INDIANA, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of a dark blue field (background) with a gold or buff (light tan) torch surrounded by 19 stars. In 1916, the centennial of Indiana statehood, the Daughters of the American Revolution held a flag design competition. The winning design, by Paul Hadley, was approved as the state banner on May 31, 1917. The flag is defined by law as having design elements in either gold or buff, although in practice gold (actually golden yellow) is almost always used. The torch, symbolic of enlightenment and liberty, has rays spreading outward from its flames. A total of 19 stars ring the torch, recalling that the state was the 19th to join the Union. The name of the state is displayed above the largest star. The flag was defined as the state banner because, according to an act of the state legislature in 1901, the state flag was technically the national flag of the United States. In 1955 the General Assembly changed its classification from state banner to state flag in addition to the American flag. Whitney Smith History Prehistory and exploration Archaeologists have discovered remains of the earliest known inhabitants at Angel Mounds, an archaeological site on the Ohio River near Evansville. Early historical records show that Algonquian Indians organized tribes of the area into the Miami Confederation, which fought to protect the lands from the unfriendly Iroquois. Other important Indian tribes were the Potawatomi and the Delaware. In the 17th century the French made treaties with the Iroquois allowing them to trade with the Miami Confederation. In 1679 Robert Cavelier, Lord de La Salle, traveled by boat from Michigan down the St. Joseph River. To the south, traders from the Carolinas and from Pennsylvania settled on the Ohio and the Wabash river shores, threatening the French traders, to whom the region was a means of connecting Canada and Louisiana. To protect the route to the Mississippi, the French built Fort-Miami (1704); Fort-Ouiatanon (1719), near present-day Lafayette; and Fort-Vincennes (1732), one of the first permanent white settlements west of the Appalachians. In 1763 the area, part of what came to be known as the Northwest Territory, was ceded to England, which forbade further white settlement. The prohibition was largely ignored, and in 1774 Parliament annexed the lands to Quebec. During the American Revolution Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts made claims on the land, and in 1779 George Rogers Clark secured the area for the rebelling colonies by leading his troops on a surprise march from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. Territorial period The Northwest Territory was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolution in 1783, and in 1784 the first U.S. settlement was established at Clarkville, in the southern part of the state. Warfare between the Indians and the whites continued until 1794, when General Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians in a battle near Fallen Timbers, near the present-day OhioIndiana line, and the Indians were forced to make land concessions. Increasing numbers of white immigrants from Southern states entered the area after 1800, leading to renewed Indian resistance. In 1811 the last major encounter, the Battle of Tippecanoe, was fought near Lafayette, with General William Henry Harrison the victor. Between 1820 and 1840 the major Indian tribes abandoned the area. The Ordinance of 1787 creating the Northwest Territory prohibited slavery, but it did not abolish slavery already in existence, and in 1800 the territory had at least 175 slaves. With the end of Indian resistance came rapid settlement and in 1816 statehood. The territorial capital, Corydon, became the first state capital.