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# Vermont (U.S.)

##

Last modified: 2026-08-01 by rick wyatt
Keywords: vermont | united states |
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image by Clay Moss, 11 February 2009

- Legal Description
- Coat of Arms
- State Military Crest

See also:

- County and Municipal Flags of Vermont (index)
- Vermont State Police
- Department of Corrections
- Upper Valley
- Historical flags
  - Republic of Vermont
  - Vermont Brigade Flag
  - Green Mountain Boys
  - 14 Star Vermont Centennial flag
- United States of America
- States of the United States

In 1795, two stars and two stripes were added, representing Kentucky and Vermont, bringing the total number of stars and stripes on the U.S. flag to 15.

## Legal Description

VERMONT STATUTES ANNOTATED, TITLE 1
01 VSA 491. Coat of arms; crest; motto and badge. The coat of arms, crest, motto and badge of the state shall be and are described as follows:

1. Coat of arms. -- Green, a landscape occupying half of the shield; on the right and left, in the background, high mountains, blue; the sky, yellow. From near the base and reaching nearly to the top of the shield, arises a pine tree of the natural color and between three erect sheaves, yellow, placed diagonally on the right side and a red cow standing on the left side of the field.
2. Motto and badge. -- On a scroll beneath the shield, the motto: Vermont; Freedom and Unity. The Vermonter's badge: two pine branches of natural color, crossed between the shield and scroll.
3. Crest. -- A buck's head, of natural color, placed on a scroll, blue and yellow.

01 VSA 495. State flag. The flag of the state shall be blue with the coat of arms of the state thereon.
Joe McMillan, 21 February 2000

## Coat of Arms

image by Joe McMillan

The Vermont coat of arms was officially described by Act No. 11 of 1862 (codified as Title 1, Vermont Statutes Annotated, Sec. 491): "Coat of arms. -- Green, a landscape occupying half of the shield; on the right and left, in the background, high mountains, blue; the sky, yellow. From near the base and reaching nearly to the top of the shield, arises a pine tree of the natural color and between three erect sheaves, yellow, placed diagonally on the right side and a red cow standing on the left side of the field. Motto and badge. -- On a scroll beneath the shield, the motto: Vermont; Freedom and Unity. The Vermonter's badge: two pine branches of natural color, crossed between the shield and scroll. Crest. -- A buck's head, of natural color, placed on a scroll, blue and yellow."
According to a 1939 study entitled "The Coat of Arms and Great Seal of Vermont," by John P. Clement, this coat of arms first appeared in 1821 as an engraving on state military commissions. The design was based on the graphic elements in the state seal that had been adopted on February 20, 1779, but which is a much more abstract design. The buck's head crest may have been devised by the then-secretary of state, Robert Temple, or the engraver who designed the commission form. The design continued in de facto use as the state coat of arms until the time of the Civil War. This included being shown on state publications and in a carving over the speaker's desk in the state House of Representatives. The crossed pine branches first appeared on the title page of the 1840 edition of the state's Revised Statutes; they are a reference to pine sprigs worn by Vermont troops at the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814. In 1862, a description of the arms was written by George W. Benedict and enacted by the legislature. Clement reports that an account of the arms soon after their official adoption identifies the mountains as Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield as seen from a point opposite Burlington, supposed to be the point from which the French explorer Samuel de Champlain first saw the Green Mountains.
While the secretary of state's website acknowledges that "any painting which follows the description faithfully will be a sound representation," and that there are no restrictions on the shape of the shield, the height or shape of the mountains, etc., I have followed as closely as possible the official pattern used for the state flag, with coloring of the mountains, foothills, and forest based on an actual Vermont flag in a set of state flags procured according to US Army specifications (which generally reflect official information from state sources).
Joe McMillan, 23 February 2004

## State Military Crest

image 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 buck's head erased within a garland of pine branches all proper."
Joe McMillan, 21 April 2000