Mississippi State Symbols

When Mississippi gained statehood in 1817, it decided to use the seal that it had been using since 1798 when Mississippi was still a territory. In addition, even today, this is Mississippi's Great Seal. The design of the seal is based upon the American eagle of the national arms.

The eagle is proudly positioned in the center of the seal, with its wings spread wide and its head held high. A bunting of stars and stripes adorns its chest. In its talons, the eagle grasps an olive branch symbolizing a desire for peace and a quiver of arrows representing the power to wage war. The outer circle of the seal holds the words "The Great Seal of the State of Mississippi".

The committee to design a State Flag was appointed by legislative action February 7, 1894, and provided that the flag reported by the committee should become the official flag. The committee recommended for the flag "one with width two-thirds of its length with the union square, in width two-thirds of the width of the flag the ground of the union to be red and a broad blue saltier thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with thirteen mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding with the number of the original States of the Union the field to be divided into three bars of equal width, the upper one blue, the center one white, and the lower one extending the whole length of the flag.