[A] The flags referred to were painted on the upper doors of James
Fouts's barn, situated on the old pike three miles east of Brownsville.
The flags were very brilliantly colored and naturally draped. They were
the admiration of all travelers over the great thoroughfare. As the war
progressed the Confederates raided near that section several times. The
owner feared that the flags might imperil the safety of the barn and
other buildings on his farm. He therefore sent an order to Alfred's
father to paint the flags over, who desiring to cover their brilliant
colors with one coat selected dark Prussian blue. Very soon after the
flags were painted over, their colors began to appear through the blue.
Not many hot summer days had gone by until the flags were almost as
distinct as when first painted on the big doors of the barn. The
reappearance of the flags was regarded as a phenomenon or a miracle by
the country folk. The "Brownsville Clipper," in commenting upon the
miracle, declared: "It is an omen of victory for the Federal armies; you
cannot efface the Star Spangled Banner, it still waves on Fouts's barn."
The paper criticized the owner for having the flags daubed over and
intimated that Fouts was lacking in loyalty. (Fouts was a Democrat.
Three weeks later the owner of the paper ordered Danny Stentz to pull in
the big flag that hung out of the third story window of the "Clipper"
building; the Confederates were reported as but fourteen miles away. The
chemical properties of the coloring matter in the paints was the cause
of the reappearance of the red bars of the flags through the blue paint
that was spread over them.)