The Pool Dr. Celebrates
Patriot Month
The Month Between Our Most Patriotic Holidays

May 31st

June 14th

Independence Day July 4th

 

    Patriot Month, although coined and conceived by Richard K. Cacioppo has actually been in existence since about May 5, 1868 wgeb Memorial Day was officially proclaimed by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  There is no generally explained reason why this particular day was selected. Its proximity, almost an exact month before Independence Day seems to be just to be just happenstance, and for no intended reason. But the result was we began celebrating our two most patriotic holiday just  slightly over a month apart.

     The 4th of July was obviously chosen as Independence Day for much more specific reasons, as that is the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.  The celebratory nature of an “Independence Day” if not conceived, was first recognized by our second President, John Adams. He predicted Americans would forever commemorate the birth of our nation in future celebrations, although he believed that day would be July 2nd, the day Congress first voted for independence.

    On July 3, 1776 Adams wrote to his wife Abgail:

    "I believe that it (Independence Day) will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great
     anniversary festival... it ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games,
     sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.. The
     second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am
     apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
     festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to
     God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports,
     guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this
     time forward for evermore."

     Adams was off by two days, however. Certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act. But July 4 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the vote of the 4th. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret votes.

 

    There does not seem to be any intent that Flag Day, June 14th, later to be extended by presidential proclamation by President Clinton as Flag Week, to fall almost exactly at the half way point between our two most patriot national days of celebration. Divine inspiration?  

    The idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." Flag Day is now observed on June 14 of each year. Tradition holds that the new flag was first hoisted in June of 1777 by the Continental Army at the Middlebrook encampment.