Civil flag

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. The use of civil flags was more common in the past, in order to denote buildings or ships that were not manned by the military. In some countries the civil flag was the same as the war flag or state flag, but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain, and in others it was an alteration of the war flag. Many countries, particularly those with a British heritage, still have distinctive civil flags (technically civil ensigns) for use at sea, many based on the British Red ensign.

It is sometimes alleged that the United States had a civil flag, that was like the Star and Stripes flag but with blue stars on a white background, and vertical stripes instead of the usual horizontal stripes; there is no known evidence for this assertion, and it is almost certainly false. It's frequently cited by unpatriotic conspiracy theorists as "proof" that the military has taken over the United States government.

The "Cartel for the Exchange of Prisoners of War between Great Britain and the United States of America", May 12, 1813 references a flag called the American Ensign.^[1] A picture of the American Ensign is found in the book "Illuminated History of North America" (1860) where the flag is shown as the American Customs in a pullout attached just before the start of Chapter I called A Chart of National Flags by Henry Bill 1858, Connecticut. The American Ensign uses the blue stars like those of the Revolutionary war era Guilford Flag and vertical stripes of the Civil Flag of the United States.