How Few Remain (novel and spinoff series) (original) (raw)


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United States of America

National flag's nickname

In the following passage (GW:AF p.116-117) , we learn of the less-than flattering nickname used by southerners for the US National flag:

To [southerners], the U.S. flag looked crowded and busy, with too many stars and too many stripes. *The Bleeding Zebra*, Southerners called it, and he could see why.

Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

Flag of 1881

[ [US flag wwith 26 stars]](../images/f/fic-hfr2.gif)
image by Rick Wyatt

The United States of America flag is not the 35-star flag of 1865, nor the 38-star flag of 1881, which is when the novel takes place. Instead, it is a 26-star flag, and the star configuration differs from the historical version posted here . Whereas the "real" flag has a configuration (top to bottom) of 7-6-6-7 stars per row, the flag on the cover has a top to bottom configuration of 5-5-6-5-5, representing the 26 states that compose the US in 1881.
Georges G. Kovari III, 20 October 2000

Flag of 1914

The US is said to have 34 stars at the beginning of WW1, however, if one looks at the map in the front of the book, there's only 33 states. The Dakota territory was admitted as a single state, and the Arizona territory was never carved out of the New Mexico territory. Whether the "extra" star is an error on the part of the author's, or whether it's deliberate, perhaps some form of symbolism (the "lost states", maybe?), or something else entirely (statehood for DC?), I'm not sure.

It increases to 35 after Kentucky is reconquered, and again to 36 after the new state of Houston (carved out of western Texas) is admitted. Sequoyah is under US occupation, but not formally annexed.
Nik Taylor, 20 July 2002

Flag of 1915

In the following quote (GW:WIH p.53), We get the number of stars in 1915:

He saluted the thirty-four-star [US] flag [...]

The design is not mentioned but since it correspond to an historical number of stars *here*, we can probably assume that it's this one.
Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

Flag of 1916

In the following quote (AE:BAI p.53), We get the number of stars in 1916:

Some women in the crowd looked fierce as they waved their flags - Thirty-five stars, now that Kentucky was back in the USA, [...]

The design is not mentioned but since it correspond to an historical number of stars *here*, we can probably assume that it's this one.
Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

Flag of 1917

In the following quote (AE:BAI p.53), We get the number of stars in 1917:

[...] and the new state of Houston would make it thirty-six [stars] on the Fourth of July.

The design is not mentioned but since it correspond to an historical number of stars *here*, we can probably assume that it's this one.
Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

About the number of stars

Note that the number of stars given after 1914 doesn't correspond to the succeeding number of states (33-35) on the map and from later comments, we know the USA doesn't have oversea states (the sandwich islands were conquered but not made into a state), Alaska is still russian and the US capital is still a district (a character living in washington mention that her husband can't vote due to living there).

As they have not given statehood to other occupied territories (the former CSA state of Sequoyah or English Canada) nor have they carved out new states beside Houston, there seem to be some sort of mistake that the proof reader never picked up. One possible culprit is the fact that maps show a unified Dakota but when counting the states, it might have been counted as 2.

Another possibility of course is that there is an as-yet unmentioned state somewhere.
Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

Roundel of the United States of America

[ [US flag wwith 26 stars]](../images/f/fic%5Fhfrm11.gif)
image by Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007, based on the text

Obliquely flag related, the US roundel is not any of the ones ever used *here* (as far as I know) as decribe here (GW:AF p.94):

The U.S. eagle and crossed swords were painted big and bold and bright on the fuselage, wings and tail of his curtiss Super Hudson pusher biplane.

I guess with the CSA using the Confederate Battle Flag, any design with a star could have lead to misindentifications. The eagle-over-crossed-swords motif appears in a few different circumstances in the novels (coins, posters, etc...) usualy accompanied with the word "Remembrance" (the USA of that timeline had, until the Great War, a rather revanchist leaning).
Marc Pasquin, 29 December 2007

Sources Used