Old Glory
In 1922, Driver's daughter and niece claimed to own the original "Old Glory", which became part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, which remains at the National Museum of American History.
[3] At 21, Driver qualified as a master mariner and assumed command of his own ship, the Charles Doggett.
In celebration of his appointment, Driver's mother and other women sewed the flag and gave it to him as a gift in 1824.
With this flag flying over his ship, Driver went on to have a colorful career as a U.S. merchant seaman, sailing to China, India, Gibraltar, and the South Pacific.
In 1831, while voyaging in the South Pacific, Driver's ship "was the sole surviving vessel of six that departed Salem the same day."
"[2] Driver retired from seafaring in 1837 after his wife Martha Silsbee Babbage died from throat cancer.
The flag was so large that he attached it to a rope from his attic window and stretched it on a pulley across the street to secure it to a locust tree.
Driver added by appliqué a small white anchor in the lower right corner to symbolize his maritime career.
"[2] Soon after Tennessee seceded from the Union, Governor Isham G. Harris sent men to Driver's home to demand the flag.
Horace Fisher, the aide-de-camp to the Union commander in the city, Brigadier General William "Bull" Nelson, described Driver as "a stout, middle-aged man, with hair well shot with gray, short in stature, broad in shoulder, and with a roll in his gait.
"[5] Introducing himself as a sea captain and Unionist, Driver had brought the coverlet with him and with a pocket knife ripped open the seams, revealing the flag.
Cooke published a family memoir in 1889, omitting any mention of Mary Jane Roland.
[6] The Smithsonian Institution has regarded the Roland flag as the authentic Old Glory, since "documentary evidence in the Tennessee State Library and Archives suggests it was the one hidden in the quilt and presented to Union troops who took Nashville.
[4] A conservation evaluation of both flags by NMAH curator Jennifer Locke Jones and Thomassen-Krauss began in 2012.
The Roland Old Glory is heavily worn on the fly edges, consistent with the wear of a seagoing flag.
