Flags of the American Independence Movement

(1775 - 1777)

As the American Revolution approaches, colonists began modifying the official British flag or creating new flags to symbolize their unhappiness with Britain's colonial policies. One common practice was to place phrases such as "Liberty and Union" on the red field of the British ensign. Another often-seen protest flag depicted a rattlesnake--sometimes coiled and sometimes not--with the phrase "Don't Tread on Me."

Early in the war, there is record of a white flag with four red borders and the words "American Liberty in red used in Georgia's coastal waters.

Tradition has long held that the Moultrie Flag, which flew over Fort Sullivan in Charleston Harbor, also flew in Georgia. This flag consisted of a white crescent on a blue field, although a later version added the word "Liberty."

Computer generated flag image and text from Edwin L. Jackson, Flags That Have Flown Over Georgia (Atlanta: Secretary of State, 1995). © Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia.

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