Six Flags Over Texas? The actual count would be closer to one hundred and six, but for the record, Texas has existed under the following six flags: Spain, 1519-1685 and 1690-1821; France, 1685-1690; Mexico, 1821-1836; the Republic of Texas, 1836-1845; Texas in the Confederacy, 1861-1865; and the United States, 1845-1861 and 1865-present.
Among the flags that weren’t adopted was one designed by the Father of Texas himself, Stephen F. Austin. The history of the Texas flag is as convoluted and mixed with lore as the rest of the state’s history. The website of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has this to say about the official six flags and the eras they covered: “Within each of these time periods, many different flags were in use, so the study of flags is a complex and absorbing area of research.”
Indeed, it is. The Texas State Historical Association publishes an Online Handbook of Texas that is considered authoritative for all things Texas. According to The Handbook, the first official flag that flew over Texas after three foreign flags was the National Standard of Texas. It was adopted by the Congress of the Republic of Texas and approved by President Sam Houston on December 10, 1836. That flag served as the national flag until January 25, 1839, and the war flag from January 25, 1839, to December 29, 1845.
The Handbook states, “The Lone Star Flag was adopted by the Texas Congress in 1839…Senator William H. Wharton introduced a bill on December 28, 1838, containing the flag’s design, and the bill was referred to a committee consisting of Senator Oliver Jones and two unnamed senators. This committee reported a substitute bill embodying the flag design introduced by Wharton, and the substitute bill was passed by the Congress on January 21, 1839 and approved by President Mirabeau B. Lamar on January 25, 1839. Official art for the Lone Star Flag was drawn by Peter Krag…the actual designer of the Lone Star Flag is unknown, but it could have been Wharton.”
The website for the Bullock Museum in Austin, another authoritative source, has an interesting entry concerning the popular Six Flags Over Texas display. The website notes that it is practically impossible to say when the phrase, “Six Flags Over Texas,” first appeared, but its popularity can be tied to the 1936 Centennial Celebration. “From bluebonnets to ten-gallon hats to the six flags display, the Centennial’s dual theme of history and progress enshrined some of the most iconic Texas myths that continue to this day.”
The museum’s website has some interesting history about the three flags that flew over the Republic of Texas during its nine-year history. The third flag is what we know today as the Lone Star Flag. The 1993 Texas Flag Act codified and standardized the flag’s design and colors. The “blood red, azure blue, and white” represents bravery, loyalty, and purity. The Act also defined the colors as the same red and blue used in the United States flag—“Old Glory Red” and “Old Glory Blue.”
Texas joined the United States on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. The 27-star U.S. flag first was raised in Texas on February 19, 1846, when the state government was organized in Austin. The new 28-star flag flew only from July 4, 1846, to July 3, 1847, when Iowa joined the Union as the 29th state.
According to the website, usflags.design, some say unofficially that the Lone Star’s five points represent characteristics of a good Texan–loyalty, prudence, fortitude, broadmindedness, and righteousness.
Texans sometimes are called on to pledge allegiance to the state flag. “Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.” The original phrasing, adopted in 1933, pledged allegiance to the “Texas Flag of 1836.” The words “of 1836” weren’t deleted until 1965. The last flag amendment, House Bill 1034, added “one state under God,” which became effective June 15, 2007.
