag, arranged to have it unfurled over Washington’s Headquarters lawn and recruited people to help. So many hands were needed to hold the flag by its edges as it was drawn slowly out of its case to reach its full dimensions! Within a half hour, it filled the great lawn, held flat above the grass by children and seniors, scouts and club members and individuals who learned about its journey and wanted to participate. When it was fully unfolded, the crane hoisted it up over the historic site until it was high enough to be seen from the Hudson River. We all stood back to see it wave.
I took a picture that day of one stage of the flag’s display. Yet, what I remember more than the giant stars and stripes was the faces of my many neighbors all smiling and looking upward in a unified emotion of hope and happiness.