In the fall of 1812, the Republican Army of the North, comprised of both revolutionaries and Americans under Bernardo Gutierrez and a former US Army Lieutenant named Augustus Magee, gained control of the Spanish province of "Tejas" and declared it the independent State of Texas. As first President of an independent Texas, Gutierrez established the first Constitution of Texas in 1813, but his government was clouded by the brutal execution of the captured Spanish Governor and several of his officers. Gutierrez was soon deposed by Colonel Alverez de Toledo, who renamed the movement the Republican Army of North Mexico, and was then defeated by the Spanish at the Battle of Medina in 1813, thus ending the short-lived First Republic of Texas. This solid emerald green flag was thought to have been introduced by Magee who was of Irish background.

This flag was displayed by the military expedition led by Dr. James Long in 1819 while Texas was still a province of New Spain. Long's expeditionary force was initially successful and captured the town of Nacogdoches where he declared the city to be the capitol of a new Republic of Texas.

In 1835, Phillip Dimmit, a Kentuckian and local merchant, was placed charge of the captured Presidio La Bahía in Bexar, Texas. Dimmit at first was a strong voice for reconciling with Mexico and is credited for designing this flag that was destined to be carried at the Battle of the Nueces in November of 1835. He strongly felt that if the Mexican government followed the laws established in the Constitution of 1824 all would be well in Texas. Events soon proved him wrong.

In May of 1822, President Monroe of the USA recognized the independent Republic of Mexico which had broken away from Spanish rule. Mexican policies soon led to unrest and rebellion. This flag was used by Hayden Edwards and his followers in East Texas in a rebellion against Mexican authorities in 1826. Edwards declared Texas independent and gave his land the name of "the Republic of Fredonia." He requested the United States government support his new "republic," but Congress refused. Without United States support, Edwards fled Texas.

This flag is said to have been designed by Capt. William S. Brown at Velasco in fall of 1835 and has been commonly confused with Capt. Dimmitt's bloody-arm flag (below) since it employs the same symbol.

This was the second flag designed by the Goliad garrison commander, Captain Philip Dimmit, and dramatically reflected his political shift away from support of statehood for Texas in the Mexican Federalist Republic to a complete separation from Mexico as an independent Republic (see the "Constitution of 1824 Flag" above). Phillip Dimmit was one of many Texans who changed their mind about reconciling with Mexico and by the time he left for Goliad in December of 1835, he was firmly for an independent Texas. He seems to have left his original conservative flag in Bexar along with his original beliefs so that by the time he arrived in Goliad he was using this white flag with a bloody arm holding a sword as his banner. This banner was used to celebrate the signing of an unsanctioned Declaration of Independence at Goliad on December 20, 1835. Unfortunately, time was running out for all those at Goliad. (See "Goliad Flag 1836" below)

In September of 1835, Colonel Ugartechea, the commander of the Mexican garrison at San Antonio, sent a few unarmed men to the town of Gonzales to recover a cannon that had been loaned to the town to fight off occasional Indian attacks. The townspeople refused to give the cannon back and Colonel Ugartechea then sent some dragoons under Captain Francisco Castaneda to demand the cannon. As word of the disagreement spread, a Texan force of over 200 armed men arrived and the town was fortified. Two ladies of the town, Cynthia Burns and Evaline DeWitt, painted a flag on cotton cloth, depicting the cannon, the lone star of Texas, and the words "Come and Take It." As the small Mexican force approach Gonzales on October 2, the Texans formed their battle lines and after a brief battle, the outnumbered Mexicans withdrew, abandoning their supplies. Some Vexillologists (flag historians) believe the lone star was added at a later date, and not originally on the flag.

Unlike the organized Mexican army, Texas forces were formed from a number of small groups, and Sam Houston and Stephen Austin often had trouble keeping these factions from starting a war with Mexico prematurely. One of these more radical groups wanting independence was formed in Lynchburg, Texas, by William Scott. Captain Scott commissioned an Italian immigrant to paint this design on a piece of blue silk. The company of 30 men were sent to join Colonel James Fannin's men. This flag was carried into the Battle of Concepción by James McGahey on October 28, 1835.

The first Constitutional Convention met at Washington on the Brazos in March of 1836, and flying over the hall was this flag designed and made by Sarah Dodson. She originally created it for her husband Archelaus Dodson, a member of the Robinson Company of the army volunteers formed at Harrisburg, Texas. After serving at Gonzales, this company marched under the Dodson flag to San Antonio to help capture the Alamo. The volunteers then returned to their homes after San Antonio had been taken from the Mexicans, not realizing that Santa Anna was marching toward Texas. After the Mexicans crushed the remaining forces at the Alamo and massacred the Texans at Goliad, the Robinson Company was assigned to protect retreating civilians. This exodus was known as the "Runaway Scrape."

In 1834, Captain Moseley Baker of Alabama came to Texas and joined the army raised by William Travis. This flag was made for him by Gail Borden in 1836.

The Texan's fight for independence appealed to many people throughout the United States by 1835. Meetings were held and representatives of the new Texas government spoke in cities across the United States. Despite the official neutrality policy of the United States government, hundreds of volunteers headed to Texas to seek their fortunes.

The 1824 Constitution of Mexico joined Texas with Coahuila to form the state of "Coahuila y Tejas." The new Mexican government had little money to devote to the military. Settlers were empowered to create their own militias to help control hostile Indian tribes. The Texas-Coahuila Militia was one such militia. In 1834, Colonel Jim Bowie was placed in command of Texas-Coahuila Militia. The flag used by Colonel Jim Bowie's group was a Mexican Merchant's Flag with two stars (either blue or brown), added on the white stripe.

The Alabama Red Rovers were a company of Alabamian volunteers organized in Courtland, Alabama, in 1835, under the command of Captain Jack Shackelford. About sixty volunteers signed up to help the Texans in their fight for independence from Mexico. The volunteer company uniforms consisted of caped hunting frocks and jeans made of a rusty red dyed linsey-woolsey, and they wore coonskin caps. The ladies of Courtland also presented the red clad soldiers with a simple red banner to serve as a company guidon.

This flag, also known as the flag of Texas Conservatives because it was used by those conservative Texans who wished for peace with Mexico, is traditionally presented as the flag that flew over the Alamo when Santa Anna's army attacked the fortified mission in 1836, although there is no real evidence to prove that this was the flag used that day at the Alamo. The actual flag was not captured and preserved by the victors nor recorded in the military accounts of the day. But often tradition replaces fact.

The New Orleans Grays consisted of two volunteer militia companies formed in New Orleans for service in the Texas War of Independence. Their name came from the gray military fatigues they wore, because unlike the majority of the volunteers, the Grays looked like soldiers and had uniforms and some semblance of military discipline. The Grays were present at most of the major battles of the war. Their flag featured an eagle with outstretched wings, holding a banner in its beak, with the words "God & Liberty" written on it.

This was the banner the Texans carried at the turning point of their War for Independence. Santa Anna's army of over 6,000 men had swept across Texas to the grassy plains of San Jacinto. It appeared all was lost, but a sudden morning surprise attack at San Jacinto by the Texas army under the command of Sam Houston changed everything and in less than 20 minutes it was all over. With cries of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad," they had charged into the Mexican camp, Santa Anna was captured, and the war was over.

According to legend, the second thing that the First Constitutional Convention had done after declaring Texas independent, writing a new constitution, and electing the first leaders, was to selected and approve a design for a new flag in 1836. They chose a design by Lorenzo de Zavala, the most accomplished statesman among the delegates. Zavala, a native of Spain, had served as Mexico's Secretary of the Treasury, Minister to Paris and as President of the Constitutional Congress in 1824 before siding with the Texans.

In December of 1836, the new government of Texas met at Columbia and the First Congress accepted the suggestion of David Burnet to recognize a new design for the "National Flag" of Texas. David Burnet was the first provisional President of the Texas Republic, and he actually designed this flag himself.

If the Mexicans had controlled the Gulf of Mexico and blockaded Texas, it is unlikely that Texas could have won their independence. In November of 1835, the Texas Navy was formed with four ships named the Independence, Brutus, Liberty and Invincible.

Meeting in Houston in January of 1839, the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas approved a new flag design by Charles Stewart, the second man to sign the Declaration of Independence. This flag was the national flag of Texas until 1846, when Texas became the 38th state of the Union, and this flag became their state flag instead.

Texas has the distinction of being the only state that was ever a sovereign independent nation, recognized by the United States, Great Britain and other major European powers of the day. The Texas State Flag is, of course, the only state flag that was once an independent national flag.