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Shaw Flags (U.S.)

Historical

John Shaw (white first stripe)
by Rick Wyatt
3 April 2002

John Shaw (red first stripe)
by Rick Wyatt
3 April 2002

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I have a note from Mr. Earl Williams of Washington D.C.

The following description is on a card included with a flag he purchased a dozen years ago, from a man who has since passed away and is not able to be questioned as to sources....

The John Shaw Flags

"The John Shaw flags were commissioned by the Governor and Council of Maryland to fly in Annapolis while the Continental Congress was meeting there from November 1783 to June 1784. One flew over the State House and one over the Governor's Mansion which was the temporary home of the President of Congress, Thomas Mifflin, while he was in Annapolis.

No drawings or exact descriptions of the flag remain. But the Maryland Hall of Records, with the help of Mrs. Grace Rogers Cooper, an expert on flags and a consultant, was able to determine what the flags probably looked like. Using receipts for material and other notes found in the Hall of Records, Mrs. Cooper decided that two flags were made, that they were each 23'x9'9" and that one started with a red stripe and one started with a white stripe. The eight-pointed star was commonly used in the 18th century so it was used for the replicas of the John Shaw flags.

The two replicas of the