page_title: Flag of Ohio
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Flag of Ohio / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: Guidon of the 125th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (29 3/4” hoist x 40”) "This silk swallowtail guidon, used as a marker to assist in battlefield maneuvers, conforms to the “stars and stripes” pattern described in General Order No. 4, Headquarters of the U.S. Army, dated January 18, 1862. The flag includes 34 gold-painted stars in the canton. According to Colonel Levin Crandell, Private William F. Mullin carried this flag during the battle of Gettysburg where enemy fire reportedly pierced the flag and shattered the staff."
context_page_description: The Ohio Burgee is the official flag of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a triangular swallowtail flag, the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. Its red, white, and blue elements symbolize the state's natural features and order of admission into the Union. A prominent disc in the flag's triangular canton is suggestive of the state's name.
  The flag was designed in 1901 by John Eisenmann for the Pan-American Exposition and adopted in 1902. Before that, for nearly a century after statehood, Ohio did not have a legally authorized state flag. One unsuccessful proposal called for a design based on the state seal.
  Ohio has adopted an official salute to the flag and the official folding procedure gives it 17 folds. The Ohio flag has influenced a number of logos and municipal flags within the state. A scarlet-colored gubernatorial flag is based on the state seal.
context_section_description: The Ohio state flag's design is defined in the Ohio Revised Code, section 5.01:
  The flag of the state shall be burgee-shaped. It shall have three red and two white horizontal stripes that represent the roads and waterways of the state. The union of the flag shall be seventeen five-pointed stars, white in a blue triangular field that represents the state's hills and valleys, the base of which shall be the staff end or vertical edge of the flag, and the apex of which shall be the center of the middle red stripe. The stars shall be grouped around a red disc superimposed upon a white circular "O." The thirteen stars grouped around the "O" represent the original states of the United States and the four stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted to the union. The "O" represents the "O" in "Ohio" and suggests the state's nickname, the buckeye state. The proportional dimensions of the flag and of its various parts shall be according to the official design on file in the office of the secretary of state.
  In addition to resembling the letter O and a buckeye nut, the flag's annulus also represents "the original territory of Ohio" in the Northwest Territory.
  Ohio's flag is the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. It is a rare example of a non-quadrilateral civil flag, another well-known example being the flag of Nepal. According to vexillologist Whitney Smith, it may be loosely based upon cavalry flags of the Civil War and Spanish–American War. The flag has been officially defined as a "burgee" since 2002, even though burgees are typically used as maritime flags. Its shape, lack of text, and mirror symmetry allow it to be flown or hung in various orientations without affecting legibility. On account of the flag's uncommon shape, foreign manufacturers have occasionally set the entire design against a white, rectangular field. The flag of Nepal has similarly been turned into a rectangle by mistake.
caption: A typical 34-star Union guidon, carried by many Ohio cavalry units during the Civil War.
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