The Teenager Who Gave Us Our Flag

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, we will see many a flag flutter over our skies. And, believe it or not, we owe the design of our current flag—with its array of 50 stars—to a kid from Lancaster, Ohio.

In 1958, America consisted of 48 states. Alaska and Hawaii were petitioning for statehood, but nothing was official. Nevertheless, high-schooler Robert Heft figured it was a foregone conclusion that there would soon be 50 states in the Union. So, he decided to come up with a new flag design for a school project. He worked tirelessly on his flag—fashioning red, white and blue cloth together to form what he thought the new flag should look like. Basically, it was the alternating rows of five and six stars that we know of today.

His teacher was not impressed. He gave Heft a grade of B- and said the design was not original and didn’t match the country’s actual 48-star flag. He did offer the kid an out. If he could get his new design approved in Washington, he’d change the grade.

By August of 1959, both Alaska and Hawaii had officially become states. The nation now needed a 50-star flag, and thousands of ideas flooded into Washington. President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10834 establishing the design of the 50-star flag—which was identical to the one Heft sewed together on his grandparent’s kitchen table. Heft claimed that Ike himself called him from the White House to tell him he had selected the teenager’s design.

Oh, and Heft’s teacher later kept his word: the grade moved up from B- to A.

Benedict Arnold's Trek Through Massachusetts

Benedict Arnold had an idea—and it’s not the one where he later traitorously handed over West Point to the British. Still an ardent American patriot in September of 1775, Arnold traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to convince General George Washington that an American expeditionary force should invade and take possession of the British province of Quebec. Washington agreed.

After leaving Cambridge, Arnold took his roughly 1,000-man contingent on an overland trek to Newburyport, Massachusetts—where a ship would take his forces up to Maine. From there, they would again travel on foot to Quebec. 

To get to Newburyport, Arnold’s troops passed through the following Massachusetts towns: Malden, Lynn, Salem, Danvers, Beverly, Wenham, Ipswich and Rowley. In several of these locations, you can still see historical markers and milestones on their route along the old “Bay Road”. 

The Quebec expedition itself turned out to be a dismal failure—as bad maps and a treacherous Maine wilderness bogged down the Americans. Many troops turned and went home and the depleted forces could not take the province from the British—instead ineffectively laying siege to Quebec City. 

Arnold felt under-appreciated by the Continental Congress and so, in 1780, he planned to turn over the fort at West Point (which was under his command) to the British for the sum of 20,000 British pounds (about 3,000,000 pounds today). The plot was discovered and he defected to the other side, leading British troops in battle for the remainder of the war. He eventually fled to London, where he was celebrated by King George III, and died in 1801 at the age of 60.

So, this son of Connecticut—branded as a traitor forever—once led a band of men through Massachusetts towns on a decidedly patriotic mission that few remember.