Date Posted: Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Today we celebrate Flag Day.  We had a young man stop by to see if we have anything relating to the history of the Delaware flag.  We have two files in our General Reference Collection containing correspondence, samples of material, copies of laws, and the specifications for the flag.  We have lots of photographs, information in the governor’s papers, and we even have records of early flag use.  In fact we have an entry for Civil War soldier Robert Hanna that describes him grasping  the blue flag of Delaware and carrying it heroically to the front of the battle after the flag bearer has been wounded at Fredericksburg.

The official state flag of Delaware was adopted July 24, 1913.  In accordance with the design authorized at that time, the flag has a background of colonial blue, surrounding a diamond of buff color in which is placed the coat of arms of the State of Delaware.  Below the diamond are the words, “December 7, 1787,” indicating the day on which Delaware was the first state to ratify the Federal Constitution. 

Excert From 2nd Delaware Artillery Descriptive Book Company D for Robert Hanna

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