Chronologies
Biographies
History of the Flag
Primary Documents
Artifacts
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Chronologies |
Biographies |
History of the Flag |
Primary Documents |
Artifacts |
The design of the flag comes from the shield in the coat of arms of the
Calvert family, the colonial proprietors of Maryland. George Calvert, first
Lord Baltimore, adopted a coat of arms that included a shield with alternating
quadrants featuring the yellow-and-black colors
of his paternal family and the red-and-white colors of his maternal family,
the Crosslands. When the General Assembly in 1904 adopted a banner of this
design as the state flag, a link was forged between modern-day Maryland
and the very earliest chapter of the proprietorship of the Calvert family.
Despite the antiquity of its design, the Maryland flag is of post-Civil War origin. Throughout the colonial period, only the yellow-and-black Calvert family colors are mentioned in descriptions of the Maryland flag. After independence, the use of the Calvert family colors was discontinued. Various banners were used to represent the state, although none was adopted officially as a state flag. By the Civil War, the most common Maryland flag design probably consisted of the great seal of the state on a blue background. These blue banners were flown at least until the late 1890s.
The Calvert family coat of arms was reintroduced in Maryland in an 1854 law that called for a new great seal based on the Calvert design. The seal created by this act contained several inaccuracies, and in 1876 the General Assembly provided for a new great seal that conformed closely to the Calvert original. Reintroduction of the Calvert coat of arms on the great seal of the state was followed by a reappearance at public events of banners in the yellow-and-black Calvert family colors. Called the "Maryland colors" or "Baltimore colors," these yellow-and-black banners lacked official sanction of the General Assembly, but appear to have quickly become popular with the public as a unique and readily identifiable symbol of Maryland and its long history.
Neither the designer nor the date of origin of this new Maryland flag is
certain, but a banner in this form was
known at least by October 1880. Flags incorporating
four quadrants alternating between the yellow-and-black Calvert arms and
the red-and-white Crossland arms appear in published sketches by Frank
B. Mayer depicting the huge 150th birthday parade held in Baltimore that
month. Eight years later, in October 1888, a large flag with the alternating
Calvert and Crossland colors was carried by Maryland National Guard troops
escorting Governor Elihu E. Jackson at the dedication ceremonies for the
Maryland monument at the Gettysburg Battlefield. A year later, in October
1889, the Fifth Regiment, Maryland National Guard, adopted a flag in this
form as its regimental color. The Fifth Regiment thereby became the first
organization to adopt officially what is today the Maryland flag.
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Chronologies |
Biographies |
History of the Flag |
Primary Documents |
Artifacts |