The United States just celebrated its 245th birthday on Sunday, July 4, 2021. In recognition of this event, last week I created a graphic to use in promoting my novel, Lead Me Home. I used an image of the current U.S. flag in the graphic, but that got me thinking about what flag the United States used in 1847 when the novel took place.
As of July 4, 1846, a flag sporting 28 stars became the official flag of the United States. The 28th star was added in recognition of Texas becoming a state. This is the flag that would have been in use in early 1847, when my characters set off on the Oregon Trail. I probably should use this flag in any future patriotic promotions for Lead Me Home or for my third novel, Forever Mine, which also takes place in early 1847.
But the 28-star flag didn’t last long. As of July 4, 1847, while my characters were still traveling to Oregon, a 29-star flag was adopted because Iowa had joined the union. This flag would have been the official flag in effect during my second novel, Now I’m Found, though this flag also did not remain our Stars and Stripes for very long. As of July 4, 1848, the official flag added a 30th star because of Wisconsin’s admission as a state.
California became the 31st star on July 4, 1851, which was in the middle of my fourth novel, My Hope Secured. I wonder how quickly the settlers in Oregon Territory made new flags to recognize their neighbor to the south. Flags were sewn by hand in those days—think of moving all those stars.
The U.S. flag continued to change frequently in the mid-19th century. Minnesota was added as the 32nd star on July 4, 1858, Oregon as the 33rd star on July 4, 1859, and Kansas as the 34th star on July 4, 1861. Surely, my characters would have updated their flags quickly in recognition of their own star, but again, I wonder if they bothered for some of the others.
My current work-in-progress takes place in 1864. As of July 4, 1863, the flag had 34 stars, recognizing the addition of West Virginia, which was carved out of Virginia at the start of the Civil War.
The evolution of the U.S. flag did not stabilize until 1912 when stars for Arizona and New Mexico were added to complete the 48 contiguous states. No further changes occured until Alaska was added on July 4, 1959, and Hawaii on July 4, 1960. And, of course, we have had no changes since the addition of Hawaii.
I remember the ceremony in late 1961 or early 1962 when my grade school received its 50-star flag. I was in the first grade in Richland, Washington, so I know it was after November 1961 when I started at that school. That 20th-century delay in changing flags is why I doubt my 19th-century characters would have quickly turned to new flags each time Congress added a new star.
Do you remember any flag changes during your lifetime?
