Patriotic Rome

Rome, New York claims many patriotic sites for the traveler to consider. Some are more obvious than others; like many places a little investigation leads to interesting results.
Fort Stanwix, a major colonial British fort, is the first place the Stars & Stripes first flew in Battle (3 August 1777) in an encounter between American forces on one sides and British and Indian allies on the other. A few paces away from the fort, at the corner of West Liberty and North James, is the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldiers. The soldiers were disinterred during an archaeological dig at Fort Stanwix. The monument was dedicated on the country’s bicentennial (4 July 1976).

First Baptist Church, Rome, New York

More obscure is the plaque that adorns the First Baptist Church, at the corner of North George and West Embargo streets. The Reverend Francis Bellamy, the author of the Pledge of Allegiance, was baptized (by immersion) at the First Baptist Church of Rome, New York in 1869. The current church was built in 1872. Although born in Mount Morris, NY, Bellamy’s parents were active in the Baptist Church and moved to Rome when he was five.

Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance as a way to commemorate the opening of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and to bolster a sense of patriotism among school children. Published in Youth’s Companion magazine, Bellamy encouraged schools across the country to have children recite the pledge to coincide with the official dedication of the Exposition. Incidentally, the Columbian Exposition was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the landing of Columbus in the Western Hemisphere and created quite a spectacle. The stories of the pledge and the Exposition are related quite effectively in Erik Larson’s book, The Devil in the White City.

As published in September 1892 the Pledge read:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Subsequent changes to the pledge, including the addition of the words “under God” in 1954, would occur every so often. Perhaps a surprising fact many people do not realize is that a year prior to publishing the pledge, Bellamy lost his job as minister in a Boston church because, as a Christian Socialist, his sermons on the rights of working people and fair distribution of wages were too radical for his parishioners.