The current flag of Alabama (the second in Alabama state history) was adopted by Act 383 of the

Alabama state legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serv ...

on February 16, 1895: The cross of St. Andrew referred to in the law is a diagonal cross, known in vexillology as a saltire. Because the bars must be at least wide, small representations of the Alabama flag do not meet the legal definition. In 2001, a survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) ranked Alabama's state flag 29th in design quality of the 72 Canadian provincial, U.S. state and U.S. territorial flags ranked. There are sources that believe the saltire was intended to memorialize the Confederacy, but no legislative records indicate the inspiration for the flag.

History

1861 flag

On January 11, 1861, the Alabama Secession Convention passed a resolution designating an official flag. Designed by several women from Montgomery, final touches were made by Francis Corra of that city. One side of the flag displayed the Goddess of Liberty holding an unsheathed sword in her right hand; in her left she held a small blue flag with one gold star. Above the gold star appears the text "Alabama" in all capital letters. In an arch above this figure were the words "Independent Now and Forever". The reverse side of the flag had a cotton plant with a coiled rattlesnake. The text "Noli Me Tangere", ("Touch Me Not" in Latin), was placed below the cotton plant. This flag was flown until February 10, 1861, when it was removed to the Governor's Office after it was damaged by severe weather. It was never flown again.

Current flag

Alabama's current flag was adopted in 1895. The legislation introduced by Representative John W. A. Sanford Jr. stipulates: "The flag of the state of Alabama shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side." St. Andrew's cross represents the cross on which

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

was crucified. The legislation that created the state flag did not specify that the flag was to be square but defined the width of the bars of the cross. In 1987, the office of Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman stated in a letter that the proper shape of the state flag is rectangular, as it had been depicted numerous times in official publications and reproductions. Despite this, the flag is still often depicted as being square, even in official publications of the U.S. federal government. The saltire of Alabama's flag most closely resembles the saltire of the flag of Florida, which was derived from the Spanish Cross of Burgundy. Southern Alabama was originally part of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

and subsequently West Florida. Alabama adopted its flag design in 1895, five years earlier than Florida did.

Theories on origin

No documentation in the legislative records indicates the flag was intended to commemorate the Confederacy. In 1900, the '' Montgomery Advertiser'' reported the flag was "a memory and a suggestion of the Confederate battle flag". In 1906, the ''

Birmingham Age-Herald The ''Birmingham Post-Herald'' was a daily newspaper in Birmingham, Alabama, with roots dating back to 1850, before the founding of Birmingham. The final edition was published on September 23, 2005. In its last full year, its average daily circu ...

'' published a piece that stated the Alabama state flag "has no history woven into it". Within a few decades after the flag was adopted, several sources said that the design was drawn from the battle flag.

Thomas M. Owen Thomas McAdory Owen (November 19, 1866 – March 25, 1920) was an American lawyer, archivist, historian, and founder of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, serving as its first director. Owen was the author of a large and noted ...

, the first director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, wrote in 1915 that the flag bill's sponsor and the rest of the legislature had intended to "preserve, in permanent form, some of the more distinctive features of the Confederate battle flag". The authors of a 1917 article in ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' expressed their opinion that the Alabama flag was based on the Confederate Battle Flag. In 1924, Bell Allen Ross, a member of the

Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

, said that John W.A. Sanford Jr. modeled his design of the Alabama flag on the battle flag used by his father,

John W. A. Sanford John W. A. Sanford Sr. (August 28, 1798 – September 12, 1870) was a plantation manager, military officer, land agent, and politician from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. He served as Secretary of State of Georgia and in the United States House of ...

commanding the

Hilliard's Legion Hilliard's Legion or Hilliard's Alabama Legion was a Confederate unit which fought in the American Civil War. Unlike most Civil War formations, it was a combined arms force, with infantry, cavalry and artillery components. History On April 24, 1 ...

regiment. Sanford's design was meant to preserve some of the distinctive features of the Confederate battle flag, particularly the Saint Andrews Cross. Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman's letter in 1987 also referenced that the flag was modeled after Sandford's

60th Alabama Infantry Regiment The 60th Alabama Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was formed on November 25, 1863 at Charleston, Tennessee by consolidating four companies of the 1st Battalion an ...

battle flag. Some commentators have interpreted the red saltire as a commemoration of Alabama's contributions to the Confederacy, since the flag was adopted during a period of promotion of the " Lost Cause" of the culture of the antebellum South. Other former Confederate slave states, beginning with Mississippi, and followed by Florida, had also adopted new state flags around the same time that they disenfranchised African Americans and passed laws establishing Jim Crow segregation. But other contemporary commentators, such as Steve Murray, Director of the Alabama Department of History and Archives, believe the origins of the flag are unclear. According to Murray, the flag's connections to the battle flag are thin and based on suppositions. Murray said, "I would conclude that if they were wanting to evoke the Confederate battle flag, they would have been more explicit about doing it either in the design which could have more closely resembled the Confederate flag." Murray also noted that Alabama may have wanted to approve a new state flag to prepare for an exposition in Atlanta, Georgia later that year.

Governor's flag

The flag of the

governor of Alabama A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

is a variant of the state flag. In the top saltire, the flag displays the state coat of arms. The bottom saltire contains the state military crest, which consists of a cotton plant with full bursting boll.

References

External links

Alabama State Flag
at the Alabama Department of Archives & History
written account of the flag in 1987 by Don Siegelman, Alabama Attorney General
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Alabama Alabama Symbols of Alabama Alabama Flags of Alabama Alabama Alabama 1895 establishments in Alabama