This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

# 28 Star Flag - (1846-1847) (U.S.)

##

Last modified: 2026-07-18 by rick wyatt
Keywords: twenty-eight | united states |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

image by Clay Moss, 18 February 2007

- Description of the flag
- Jack
- Makeshift flag for Sutter's Fort
- Flag used at George W. Bush inauguration

See also:

- History of the Stars and Stripes
- U.S. Historical flags
- United States of America

## Description of the flag

In 1846, one star was added, representing Texas, bringing the total number of stars to 28. There were thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies.
Rick Wyatt, 5 April 1998

This flag flew from 4 July 1846 to 3 July, 1847.
Clay Moss, 18 February 2007

## Jack

image by Clay Moss, 18 February 2007

## Makeshift flag for Sutter's Fort

There is a story about the first American flag set to Sutter's Fort in California, it goes like this:
In July of 1846 the U.S. Navy officially took possession of California for the United States. From his northern California anchorage at Yerba Buena (San Francisco), Commodore Sloat dispatched naval landing parties to hoist the United States flag at strategic locations. After flag raisings in Yerba Buena, Monterey, Sonoma and other locations, the small fleet had reportedly run out of the then current 28 star ensigns. The party dispatched to Sutter's Fort was given an obsolete 27 star U.S. flag and some star-cloth to be used to convert it while on their way up the American River. The ultimate appearance of this flag is unknown.
Pete Loeser, 31 March 2014

## Flag used at George W. Bush inauguration

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 11 May 2013

George W. Bush had 28 stars on his flags at the U.S. Capitol, for Texas. The stars are supposed to represent the "Home State" of the president. The 28-star pattern, however, was not the one we have at the top of this page. This photograph by Matt H. Wade at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bush_Inauguration_2005_-_Wade-1.jpg shows they were five columns of 6 and 5, which would have been five rows as a flying flag. These inauguration flags appear to be 5:9 with a square union.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 11 May 2013