The War of 1812 was unpopular with men of commerce, which included prosperous farmers in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. In July of 1812, the town of Heath—Charlemont’s northern neighbor—passed a resolution stating that “the declaration of war against Great Britain was unnecessary, impolite and ruinous….” (Of the many resolutions passed by Massachusetts towns against the Iraq War, one has to wonder if any contained the word “impolite.”)
The haves, who opposed the war, were Federalists, and the have-nots, who supported President Jefferson, were Democratic Republicans. In Colrain, which borders Heath, subsistence farmer Amasa Shippee, a Democratic-Republican and a Baptist, conceived the idea of raising an American flag to express his faction’s patriotism. His wife and several other women volunteered to make the flag, although none of them had ever seen one. Amasa, who had drilled under Old Glory in a local militia, drew them a pattern, then set about felling trees for a pole. At the time, a stripe as well as a star was added for every state, so the flag had fifteen of each.
When all was ready, a group of neighbors, about 10-12 families, gathered to watch the flag being raised over the local schoolhouse, the first American flag ever raised over a public school. That night, however, a group of Federalists used an augur to silently bore holes in the flagpole until it toppled over. The pole remained where it fell, but no one knows what happened to the flag.
This was the war in which Francis Scott Key celebrated the survival of the "Star-Spangled Banner" under enemy fire, putting it on course for the fetishistic treatment it receives today. But the national symbol that survived British bombardment did not last one day in Colrain! Truly, we are our own worst enemy.