TSLAC 2-23/860
Lone Star Flag

Though the Krag flag is accepted by most historians as the first draft of the Lone Star Flag, another early rendition of the flag exists in the papers of Charles Bellinger Stewart (1806-1885). Stewart, a Brazoria pharmacist, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Some of Stewart's descendants believe he served on the senate committee to design a national flag during the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas, though his name does not appear on the final committee report and there is no record of him being a member of that Congress.

This drawing, which bears the signature of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, was donated to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by Stewart's descendants in 1966. Several factors make authentication of this document difficult. These include the watercolors, which date from a time period after Stewart's death, and lamination that was added in the 1960s to conserve the document. Owing to the similar upside-down placement of the Lamar signature, some experts believe the drawing is authentic to the time period but a tracing of Krag's original.

Stewart went on to render further service to Texas. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1845, which drafted Texas's first state constitution, and represented Montgomery County in several early state legislatures. (Finding aid for the papers of Charles Bellinger Stewart on Texas State Library - University of Texas TARO site)

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