Flag Incident
On April 25, 1862, as Union Navy ships approached Confederate New Orleans, Commodore David Farragut ordered two officers to send a message to Mayor John T. Monroe requesting removal of Confederate flags from the local customhouse, mint, and city hall and the placement of U.S. flags. Monroe refused, claiming it was beyond his jurisdiction. On April 26, Captain Henry W. Morris sent ashore Marines from the USS Pensacola to raise the U.S. flag over the mint. Morris did so without any order from Farragut, who was still trying to receive an official surrender from the mayor.
As the marines raised the flag, a number of locals gathered around in anger and the marines told the population the Pensacola would fire on anyone attempting to remove the flag. However, a group of seven individuals, including Mumford, decided to remove the flag from the mint. The Pensacola fired and Mumford was injured by a flying piece of brick. With cheers from local onlookers, Mumford carried the flag to the mayor at city hall, but onlookers tore at it as he walked, reducing it to a stub.
Read more about this topic: William Bruce Mumford
Famous quotes containing the words flag and/or incident:
“Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow—red, yellow, brown, black and white—and we’re all precious in God’s sight.”
—Jesse Jackson (b. 1941)
“I teazed him with fanciful apprehensions of unhappiness. A moth having fluttered round the candle, and burnt itself, he laid hold of this little incident to admonish me; saying, with a sly look, and in a solemn but quiet tone, “That creature was its own tormentor, and I believe its name was BOSWELL.””
—James Boswell (1740–1795)