300px|thumb|right|The original "Old Glory" owned by sea captain William Driver
Old Glory is a nickname for the flag of the United States. The original "Old Glory" was a flag owned by the 19th-century American sea captain William Driver (March 17, 1803 – March 3, 1886). He flew the flag during his career at sea and later brought it to Nashville, Tennessee, where he settled. Driver greatly prized the flag and ensured its safety from the Confederates, who attempted to seize the flag during the American Civil War. In 1922, Driver's daughter and niece claimed to own the original "Old Glory", which became part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, which remains at the National Museum of American History.
History of the original "Old Glory"
300px|thumb|right|The Grave marker of sea captain William Driver, who coined the "Old Glory" nickname in reference to his own oceangoing flag.
thumb|The 24-star variant of the flag, which was the national flag at the time of Driver's voyage and the first US flag to be called 'Old Glory', a term Driver coined in 1831. At age 13, Driver ran away from home to become a [[cabin boy on a ship.
At 21, Driver qualified as a master mariner and assumed command of his own ship, the Charles Doggett. In celebration of his appointment, Driver's mother and other women sewed the flag and gave it to him as a gift in 1824. It was believed that while leaving the harbor, the Captain unfurled his new flag, calling out "Behold Old Glory." With this flag flying over his ship, Driver went on to have a colorful career as a U.S. merchant seaman, sailing to China, India, Gibraltar, and the South Pacific. He participated in the tortoiseshell trade and knew some Fijian. In 1831, while voyaging in the South Pacific, Driver's ship "was the sole surviving vessel of six that departed Salem the same day." In Tahiti, where they withdrew because of illness, Driver picked up the 65 descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty and brought them back to Pitcairn Island (a noteworthy act that helped publicize Driver's nickname for the flag). Driver was convinced that God saved his ship to rescue the islanders. two of his sons were fervent Confederates who enlisted in local regiments. One of Driver's sons died from wounds suffered at Perryville. In March 1862, Driver wrote: "Two sons in the army of the South! My entire house estranged . . . and when I come home . . . no one to soothe me."]]
Horace Fisher, the aide-de-camp to the Union commander in the city, Brigadier General William "Bull" Nelson, described Driver as "a stout, middle-aged man, with hair well shot with gray, short in stature, broad in shoulder, and with a roll in his gait." Introducing himself as a sea captain and Unionist, Driver had brought the coverlet with him and with a pocket knife ripped open the seams, revealing the flag.]]
Driver died on March 3, 1886, and was buried in the Nashville City Cemetery, where, at Driver's request, his rescue of the Bounty descendants is noted on his grave stone.
Smithsonian Institution collection
The Smithsonian Institution has regarded the Roland flag as the authentic Old Glory, since "documentary evidence in the Tennessee State Library and Archives suggests it was the one hidden in the quilt and presented to Union troops who took Nashville. The Roland flag is 17×10 feet. The Peabody flag is 12×6 feet. The flag was in fragile condition and had to be carefully shipped and displayed.