The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 54, July 1950 - April, 1951 Page: 256

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

few changes have been made in this second edition. The inter-
pretation is largely traditional, yielding little to recent revision-
ary accounts. The style is dull, and the content almost incredibly
repetitious. Errors abound, but only a few examples need be
given. The author indicates that Britain acquired Louisiana and
Guadeloupe by the Peace of Paris in 1763 (p. 99). He has St.
Kitts first settled in 1626 (p. 285) and Gibson translated to
London in 1720o (p. 361). He states that the British colonies
might ship even non-enumerated goods to foreign markets only
after first landing them in England (p. 1o2). The defects of
the work will probably defeat its purpose of serving as a text-
book in schools and colleges. Students might nevertheless profit
from some excellent passages on financial history.
J. HARRY BENNETT, JR.
The University of Texas
Key and Allied Families. By Mrs. Julian C. Lane. Macon, Georgia
(The J. W. Burke Company), 1931. Illustrations. Pp. 495.
The primary inspiration for compiling this book was to render
tribute to Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled
Banner," the national anthem. Twice the flag of 1814 is used as
an illustration, and in both instances fifteen stars and sixteen
'stripes are clearly in evidence. At the location of one of the stars,
a bullet or small-bore cannon shot tore a gaping hole into the
flag. Just why only fifteen stars were on the flag the book does
not reveal. Certainly there were eighteen states in the Union at
that time, and another row of three stars would have made the
number of stars complete. I may be laboring under the false
assumption that from the very first an extra star was added to
the flag for each newly-admitted state. Even though the flag had
only fifteen stars, it can safely be admitted that the American
officers and soldiers in Fort McHenry and the people of Balti-
more thrilled at the sight of it during the bombardment of the
fort from September 12 to 14, 1814.
Great credit belongs to Mrs. Mary Young Pickersgill of Balti-
more, for it was she who made this flag of twenty-nine by thirty-
six feet. "Every member of the family was put to work" to make
the flag, which probably means that Caroline Pickersgill, the

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