Today
we celebrate the 243rd birthday of America. It is a day to acknowledge and give thanks
for the freedom we enjoy, won by the blood of many brave patriots.
The
first celebration of 4th of July in this county occurred in 1856. The small group of citizens who had settled
here gathered together around a flag pole made from a tree, flying a flag pieced
together from a sheet and a dress. Can
you picture this small group of strangers who had come to this area from
various places and for various reasons who now circled around this sturdy wood
pole as neighbors and pledged their allegiance to this great country?
Page
307 of Ben Reed’s History of Kossuth County describes the first July 4th
celebration in the county like this:
“July 4, 1856, was celebrated in Cresco
Township. The gathering was at a spot
about a half-mile southwest of the Brown cabin.
A tall, slender oak tree was set up for a flag pole, and on it floated a
flag Mrs. Brown had made by tearing up a sheet and her daughter Jennie’s (Mrs.
Altwegg’s) red dress for stripes. The
settlers enjoyed the first celebration dinner in the county. The flag pole stood there for many years
before it was removed. Some old settlers
who were here at the time are of the opinion that on this same day a
celebration was held in Algona. Mrs.
Jane Thompson and Miss Emma Heckart who came in the spring of 1856 are of that
opinion, and narrate events to justify their conclusions. Mrs. Stacy who was present at the celebration
on July 4, 1856, is certain that from what was said at the time that no
celebration in Algona had occurred the year before. This is also the opinion of Lewis H. Smith,
who came to Algona, July 4, 1855.”
And
the memories of Florence Call Cowles in the same book at page 415:
“Another liberty pole which excited my
childish imagination and which seemed almost a living thing, stood in Cresco
township, ‘near the lone tree.’ Here, my
father told me, Cresco people held a celebration, in 1856, when the flag staff
was erected. For over thirty years it
stood alone on the prairie, at first proudly erect, a solemn monument of the
intensity of feeling of our people in the North, which in 1856 was crystalizing
and concentrating for the impending struggle.
With the weight of years the old liberty pole bent lower and lower, and
when in the ‘90s it fell crumbling on the prairie, with no eye to witness its
dissolution, it seemed a fitting symbol of the passing of that sectional
bitterness which it seemed so difficult for us to give up, but which we realize
must go, if we are to exist as one great family with common interests and a
common future.”
In
the late 19th century, a collection of historical memorabilia was
collected by a Mr. Pettibone and put on display in the courthouse. Among the souvenirs was a remnant of that
first flag pole. It was given to him by
Alex Brown, a descendant of Mrs. Brown who made the flag.
 |
| A portion of the first flag pole in Kossuth County erected July 4th, 1856. On display at the Kossuth County Historical Museum. |
A
piece of the first liberty pole is owned by the Kossuth County Historical
Society and on display in the museum. Could it be the one that was
part of the Pettibone collection? We may
never know. But we can be sure that no
flag pole was ever loved so much for what it represented.
Happy
Independence Day to you!
Until
next time,
Kossuth
County History Buff
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