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Moran's Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Southampton (August 5, 1620)

 

Methinks I see it now, that one solitary, adventurous vessel, the Mayflower of a forlorn hope, freighted with the prospects of a future state, and bound across the unknown sea. I behold it pursuing, with a thousand misgivings, the uncertain, the tedious voyage.

… The awful voice of the storm howls through the rigging. The laboring masts seem straining from their base;—the dismal sound of the pumps is heard;—the ship leaps, as it were madly, from billow to billow;—the ocean breaks, and settles with engulphing floods over the floating deck, and beats with deadening shivering weight, against the staggered vessel.—I see them, escaped from these perils, pursuing their all but desperate undertaking, and landed at last, after a five months passage, on the ice clad rocks of Plymouth,—weak and weary from the voyage,—poorly armed, scantily provisioned, depending on the charity of their ship-master for a draught of beer on board, drinking nothing but water on shore,—without shelter,—without means,—surrounded by hostile tribes. Shut now the volume of history, and tell me on any principle of human probability, what shall be the fate of this handful of adventurers.… Is it possible, that from a beginning so feeble, so frail, so worthy, not so much of admiration as of pity, there has gone forth a progress so steady, a growth so wonderful, an expansion so ample, a reality so important, a promise, yet to be fulfilled, so glorious?
—Edward Everett, from an oration at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 22, 1824

Moran's First Recognition of the American Flag by a Foreign Government (In the Harbor of Quiberon, France, February 13, 1778)

Strong in the breeze at the mainmast top there flew the sullen Snake,
“DON’T TREAD ON ME!” his warning plain for friend and foe to take …
Like a dolphin leapt the Ranger through the mist of the salt sea spray,
Like a panther kept her keen nose down to smell the scent of her prey;
And each hearty aboard saw glory ahead and felt good luck in his bones,
For the ship and crew were staunch and true and our captain was JOHN PAUL JONES.

* * *

We looked at him and he looked at us and, silent still, he laid
His hand on the halliards and lowered straight the flag we so proudly displayed.
“What is this?” we asked. “Has he traitor turned? By God! it shall go right hard
But we stretch his neck from the quarter deck to the end of yonder yard!”
The Captain read our thoughts and smiled, then raised his hand, and said:
“When I am false to my land, my men, may lightning strike me dead!
I have lowered the flag, ‘t is true; but see! another its place will take—
The Stars and Stripes of the Thirteen States shall fly in the place of the Snake.”

* * *

Far off in the harbour the Admiral heard the sound of our cheers, and he
With all of his fleet weighed anchor then and straightway put to sea;
But when he saw the Stars and Stripes saluting his own ensign
Then down in salute came the Lilies of France on all the ships-of-the-line.…
And there in the light of the open sea GOD’S wind first kissed the sign
That freedom was born to men of our race and all of our children’s line;
And there to GOD on His pathless deep and under His rosy sky,
His sea-birds screaming around the Flag, we swore for that Sign to die.

— Barrett Eastman “The Baptism of the Flag”

In 1803 the command of our fleet in the Mediterranean was taken by Commodore Preble, who had just succeeded in forcing satisfaction from Morocco for an attack made upon our merchantmen by a vessel from Tangier. He also proclaimed a blockade of Tripoli… when the news reached him that the frigate Philadelphia, forty-four guns … had been surrounded and captured. … The Tripolitans… towed her into the harbor, and anchored her close under the guns of their forts. They also replaced her batteries, and prepared to make her ready for sea, where she would have been a most formidable danger to our shipping.

Under these circumstances Stephen Decatur, a young lieutenant in command of the Enterprise, offered to Commodore Preble to go into the harbor and destroy the Philadelphia. … A small vessel… named the Intrepid [was] assigned to him. …