Alexander Hodge Chapter No. 49
Chapter Meeting Minutes
September 30, 2025
The members of the Alexander Hodge #49, Sons of the
American Revolution, gathered at Spring Creek Barbeque
located at 4895 Highway 6, Missouri City, TX. In the private meeting room,
Carl Hill called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. with an Invocation given by
Phil Whitley followed by pledges to the United States flag, to the Texas flag
and to the SAR flag.
10-Attending
Chapter Members: Carl Hill (President &
Treasure), Steven Barber (Secretary), Phil 9hitley (Chaplain),), Jim Penny
(Webmaster & Newsletter), Lovell Aldrich, Rick Giuffre, Dennis Giuffre, Nate
Lewis, Josh Evans, and Randal Glenn.
4-Other Guests: Mrs.
Bernice Mistrot, Ms. Eron Tynes, Mrs. Sandy Barber, Mr. Michael Bishop (perspective
new member)
2- Guest of
Honor: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur (District 7 VP) and Susan Byram.
Guest
Speaker: Carl Hill -“Flags of the
American Revolution”
Treasurer’s
Report: Carl Hill presented the Treasurer’s Report. The
Chapter’s Treasury has a balance of $9243.62. The $500.00 JROTC checks has been
deposited and cleared.
Secretary
Report: The July 29th 2025 Chapter Meeting minutes and
August 26th, 2025 Business Meeting Chapter Meeting minutes were
published in the very complete and through September 2025, “The Hodge Herald
Chapter Newsletter. Those minutes were voted on and 2nd for acceptance
by Chapter members.
Web Master and Newsletter Report: Jim Penny reported that the September 2025 Newsletter was published and delivered to all registered members. This 37page newsletter was chocked full of useful information for Chapter members. Robert Clark Rhodes has volunteered to serve as the Chapters Scouting Awards Chairman for 2026. Additional service opportunities for members were also listed.
Additional opportunity to serve the SAR was listed with the upcoming Board of Managers Fall Meeting October 17-19th, 2025. Raffle Tickets were being offered at the Chapter meeting for chance on a drawing for a Tri-con Hat from Townsends, to be drawn at the Saturday evening Board of Managers meeting October 18th. Tickets $5.00 or 5 tickets for $20.00. Sponsored by the Alexander Hodge and Carrington SAR Chapters.
A list on
National SAR upcoming events celebrating America 250 anniversary for 2025 and
2026 was listed in this newsletter. Color Guard activity on the Chapter Level
and on the State and National level was listed along with an extensive list of
suppliers of Patriot Soldier uniform suppliers that members can acquire period dress
to participate in upcoming SAR events. And finally, there was a very good
Genealogy review on how to keep your genealogical records and the type of
records needed to join the SAR and gain additional supplementals and a great
story behind the SAR Insignia, all in the one month’s newsletter.
Registrar’s
Report: Micheal and Gerald Bishops applications have cleared the State
and now on their way to National for final approval. The Junior application for
Thomas Whitenton, 2-year-old grandson of Tim Britcher as been approved.
Still working on applications
for Brandon Draper, Richard Laughlin, Caleb Morefield, David Leiske, Jack
Sparta and Mike McGee. Douglas Thorpe application has been completed and ready
to be submitted for approval.
Additional
Service Opportunity:
On
October 11th, 2025 there is another,” Honor Flight “event coming up
at Hobbie Airport at 6:30 p.m. If you have not been to one of these events your
in for a treat. This is greeting back an airplane full of Veterans that have
been flown to Washington DC from the Houston area to visit memorials. On the
return flight, these vets are greeted back and escorted by a uniformed group of
SAR Members (mostly the Freedom Chapter, but others are invited) and by several
hundred families in the receiving terminal. There is a ceremony of award given
along with usually a musical orchestra playing patriotic music. It’s a great
event to take your children and grandchildren to that lasts about one hour
after the veterans arrive back into Houston from Washington DC. This event
occurs approximately once a quarter.
The “Wreaths across America”
will be kicking off this next month, sponsored by the Alexander Hodge DAR
Chapter. Wreaths will be sold to be placed on Veterans Tombs in ceremonies some
time in December, 2025 at the Alexander Hodge Cemetery in Katy, TX and at the
Pleasant Green Cemetery in Richmond, TX. The Alexander Hodge SSAR Chapter
usually provides a Color Guard for this event. Flyers and additional
information will soon be provided.
The Alexander Hodge SAR and
DAR chapters along with a third party are joining forces to sponsor a America
250 Project in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the USA
in 2026. The proposed project is to place two flag poles with solar lighting at
the Pleasant Green Cemetery in Richmond, TX. This will display and American and
a Texas flag at this historical cemetery. A dedication ceremony is planned for on July 4th,
2026.
New
Business:
It was reminded that the Alexander Hodge and
Carrington Chapters are co-hosting the 2025 Fall SAR State Board of Managers
Meeting. (BOM Meeting) This meeting date has changed to Friday October 17 to Sunday
the 19thh, 2025 here in Sugarland TX, at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.
Hotel Information:
Hilton Garden Inn located at 722 Bonaventure Way, Sugar Land, TX 77478-
Telephone #888-615-8098. Rooms available for this event AT $119.00 per night
plus taxes. This is hotel is located off HW 6 and the University exit off of HW
6 on the left side as you travel northwest of HW 6,
Working together with
Alexander Hodge Chapter’s President, Carl Hill is David Pevey and Curt Brown
with the Carrington SAR Chapter. An organization called Helms-Briscoe,
represented by Dennis Brunson is doing much of the organizing and arrangements
for this conference. Helms-Briscoe is paid by the hotel chains and reports through
David who is the SAR Chairman of the State Meetings Committee. All SAR members
should be getting notification from Ray Cox, the SAR State Communications
representative giving details of this meeting that SAR members are invited to
attend.
Much is still being organized
and will need Chapter volunteers to assist in organizing and facilitating this
event. We have arranged for speakers for the Saturday Luncheon and the Saturday
night banquet. We will need people to man the Registration Desk Friday and
Saturday (October 17th and 18th) until noon on 2-to-4-hour
shifts. Will be registering attendees and handing out package on the events.
There is a” Open-Raffle “to be organized where the funds will be donated to the
Alexander Hodge and Carrington Chapters. There is also a “Silent Auction” to be
managed that funds will go to the Patriots Fund. Addition volunteers will be
needed to guide attendees to where various facilities and events are occurring
during this BOM meeting.
Evening
Speaker: Carl Hill: “Historical Flags of the American Revolution”
Carl
Hill delivered a presentation of 10 significant historical flags used during
the American Revolution in the events of the United States gaining independence
from Britian. Jim Penny and Nate Lewis assisted with displaying each flag
during Carl’s presentation. This flag program was put together and now
recognized as the “Thomas B.Green III flag Historical Flag Collection Program,.”
in honor of the past Alexander Hodge President, Thomas B. Green III. This
collection of flags numbers approximately 80 flags, but only 10 of the most
significant flags are presented in this program.
Flags
Presented were:
I.
British
Infantry Flag (also
known as “Meteor Flag of Old England “or “The Red Duster” or “British Red
Ensign”)
. 
The British Red Ensign was
commissioned in 1707 by Queen Anne for use on British merchant ships. It was created
in recognition of the uniting of England and Scotland and later Ireland (1801) with
the passing of the “Acts of Union”. Previously each country had its own flag,
the English Red Ensign and the Scottish Red Ensign, which featured the St.
George Cross and the Saint Andrew’s Cross, respectively. Both crosses were
incorporated into this British Red Ensign flag. Additional red strips were
added to the flag in 1801 when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom.
Before the American
Revolution, this flag was flown by ships of the Thirteen Colonies in the
Americas and it was the official flag of the Colony of Massachusetts.
The Red Ensign was used by the
British throughout the Revolutionary War, especially in its navy. It was the
flag under which General Cornwallis surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown on
October 19, 1781, signaling the end of the American Revolution. This flag is
still flown today by British merchant and passenger ships to denote their
nationality. Versions of the Red Ensign are also still in use today by former
colonies of the United Kingdom, such as Bermuda,
II.
Sons of Liberty Flag (Rebellious Stripes)
Original
Version 5 vertical and four white vertical strips
13 Colony Version
This flag was the symbol of
the Sons of Liberty representing resistance against British Taxation during the
American Revolution. In March 1765, the British government pasted the Stamp Act,
a tax imposed on different kinds of printed material- which the colonist
thought was extremely unfair. The taw was created to fund 10,00 British troops
on American continent. Since the colonist did not have any elected members in
the British parliament that passed the Stamp Act, the phrase, “taxation without
representation” was created.
The Sons of Liberty, formed in
August 1765, was an underground group of patriots that led protest against
British taxation. Samual Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock were amongst its members.
The original flag was used to signal Sons of Liberty meetings, especially at
common gathering points such as the Liberty Tree in Boston. In 1775 the Liberty
Tree was cut down by British Loyalists and in the summer of 1776, a flag pole was
installed at the same location that the Liberty Tree stood to display the newer
13 stripped Sons of Liberty flag.
The original flag had five vertical
red and four vertical white strips representing the nine colonies that attended
the Stamp Act Congress. A Boston lawyer, James Oris invited all thirteen
colonies to attend the Stamp Act Congress in New York, October 1765 to discuss
a petition to the British government to repeal this unjust law. Nine colonies
attended the Stamp Act Congress (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina),
In 1775, the flag was updated
to include 13 horizontal stripes to represent all 13 colonies and was displayed
through out the American Revolutionary War.
III.
Join or Die Flag
This started as a political
cartoon, originally published in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin in his original
publication of The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9th, 1754.
The image shows a rattle snake
cut into eights, with each segment labeled with the initials od each colony or
region of colonies. One segment labeled “New England” represented four colonies
(Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut), Georgia was the
only colony not recognized at the time.
The colonies were represented by a rattlesnake
for various reasons:
a)
Rattlesnakes are native to North America and
not found any were else in the world.
b)
Rattlesnakes only attack in self-defense.
Franklins message was about self-preservation
c) According
to folklore, it was believed that a snake could be rejoin together after being
cut up into pieces.
In 1754, Franklins had designed the symbol to unite the colonies
during the French and Indian War, for management of Indian relations and
defense against France, but in 1765, American colonist used the symbol to urge
colonial unity to resist the British laws that were being imposed on them. It
was the first known representation of the British colonies as a union, which
would eventually go on to be, the United States of America.
IV.
The Bedford Flag
The Bedford Flag is the oldest
known flag in the United States. It associated with the Minutemen of the town
of Bedford, Massachusetts with being at the Battle of Lexington and at Concord
in 1775.
The original flag still exists
today and is on display at the Bedford, Massachusetts Public library.
The original flag is 27 inches
by 29 inches in size, a typical size to be used as a cavalry flag. The design
depicts an armored arm grasping a straight sword coming out of a cloud. Three
cannonballs hang in the air. A gold ribbon with the Latin words “Vince Aut
Morire” which translate to “Conquer or Die”.
A commission date of 1737
names Minuteman Nathaniel Page’s father John Page as the “Cornett of the Troop
horse”, the officer whose duty was to bear the unit’s flag. Nathaniel’s father,
uncle and grandfather are all mentioned within Bedford’s town records as
“Cornet Page”, indicating that a Page could have been carrying the flag for
local militia troop as early as 1720. It is believed that Nathanial Page
carried this flag into battle at Concord. Calvary Unit flags served an
important function as a rallying point on the battlefields of the 18th
century. The Bedford flag became the political symbol of the early American
Revolution and specifically the militia’s resistance at Concord. As the only
militia flag present at the battle of Concord, this flag the likely inspiration
for the opening lines of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn:
“By
the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their
flag to April’s breeze unfurled
Here
once the embattled farmers stood
And
fired the shot heard round the world”
After the battle on April 19th,
1775, the flag was returned to the Page farm. The first Cornet Page’s
great-great-grandson, Cyrus Page, in 1885 presented the flag to the town of
Bedford into the keeping trustees of the Bedford Free Public Library, where it
resides to this day. It is also recognized as the official flag of the town of
Bedford Massachusetts.
V.
“Pine Tree Flag”
In October, 1775, General
Washington’s secretary Colonel Joseph Reed suggested a white flag, with a tree
in the middle and with the motto “An Appeal to Heaven.” This was proposed to be
used for ships commissioned by George Washington.
The phase “An Appeal to
Heaven” was a phrase directly taken John Locke, a British philosopher in his
“Second Treatise on Government”. This was published in 1690 as a particular
expression of the right to revolt and reject the theory of the divine right of
kings. John Lockes philosophy on government was very influential on the
development and defense of the secularization of American political structures
considered in the forming of the United States of America government.
Prior to this the phrase “An
Appeal to Heaven”, had been used by Patrick Henry in his “Give me Liberty or
Death” speech and then was also used in the Second Continental Congress in the
Declaration of Independence.
The pine tree is a traditional
symbol of New England. It was adopted in the 17th century symbol
used on flags and coinage. The pine tree flag has been described as one of the
most important flags on the colonies during 1775-1776 and the central image of
the pine tree stood for wealth and power in part because the tall trees were
very important as the mast for warships.
This flag has been used in
modern times for several different causes. Christian nationalist in the US
since 2013 used this flag as a symbol to restore America to the Christian
nation God intended. The flag was given to governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, who
advocated for the flag to be flown over courthouses and statehouses. Then on
January 6th 2021, this particular flag was carried by several of the
US Capital rioters. Then, the latest was in May 2024, when news media reported
thisflag had been flown at the vacation home of US Supreme Justice Samuel Alito
and it was associated being used by supporters of “Stop the Steal” cause.
Justice Alito refused to recuse himself from on going cases involving the 2020
United States presidential election.
VI.
“The Grand Union Flag” (also referred to
as the Continental Union Flag, first American Flag, and the Cambridge Flag)
This
flag was considered the flag of the United Colonies from 1775-1776 until 1777
when the 13-star flag was adopted by the Continental Congress. The flag
included the British Union flag with thirteen stripes recognizing the 13
colonies. It made its first appearance December 3, 1775, when it was hoisted at
the commissioning of Admiral Esek Hopkins flagship, USS Alfred, on the western
shore of the Delaware River in Philadelphia. This was the last flag that kept
any British resemblance indicating it was a last flag design that hoped for
reconciliation with the British Crown.
VII.
“Don’t Tread on Me Flag” (Also Called The Gadsden or Hopkins Flag)
The flag was named after Christopher Gadsden, a South
Carolinian delegate to the Continental Congress, s brigadier general in the
Continental Army, who designed the flag in 1775. He gave the flag to Commodore Esek Hopkins
and it was first unfurled on the main mast of Hopkins flag ship USS Alfred on
December 20th, 1775.
The rattlesnake was symbol of the unity of the Thirteen
Colonies at the start of the Revolutionary War. The flag has been described as
the “most popular symbol” of the American Revolution. This has led it to be
associated with the ideals of individualism and liberty. It has been used often
in the United States as a symbol of right-libertarianism, classic liberalism
and small government, as well for distrust or defiance against authority and
government. In modern times, the Gadsden flag was widely used as a protest
symbol by the “Tea Party” movement and was prominently features on January 6th,
2021 at the United States Capitol.
The modern version of this flag includes an apostrophe in
the word Don’t.
VIII.
First City Troop Flag
The First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry was organized
in 1774, one of the first patriotic military organizations establish in the
American Revolution. This military group fought in the battles of Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. It also served as George Washington’s
personal bodyguard. The First Troop still exists today as Troop A, 1st
Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division
(United States) Pennsylvania Army National Guard Unit that has served America
the Civil War, World War I, World War II and even today has been called to duty
since 9/11.
IX.
Betsy Ross Flag
George Washington, along with
two members of a congressional committee visited Elizabeth Griscom Ross in 1776
Mrs. Ross made flags for the Pennsylvania Navy during the American Revolution
and was then commissioned to produced the first official stars and striped
American colonies flag. Ross convinced Washington to change the shape of the
stars in the sketch of the flag from a six point to a five points star because
it was easier and speedier to produce the flag.
Betsy Ross was born in 1752 as
the eighth child of seventeen children in the Samuel Griscom family. Her family
was a Quaker family, whose Great Grandfather immigrated in 1680 from England.
After her schooling in a Quaker-run state school, her father apprenticed her to
an upholsterer named William Webster in Philadelphia.
While in this apprenticeship,
Betsy met John Ross, a nephew of George Ross Jr., signer of the United States
Declaration of Independence. They were married in 1773 in Glouster City, New
Jersey and started up their own upholstery business. Betsy Ross lived 60 years
after the Declaration of Independence dying at age 84, January 30th,
1836. .
X.
The Bennington Battle Flag
This flag is associated with
the American Revolution Battle of Bennington that occurred in 1777 near
Bennington, New York. The large ”76” references the n1776 year when the
Declaration of Independence was signed. The other primary differences compared
to the Betsy Ross flag, is the 13 strips are arranged with the white strip be
on the outside on the Bennington flag and the stars in the flag being seven
pointed, along with the blue canton is taller on this flag.
This lesser-known battle was
between 2,000 Continentals made up from New Hampshire and Massachusetts
militiamen along with “The Green Mountain Boys” from Vermont against 1,500
loyalist forces of Brits and their Hessian mercenaries. The significands of
this battle were with the British Loyalist losing this battle, the Native
Americans pulled their support of the Loyalist cause and this America victory
boosted morale of the Americans that had been losing many other battles and the
Battle of Bennington became a rallying point for the entire nation.
XI.
The Guilford Court House Flag
The Guildford
Courthouse flag also known as the North Carolina Militia flag, was carried into
Battle March 15, 1781 by Noth Carolina militia. This battle was significant in
that the Bristish had a string of battle victories and had driven back the
American to Guilford, North Carolina. . However, the exhausted British troops
could not longer fight on and started to retreat back to Yorktown to recoupe.
This unique flag had 13 blue and red strips and 13 8-pointed stars.
XII.
Easton Pennsylvania Courthouse Flag
The Easton Pennsylvania flag
was flown at the courthouse on the first public reading of the Declaration of
Independence on July8th, 1776. This was believed to be the local militia unit
flag
Closing
Remarks:
The next Alexander Hodge
Chapter #49 meeting is scheduled for November 25thh, 2025 at 7:00
P.M. at the Spring Creek Barbeque restaurant on Highway 6 in Missouri City, TX.
The next Chapter Business Meeting will be held at this same restaurant October 28th,
2025 at 1:00 P.M. All chapter members are invited to attend the Business
Meetings.
Recessional: The SAR recessional was recited by all
present.
Benediction: Closing
benediction was given by Phil Whitley, Chaplain.
Meeting
Adjourned: President Carl Hill