Report of the Officers of Volunteers to the General Assembly

In February 1876, the legislature passed a resolution authorizing the governor to appoint a board of nine officers from Georgia ’s voluntary military organizations to make recommendations for revising the Georgia Code sections on “The Volunteers” (Part I, Title XII, Chapter 2, Article 3, 1873 Code).  On November 9, 1878, the board, addressing their report to Governor Alfred H. Colquitt, submitted copies to both the House and Senate.  One of the board’s recommendations was that Georgia adopt a state flag, which was needed for the troops and for flying on steamships.  They suggested a design "sufficiently striking but simple, so as to be suitable both for maritime and military purposes."  They also noted that their design was "entirely unique."  Both reports include a color design and the wording of an act for adopting the flag. 

On October 16, 1879 the General Assembly passed a bill on Organization of Volunteer Troops (Law No. 276).  Little of the committee’s report was incorporated into the final bill.  However, it included a provision that "every battalion of volunteers shall carry the flag of the State, when one is adopted by Act of the General Assembly, as its battalion colors."  The next day, on October 17th, the legislature adopted an act (Law No. 317) to "declare and establish" the Georgia flag.  The language describing the new flag is almost identical to that suggested in the report written eleven months earlier.

These documents are taken from Record Group 037-08-004, General Assembly, Commissions and Committees, Reports and Investigations.

Updated 11/30/2005