Yesterday we asked: Who designed the Gadsden Flag? And just as we can’t be certain of the designer, neither do we know what the original flag actually looked like. Nevertheless, the flag marketplace, and cyberspace, has converged on, basically, a single design. (This suggests a common origin, but we couldn’t pin it down to an artist, enterprise, […]
The “Gadsden” of “Gadsden Flag” fame is Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina (and not his grandson James Gadsden of Gadsden Purchase fame). In late 1775 the colonel was a member of the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress charged with outfitting the ships of the nascent Continental Navy. Part of that activity involved coming […]
The US flag changed as states were added, with additional white stars appearing in the blue union to symbolize the growth of the country. (Wikipedia has a nice table illustrating the historical progression of the 28 different designs.) Meanwhile, to the north, our Canadian neighbors were changing their flag in an analogous way as their country […]
From Historical Flags of Our Ancestors Vexillologist Clay Moss has published a new essay about once and possibly future flags of the state of Mississippi. He writes: As the current Mississippi flag has been burdened with controversy, particularly through the last quarter century, there has always been the idea that Mississippi’s Magnolia flag might again someday […]
Pete Loeser’s website Historical Flags of Our Ancestors has grown over time into a wonderful resource for vexillologists and flag enthusiasts. It includes over 100 pages and over 3000 images, with a lot of original content (for example, see the “Short Papers and Vexillological Charts” section). The main site can be found at http://www.loeser.us/flags. In addition, […]
