Flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande

Republic of the Rio Grande
Adopted	1840
Relinquished	1840
Design	One-third of the hoist is blue containing three white stars. The remaining field is divided horizontally into three bars: white on top, red in the middle, and black on the bottom.

The flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande was used in 1840, during 283 days from January 17 to November 6, as long as the republic existed. This country was formed by the northeastern Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. The flag was no longer used following the defeat of the Republic of the Rio Grande by Mexican troops.

Design

The flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande has a blue hoist with three white stars run evenly along the hoist.^[2]^[1]^[3]^[4] The three stars represent the three states that seceded: Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.^[5]^[6] The fly is split into three bands, one white, one red, and one black.^[2]^[1]^[3]^[4]

There are other suggested designs for the flag as noted by historians, including tricolors of (a) red, white, and black; (b) red, white, and blue; and (c) red, white, and green.^[7]

This variant shows a black stripe
This variant shows a green stripe
This variant shows a dark blue bottom stripe

Historians have noted that, whatever the flag looked like, it bore similarities to the 1839 flag of the Republic of Texas and the 1841 flag of the later Republic of Yucatán.^[7]

The city of Laredo, Texas uses the black stripe variant of this flag as its city flag,^[8] while also incorporating it and the six flags over the rest of Texas on its city coat of arms.^[9] Laredo had served as the capital of the brief republic.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Ceballos Ramirez, Manuel (May–August 2006). "La conformación del noreste histórico mexicano: larga duración, identidad y geopolítica". Secuencia (in Spanish). 65 (65): 9–37. doi:10.18234/secuencia.v0i65.967. eISSN 2395-8464. ISSN 0186-0348. Por otra parte, se ha aducido el separatismo del noreste por el hecho de que entre sus filas se portara una bandera que, dividida en una franja vertical y tres horizontales, representaba a los tres estados orientales, pues en la vertical también incluía tres estrellas. El color de la franja vertical era azul, y el de las horizontales eran plateado (o blanco), rojo y negro. Mariano Arista supo de la existencia de esta bandera por los informes que le rindió un espía, quien adernás la dibuío en un anexo, y así lo remitió Arista al ministro de Guerra a principios de septiembre de 1840." Translation: "On the other hand, the separatism of the northeast has been adduced due to the fact that a flag was carried among its ranks that, divided into a vertical stripe and three horizontal ones, represented the three eastern states, since the vertical one also included three stars. The color of the vertical stripe was blue, and that of the horizontal ones were silver (or white), red and black. Mariano Arista found out about the existence of this flag from reports given to him by a spy, who also drew it in an appendix, and Arista sent it to the Minister of War at the beginning of September 1840.
^ ^a ^b Florescano, Enrique (2021). Historia de la bandera mexicana, 1325-2019 (ebook) (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México. pp. 121–122. ISBN 9786073187695. La bandera estaba dividida en cuatro partes: una azul en sentido vertical con tres estrellas blancas; luego, del azul se desprendían tres colores en forma horizontal: negra la de abajo, roja la del centro y blanca la de arriba. Por sus características, es posible que se trate de la llamada bandera de la República de Río Grande, en la cual se comprendían los estados de Texas, Coahuila y Tamaulipas...." Translation: "The flag was divided into four parts: one vertical blue with three white stars; then, from the blue, three colors detached horizontally: the bottom black, the center red, and the top white. Due to its characteristics, it is possible that it is the so-called flag of the Republic of Río Grande, was to include the states of Texas, Coahuila and Tamaulipas...
^ ^a ^b Gallegos, Juan Jose (December 2005). "Last Drop of My Blood": Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on Mexico's Rio Grande Frontier, 1797–1840 (MA). University of Houston. pp. 145–146, 145n163. A flag flown by J. M. J. Carvajal on his campsite near the Nueces River after Zapata and Canales' defeat in Morelos is shown in Figure 5-1. This flag contains three horizontal bands of white, red and black with a blue vertical band on the left side containing three white stars in the blue field. One could conjecture that the three bands and the three stars symbolize the three Mexican states mentioned above. Furthermore, it would be reasonable to assume that this flag design was the same used prior to the Federalist defeat in Morelos.
^ ^a ^b "[Sketch of the Flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande]" (1840) [manuscript]. Courtesy of the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Webb County Heritage Foundation, Laredo, TX, ID: XI/481.3/1548, p. f. 87. Mexico City, Mexico: Archivo Histórico de la Defensa Nacional.
^ Saenz de los Reyes, Emiliano (1994). "The Transcripts of the First Annual Palo Alto Conference". In Aaron P. Mahr Yáñez (ed.). Proceedings of the First Annual Palo Alto Conference. First Annual Palo Alto Conference (in Spanish). Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, Brownsville, TX: U.S. Dept. of the Interior. p. 148. OCLC 32985554. Las tres estrellas pudieran haber simbolizado los tres estados directamente implicados." Translation: "The three stars may have symbolized the three states directly involved.
^ Gallegos, Juan Jose (December 2005). "Last Drop of My Blood": Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on Mexico's Rio Grande Frontier, 1797–1840 (MA). University of Houston. p. 145n163. A Matamoros newspaper reported that the flag featured three stars symbolizing the departments of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila; see El Ancla, September 14, 1840, Matamoros.
^ ^a ^b Herrera Ledesma, Pedro Alberto (2007). "La República del Río Grande (1838-1840)". In Isassi Cantú, César Humberto; Saldaña Villarreal, María Isabel (eds.). Reynosa, ciudad del futuro, de villa a metrópoli (in Spanish). Reynosa, Mexico: Grupo Editorial Milenio. p. 153. OCLC 497165170. Con respecto a esta bandera, existen a lo menos tres versiones que no se diferencian mucho; la más popular la declara tricolor (rojo, blanco y negro), las estrellas están sobre un campo rojo; la segunda versión la aproxima a la bandera texana y la declara tricolor, pero: rojo, blanco y azul, en esta versión las estrellas también sobre un campo rojo; y la tercera versión popular la declara tricolor: verde, blanco y rojo, aproximándola a la bandera de México y de algún modo a la bandera de la República del Yucatán (la que sin embargo aún no existía, pues Yucatán aún no se había independizado)." Translation: "Regarding this flag, there are at least three versions that do not differ much; the most popular declares it tricolor (red, white and black), the stars are on a red field; the second version approximates it to the Texan flag and declares it a tricolor, but: red, white and blue, in this version the stars also on a red field; and the third popular version declares it a tricolor: green, white and red, approximating it to the flag of Mexico and in some way to the flag of the Republic of Yucatan (which, however, did not yet exist, since Yucatan had not yet become independent).
^ Diaz, Joy (2015-10-22). "In Laredo, It's Seven Flags Over Texas". Texas Standard. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
^ "Home". www.cityoflaredo.com. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
^ Fowler, Gene (May 2010). "Seven Flags Over Texas?". Texas Co-op Power Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-16.^{[permanent dead link]}