William Driver

Who was William Driver?

William Driver was a U.S. ship captain. He coined the phrase Old Glory for the U.S. flag.

Young Capt. William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts was presented a beautiful flag by his family and a group of friends. Driver was delighted with the gift. He exclaimed, "I name her 'Old Glory,'" and Old Glory subsequently accompanied the captain on his voyages. Driver later stated that he received the flag on his birthday, in the year 1831.

Driver made his most extensive voyage in 1831-1832, when he captained the 110-ton whaler Charles Doggett. He called at Tahiti during the trip, where he met some of the descendants of the crew of H.M.S. Bounty. They had moved there from Pitcairn Island, where their ancestors had famously been marooned by the mutineers who had taken control of the Bounty. However, they were unhappy in Tahiti and requested that Driver give them passage back to Pitcairn. He did so, and reportedly slept on deck to allow more room for the women and children in the bunks below.

Captain Driver quit the sea in 1837. He settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had relatives living. On patriotic days he displayed Old Glory proudly from a rope extending from his house to a tree across the street. As the Civil War began, after Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Driver feared that Old Glory might be confiscated or destroyed by the Confederate authorities. He hid the flag, having it sewn inside a comforter. When Union soldiers entered Nashville on February 25, 1862, Driver removed Old Glory from its hiding place. He carried the flag to the Tennessee State Capitol and raised it on the capitol flagpole. He is said to have remained on watch all that night to ensure that the flag came to no harm.