There was a time when the American Flag had 31 stars. This is the story of one of the most famous 31-Star Flags, the “Commodore Perry Flag of 1853”. The 31-Star Flag was created after California was admitted directly to the Union on September 9, 1850, bypassing the traditional organized territory period. (America wanted that gold, as it was the age of the ‘49ers’.) Per tradition, the American Flag “changes” from one rendition to another on the subsequent July 4 following the addition of a new state(s). This tradition can lead to certain flags flying for a short period, as after Alaska became our 49th state on January 3, 1959. The 49-Star Flag flew beginning July 4, 1959, until July 3, 1960, when it was changed to our current 50-Star rendition. Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959, and went more than 45 weeks without a 50-Star Flag!
31 Star Flag used from July 4, 1851 – July 3, 1858 during America’s Gold Rush Era; official for nearly eight years. When Minnesota became the 32nd state, another star was added.
Before we tell the story of Commodore Perry’s 31-Star Flag, let’s clear the deck and mention the other types of 31-Star Flags that were once very popular.
The Great Star Flag
This is a very interesting 31-star design, and this flag, with black crepe edging, was used during Lincoln’s funeral. This flag was used for the mourning of other assassinated presidents, including famously for JFK in 1963.
The John Trumbull Flag
This flag was one of many used by the United States Navy during the American Revolution. This version was also used in the 1850s after California was admitted to the Union; the style is one where a large star is placed in the middle of a square union or canton. Such a flag was in Trumbull’s painting, the “Surrender of Lord Cornwallis”, among others. Look closely at that painting, and the American Flag looks a lot like the Cowpens Flag from South Carolina, but that is another story!
The Scattered Canton Flag
Just a scatter-pattern of 31 blazing stars set in a seemingly random manner inside a square canton.
The Douglas & Johnson Banner
In 1860, Stephen A. Douglas thought he could best Abraham Lincoln and become our 16th President. The northern Democrat had earned his Congressional seat in 1858, defeating Lincoln. He and his running mate, Herschel V. Johnson, used a 31-star flag as their campaign banner, often adding their names or their campaign slogan, “popular sovereignty,” into the canton.
Who was Commodore Matthew Perry?
During the Millard Fillmore Administration (1849–1853), and continuing into the Franklin Pierce Administration (1853–1857), America sent Captain Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794–1858) to open trade with Japan. Since Perry’s arrival in Japan in 1853, Japan’s global ambition was respected, and the country was perceived as an equal to the United States and Britain in terms of worldwide trading hegemony.
Perry’s brother was Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, made famous during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. Commodore Oliver had his own very famous flag, which today is on display at the U.S. Naval Academy: “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP”.
Young Matthew Perry went to sea in 1809 (Lincoln’s birth year) at only 15 years of age, serving under his brother, Oliver; this was to begin a storied nearly 48-year Naval career during which span he found time to father and raise ten children. Perry served in the War of 1812 under Stephen Decatur, later in the Mediterranean, was a strict disciplinarian, and cared about the welfare of his crews deeply. His first command was on a schooner (USS Shark) to thwart the slave trade, as this became national policy after 1819. In 1815, the Spanish governor in Havana, Cuba, deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. Salas sold Key West to an American businessman for $2,000 in 1821, who lobbied for the United States to build a naval base there. Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, located on Boca Chica Key, is there today. Perry sailed the Shark from Africa to Key West to plant the American Flag, physically claiming the area islands for the U.S. Perry had shore duty in Charleston, South Carolina, and by the 1830s he was an officer at the New York and Brooklyn Navy Yards. While in New York, Perry organized the first corps of naval engineers, along with the first naval gunnery school, which practiced off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
By 1841, at 47 years old, Perry received the title of Commodore, a title of considerable importance, as the Navy did not have a rank higher than Captain until 1857. Perry also served in the Mexican-American War from 1846–1848, and after the fall of Veracruz, Perry assembled the “Mosquito Fleet” and captured other Mexican ports.
He was also known as the “Father of the Steam Navy” for his work in encouraging the Navy to make use of the new technology during a time when he developed the naval apprentice system for young sailors.
Destined to Play a Part in History
From where did Perry get all of this fortitude? From his father? Sure! His grandfather was a surgeon, and his grandmother was a descendant of Pilgrims who signed the Mayflower Compact and founded Plymouth Colony, among other Massachusetts towns. His mother was an Ulster (Northern Ireland) immigrant from County Down (St. Patrick’s final resting place), and a direct descendant of an uncle of William Wallace. Yes, Braveheart—that William Wallace!
Perry’s mission to Japan was to be a difficult one. He left in November 1852, and the Kanagawa Treaty he basically forced the Japanese to sign did not happen until March 31, 1854.
After 1639, Japan was a closed society to nearly all outsiders and to global trade, except for a few Dutch and Chinese traders, and then only through one or two Japanese ports. Japan closed out all outsiders, as before 1639 European nations and traders wanted too much to evangelize the Japanese into becoming Catholics. Also, try to imagine the language barriers! Some Japanese knew Dutch and used it to communicate with Westerners; Classical Chinese was also used. The Perry expedition and the Treaty of Kanagawa marked the end of Japan’s 215-year period of isolation and the initial rise of America as a Pacific power.
America was interested in Japan not only for access to its markets but also for use as a coaling and resupply station in the northern Pacific for the new steam-powered fleet. When Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay, his four ships were black, actively puffed smoke, and had dozens of guns. The Japanese had never seen anything like this; some thought the ships were dragons! They were unaware that steamships existed. Perry refused demands to proceed to Nagasaki, then the only port open to foreigners. Perry intimidated Japan by sending them a white flag and a letter that said he would destroy them if they chose to fight. On July 4, 1853, he fired blanks from 73 cannons aboard his vessels to further unnerve the Japanese, saying later that he was just celebrating 77 years of Independence.
Perry's visit to Japan left a lasting impression on the country, even on its modern-day population. His meeting with Japanese officials is depicted in this wood block print from 1875.
Japan realized that it was in no position to defend itself against a foreign power with such technology, and after months of talks, agreed to a treaty with four main provisions: peace and friendship between the United States and Japan, opening two ports to American ships (Shimoda and Hakodate), assistance for any American ships wrecked on the Japanese coast and protection for her seamen, and permission for American ships to resupply with items such as coal, water, and other provisions.
After the treaty was signed, the Japanese invited the Americans to a great feast, even as the Japanese considered blue-eyed Westerners barbarians (Perry had blue eyes, as did Admiral Chester Nimitz, whose eyes were famously piercing blue). To this day, Japan celebrates this expedition with annual “black ship” festivals; 90% of today’s Japanese school children know of Commodore Perry from the 1850s! For a time, Perry lived in Newport, Rhode Island, which also has a July black ship festival, and Newport is Shimoda, Japan’s “sister city”. Perry died in 1858, and his grave was eventually moved from New York City to Newport, Rhode Island.
The United States was a difficult dealer, as it used the Monroe Doctrine (1823) to keep foreign powers at bay in the Western Hemisphere via strict enforcement of the policies on non-colonization and non-intervention, and yet insisted on an open-door trade policy with China and other Asian nations. America and Britain wanted their goods available for global trade but did not always employ reciprocity with trading partners. You would think that “trade issues” in the news over the past few years were recent issues! No! Trade disputes (even with today’s allies) and traditions go back decades and even centuries.
America helped to settle the Russo-Japanese War in 1906, led by Theodore Roosevelt’s Nobel Prize-winning actions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and beyond. Japan was to continue becoming a rising power, and this rise started after the Perry mission in 1853. By 1921, Japan had agreed, even with the serious disagreement of its hardline ultranationalists, to cap its aggregate battleship fleet tonnage to 60% of that of the United States and Britain; this policy was called “5:5:3”. Eventually, Japanese resentment of this policy and other actions on the world stage would lead to their actions in China, and eventually the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The 31-Star Flag and World War II
General Douglas MacArthur was a blood relative (distant cousin) of Commodore Perry and believed strongly that he was part of the arc of history bringing Japan back into world systems after years of war. MacArthur insisted that his “cousin’s 1853 Flag” be flown by special courier from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland to the U.S.S. Missouri steaming toward Tokyo Bay in time for the World War II Pacific Theater surrender ceremony with Japan. Orders to the courier were to never let the Flag (held in a special wooden box) out of his sight for the 120-hour, 9,500-mile trip! A protective backing was sewn to Perry’s Flag so as to preserve its integrity. MacArthur wanted this Flag present, but Truman wanted the main (twenty-one minute) ceremony conducted on the U.S.S. Missouri (battleship), which his daughter had christened in the Brooklyn Navy Yard less than 20 months before. It was not an accident that the President wanted the marquee ship named for his state, and that Commodore Perry was the Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1841!
9:04 a.m., September 2, 1945, Tokyo Bay aboard the U.S.S. Missouri (BB-63 a/k/a “Big Mo”); across the International Date Line, the surrender ceremony took place at 8:04 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time on September 1, 1945. Note that the ACTUAL 1853 Commodore Perry Flag was placed “backward” as it was placed above the starboard (right-side) of the deck following U.S. Navy protocol for flags heading into battle. Today, this flag is at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland.
MacArthur viewed himself in the context of his forebears in terms of continuing the opening of Japan. A flotilla of more than 250 Allied ships (from the U.S., Britain, Australia, and New Zealand) attended the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay. MacArthur had sailors rehearse the surrender ceremony down to the smallest detail in advance, and he wanted his flag as a five-star general flown at the same height from the USS Missouri as that of five-star Admiral Chester Nimitz; this required welding a second flagpole to the topmast of the Missouri! MacArthur made the connection to his distant cousin during his remarks at the surrender ceremony:
“…we stand in Tokyo today, reminiscent of our countrymen, Commodore Perry, 92 years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan an era of enlightenment and progress by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world.”
Historical Flags That Make a Statement
By flying historical American flags and others like "Don't Give Up the Ship," you connect the great moments of American history to today. Shop our entire selection of historical flags and display them with pride, both indoors and outdoors.
