New Hampshire (U.S.)

Last modified: 2016-03-01 by rick wyatt
Keywords: new hampshire | united states |
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image by Clay Moss, 4 February 2009

• Description
• State Seal
• Trivia

See also:

• County and Municipal Flags of New Hampshire (index)
• New Hampshire State Police
• Second New Hampshire Regiment, Continental Line
• United States of America
• States of the United States
  
  External sites:
  
• New Hampshire Facts

One of the original 13 colonies, New Hampshire is represented by a star and a stripe on the 13 star U.S. flags.

Description

The state flag shall be of the following color and design: The body or field shall be blue and shall bear upon its center in suitable proportion and colors a representation of the state seal. The seal shall be surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars interspersed. When used for military purposes the flag shall conform to the regulations of the United States.

New Hampshire did not officially adopt a state flag until 1909. Prior to that, New Hampshire had numerous regimental flags to represent the state. The flag has only been changed once, in 1931 when the state's seal was modified.

The body of the flag is blue. The center of the flag has the state's seal with the frigate Raleigh -- all surrounded by laurel leaves and nine stars.

Chris Young, 3 August 1999

State Seal

New Hampshire Revised Statutes
Section 3:9 State Seal. - The seal of the state shall be 2 inches in diameter, circular, with the following detail and no other:

A field crossed by a straight horizon line of the sea, above the center of the field; concentric with the field the rising sun, exposed above the horizon about 1/3 of its diameter; the field encompassed with laurel; across the field for the full width within the laurel a broadside view of the frigate Raleigh, on the stocks; the ship's bow dexter and higher than the stern; the 3 lower masts shown in place, together with the fore, main and mizzen tops, shrouds and mainstays; an ensign staff at the stern flies the United States flag authorized by act of Congress June 14, 1777; a jury staff on the mainmast and another on the foremast each flies a pennant; flags and pennants are streaming to the dexter side; the hull is shown without a rudder; below the ship the field is divided into land and water by a double diagonal line whose highest point is sinister; no detail is shown anywhere on the water, nor any on the land between the water and the stocks except a granite boulder on the dexter side; encircling the field is the inscription,
SEAL . OF . THE . STATE . OF . NEW HAMPSHIRE,
the words separated by round periods, except between the parts of New Hampshire; at the lowest point of the inscription is the date 1776, flanked on either side by a 5-pointed star, which group separates the beginning and end of the inscription

It is interesting to note that the Hew Hampshire state flag is the only state flag that depicts another state on its flag. The illustration of the seal is of the frigate Raleigh under construction on a sand bar which at the time the seal was made was part of Massachusetts and is now part of Maine.
James J. Ferrigan III, 3 March 2000