VERMONT, FLAG OF

U.S. state flag consisting of a dark blue field (background) with a central coat of arms. Vermont's first state flag, which became official on May 1, 1804, was used for general purposes and for the state militia, according to the law of October 31, 1803. It had 17 white stars in its blue canton and 17 stripes, corresponding to the number of states in the Union at the time of the flag's adoption; the name of the state was emblazoned on its top stripe. It was the first state flag in the country adopted for purposes other than maritime or military use. The second Vermont state flag was adopted in 1837. It showed the state seal on a white star in a blue canton; the remainder of the flag was composed of 13 red and white horizontal stripes. In 1923 Vermont chose the current flag, which resembles half of U.S. state flags in having a state emblem in the centre of a blue field. It incorporates the 1821 Vermont coat of arms, based on the state seal; the arms show a pastoral scene with the Green Mountains in the background, a large pine tree in the foreground, wheat sheaves, and a cow. The inscription Freedom and unity, the word Vermont, a wreath, and the head of a deer as the crest complete the design. Whitney Smith History Exploration and settlement The first inhabitants of Vermont were Indians of the Abnaki tribe who hunted wild animals and traveled on the waterways and footpaths of the region. In 1609 the French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovered a lake there to which he gave his name. The first permanent European settlement was established by the French in 1666 on Isle La Motte, an island in northern Lake Champlain. The name Vermont, derived from the French vert and mont (green mountains), was applied to the region because of the thick coniferous growth that kept its mountains green year-round. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Vermont served as a route for French and Indian incursions from Canada into Massachusetts. In 1724 the Dutch established a community in Pownal, and the first English-speaking settlers erected Fort Dummer on the Connecticut River near present-day Brattleboro. When the British won the French and Indian War (175463), the land was opened to settlement. At the time the American Revolution began in 1775, about 20,000 people were living in Vermont. Many Vermont towns bear the names of the Connecticut and Massachusetts towns from which the early settlers came. Revolution and statehood Although the region was explored long before the landing of the Pilgrims and was settled before the American Revolution, it began its early development not as a chartered royal colony but as a territory, the possession of which was disputed by New Hampshire and New York. In the decades before the Revolution, disputesfrequently armed conflictsarose when land grants by New Hampshire conflicted with similar grants issued by New York. Between 1770 and 1775, many early settlers joined units of the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen, and repulsed the Yorkers who tried to control Vermont. Later, when the American Revolution began, the same Green Mountain Boys also asserted their independence from England. Their successful assault on Fort Ticonderoga, on the New York side of Lake Champlain in May 1775, has been called the first offensive action of the Revolution. In 1777 the Vermonters created an independent republicfirst as New Connecticut, then as Vermontand they remained independent until they joined the Union on March 4, 1791. Vermont grew from about 85,500 inhabitants in 1790 to about 218,000 in 1810; but, by the 1830s, Vermonters were departing in large numbers for the expanding cities and the more fertile lands to the south and west. The opening of the Erie Canal from Albany, N.Y., to Lake Erie in 1825 and later improvements in transportation hastened this emigration. More than 35,000 Vermonters fought in the American Civil War. Vermont became the site of the only Civil War action north of Pennsylvania when a band of Confederates raided St. Albans in October 1864. Many veterans left Vermont after the war because the state provided inadequate natural resources to power industrialization and urbanization and because greater opportunities for individual advancement were available elsewhere. The rural character of the state was thus assured, and today Vermont is the most rural state in the United States, with two-thirds of its people living in towns of 2,500 residents or fewer.