Flag of New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s flag is blue with the state seal, the frigate Raleigh on the stocks at sunrise, inside a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars. The law doesn’t say what the stars stand for; the Chesterfield Historical Society says they mark New Hampshire as the ninth and deciding state to ratify the US Constitution.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The flag law, RSA 3:2, makes the field blue, bearing in its centre a representation of the state seal “in suitable proportion and colors”, surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars interspersed; for military use the flag follows the regulations of the United States. It gives no proportions or shades. The law dates from 1909 and was amended in 1931. The seal (RSA 3:9) is described “with the following detail and no other”: the horizon of the sea above the centre, the sun rising about a third of its diameter above it, the frigate Raleigh broadside on the stocks across the full width, with its bow to the left as you look and higher than the stern; the United States flag of 1777 at the stern and a pennant on each of two masts; a granite boulder on the shore, the only detail on the land; and, around it, the inscription SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE with the date 1776 between two five-pointed stars at the bottom. The flag flies above the State House whenever the legislature is in session (RSA 3:3).
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Why the ship is the Raleigh
There was no official state flag before 1909. The seal of 1784 showed a ship on the stocks with the sun rising behind it, for a state that had become a leading shipbuilder, but its wording was vague, and over the years painters added people on the docks, rum barrels and buildings, the Chesterfield Historical Society writes. In 1931, on the advice of Otis G. Hammond, director of the New Hampshire Historical Society, Governor John G. Winant formed a committee to fix the design. It named the ship as the frigate Raleigh, built in Portsmouth in 1776 and one of the first 13 warships the Continental Congress authorized; replaced the Latin inscription with “Seal of the State of New Hampshire 1776”; and left only a granite boulder in the foreground, for the Granite State.
Telling it from Maine’s flag
Both are blue. Maine’s flag has a coat of arms with a farmer and a seaman standing either side of a shield, and a star above. New Hampshire’s has a round seal with a ship and no people, ringed by laurel and nine stars.
Read next
- Next in US state flagsFlag of Rhode IslandRhode Island’s flag is white with a gold anchor inside a ring of 13 gold stars, over a blue ribbon with the motto “Hope” in gold. The anchor and the word “Hope” are the state’s arms under its law, which doesn’t say what the 13 stars stand for.
- The same shape in South American flagsFlag of BrazilBrazil’s flag is a yellow diamond on green holding a blue globe of 27 white stars, the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, crossed by a white band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (“Order and Progress”). Each star stands for a state or the Federal District; the 1889 flag decree said the green and yellow, kept from the empire, recall the victories of the army and navy.
More US state flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with circles, letters and numbers, squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- New Hampshire RSA 3:2, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 3:2, New Hampshire General Court, RSA 3:2 State Flag; Source note; RSA 3:3
- New Hampshire RSA 3:9, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 3:9, New Hampshire General Court, RSA 3:9 State Seal
- How the New Hampshire State Flag Came to Be! (Chesterfield Historical Society), Chesterfield Historical Society, Chesterfield, New Hampshire, “How the New Hampshire State Flag Came to Be!”, Chesterfield Historical Society (New Hampshire), How the New Hampshire State Flag Came to Be!
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 14, 2026. How we research
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