“A ‘Red Rag’ to an Infuriated Bull”: American Flags, Canadian Vexilloclasts, and the Origins of Canadian Flag Culture, 1880–1930

No one knows precisely why the Yeomans boys, aged twelve and sixteen, decided to hoist Old Glory one fateful summer morning in 1892. It may have been a harmless expression of boyish mischief. Perhaps it was to honour the American ancestry of their father, the Reverend George Yeomans, a respected Presbyterian minister. Some even speculated that the elder Yeomans was an annexationist and that in raising the flag the family was displaying its true colours. Still others wondered if it might have been the only flag the young lads could obtain on the eve of an impending holiday. Whatever the reason, on 1 July, as the dawn’s early light touched the rooftops of the sleepy village of Wiarton, Ontario, passersby were startled to see the star-spangled banner gallantly streaming from the roof of the Yeomans family hen house.