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![[Flag of New Jersey]](../images/u/us-nj.gif)
image
by Clay Moss, 22 February 2009
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One of the original 13 colonies, New Jersey is represented by a star and a stripe on the 13 star U.S. flags.
On March 23rd, 1779 during the war of the Revolution, the Continental Congress, by resolution authorized and directed the Commander-in-Chief to prescribe the uniform, both as to color and facings, for the regiments of the New Jersey Continental Line. In accordance with this resolution, General Washington, in General Orders dated Army Headquarters, New Windsor, New York, October 2nd, 1779, directed that the coats for such regiments should be dark blue, faced with buff.
On February 28th, 1780, the Continental War Officers in Philadelphia directed that each of said regiments should have two flags,
viz: one the United States flag and the other a State flag, the ground to be of the color of the facing. Thus the State flag of New Jersey became the beautiful and historic buff, as selected for it by the Father of His Country, and it was displayed in view of the combined French and American armies in the great culminating event of the War of the Revolution, the capitulation of a British army under Lieutenant General Earl Cornwallis at Yorktown.
The same color has been prescribed for the state flag of New York, where a law requires it to be displayed with the United States flag over the capital when the legislature is in session.
The inquiry arises, why did General Washington select the beautiful historic buff facings exclusively for the Continental lines of New York and New Jersey when such facings were only prescribed for his own uniform and that of other Continental general officers and their aides-de-camp?
He evidently made the selection not only designedly, but for historic reasons. New York and New Jersey had originally been settled by the Dutch. Dark blue (Jersey blue) and buff were Holland or Netherlands insignia.
The Governor as commander-in-chief represents the State of New Jersey, and should have a prescribed headquarters flag, different from that used by infantry, cavalry or artillery. In custom, every state Governor has one, but the propriety of an enactment on the subject is obvious.
Mr. Hopkins, on leave, introduced Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2 to define the state flag.
Under Chapter 170, P.L. 1965, the official colors of New Jersey for use on the state flag and for other purposes were established by statute as buff and Jersey blue.
Dov Gutterman, 13 April 1999
According to the state-specification
http://www.state.nj.us/njfacts/flagres2.htm "CHAPTER 170, LAWS OF N.J.
Approved September 30, 1965,
SENATE, NO. 159, STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced February 15, 1965 BY SENATOR FARLEY
AN ACT establishing the official colors of the State of New Jersey.
BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: The
official colors of the State of New Jersey for use on the state flag and for
other purposes shall be buff and Jersey blue. For the purposes of this act the
specifications, references and designations for the official colors of the State
are as follows:
Jersey Blue (Cable No. 70087, royal blue. The Color Association of the United
States, Inc.)
Buff (Cable No. 65015, U.S. Army buff. The Color Association of the United
States, Inc.)"
Jarig Bakker, 17 September 2001
The U.S. Army's Institute of Heraldry gives PMS 465 as the Pantone equivalent
for buff.
Joe McMillan, 18 February 2004
![[Coat of arms of New Jersey]](../images/u/us-nj).gif)
In 1928, the New Jersey state legislature enacted Joint Resolution 8
blazoning the arms of the state as "Three ploughs in an escutcheon, azure;
supporters Liberty and Ceres. The Goddess Liberty to carry in her dexter hand a
pole, proper, surmounted by a cap gules, with band azure at the bottom,
displaying on the band six stars, argent; tresses falling on shoulders, proper;
head bearing overall a chaplet of laurel leaves, vert; overdress, tenné;
underskirt, argent; feet sandaled, standing on scroll.
Ceres; same as Liberty, save overdress, gules; holding in left hand a
cornucopia, or, bearing apples, plums and grapes surrounded by leaves, all
proper; head bearing over all a chaplet of wheat spears,
vert. Shield surmounted by sovereign's helmet, six bars; or, wreath and
mantling, argent and azure. Crest: A horse's head, proper. Underneath the
shield and supporting the Goddesses, a scroll azure, bordered with tenné,
in three waves or folds; on the upper folds the words 'Liberty and
Prosperity'; on the under fold in Arabic numerals, the figure '1776'."
The origin of the arms dates back to 1776. In September of that year the
two houses of the legislature appointed a joint committee to recommend a
design for a flag. On October 3, the committee reported back a proposal
based on a coat of arms described as "three Ploughs in an Escutcheon; the
Supporters, Liberty and Ceres, and the Crest, a Horse's Head." The
committee was authorized by the legislature to engage Francis Hopkinson (the
secretary of the Continental Congress who was later involved in the design
of the American flag) to make the arrangements for producing the seal.
Hopkinson in turn hired Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, a prominent heraldic
artist in Philadelphia. Simitiere's work was presented to the legislature
in May 1777 and accepted.
Shortly thereafter, the new coat of arms begin appearing in use. Early New
Jersey copper coins, for example, show the horse's head crest, and the full
arms appear on paper currency issued in 1781 (examples shown at
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyText/NJ-01-09-81.html). The
specific details of colors, attitudes of the supporters, etc., varied
according to the taste of
the artist, as is encouraged by heraldic tradition. Among other things,
given the original law's lack of specificity with regard to tinctures, the
arms were often shown with a white field in the early years; later blue
became the most usual choice and the invariable one shortly after 1900. The
current detailed blazon was enacted to preclude all further variations in
the artistic treatment of the arms,
and the artist Warren E. Deming was hired to draw a permanent authoritative
depiction.
The 1928 resolution also gave official sanction to the motto, which had
first appeared in a representation of the arms on the 1821 edition of the
state laws.
The three plows obviously represent agriculture. Simitiere placed the crest
atop a forward-facing barred helmet--now always shown as gold--the position
and type of helm appropriate to a sovereign in English heraldic usage. The
motto alludes to the supporters, Ceres being the Roman goddess of the
harvest.
New Jersey infantry regiments of the Civil War period carried two colors.
One resembled the Stars and Stripes but with the New Jersey arms on the
center of the canton surrounded by the stars. The other, the regimental
color, was blue with the state coat of arms on the center. Cavalry
regiments carried only a standard, the same basic design as the infantry
regimental color but smaller.
Most of these colors and standards had the arms displayed on a light blue
disk with the regimental designation on a red scroll beneath it. For
example, see the flag of the 2nd New Jersey (probably Cavalry) at
http://www.nj.gov/military/museum/civil_war/CWF011lrg.jpg. Around the
turn of the 20th century, regiments of the New Jersey National Guard carried
dark blue flags with the arms embroidered directly on the field, such as
that of the 4th Regiment, N.J.N.G., at
http://www.nj.gov/military/museum/civil_war/CWF024lrg.jpg. The home page
for the state military flag collection at the New Jersey National Guard
Militia Museum is http://www.nj.gov/military/museum/civil_war/.
Sources: [kng46] - National Geographic article on US and state seals;
Whitney Smith (1975), Flag Book of the United States;
Benjamin F. and
Barbara S. Shearer (2001), State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical
Guide; The Institute of Heraldry, U.S. Army, Records Department, File
840-10 Heraldic Item, Flag: New Jersey; Eugene Zieber, Heraldry in America
(1895)
Joe McMillan, 13 March 2004
![[Tricentennial Flag of New Jersey]](../images/u/us-nj300.jpg)
image located by Jan Mertens, 13 October 2008
Offered by “edwinart” on eBay was a “Tricentennial New Jersey” flag, no.
200252292493 (accessed 12 Sep 2008). Provided information: “Approx. 3 ft 4in. x
5 ft. (…) This is a flag made by DEFIANCE 100% COTTON BUNTING. Has eyelets for
hanging. No bug holes. Has light water stain running down the right side of
center stripe. Over Very Good condition.”
Obviously the logo is supposed
to symbolize the tercentennial 1664-1964 but the symbolism is not clear except
for the triangle: three centuries, possibly Masonic? Vertically divided sky
blue, white, and buff; in the middle stripe the Tercentennial logo (green
triangle, point upwards, with two white lines reaching vertically up from the
bottom broadening out in circular outlines) accompanied, next to the apex, by
the years ‘1664’ (left) and ‘1964’ (right) in green.
Link to an envelope
showing the logo:
http://www.zianet.com/smithson/images/f1247.jpg.
Jan Mertens, 13
October 2008
njmil.gif)
by Joe McMillan, 21 April 2000
The state military crest, which is the crest used in the coats of arms of units of the National Guard, as granted by the precursor organizations of what is now the Army Institute of Heraldry. The official Institute of Heraldry blazon is
"A lion's head erased or collared four fusils gules."
Joe McMillan, 21 April 2000
