The phrases, “The Stars and Stripes” and “Old Glory,” both refer to our country’s flag. The reason for the first is obvious, but where did Old Glory come from? I never thought about its origin—until I “met” Captain William Driver on one of those annual Nashville City Cemetery walks.
The Beginning
William Driver was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on March 13, 1803. At thirteen, he ran away from home and began his life at sea as a cabin boy on a merchant ship. His father, angry because he’d thrown away an apprenticeship with a local blacksmith, wrote a letter, telling him not to come home until he was captain of his own ship.
William took up the gauntlet his father threw down. He returned home— a mere seven years later—a master mariner and commanding his own ship, as ordered!
Everyone was proud of their hometown boy. His mother and the “girls of Salem” presented him with a U.S. flag they’d sewn. He called the giant flag, “Old Glory,” and flew it on every ship he captained.
Driver was deeply attached to the flag, writing: “It has ever been my staunch companion and protection. Savages and heathens, lowly and oppressed, hailed and welcomed it at the far end of the wide world. Then, why should it not be called Old Glory?”
Life After the Sea
After his wife’s death, Captain Driver retired from his exciting life on the high seas. He moved to Nashville with his three children to be near his brothers. Old Glory made the move with him, and he proudly displayed it on patriotic holidays.
He married again and had nine more children. Times were good, until the day Tennessee seceded from the Union. Several of his sons fought for, and one died for, the Confederacy, but through it all, Captain Driver remained loyal to the Union.
At the beginning of the Civil War, Nashville was a Confederate Capitol. The Governor sent men to Driver’s home to take the flag. Driver turned the men away, then hid Old Glory in a secret pouch sewn into a quilt to protect it from future threats. When the Union army captured Nashville, in February 1862, Captain Driver took Old Glory out of hiding and, in celebration, the flag flew over the Tennessee State Capitol for one night.
The Result
The sight of Old Glory hoisted over the capitol brought tears to many eyes. To those fighting for the South, they were tears of despair and misery. But to those fighting for the North, they were tears of great joy.
The story of Old Glory and loyal Captain Driver spread like wildfire in the North. Soon everyone in the Union began referring to all U.S. flags as “Old Glory,” and eventually, the nickname caught on with the rest of the nation.
Today, Captain Driver’s Old Glory is preserved in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, though it is currently not on display.
Captain William Driver designed his own gravestone, featuring a broken tree trunk and an anchor, with the inscription, “His Ship, His Country, and his flag, Old Glory.” His grave is one of the few places in the country where the U.S. flag is permitted to fly at night without a light.