History of the Texas Flag

The official flag of Texas was adopted in session by the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas in Houston, January 25, 1839, on motion of William H. Wharton, Oliver Jones, and others. It defined that the flag ought to include "a blue perpendicular stripe of the width of one-third of the entire length of the flag and a white star of 5 points in the center thereof and 2 horizontal stripes of equal length and breadth, the upper stripe of white, the lower of red, of the length of two-thirds of the length of the whole flag." There was no other spec of the Flag of Texas until a statute was passed by the Forty-Third Legislature (Acts of 1933, p. 186, ch. 87) clarifying but not changing the initial description offered here. The statute did add specs, nevertheless, one being that the star, from topmost to most affordable points, shall be approximately one-third the depth of the blue field.

Colors in the flags of both the United States and Texas indicate red for courage, white for pureness and liberty, and blue for commitment. The committee, headed by Oliver Jones, which wrote the recommendations in 1839 for today's Lone Star Flag, specified that the significances ought to be white for peace, red for war, and blue for relationship. This part of the suggestion was not adopted by the Texas Congress, and the meanings of the colors in the national and state flags are frequently accepted as being similar.

The Texas flag is the only flag of an American State having formerly worked as a flag of an acknowledged independent nation.

The Lone Star Flag explained above was not the first official flag of the Republic of Texas. A flag consisting of a blue field with a large central gold star was embraced by the very first Texas Congress, December 10, 1836. The style was recommended by President David G. Burnet and it is sometimes called the "Burnet flag." It was the flag of the Republic from 1836-1839. At the same time, Congress adopted a Texas Navy flag which had been officially recognized as early as April 9, 1836, by President Burnet. This flag, explained in Brown's History, was made up of "union, blue star central, with thirteen extended stripes, alternate red and white." It was like the United States flag other than there was a single star on the blue field. There is also a record of a convention-adopted flag in May 1836, by a committee of 5 including Lorenzo de Zavala Flag. This flag, including a blue field and a white star with the letters T-E-X-A-S in between points of the star, seems not to have been given more than a temporary main acknowledgment.