North Carolina
North Carolina state flag adopted 22 June 1861
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr., 05 February 2000
THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE FLAG
On May 20, 1861, a state convention meeting in Raleigh dissolved North Carolina’s association with the United States. That same day the convention established a committee to investigate the design for an official state flag with Colonel John D. Whitford as chairman. On June 22, 1861, the following ordinance was ratified by members of the convention:
Be it ordained by this Convention, and it is hereby ordained by the authority of the same, That the Flag of North Carolina shall consist of a red field with a white star in the centre, and with the inscription, above the star, in a semi-circular form, of “May 20th, 1775,” and below the star, in a semi-circular form, of “May 20th, 1861.” That there shall be two bars of equal width, and the length of the field shall be equal to the bar, the width of the field being equal to both bars: the first bar shall be blue, and the second shall be white; and the length of the flag shall be one-third more than its width.
This pattern flag with the May 20, 1775 date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the May 20, 1861 date of secession would serve as the official North Carolina flag until the adoption of the current state flag in 1885. Shortly after June 22 locally produced examples, along with stylized variations of the official flag, appeared at both the company and regimental level.
First issue silk state flag (obverse)
State flag of the 2nd Regiment North Carolina State Troops
captured at the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863,
by the 7th Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
First issue silk state flag (reverse)
This flag was returned to North Carolina by
the State of New Jersey in 1928.
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
Following its official adoption, North Carolina Quartermaster-General Lawrence O’Bryan Branch investigated the purchase of silk flags for North Carolina regiments from sources in both South Carolina and Virginia. In August 1861 he ordered the purchase of state flags for the first ten regiments of North Carolina State Troops who had enlisted for three years or the duration of the war. At the time, however, he declined to order flags for the fourteen regiments of North Carolina Volunteers whose enlistments ran from only six to twelve months. These ten silk flags were ordered through an agent in Portsmouth, Virginia from J.W. Belote of Norfolk at a cost of $50.00 per flag. Later, Branch ordered one more silk flag for the 1st Regiment North Carolina Volunteers (the “Bethel Regiment”) with the battle honor of “Bethel” inscribed on the flag. Only three of the original silk issue state flags exist today. These elaborate two-sided flags did not precisely follow the prescribed state pattern. Subsequent state issued flags were made of wool bunting at the Raleigh Clothing Depot and these followed the 1861 flag ordinance pattern and usually carried regimental designations.
Other than the 1st Regiment North Carolina Volunteers (the “Bethel Regiment”), none of the remaining thirteen volunteer regiments (subsequently renumbered as the 11th through the 24th Regiments North Carolina Troops) received official state flags. Subsequent issue of state flags began with the 25th Regiment North Carolina Troops and continued through at least the 61st Regiment.
Tom Belton
Standard wool bunting issue state flag
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
State flag of the 38th Regiment North Carolina Troops.
William J. Hoke was elected colonel of the 38th Regiment North Carolina Troops when it was formed on January 17, 1862. Hoke was wounded at Mechanicsville, Virginia on June 26, 1862, and again at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863. Because of his wounds he was retired to the Invalid Corps on June 18, 1864. At some point during or after the war this flag was given to Colonel Hoke. His family donated it to the North Carolina Museum of History in 1923.
EXAMPLES OF NORTH CAROLINA STATE FLAG VARIANTS
4th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers
Regimental Flag (obverse)
4th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers
(14th Regiment North Carolina Troops)
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
Regimental Flag (reverse)
4th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers
(14th Regiment North Carolina Troops)
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
It is not known who made this ornate silk flag for the 4th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers (14th Regiment North Carolina Troops). It was apparently made shortly after the regiment was organized on June 6, 1861. The Raleigh Standard on July 10 contained the following information is a small column.
- Adjutant Gales of the 4th Regiment of N.C. Volunteers, having been on a visit to his family for a few days, left the City on Saturday morning last. He took down we learn, the standards of the Regiment. One, the Confederate flag; the other, a blue silk banner, having on one side in the centre, the State seal, and on the other “North Carolina–Fourth Regiment.”
Although the newspaper description does not match exactly, there can be little doubt this is the flag described, since Seaton E. Gales was appointed adjutant of this regiment in June 1861. This flag was captured at Sharpsburg (Antietam) on September 17, 1862, by Corporal George Nettleton, Company G, 5th New Hampshire Volunteers, during a desperate struggle between the two regiments in the infamous “Bloody Lane.” Two hundred and thirteen members of the 14th North Carolina were listed as dead, wounded, or missing at the end of the day. Following the battle, the flag was sent to New Hampshire by the 5th New Hampshire commander, Colonel Edward E. Cross. In 1914, Cross returned the captured banner to the State of North Carolina.
6th Regiment North State Troops
Regimental Flag (obverse and reverse)
6th Regiment North Carolina State Troops
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History,
Raleigh, North Carolina
© North Carolina Museum of History
A brief history of the flag is noted in Volume I, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865, edited by Walter Clark and published by the State of North Carolina in 1901.
We had a regimental flag, a beautiful silken banner, on which the sister of Colonel Fisher had beautifully embroidered the coat-of-arms of North Carolina and presented it to the regiment at its organization. It was highly prized; it waved over the regiment at the capture of Rickett’s Battery at First Manassas, and over Rickett’s Battery and Weidrick’s Battery on Cemetery Heights at Gettysburg, July 2d, 1863. It was not always used in battle, especially after battle flags had been distributed to the army. It was generally brought out on parades and general reviews; but it was not displayed at Appomattox. It was carefully preserved and brought to North Carolina. It is the same that was shown at the laying of the corner-stone at the Confederate Monument at Raleigh, May 20, 1894.
The Fisher family presented the flag along with other artifacts associated with Colonel Charles F. Fisher to the State of North Carolina in 1915.
Tom Belton