Thirty-Nine Star Centennial US Parade Flag

This flag is particularly unique for two reasons, The First reason is the inscription on the lowest white stripe of the flag. In French is reads, “CENTENAIRE AMERTQUAIN 4 JUILLET, 1876.” The second is the fact that the 39-Star Flag was never an official flag of the United States, it never legally existed. The makers of this flag gambled on the Dakota Territory being admitted as one territory in 1877 and lost. Instead, Congress divided the Territory up and admitted two Dakotas, Montana, Washington, and Idaho together in 1889.

There is a good chance that this flag was created around the time of the Centennial in 1876, in anticipation of the Dakotas coming into the Union the following year and was used in that year’s Grand Celebration.