When the Stars and Stripes Became Ubiquitous

“Before the Civil War, the flag served mostly as a military ensign or a convenient marking of American territory, flown from forts, embassies, and ships … But in the weeks after Major Anderson’s surprising stand [at Fort Sumter], it would become something different. Suddenly, the Stars and Stripes would fly – as it does today – from houses, from storefronts, from churches; above village greens and college quadrangles.”