National 9-11 Flag patched up with pieces from many flags, including the flag from Ft. McHenry; displayed at the National 9-11 Memorial Museum in New York City. Photo by Ed Darrel, use with attribution encouraged.
Five days designated by law to fly the U.S. flag in September — only one statehood day, though, for California. In chronological order:
- Labor Day, the first Monday in September — September 5, in 2016 (yep; passed)
- California Statehood, September 9 (1850, the 31st state)
- Patriot Day, September 11
- Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, September 17; September 17-23 is also designated Constitution Week, though flag flying is not mentioned as a recommended activity (you may feel free to fly your flag anyway)
- Gold Star Mothers Day, last Sunday in September — September 25 in 2016
Gold Star Mothers Day will probably get extra attention in this election year.
An American battle flag flew for the first time in battle on September 3, 1777, but this date is usually not commemorated.
This occurred during a Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware. Gen. William Maxwell, commanding a Patriot force of infantry and cavalry, ordered the new flag raised in a clash with an advance guard of British and Hessian troops.
The rebels were defeated and forced to retreat to the encampment housing Gen. George Washington’s main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.
Three months beforehand, on June 14, the Continental Congress resolved that “the flag of the United States be 13 alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
The new national flag, which quickly became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag – a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that consisted of 13 red and white stripes.
Ten dates to fly the U.S. flag in September; eleven if you’re in California.
September features several other commemorations that usually involve no flag flying (these are declarations for 2015):
- National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, 2015
- National Preparedness Month, 2015
- National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, 2015
- National Wilderness Month, 2015
- National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, 2015
- National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, 2015
- National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2015
More:
- Snopes on the annual e-mail campaign to get people to fly their flags on September 11, assuming no one remembers the federal law nor pays attention to the news
- “September a perfect time to fly the flag,” Lynn Petrak, Chicago Tribune, August 27, 2015
- Amherst, Massachusetts, will fly U.S. flags for September 11 this year, latest chapter in a dispute about how properly to remember victims of the 2001 attacks
- Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, will give out U.S. flags to people who wish to exchange Confederate flags, during the Southern 500 race event — AP report in USA Today
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 