page_title: Samuel Chester Reid
section_title: Flag design
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Chester Reid / Flag design
caption_attribution_description: Sketches made by Samuel Chester Reid in 1850 in a letter to his son, showing his proposed designs for various U.S. flags when he was a central part of Congressional discussions in 1817. Reid came up with the concept of having 13 stripes while adding stars to represent the states, which was the definition chosen for the Flag Act of 1818, which is still in force today. Reid recommended arranging the stars in a larger star, which in fact was used in the first flag flown over the Capitol following the 1818 law, but shortly thereafter horizontal rows became customary. Reid actually proposed three flags: the "people's flag", a governmental flag with the stars replaced by the coat of arms (so to better distinguish merchant from government ships), and a "national standard" to be used on ceremonial occasions such as inaugurations. This last flag was reminiscent of the British royal standard, and had four quarters, one with the stars on a blue background, another with the coat of arms on a white background, another with the Goddess of Liberty on a white background, and the last with the 13 red and white stripes. Other accounts of the Congressional committee letters show the eagle and goddess quarters switched from this sketch; perhaps they were changed in discussions before being dropped altogether. Reid also proposed a national cockade, a symbol worn on military uniforms. None of Reid's additional suggestions were adopted, nor were they seriously considered. Text: "Peoples flag for Merchantmen", "Government flag", "Standard of the unions", "National cockade", "Letter from Father giving his account of his design of the flag of the U. States, as adopted by Congress in 1818. 17 Feb. 1850"
context_page_description: Samuel Chester Reid was an officer in the United States Navy who commanded a privateer during the War of 1812. He is also noted for having helped design the 1818 version of the flag of the United States, which first established the rule of keeping thirteen stripes and adding one star for each U.S. state.
context_section_description: In January 1817, Reid was asked by Representative Peter H. Wendover for advice in the design of a new U.S. flag. The flag then in use had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes; it had not been updated to reflect the five new states which had joined the union since that version of the flag was implemented in 1795. Wendover was the head of a congressional committee tasked with investigating possible alterations to the flag. Together, Wendover and Reid decided that the best way to honor all twenty states was to restore the number of stripes to the original thirteen, have twenty stars on the canton, and add a new star each time a new state joined the union.
  Reid sketched three flag designs, one for general use which featured the twenty stars arranged in the shape of a larger star, one for use on government vessels and buildings which featured an eagle on the canton instead of stars, and one for use on ceremonial occasions which featured a different element (stars, stripes, the Great Seal, and the Goddess of Liberty) on each of the flag's four quarters. Wendover and his congressional committee adopted Reid's general-use flag, but never seriously considered his other two designs. Wendover drafted a bill which stipulated that the thirteen-stripe, twenty-star design become the new official flag of the United States. The bill passed and was signed into law as the Flag Act of 1818 by President James Monroe on April 4, 1818. The pattern of the stars was later changed from Reid's "great star" design to four rows of five stars each.
  Reid was appointed master in the Navy in 1844 and died at New York 28 January 1861. He is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Four ships were given the name USS Reid in his honor.
  His daughter, Mary Isabel Reid, married in 1861 Italian-American officer Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who later received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War (1863), served as the United States consul in Cyprus (1866–77) and became the first Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1879-1904).
caption: Reid's sketches of his designs, from an 1850 letter
exif: {}