Category — State Flags

I received numerous “astronomy lessons” from my dad when I was a younger boy.  One of the first things he taught me, that I can recall, was about one particular star, called the “North Star” (also known as the “Pole Star”).

The North Star is a very prominent star that is approximately aligned with the Earth’s axis or rotation.  It is a star whose apparent position is close to one of the “celestial poles,” and which lies directly overhead when viewed from the Earth’s North Pole.

The North Star (Polaris) as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Interestingly, while other stars’ apparent positions in the sky change throughout the night, the North Star’s apparent position remains essentially fixed.

Now, the Alaska State Flag consists of eight gold stars, including the (bigger) North Star.  The other 7 stars form the “Big Dipper.”

The Alaska State Flag.

The Alaska State Flag was designed back in 1927, 80+ years ago, by Benny Benson, a 13-year old boy, native of Alaska, for a competition to create a flag for the then “Alaska Territory.”  Till that time, Alaskans flew the U.S. flag since the territory was purchased from Russia in 1867.

There were over 700 submissions!   To celebrate Benson’s achievement, he was awarded $1,000 and was given an engraved watch.  He explained that for the design of the flag, he had looked to the sky for the symbols he included on his flag.  Included with his submission was the following description:

“The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the “forget-me-not,” an Alaskan flower.  The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union.  The Dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.“

The Big Dipper symbolizes a bear, an animal indigenous to the State of Alaska.  As shown on the Alaska State Flag, the stars can be used as a guide to locate the North Star and determine true north, which, interestingly, varies considerably from a compass bearing in Alaska…

More than one century ago, in 1903, Utah had a problem.  Following the invitation by the St. Louis World Fair to participate in a parade of states, and with only a few months before the start of the parade, the State of Utah was unprepared, it had no state flag!

However, on May 1, 1903, in St. Louis, the delegation from the Union’s youngest state marched proudly with their new flag in the parade of states.  A photograph was taken of the delegation standing around the flag.

More than 100 years later, in 2008, Ronald Fox, also contributor to flag-post.com, found the photograph of the flag.

As some of you know, Ron is a “history buff” and an indefatigable artifact hunter.  Like a pit bull, he latched onto the idea of finding the flag…

The Alabama State Flag was adopted by Act 383 of the Alabama state legislature on February 16, 1895.

It’s believed by many that the crimson saltire (a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross) on the Alabama State Flag was designed to resemble the blue saltire of the Confederate Battle Flag.  The Confederate Battle Flag was and is square shaped and, every now and then, the Alabama Flag is shown squared as well.

The Alabama State Flag.

Fascinatingly, there has been an ongoing debate on the actual shape of the Alabama State Flag.  The authors of an article in National Geographic, published in 1917, expressed their opinion that because the Alabama Flag was based on the Confederate Battle Flag, it should be square.  However, 70 years later in 1987, the office of Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman expressed a different opinion.  The Attorney General of Alabama concluded that the proper shape for the Alabama Flag should be rectangular, just as it had been portrayed on numerous occasions in various official publications.

Not only does the crimson saltire on the Alabama State Flag resemble the blue saltire Confederate Battle Flag, the saltire design also very much resembles several other flags flown in other nations on the other side of the world.  So is the Alabama Flag indistinguishable from the flag of Saint Patrick, which flag has been integrated into the Union Flag of the United Kingdom.  Also, some historians believe that the Alabama Flag owes its origins to a simplification of the Cross of Burgundy flag, which was used by the Spanish in the New Spain, and also was the basis of other military flags.

Alabama State Flag at U.S. Space & Rocket Center in AL. Photo by "astrogrl."

Another possible inspiration for the Alabama State Flag was the flag that was carried by the Alabama 7th Cavalry.  The regiment was the only Alabama regiment in Rucker’s Brigade that was commanded by Colonel Edmund Rucker of Tennessee, who would later command troops in Alabama as well.  The brigade flag consisted of a white background with a red saltire that was decorated with 13 blue/green stars upon it.  This particular flag was meant to be used as Colonel Rucker’s Color Guard.

The Alabama State Flag is currently held as part of the Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection by the Alabama Department of Archives and History.