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The Continuing Saga of the Lone Star Flag

by Robin Montgomery  
             
My last column portrayed Dr. Charles Stewart of Montgomery County as the architect, in 1839, of the Lone Star Flag of Texas, so officially designated by Governor George W. Bush in May, 1997. The preponderance of evidence points to Bush’s action as reflective of an accurate reading of Texas history. Why then, the lack of complete closure on the matter on the part of some historians? As we shall see, like many things, much depends upon the angle from which one views the evidence. 
             
Our story begins on 8 January, 1812, the date in which Sarah Bradley received birth. By 1823, Sarah and her parents had moved from Kentucky to Texas to become part of Stephen Austin’s “Old Three Hundred” Colonists, settling in what became Brazoria County. On 17 May, 1835, Sarah Bradley became Sarah Dodson
when she married Archelaus Bynum Dodson. The couple made their home in Harrisburg, the forerunner of Houston.
            
Soon news reached the East Texans of the arrival in San Antonio of a Mexican Army under the command of General Martin Perfecto de Cos. Alarmed at the Mexican occupation, Texans rallied to meet the threat to their sovereignty. One of the groups which met the call mustered at Harrisburg, electing Archelaus Dodson as first
lieutenant in the company of Captain Andrew Robinson. It was at this point, that Sarah Bradley Dodson gained historical immortality. 
             
Sarah took it upon herself to design a flag for her husband’s company. Made of cotton, Sarah Dodson’s flag consisted of three colors. Stretching from left to right, these colors were, in order, blue, white and red. Within the blue section Sarah placed the image of a five-point white star.
             
Captain Robinson’s company took Sarah Dodson’s flag into the famous siege of San Antonio in late 1835. Was it actually carried in the ensuing conflict? Perhaps. If so,  its colors flew amidst battles featuring such stalwarts of Texas history as Jim Bowie and Old Ben Milam.
             
But the saga of Sarah Dodson’s flag was not to end at the Battle of San Antonio. There is a school of thought among Texas historians that in 1836 this same flag also graced the site of the Convention at Washington-on-the Brazos, birthplace of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico.
             
Given our story of Sarah Dodson, one might think that she was the designer of Texas’s official Lone Star
Flag.  However, think again, for in the Dodson flag the tricolors were all arranged vertically. In Dr. Stewart’s
flag, though of the same tricolors with the star positioned the same, two of the colors were arranged in a horizontal fashion. 
             
 As we said, much depends upon the angle from which one views the evidence. 


Thank you.


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