Flags have often contained symbolism that expresses the political sympathies of their makers. For example, in this flag, most likely from the Civil War period, the canton unconventionally rests on a red stripe instead of a white one. Some flag historians refer to this as a “blood” or “war stripe,” because flags were sometimes constructed in this manner when the nation was at war. The 14 stars would presumably be a reference to Vermont’s statehood, since Vermont became the first new state to join the 13 original colonies. In the 19th century, many flags were produced with star counts fewer than what would have been official at the time, in order to honor the state to which the star count corresponded. The flag’s 21 stripes, instead of the standard 13, is most likely a Southern-exclusionary number arrived at by subtracting the number of seceding states plus the two border states whose citizens voted for secession, but didn’t officially secede, from the total number of states.
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