A large replica now oversees the hallowed Memorial Hall, where Midshipmen reflect on those five words every day. In 2002, it was removed for conservation and then placed in the USNA Museum in 2009. Eventually, it made its way to the caretakers at the USNA Memorial Hall. Some historians say the flag was raised on Niagara and some do not. A very famous painting shows him with the flag over his shoulder as he rows to the ship. When the Lawrence sustained damage, Perry needed to move to the sister ship Niagara. In September 1813, on Lake Erie, this flag became a powerful symbol of victory and perseverance when it presided over Perry’s flagship, the USS Lawrence, as they vanquished the Royal Navy and cut off British and Indian fighters from their western supply bases. The command read: “Dont Give Up The Ship” with no apostrophe. The words were stitched in bold white letters onto Perry’s large blue battle ensign (although the blue of this flag is debated, as it may have been brown). Perry enlisted Margaret Forster Steuart, the sister of a prominent local official in Erie, Pennsylvania, to make the flag. As he grappled with this fatal injury, Lawrence’s last command was “Don’t give up the ship.” These heroic words were turned to legend shortly after by his friend and fellow naval officer, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a hero in his own right. On June 1, 1813, his crew was locked in a fight with the British HMS Shannon and he was shot. James Lawrence was a Navy Captain commanding the USS Chesapeake during the War of 1812. I have always wanted to know where this storied phrase came from, so I hoofed it over to the museum to look upon the actual threads. They’re immortalized in the flag preserved in the USNA Museum, and they run through our blood every day. These five words are a rallying cry, a powerful thread running through the Navy’s vast and colorful history, and a song we keep close to our hearts. When I hear “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” I feel the pride behind this centuries old phrase.
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