Delaware State Flag

Delaware's Civil War military regiments carried flags with the state coat of arms on a blue field — a pattern that pre-dated any official state flag law. In 1910, the Daughters of the American Revolution presented a flag to the USS Delaware battleship bearing the coat of arms on a blue field, approximately four by five feet. Delaware still had no official flag statute at the time.

A commission designed the current flag, and the General Assembly adopted it on July 24, 1913. The design codified what had already been in informal use: colonial blue field, buff diamond, coat of arms inside, ratification date below. This is the only official state flag Delaware has ever had.

Color specifications were not formally determined until 1954, when the National Bureau of Standards conducted colorimetric testing. The results — Munsell and Pantone values for each element — were filed with the Delaware Public Archives in Dover. Delaware's color documentation is among the most precisely defined of any state flag.

The date December 7, 1787 is on the flag because Delaware used those five days. Delaware's ratification convention met, voted unanimously, and adjourned in a single day. Pennsylvania ratified five days later on December 12. No other state can claim the first ratification date, which is why Delaware put the specific date on its flag rather than a general reference to the Constitution.

The colors trace to George Washington. Colonial blue and buff — the flag's two primary colors — match the uniform Washington wore as commander of the Continental Army. Delaware chose those colors for its coat of arms in 1777, while Washington was still in command, and they carried forward into the 1913 flag without revision. The connection is to the war, not to the landscape or the sea.

Thomas Jefferson gave Delaware the Diamond State label, comparing it to a diamond: small but strategically placed between larger states, valuable out of proportion to its size. The buff diamond on the flag takes its shape from that comparison and its color from the buff facing on Washington's uniform — two different historical references converging in the same design element.

Both of Delaware's primary flag colors trace to George Washington's Continental Army uniform. Colonial blue was the coat color; buff was the facing color. Delaware adopted these shades for its coat of arms in 1777, when Washington was still in command, and the 1913 flag carried them forward unchanged.

Exact values were not established until 1954. The National Bureau of Standards used colorimetric spectrophotometry to define the shades, producing Munsell and Pantone specifications filed with the Delaware Public Archives. Delaware's color system is more technically detailed than most states, which typically rely on cable numbers or informal paint references. The full coat of arms uses twelve additional colors for the shield, figures, and decorative elements, all specified.