The Story behind the Immigrant's Journey by Linda Hubalek

Kajsa and Julia Runneberg- 1886

When researching the history of our family farm for my book, Butter in the Well, I found stories written down by Julia Olson that her mother—Kajsa Runneberg—had told her about their homesteading days. Julia was our neighbor to the north, and was like a grandmother to me.

She was born in 1884 and grew up on same farm as I did, in the 1950s. Julia moved to the next homestead when she married the neighbor boy Joe in 1911, and died when I was in high school in the early 1970s. (Julia gave me two old quilts that I'll guess were made in the house we both grew up in.)

Here’s the story of Julia's mother's journey to Kansas, that I wrote in a diary form, as if in Kajsa’s own words.

"March 7, 1868

Ellsworth, Kansas — I want to keep a journal of our adventure into the American Plains so I will have an account of what our first years were like.
In spring of '67 we traveled from Klevmarken, Sweden, to New York City, America, by ship, then by train to Jacksonville, Illinois. Now a year later, we're back on a train heading for the open prairies of Kansas.

We traveled from Jacksonville to St. Louis first. In Illinois we saw meadows of grass, wooded areas and towns. The scenery was much the same until we got past Kansas City. Then there were very few trees and the prairie grass stretched as far as the eye could see. The few towns we've gone through were very small and new. The farther west, the sparser it has gotten. I've heard Kansas called "the Great American Desert," but everything looks green. Of course it's spring now. Maybe the whole countryside dries up in the summer.

We were to get off at the town of Salina, in Saline County. Our friends in Jacksonville put destination tags on us and our belongings since we don't know much of the American language yet. Most people in Jacksonville were Swedish, so got along fine. Carl knows a few American words, since he had to work and did the shopping when we lived there.

The ride has been wearing on us. This morning Carl looked like he didn't feel good. The motion of the train car bouncing on the track and smoke from the engine's smokestack has made us all a little sick.
I was trying to watch the railroad station signs at each stop, but they were not always in sight. Each time Carl tried to find the conductor, to see if that was the place we were to get off. Instead of trying to ask, it was easier to point to his name tag.

At the last stop Carl rushed up to me and said: "Gather up our things and Christina! We've got to get off. This is Ellsworth. We missed Salina!"

I panicked when I realized we missed our stop. But, I knew Carl would figure out a way to get us back on the track to our destination. We have found overnight lodging and we will travel back to Salina tomorrow.

This was an extra expense we didn't need. 
 
 March 30, 1868

Carl came down with the fever and chills of ague that night here in Ellsworth. Thank the Lord he is finally getting over it. It could have been worse. I could have become a widow with a 15-month-old baby in a strange American town.

We've been at the Railroad Hotel for over three weeks. I've had to help the cook prepare and serve the meals in exchange for room and board for our small family. We were to find a innkeeper so kind.
Tomorrow we'll get back on the train heading for Salina. This time we will get off at the right town.”  

(Excerpts from Butter in the Well © by Linda K. Hubalek)

I find these stories fascinating, although Kajsa must have been in a real panic when it happened. We’re so connected with cell phone these days and can get help almost immediately. But think how the early immigrants in the 1800s had to rely on themselves or the help of strangers.

If you see someone that could use some help today, think of Kajsa, and reach out a hand. No matter what century, everyone appreciates help…

Many thanks from the Kansas prairie...
Linda Hubalek

Clothing on the Prairie in the Nineteenth Century

As families traveled West in covered wagons, women brought their current fashions with them safely stored in trunks. Thus women's clothing on the prairie varied with styles from the East and Europe blending with those of pioneer women. Dresses were out-of-style and made over to try to stay current with the trends seen in magazines and fashion plates.

Material was scarce so no scrap was wasted. Thus the patchwork quilt that is so much a part of our American heritage. When the seat of a skirt became shiny with wear, the panel was removed or turned so that the shiny surface wouldn't be so obvious. Or, when worn beyond repair, remnants were removed to make clothing for the children.

The image above is of my great-great grandmother, Lavinia Ann, born December 15, 1853. Lavinia's mother, Tennessee Caledonia, was full blood Cherokee. I love the name and plan to use it in a story one day soon. The dress Lavinia is wearing looks to be black serge which was popular and serviceable at the time. I imagine it was very hot. It would have been worn to church, funerals, and on special occasions.

During 1840-65 when skirts were full, it took ten yards of the wider bolt calico fabric or fourteen yards of silk to make a dress. That was a lot of fabric so women were lucky if they got two new dresses a year. They were reserved for special occasions and the old ones relegated to everyday use.

In the early 1850's bloomers, called knickerbockers by some were worn by a few, mostly women traveling. The bloomers reached just to the top of the boots and a knee length skirt was worn over them. For women with active lives on the prairie, they were useful attire but the style didn't hang around long. Split or riding skirts did, however.

collections.museumca.org

Mother Hubbard dresses were popular in the 1880s. They had rounded or fitted necklines with flowing skirts that caught in the breeze scaring horses and mules causing them to bolt. Men insisted while in town women wear belts to hold them in at the waist.

This picture is of my grandmother, Martha Comfort Pyburn Riley. She was in her thirties when she left Tennessee to visit cousins in Texas. There she met my grandfather, fell in love with his young son, and married Grandpa to give my uncle a mother. My mother, one of the middle children, was born in 1923 so I assume this photo was taken in the early 1900s. This was probably her one good dress.

Until around the 1840s foodstuffs, as well as animal feed, were packed in boxes, barrels, and crates which made it hard for a farmer without a wagon to get from the store to home. When the sewing machine was invented, double lock stitching made it possible to sew fabric secure enough to keep from spilling. Bags of flour, feed, etc. could be loaded on a horse.

The first feed sacks were made of heavy white canvas printed with the name of the flour or other product. The farmer could bring empty bags back to be refilled. When mills in America began producing inexpensive cotton fabrics in the later 1800s, these cheaper fabrics were used.

Not as durable, they weren’t refillable so women used them for quilt pieces and to make dish towels, curtains, pillowcases, sheets, and other items for the home. The manufacturer’s name was stamped on the sack in vegetable dye so the homemaker could remove it, often a difficult chore, and return it to pristine whiteness. Humorous stories about garments made with the stamp remaining abound.

Starting in the 1920s, feed companies in an effort to help those suffering during the depression, started storing feed, seeds, and grain in recyclable print fabric. Grandma Riley saved the sacks that chicken feed came in and used them to make her clothes. Since the print was different on each bag, the lengths were saved until there was enough matching material to make a dress. She also gave them to her granddaughters and nothing made me prouder than to wear a feed sack dress. Back then flour sacks made dish towels, were used to strain milk, and cover food to keep off the flies. Our ancestors knew how to avoid waste.

This was my very favorite feed sack dress. It was floral in green yellow and orange. Of course it had to be starched and ironed and I wore an Alice Lon petticoat with it. My Aunt Jewell made all of my clothes, including the petticoats, and I loved everyone.

Thank you for stopping by. Did you wear any feed sack clothes? If so, share which were your favorites.

Happy Reading and Writing!
Linda

http://www.lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com
http://www.lindalaroque.com

Fallen Lone Stars: Chappell Hill

The Stagecoach Inn has been in continuous operation
since it opened in 1847. (photo by Larry D. Moore)

Chappell Hill, Texas — founded in 1847 on 100 acres owned by a woman — is located roughly halfway between Austin and Houston on part of the land Mexico granted to Stephen F. Austin in 1821. Mary Haller, the landowner, and her husband Jacob built a stagecoach inn on the site, at the junction of two major stagecoach lines. Soon, other folks from the Deep South migrated to the area and planted cotton, for which the climate and soil were perfectly suited.

By 1856, the population had risen to 3,000 people, eclipsed only by Galveston and San Antonio. The town included a sawmill, five churches, and a Masonic Lodge, in addition to two of the first colleges in the state — one for men and another for women. A railroad line followed soon after.

A longhorn dozes among bluebonnets outside
Chappell Hill, Texas. (photo by Texas.713)

During the War of Northern Aggression (otherwise known as the American Civil War), the men of Chappell Hill served in both Hood’s Texas Brigade (infantry) and Terry’s Texas Rangers (cavalry), participating in most of the major battles of the conflict. Two years after the war ended, in 1867, many of the Chappell Hill men who survived the fighting perished in a yellow fever epidemic that decimated the town and the rest of the area around the Brazos River.

Chappell Hill never recovered, plunging from one of the largest, most vibrant communities in the state to little more than a memory.

Today, with a population of 300 in town and approximately 1,300 in the zip code, Chappell Hill is an unincorporated community that retains its fighting spirit and independent nature. A May 2008 special election to determine whether the community would incorporate drew two-thirds of eligible voters to the polls. Incorporation was defeated by a margin of three to one.

Today, Main Street in Chappell Hill is a
National Historic District. (photo by stevesheriw)

Widely regarded as one of the best historically preserved towns in Texas, Chappell Hill maintains its landmarks with admirable zeal. The Stagecoach Inn has been in continuous operation since the doors first opened. Main Street is listed as a National Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places. Restored homes, churches, and businesses offer tours to visitors, and the annual Bluebonnet Festival and Scarecrow Festival attract tourists from all over the state.

If you’re ever in the area, it’s worth a visit.

A Texan to the bone, Kathleen Rice Adams spends her days chasing news stories and her nights and weekends shooting it out with Wild West desperadoes. Leave the upstanding, law-abiding heroes to other folks. In Kathleen’s stories, even the good guys wear black hats.

Her short story “The Second-Best Ranger in Texas” won the 2015 Peacemaker Award for Best Western Short Fiction. Her novel Prodigal Gun won the EPIC Award for Historical Romance and is the only western historical romance ever to final for a Peacemaker in a book-length category.

Visit her hideout on the web at KathleenRiceAdams.com.


 

AN UNSOLVED 12000 YEAR-OLD PUZZLE by E. Ayers

Forty miles east of Lovell, Wyoming is a puzzle, a very old unsolved puzzle. It sits atop Medicine Mountain, 9642 ft above sea level, and has become known as Medicine Wheel. It can only be seen for approximately two months out of the year. That's when the snow melts away and uncovers the wheel. For many, it's a tourist attraction and for many more, it's a shrine. Over the years, scientists have visited this spot and discovered all sorts of celestial ties - obviously seasonal ones. It's like a giant summer clock that uses stars to tell the time. But we still don't know all of its secrets, why it was built, or who actually built it. It is the oldest prehistoric relic in North America.

One of the Crow chiefs said, "It was built before the light came by people who had no iron."

What do we know about it? Not much. Within the area we call Wyoming, we know that there was at least 12000 years of prehistoric occupation. These are the people who were predecessors of the American Indians. We've identified the Clovis people as the earliest, followed by the Folsom, and eventually Eden Valley people who were the big game hunters. They lasted until about 500 A.D. By then we had more gatherers and hunters, and they eventually became what we know today as our American Indians.

We also know these historic people quarried. Southwest of Lusk, Wyoming is a large area filled with quarries that contain evidence of prehistoric people who at various times worked the quarries often collecting quartzite, jasper, and agate. These Wyoming rocks have been found as far away as the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. We also know that they mined limestone. The Medicine Wheel is made up of limestone boulders that were mined elsewhere and brought to the top of the mountain.

The wheel has a circumference of 245 feet, the diameter is 80 feet, and there are 28 spokes that radiate from a central pile of stones called a cairn. (A cairn is nest-like structure made of stones gathered and

loosely placed.) The cairn is about 12 feet in diameter and about 2 feet high. There are also six smaller enclosed circles of stone near the perimeter. Each one is just large enough to hold a sitting human. The very center, apparently someplace in time, contained a pole. It is also believed that the wheel was still being added to maybe as recently as 500 years ago.

The clock aspect to the wheel gives the location of the summer solstice and marks the location of quite a few major stars that rise from the horizon at dusk. The star pattern is most accurate about 1200 A.D., the reason being the earth has undergone some tiny shifts over the years, but even with these tiny shifts, the solstice has remained accurate. 

All the tribes tend to focus on the summer solstice as an important date, but the various tribes also celebrate certain days based on the stars as noted in the wheel. The number 28 is important to the various tribes. It's the lunar cycle of their calendar, and the number 28 shows up in their ceremonial buildings. But the solstice for the Am. Indians, surprisingly is not much different from people all over the world who have celebrated the day. It is a day of new birth, the end of the old and the beginning of the new. It is when time appears to stand still for just a few moments. Much like a basketball player who leaps for a slam dunk and gives the impression of being suspended in time for a minute second. He's no longer moving upward nor has he begun his descent. The sun on the longest day of the year seems suspended, showering its powerful light on everything below. It is a day of happiness.

             The symbol of the wheel is used in various ways by the different tribes. The wheel is broken into four parts. Each part is separated by the four cardinal directions, North, South, East, and West. Each section represents the four seasons, the natural elements consisting of wind, earth, fire, and water along with the basic aspects of life itself, the emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical.  It is a balance between living things and the cosmic whole, a peaceful coexistence.

There is a network consisting of 23,000 acres of land with prehistoric trails, landmarks, and other sacred sites around Medicine Wheel. The wheel being the oldest site is still revered and used by the Arapaho, Shoshone, Crow, Lakota, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Cree, and other American Indian tribes in the area. It is the best preserved of all the sacred, ancient American Indian sites, probably because of the location and the surrounding terrain that has protected it. The four cardinal directions are well-defined with each section, marking life. It's a little circle in the cosmic whole. It is one of approximately 150 wheels found in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and north to our Canadian neighbors in Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Getting to Medicine Wheel in Wyoming isn't for the faint of heart. It's a mile and a half hike up the mountain. Once there, usually an interpreter will be available to educate and answer questions. From this area on top of Medicine Mountain, there is a panoramic view of the Bighorn Basin. The vista of the surrounding area is awe-inspiring. The Medicine Wheel is still used today by tribal members as a place of worship and prayer. But maybe the most interesting thing is visitors to the site are astounded at the amazing feeling of the power within the mountain and the peaceful coexistence of all things.

 ***

 I love incorporating real history, and the contributions of our American Indians. They were the stewards of the land. They coexisted with Nature and understood far more than the trappers or early settlers who invaded the land of the American Indians. 

CATTLE, COWBOYS, AND OIL WELLS

For over a hundred years, the discovery of oil led millions of American families just like mine to follow and work in the oilfields. It was a way of passage from rural farm life to urban industrial society. The main lure was economic opportunity. Texans, as well as citizens from other states, faced the hazards and challenges of a new life because they saw the promise of a better one for themselves and for their children.

When I began writing The Cameron Sisters series, the hero in the first book, Dalton King became a wildcatter, a man with a dream and vision of striking oil (Texas Promise-Book I-The Cameron Sisters).

He'd heard of Spindletop at Beaumont, Texas, and that it ushered in the modern era of drilling. He left the Texas Rangers, and on a ranch land he owned southeast of Austin, he took a chance and drilled.

**Dalton King married Jo Cameron, and together they founded an empire.
Dalton's foreman was savvy Sam Deleon, a loner wandering the West, looking for work. I was so intrigued with his character I wrote Texas True, about Jo's younger sister, True Cameron. She fell in love with Sam, and wow, they have quite a story! (Texas True-Book II-The Cameron Sisters).  Sam proved to be less than honest with his new bride, but through many trials and tribulations, they do find their HEA.

I grew up on the South Plains of West Texas, in a small oil and cotton town just west of Lubbock. My daddy worked for an oil company, one that began with the name Standard Oil, and through numerous mergers eventually became EXXON. The strange thing is, though, he was a carpenter and that's what he did for the company. He and a crew went ahead of a "wildcat" to build "doghouses," platforms, fences, and eventually camp houses. The camp houses were identical--small but snug and much better than the tent houses families lived in during the earlier years of wildcatting.

The drive between the town we lived in and Lubbock was about twenty miles. My family--Daddy, Mother, my two sisters, and I sometimes went to Lubbock for various reasons. We'd drive back home at night and in the distance, I could see oil rigs lit up like Christmas trees. I asked Daddy, "What are those?" He said, "Those are wildcats." I loved that name and title, and asked him many questions.

The Camerons series is with Prairie Rose Publishing

Texas Promise

After two years, Jo Cameron King’s life as a widow abruptly ends when her husband returns home to Austin. Unable to understand her angry and bitter husband, she accepts a call to travel to the New Mexico Territory to meet her dying birth father whom she knows nothing about. Her plan to escape her husband goes awry when he demands to travel with her.

Dalton King, believing lies his Texas Ranger partner tells him about Jo, seethes with hatred toward his wife. Now he must protect Jo from his partner’s twisted mind, while sorting out the truth. Jo’s bravery and loyalty convince him she’s innocent. But can they regain the love and respect they once shared?

Texas True

At a Governor's Ball in Austin, Texas, True Lee Cameron meets suave Sam Deleon. Before the night is out, she transforms from the coddled and protected younger sister to a woman in love. Reality crashes down when she accidentally learns he has deceived her. Daring to disobey him, she follows Sam to the oilfields and determines to live wherever he does. Has she made a mistake? Will she give up and return home where she can make her own rules?

When Sam Deleon meets the gorgeous young woman his mother has chosen for him, he fears falling in love, because he knows nothing about love. In order to carry out his mother’s plan, he marries True and moves her to his mother's home, intending to visit enough to set the plan in motion. When True fails to obey him, he faces the possibility of losing her, thereby losing his inheritance and the family property.

Sam and True attempt a reconciliation and compromise. Together, they now face a nemesis, someone who determines to thwart every action they take, endangering not only their lives, but also those whom they love.

Texas Dreamer

Lee King is a dreamer. When he realizes he was born under a lucky star, he went for the jackpot and won. But winning a big prize isn't the same as keeping it safe from interlopers and greedy fortune hunters--including women.
When oilman Tex McDougal crosses his path, Lee believes he has found the perfect man to help him. His daughter, Emilie McDougal, while not a buxom beauty, impresses him with her intelligence, her courage, and her selflessness.
Could he strike a financial bargain with her? One that would suit them both?

Emilie McDougal has no family except her father, and she has followed in his footsteps from age one. When Lee King enters their lives, she begins to dream--for the first time in her life. She only wants one thing from Lee, one tiny thing that would make her life complete.
Would he agree to her counter-bargain?

~~*~~*~~This last "Texas Book" is about Lee King, who is Dalton King's little brother.
These books are in ebook and print, and can be found on my Amazon page:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=celia+yeary

~~*~~*~~

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/celiayeary

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WILLIAM F. "BUFFALO BILL" CODY - FROM CHILDHOOD TO FAME TO LEGEND by Cheri Kay Clifton

First of all, on this, the 241st year of our country's Independence,  I want to wish all our patriotic Sweethearts, families & friends a very Happy 4th of July!

I'm sure there's been a blog or two about "Buffalo Bill," but having visited the fascinating Buffalo Bill Historical Center, I thought readers would enjoy a brief  post about  this amazing man who by the turn of the 20th century was probably the most famous American in the world.  No one symbolized the West for Americans and Europeans better than Buffalo Bill. He was consulted on Western matters by every American president from Ulysses S. Grant to Woodrow Wilson.

William F. Cody was born in LeClaire, Iowa in 1846. His family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas when he was a child. Cody left home at the age of only eleven to herd cattle and drove a wagon train across the Great Plains several times.  In 1860 at fourteen, he rode for the Pony Express. After the Civil War, Cody scouted for the U.S. Army.  A fur trader, gold miner, and master bison hunter, he then gained the name "Buffalo Bill."

Buffalo Bill's career in show business began in 1872 in Chicago at the age of 26.  He acted in the show "Scouts of the Prairie" which became a huge success.  Critics said he may not have been the best actor, but he knew how to charm the audience. The following season Cody started his own show, Scouts of the Plains, including his friends, Bill Hickok and Texas Jack.

In 1882, Cody organized the famed "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show, a grand outdoor event, with a cast of hundreds including the western personalities, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Will Rogers, Wild Bill Hickok, Chief Sitting Bull, and Geronimo, as well as many live animals, in particular, horses, buffalo, elk, moose, bear and Texas steers. He recruited cowboys and cowgirls from ranches throughout the West. The shows demonstrated bronco riding, roping and many other skilled events.

In 1887, the Wild West show was invited to England for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebration. Cody's show was a popular hit and soon rose to international fame. His notoriety earned him an audience with Pope Leo XIII while touring Europe. At the turn of the twentieth century, he was known as "the greatest showman on the face of the earth."

 In 1895, Cody was instrumental in the founding of the town of Cody, in northwestern Wyoming. In 1902, Buffalo Bill opened the Irma Hotel, named after his daughter. (I visited the town and the fascinating hotel where you can experience the romance of the era.)

Buffalo Bill never retired. He died in 1917 at the age of 71. He was buried in his chosen place on Lookout Mountain overlooking the Plains and Colorado Rockies where he had spent the best times of his life. His wife, Louisa, was buried next to him four years later. 

In 1921, Johnny Baker, a dear friend of Cody, created the Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum. It illustrates the legendary life and times of William F. Cody and his Wild West shows. The exhibits offer many objects of the Old West, including Indian artifacts and firearms as well as Buffalo Bill's show outfits. Today the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Golden, Colorado is one of the top visitor attractions in the state.

In Cody, Wyoming, the Buffalo Bill Museum is the flagship museum of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. First opening its doors to the public in 1927 in a log cabin in downtown Cody – modeled after Bill Cody's house at his "TE Ranch" – southwest of town, the museum remained in that location until 1969 when it was relocated to a newly-built wing of the then Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Today the center is a complex of five museums and a research library featuring art and artifacts of the American West.

Cheri Kay Clifton - Historical Western Author

Born in Nebraska, Cheri Kay Clifton loved researching the Oregon Trail, historically known as the "Gateway to the West." Her passion for those brave pioneers, Native Americans and 19th Century America led her to write the epic western historical Wheels of Destiny Trilogy.  Cheri is married and has one grown son.  If she’s not riding on the back of her husband’s Harley, she’s writing the third book in the Wheels of Destiny Trilogy which includes already published Book 1, Trail To Destiny and Award Winning Book 2, Destiny’s Journey.

"The Old West isn't just a time or place, it's a state of mind.  I get germs of ideas, do a lot of research, then breathe life into my characters.  I like strong heroines, but loveable; and strong heros, but vulnerable."

Reviews from Easychair Bookshop judges:  "A must read western romance." "A10/10 read." "Action, adventure, romance at its very best."

Links:

Cheri's website

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Little Known Flag Trivia from the Army National Guard

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

I am a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and at our last meeting we had a guest speaker who gave us an informative accounting of the American flag. I found it very interesting and wanted to share some of the facts he gave us that you might find interesting as well.

During the manufacture of the flag, the material left over is never allowed to fall upon the floor. It always falls into containers.

The flag planted on the moon is made of nylon and set in an aluminum frame.

Miniature flags of the 40 United States and 124 United Nations were carried to the moon by the astronauts and brought back to Earth. These flags were distributed by President Nixon to the governors of the states and to the head of members of the United Nations.

The ball at the top of the flagpole is called a 'truck'. On an official government installation, inside the truck is a .45 caliber bullet, a .38 caliber bullet and a bullet for an M-16 rifle. In the event the truck falls and hits the ground, it is designed to break into 13 pieces, representing the original colonies.

At the base of each flagpole on an official government installation is a box buried in concrete. This box contains one saber, a .38 caliber pistol and a book of matches. In the event the enemy overtakes the last government installation, the survivor is to defend the flag with the saber and pistol and burn the flag with the matches so that the enemy cannot capture the flag.

There should be no guide wires on a flagpole. It must be free standing.

At military funerals, the 21-gun salute stands for the sum of the numbers in the year 1776.

After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for us the rights, privileges and freedoms we enjoy today.

Betsy Ross Flag and the current flag

The flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the American flag, is the national flag of the United States. It consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the "union") bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows, where rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and became the first states in the U.S. Nicknames for the flag include The Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, and The Star-Spangled Banner.