Samuel Chester Reid (24 August 1783 – 28 January 1861) was an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

who commanded a privateer during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

. He is also noted for having helped design the 1818 version of the

flag of the United States The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

, which first established the rule of keeping thirteen stripes and adding one star for each U.S. state.

Early life and family

Reid was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to John and Rebecca (Chester) Reid. John Reid, a lieutenant in the British Navy, was captured during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

before resigning and joining the American side. Rebecca Chester's father, John Chester, was among the soldiers at Bunker Hill, and afterward a member of the Connecticut convention that ratified the United States constitution.

Naval career

Reid entered the Navy in 1794. He served in ''Constellation'' with Commodore Thomas Truxtun and in 1803 became master of the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

''Merchant''. During the War of 1812 he commanded the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

'' General Armstrong''. One notable capture was that of the British merchantman , notable because of the legal cases that arose from her capture and recapture. At the Battle of Fayal Reid inflicted severe casualties on boats from a British force en route to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

and

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

General Jackson's defense of New Orleans. The battle was the subject of many popular prints. Official Navy officer record of Samuel C Reid: "Reid, Samuel C. Master, not in line of promotion, 3 July, 1843. Reserved List, 14 September, 1855. Died 28 January, 1861."

Flag design

In January 1817, Reid was asked by Representative

Peter H. Wendover Peter Hercules Wendover (August 1, 1768 – September 24, 1834) was a United States Representative from New York. Biography Born in New York City, Wendover received a liberal schooling and held several local offices. He was a member of the ...

for advice in the design of a new U.S. flag. The flag then in use had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes; it had not been updated to reflect the five new states which had joined the union since that version of the flag was implemented in 1795. Wendover was the head of a congressional committee tasked with investigating possible alterations to the flag. Together, Wendover and Reid decided that the best way to honor all twenty states was to restore the number of stripes to the original thirteen, have twenty stars on the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

, and add a new star each time a new state joined the union. Reid sketched three flag designs, one for general use which featured the twenty stars arranged in the shape of a larger star, one for use on government vessels and buildings which featured an eagle on the canton instead of stars, and one for use on ceremonial occasions which featured a different element (stars, stripes, the Great Seal, and the Goddess of Liberty) on each of the flag's four quarters. Wendover and his congressional committee adopted Reid's general-use flag, but never seriously considered his other two designs. Wendover drafted a bill which stipulated that the thirteen-stripe, twenty-star design become the new official flag of the United States. The bill passed and was signed into law as the

Flag Act of 1818 The Flag Acts are three laws that sought to define the design of the flag of the United States. All the submitted suggestions were remarkably short, the shortest being a sentence of 31 words, and the longest being a title and two sentences of 11 ...

by President James Monroe on April 4, 1818. The pattern of the stars was later changed from Reid's "great star" design to four rows of five stars each. Samuel Reid proposed U

Reid was appointed master in the Navy in 1844 and died at New York 28 January 1861. He is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York. Four ships were given the name USS ''Reid'' in his honor. His daughter, Mary Isabel Reid, married in 1861 Italian-American officer Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who later received the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

for his actions during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

(1863), served as the United States consul in Cyprus (1866–1877) and became the first director of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

in New York (1879-1904). His son Samuel Graham Reid, Sr., published and edited the '' Montgomery Advertiser''.Death Notice from the Montgomery Advertiser, April 14, 1881
/ref>

References

External links

''Examines the myths and facts behind Captain Samuel Reid's sea battle in the Azores and whether Reid's action actually delayed the British squadron and aided General Jackson's defense of New Orleans.'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Samuel Chester 1783 births 1861 deaths Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery United States Navy officers Military personnel from Norwich, Connecticut United States Navy personnel of the War of 1812