The flag of France had been reeled down the pole only moments earlier. Now, catching the breeze and fluttering into full view as it was run to the top was the red, white and blue of the still-young United States. A dignified, peaceful ceremony. The change of flags was not the result of conquest, but of purchase. This was the day the flag of the United States was raised over Missouri for the first time. Just seventeen years later this part of the Louisana Territory would be a state.
