Maryland Applique House Flag

Official Maryland State Flag 1904 – Present (Decorative House Banner)

This flag is finished with a pole sleeve across the top which is designed to slide onto a wall-mounted flagpole. A small tab inside the pole sleeve attaches to the clip at the top end of the flagpole which holds the flag in place at the top of the pole. This flag may be displayed with the flagpole mounted at a 90-degree angle so that the flag hangs vertically (as in the picture) or at a 45-degree angle as is the traditional way a wall-mounted state flag would be hung. Any Marylander would be proud to fly this beautifully embroidered, applique Maryland state flag. The heraldic banners are embroidered and appliqued on both sides of the flag. Made for outdoors but beautiful enough to hang up indoors as well.

The Maryland State Flag was officially adopted by the state assembly on March 9th, 1904. The flag design consists of two different heraldic symbols. The pattern that was on the shield of the Calvert coat of arms consisted of six vertical, alternating yellow and black stripes, with one diagonal stripe from the upper left to the lower right with counterchanged colors, meaning black where the diagonal crosses a yellow stripe and yellow where the diagonal crosses a black stripe. This symbol appears in the upper hoist-side and lower fly-end quadrants of the flag, while a red and white cross bottony which is from the shield of the Crossland family coat of arms is in both the lower hoist and upper fly-end quadrants. Sir George Calvert was the first “Lord Baltimore” and proprietor of the colonial territory that is now the state of Maryland from 1625 – 1632. Sir George’s mother was from the Crossland family, hence the significance of both heraldic banners. Even though the “Barony of Baltimore” coat of arms created in 1625 utilized this combination of family heraldry on the shield, the state flag is a post-civil war creation. Maryland is the only one of the first 13 states to utilize a flag that is symbolic of when it was a colony under British rule, but the imagery was not used during, or for many years after the Revolutionary War. It wasn’t until 1854 that the colors of the Calvert coat of arms were revived as a new state seal using elements of the Calvert design was introduced. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, many citizens of the state of Maryland in the city of Baltimore and the southern counties as well as counties along the eastern shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay sided with the Confederacy, many of whom served in the Army of Northern Virginia. For them, the red and white cross bottony became a symbol of secession, and metal bottony cross pins were used on the uniforms of Confederate soldiers from Maryland and red and white bottony crosses appeared on regimental and company flags. Marylanders who served in the Union Army used the black and gold Calvert coat of arms banner extensively in their flags and uniforms. When both Confederate and Union soldiers went back home to Maryland to live and work side by side, there was much need for reconciliation. There is no record of exactly when the combination of Calvert and Crossland’s colors appearing together on the same banner re-emerged, but a sketch from 1880 depicting the 150th birthday celebration for the city of Baltimore (July 30th, 1879) shows just such a flag on display at the event. In 1888, Maryland National Guard Troops carried a flag of this design at the Maryland monument dedication ceremony at the Gettysburg battlefield as they escorted the Maryland governor to the site. In 1889 the 5th Regiment of the Maryland National Guard which was mainly made up of Civil War veterans from both the Union and Confederacy appropriately adopted the flag as their official regimental banner thus becoming the first organization to officially adopt the flag that would later become the state flag of Maryland. Then in 1904, the state assembly acknowledged the popularity and support for the design by making it the official Maryland state flag. In 1945, a gold cross bottony was designated as the official flagstaff ornament for a flagstaff bearing the Maryland state flag.

All Evergreen Applique Flags are crafted from soft, high thread count, 310-denier, 100% nylon fabric. This double-sided, bright, colorful flag is sewn with tight, detailed stitching. Finished with a pole sleeve and tab. Fits on any standard 5′ pole. Flag size 28″ x 44″.

*Flagpole not included.