Samuel Chester Reid - Flag Design

Flag Design

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. Four ships were given the name USS Reid in his honor.