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Parade of Historic Flags of America |
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Black Raven of
the Vikings
The Viking banner has a black raven on a white field. It was brought
to our shores by Leif Erickson and thirty-five Norsemen about 500 years
before Columbus. The Vikings had neither compass nor sextant. To
find the direction of land, they let fly a raven from their ship and
followed it as it flew to the nearest shore. |
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Lion and Castle
of Spain
Columbus brought to the new world the flag with a red and black lion on a
white quarter and a yellow castle on an opposite red quarter. Later
under the Spanish flag, Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, Ponce de Leon
discovered Florida, and Magellan circled the globe. |
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Red Cross of
England and St. George
The English flag has the red cross of St. George on a white field.
This was the English flag which flew over Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth
Rock in 1620.
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White Cross of
Scotland and St. Andrew
The flag of Scotland has a blue field with the white cross of St. Andrew.
The combined designs of the English and Scottish flags with a white border
added to the St. George's cross made the English Union Flag. |
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Union Jack of
Great Britain
The flag with the red cross of St. George on a white field was brought to
this country from England. When James VI of Scotland became James I
of England, he combined the Scottish St. Andrew white cross on a blue
field with the St. George flag and made the British Union flag. It
was flown at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and at Plymouth, Massachusetts,
in 1620. Godspeed, Susan Constant and Discovery were
the ships that brought the settlers to Jamestown. |
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Fleur-de-Lis of
France
The three yellow iris, or fleur-de-lis, sometimes called the poor man's
orchid, on a light blue field was carried by French explorers and flew
over their only settlement in Florida. |
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East India
Company Flag of the Dutch
The Dutch flag with stripes - orange, white and blue from top to bottom -
contains the initials of the Dutch East India Company in Dutch. The
large "A" represents the home port of Amsterdam. Henry Hudson, an
Englishman, represented this company and explored Delaware and the Hudson
River in 1609. He landed on Manhattan Island which he bought from
the Indians for $24.00 and some trinkets. Hudson had a crew of 18 or
20 men, partly English and partly Dutch, who sailed on his ship, Half
Moon. |
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Gold Cross of
Sweden The New Sweden Company, organized by Peter Minuit, sailed in
1636 to the Delaware River area and began several settlements. Their
banner, a gold cross on a blue field, remains the national flag of Sweden |
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Taunton Flag of
Massachusetts
As the colonists resented the unfair treatment of the British mother
country, they raised flags of their own design. The first, in
Taunton, Massachusetts, had a red field with the British Union on the
canton. "Liberty and Union" - in white, was across the bottom.
"Yankee Doodle" - written in 1775, was the Revolutionary song. |
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Bedford Flag of
the Minute Men
A second example was the Bedford flag carried by the Minute Men to
Lexington in April, 1775. On a crimson field are clouds from which
extends an arm with hand grasping a sword. A ribbon entwines the
motto "Vince aut Morire" (Conquer or Die). |
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Continental Flag
Colonel John Trumball's painting, "The Death of Warren", now at Yale
University Art Gallery, shows the red Continental Flag to be the one used
by American forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. The
pine tree stands for sturdiness. Today, Maine is called the Pine Tree
state. |
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First Navy JackAs the first ships of the Continental Navy
readied in the Delaware River during the fall of 1775, Commodore Esek
Hopkins issued a set of fleet signals. The Navy Jack flag was used
as his signal for the "whole Fleet to Engage" the enemy. On May 31, 2002
the Navy ordered all US Navy ships to display this First Navy Jack during
the Global War on Terrorism.
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Rattlesnake Flag
of the Southern Colonies
A famous flag in the southern colonies had the rattlesnake (a symbol of
watchfulness) on a yellow field. Colonel Christopher Gadsden from South
Carolina added the words "Don't Tread on Me" in response to Lord North's
threat to bring America to its knees. |
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Liberty Flag of
General Moultrie
Another example from the southern colonies was the Moultrie flag with a
white crescent on a blue field and LIBERTY, in white, across the bottom.
The crescent insignia was worn also on the caps of General Moultrie and
his men. |
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Grand Union Flag
of the Revolution
The Grand Union flag was the first design to bear any resemblance to
our present flag. It consisted of seven red and six white alternate
stripes (representing the thirteen colonies) with a blue field in the
upper left corner, bearing the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. In
continued to be used all through the Revolution, even with the British
crosses on it. |
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First Official
United States Flag
The Betsy Ross flag replaced the British canton with a circle of thirteen
white starts (showing all colonies equal) on a blue background. On
June 14, 1777, John Adams, head of the Marine committee approved a
resolution that "the flag of the thirteen United States should be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars, white
on a blue field, representing a new constellation". No arrangement
of stars was specified. |
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Star-Spangled
Banner - 1814 Fort McHenry
The fifteen stars and fifteen stripes flag was immortalized by Francis
Scott Key as The Star Spangled Banner. It was made by Mary
Pickersgill in The Flag House, Baltimore, Maryland, after Vermont and
Kentucky joined the Union. It was so large - 30 by 42 feet - that
Key, who had been detained by the British aboard ship, could see it still
flying above Fort McHenry in the "dawn's early light" and wrote the words
to the song that became our national anthem. |
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1824 Alamo Flag of
Texas
The Alamo flag has three vertical bands, green, white, and red (l to r)
with 1824, the date of the ratification of the Texas Constitution by the
Mexican government. This Alamo flag is the Mexican flag without the
emblem and was the banner under which Texans fought and were defeated at
the Alamo in 1836. The following April, Texans fought again and won
at San Jacinto. |
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Brown Bear Flag of
the California Republic
The settlers of California revolted against the Mexican government.
Their flag remains in use today and consists of a white field with a brown
bear on green grass, a red star, and a red border at the bottom.
Just above the border are the words "CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC". |
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Battle Flag of the
Confederacy
The famous Battle Flag of the Confederacy was designed by General
Beauregard of Louisiana, because it was difficult to distinguish between
the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy and the Stars and Stripes of the
Union. The Confederate flag has a red field with a diagonal blue cross on
which thirteen white stars are spaced equally. |
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Flag of the United
States of America
Today the American flag has fifty stars and thirteen alternate red and
white stripes. Alaska and Hawaii were the last two states to join
our country. George Washington is said to have described the symbols
of the flag by saying that the Stars were taken from heaven, the white
stripes represented Liberty, and the red stripes came from our mother
country - Britain. Americans have an undying love and a deep respect
for the flag. The Fifty star flag was adopted officially by Congress
on July 4, 1960. |
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