The state flag of North Carolina as it is currently flown was adopted in March 1885. General Johnston Jones is credited with proposing the bill that changed the state flag of North Carolina from its previous design, which represented North Carolina during the Civil War. The current North Carolina flag displays a wide, horizontal red top bar, above a wide, horizontal white bottom bar. A vertical blue bar decorates the left side of the flag, and superimposed upon this bar are the letters NC in gold, separated by a white star. Above these letters, a golden banner proclaims the date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, 20 May 1775, in black letters. A similar banner below the letters NC displays the date of the Halifax Resolves, 12 April 1776.
The first person to suggest the adoption of a North Carolina state flag is believed to have been Colonel John D. Whitford. He is said to have made his proposal on 20 May 1861, the day that North Carolina voted to secede from the United States of America and join the Confederate States of America. While the North Carolina Convention approved of Whitford's flag proposal, the group ultimately rejected his design. They instead accepted a design created by William Jarl Browne. This design was officially adopted by the North Carolina Convention on 22 June 1861 and remained in use until after the Civil War.
North Carolina's original state flag is very similar in design to the present state flag of North Carolina. The position of the red and blue bars as they appear on the state's modern flag were reversed. The vertical bar to the left was red, and the horizontal top bar to the right was blue. The red vertical bar typically bore a white star.
Above this star was generally written the date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and below it was generally written the date of North Carolina's official succession from the United States, 20 May 1861. Historians believe that North Carolina was one of only two Confederate states to issue official state flags to its regiments during the American Civil War.
Most believe that the need for a new state flag of North Carolina became clear when North Carolina rejoined the United States after the American Civil War. The state of North Carolina continues to use the basic flag design adopted in March 1885. An act of the state legislature in 1991 lengthened the state flag of North Carolina, and removed the commas from the dates displayed upon it.