Flag Sections:
Mobile, Alabama Under Six Flags
1702 French King Flag
Plain white ensign of the King's vessels first flag flown by the French in the new colony of Mobile in 1702. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville by order of King Louis XIV came to the Gulf Coast to setup a colony which was on 27 Mile Bluff on the Mobile River.
Mobile, then called Fort Louis de la Louisiana, was founded and designated the first capital of the Louisiana territory which extended from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. A flood caused its removal to the present location in 1711. The fort was rebuilt in 1717 and named Fort Conde. The name Mobile is derived from Mobile or Maubila Indians who inhabited the region.
1763 British Union Jack
The Union Jack of Great Britain first raised in Mobile in 1763. In the Treaty of Paris that ended the French and Indian War gave the Louisiana Colony to the British. British troops occupied Mobile in October completing the transfer from France to Great Britain. In reorganizing the territory, Mobile ended up in the West Florida Colony.
1780 Spain
War Ensign of Spain, raised at Mobile in March, 1780. During the American Revolution, Spain declared war on Great Britain. Don Bernardo de Galvez, the Governor of Spanish Louisiana, captured the British posts on the Mississippi River, then Mobile, and lastly Pensacola. He had to attack the British in Fort Charlotte (formally known as Fort Conde') to take Mobile. After a short bombardment, the British garrison surrendered. After the American Revolution was over, the Spanish kept Mobile.
1814 U.S.A.
United States Flag, adopted in 1795, was raised by the U.S. Army in 1813. Mobile was captured by United States forces under General James Wilkinson from Spanish defenders. This move
was done to prevent the British from stirring up the Native Americans in the Southeast during the War of 1812. This flag is know as the "Star Spangled Banner," this is the flag that inspired the
national anthem.
1861 Republic of Alabama
"No state flag existed from 1819-1861. On January 11, 1861, the Secession Convention passed a resolution designating a flag designed by a group of Montgomery women as their official flag. This flag has often been referred to as the Republic of Alabama Flag. One side of the flag displayed the Goddess of Liberty holding in her right hand an unsheathed sword; in the left a small flag with one star. In an arch above this figure were the words "Independent Now and Forever." On the other side of the flag was a cotton plant with a coiled rattlesnake. Beneath the cotton plant are the Latin words: "Noli Me Tangere," (Touch Me Not). This flag was flown until February 10, 1861, when it was removed to the Governor's Office after it was damaged by severe weather. It was never flown again."
1861 CSA
The State of Alabama became an important port for the southern cause. Despite a federal blockade, trade was maintained with Europe and the West Indies.
A period which saw a series of land and sea battles in the area. Federal forces entered the city on April 12, 1865. Mobile was returned to the control of the United States and has enjoyed a prosperous existence under the Stars and Stripes to this day.
References: Mobile Genealogical Society; ADAH (Alabama Department of Archives and History); FOTW (Flags of the World) furthering the study of Vexillology Ned Harkins, assistant archivist with the City of Mobile in Alabama and Li'l Doc's graphics.