WI whe still flew the Civil flag

HISTORY OF THE US CIVIL FLAG

The first U.S. Flag, which denoted civilian versus military purposes, was designed in 1799 by Oliver Wolcott Jr. the Secretary of the Treasury under John Adams. Wolcott's proposal featured: An ensign, consisting of sixteen alternating red and white stripes representing the number of states that had joined the Union by 1799; and the Union, represented by the small rectangle in the upper left corner, with its Arms (an Eagle) of the United States in dark blue on a white field.

It is significant that Wolcott’s new civilian flag had vertical stripes, not horizontal. This was done so that non-military ships would be easily recognized and not fired upon as they tried to hail and board foreign vessels. This new flag was actively flown on Revenue Cutters, what we now call Coast Guard Cutters. The original purpose of the Revenue Cutter was to collect tariffs and other taxes that were imposed on foreign goods. The Revenue Cutter ensign had vertical stripes to denote civilian authority under the Treasury Department rather than military authority under the War Department.

The First U.S. Civil Flag 1799

In the early days of our nation, horizontal stripes became the accepted practice for use over military posts, and vertical stripes were used over civilian establishments. The use of the Civilian Flag also spread to Merchants and Common citizens to symbolize their Constitutional rights.

The Civil Flag had red and white vertical stripes with blue stars on a white background. By the Law of the Flag, the vertical striped design denoted Roman Civil jurisdiction within Federal territories rather than Military jurisdiction under Admiralty law. The practice of using the Customs Flag as a Civil Flag became encoded law in 1874 when Treasury Secretary William. A. Richardson required all customhouses to display the Civil Flag.
/?/what if whe still had two Flags, a military, and a civil Flag?

civilflag1799_ppl.jpg
 

NomadicSky

Banned
I've seen that one before. I just didn't know what it was for.

There was one hanging up in the hall when I was at ACA.
 
DuQuense, where did you get the text and photos from?

I knew about the civil flag mystery, but I thought it was a mistaken assumption based on departmental flag as opposed to a civil flag. I also don't understand the sentence: "By the Law of the Flag, the vertical striped design denoted Roman Civil jurisdiction within Federal territories rather than Military jurisdiction under Admiralty law." - what Roman Civil jurisdiction and why only federal territories?

Also the picture and the text conflict. I counted 17 vertical stripes while the text says there should be 16.

In answer to the question though, I suppose any civil flag today would need essentially have the Presidential seal minus the writing as the arms in the canton - imagine that eagle with 50 small blue stars in a circle (that part doesn't make sense to me - why wouldn't the canto be blue to differentiate from the white stripes?). Maybe someone could do up a modern day "civil flag" based off the 16 stripes and an eagle with 50 stars in a circle around it.
 
Actually the US Coast Guard still uses a version of that flag during peacetime to show that it is under Treasury Dept. (civilian) as opposed to Navy (military) control.
UNST0014.GIF


Another version is used by the US Power Squadron, which is a civilian non-profit group that works to enhance boater education & safety.
UNST8002.GIF
 
Actually the US Coast Guard still uses a version of that flag during peacetime to show that it is under Treasury Dept. (civilian) as opposed to Navy (military) control. SNIP
The USCG hasn't been under Treasury since the late 60's. It was under Transportation, until 9/11 when it got put into Homeland Security.
 
Also the picture and the text conflict. I counted 17 vertical stripes while the text says there should be 16.

There are 16. if you look at the left most white "stripe" its not a stripe its some kind of border. Most likely the loop of fabric they thread the rope through.
 
Commerce? Houseing and Urban Development?
HUD, Health, Agriculture, Labor, Veterans' Affairs. Commerce does (the NOAA fisheries police).
All departments have an internal police force (the Office of the Inspector General)- but I don't think it's an armed one.
 
The US Customs Service routinely used that flag until it was absorbed into Homeland Security in 2001 (and subsequently broken up into Customs and Border Protection/Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The Customs Service was the second-largest armed law enforcement agency in the US government (after the FBI).
 

Thande

Donor
They had one variant with the vertical stripes and the white canton at a US customs post I was at recently, although I was too busy trying not to think thought crimes to be able to identify it more exactly.
 
There are 16. if you look at the left most white "stripe" its not a stripe its some kind of border. Most likely the loop of fabric they thread the rope through.

Ah, I see. Thanks.


I guess the modern flag would look something like the ones bekosh posted. Any modern one with the eagle would darn hard to draw free-hand though.
 
It is important that the idea of a "national flag" is a more modern idea then what some think; for example, several pages in atlasas (sic) do not show the Union Jack, but rather the Red Ensign. Here is the same thing: we have a maritime flag for military ships and government ships not in the employ of the military. No national flag, so to speak.
 

Redbeard

Banned
/?/what if whe still had two Flags, a military, and a civil Flag?

Don't know about you, but We still do. The "Stutflag" - plain Scandinavian white cross on red is the civilian flag and also used on merchant ships. The "Splitflag" is swallow tailed and is the official flag and is flown from government buildings and a few other with special permission. From warships it has a darker red/crimson colour.

Regards

Steffen Redbeard
 
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