State Flag of North Carolina (1861)

     This flag was designed during the State Secession Convention. The first date, 20 May 1775, commemorates the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence during the American Revolution (1775-1783). The second date refers to the passage of the Ordinance of Secession.

Ordinance of Secession of North Carolina
(Unanimously adopted in the State Capitol at Raleigh on 20 May 1861.)

AN ORDINANCE
to dissolve the union between the State of North Carolina and the other States united with her under the compact of Government entitled "The Constitution of the United States".

We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting between the State of North Carolina and the other States, under the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State.

Done in Convention at the city of Raleigh, this the 20^th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861, and in the eighty-fifth year of the independence of said State.

North Carolina Secession Convention Officers
(County of representation is in parentheses.
To assist in completing full names contact the Historian.)

PRESIDENT

Weldon Nathaniel Edwards (WARREN)

SECRETARY

Walter Leak Steele (RICHMOND)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY

L.C. Edwards

North Carolina Secession Convention Delegates
(A ± denotes a Delegate who died during the Convention.
To assist in completing full names contact the Historian.)

ALAMANCE

IREDELL

Giles Mebane
Thomas Ruffin

T.A. Allison
Anderson Mitchell

ALEXANDER

JACKSON

A.C. Stewart

William Holland Thomas, Sr.

ANSON

JOHNSTON

James Augustus Leak
Albert Myers

Claudius Brock Sanders
William Alexander Smith

ASHE & ALLEGHANY

JONES

J.D. Forbes

William Foy

BEAUFORT

LENOIR

W.J. Ellison
E.J. Morrow

John Cobb Washington

BERTIE

LINCOLN

James Bond
Samuel B. Spruill, Sr.

William Lander

BLADEN

MACON

Thomas David Smith McDowell

Conaro D. Smith

BRUNSWICK

MADISON

Thomas D. Meares

J.A. McDowell

BUNCOMBE

MARTIN

Nicholas Washington Woodfin

Asa Biggs

BURKE

McDOWELL

James Charles Sheffield McDowell

James Hervey Greenlee

CABARRUS

MECKLENBURG

Caleb Phifer

William Johnston
James Walker Osborne

CALDWELL

MONTGOMERY

Edmund Walter Jones

Samuel H. Christian

CAMDEN

MOORE

Dennis Dozier Ferebee

Hector Turner

CARTERET

NASH

Charles Randolph Thomas

Archibald Hunter Arrington

CASWELL

NEW HANOVER

Bedford Brown, Sr.
John A. Graves

William Shepperd Ashe
Robert H. Cowan, Jr.

CATAWBA

NORTHAMPTON

Polycarp Cyprian Henkle

David A. Barnes
John M. Moody

CHATHAM

ONSLOW

James H. Headen
John Manning, Jr.
L.J. Merritt

George Washington Ward, Sr.

CHEROKEE

ORANGE

Allen Turner Davidson

John Berry
William Alexander Graham

CHOWAN

PASQUOTANK

R.H. Dillard

R.K. Speight

CLEVELAND

PERQUIMANS

William John Twitty Miller
James Wright Tracy

Joseph S. Cannon

COLUMBUS

PERSON

Richard Wooten

John Wilson Cunningham

CRAVEN

PITT

George Greer
John Dalton Whitford

Bryan Grimes
F.B. Satterwhite

CUMBERLAND

RANDOLPH

David McNeill
Warren Winslow

Alfred G. Foster
William J. Long

CURRITUCK

RICHMOND

Henry Marchmore Shaw

Walter Francis Leak, Jr.

DAVIDSON

ROBESON

Benton Clemmons Douthit
Benjamin A. Kitrell

J.P. Fuller
John C. Sutherland

DAVIE

ROCKINGHAM

Robert Sprouse

Edward Travis Broadnax
David Settle Reid

DUPLIN

ROWAN

W.J. Houston
Joseph Thomas Rhodes

Francis Burton Craige
Hamilton Chamberlain Jones, Sr.

EDGECOMBE & WILSON

RUTHERFORD & POLK

William Smith Battle
George Howard

John H. Carson
Micajah Durham

FORSYTH

SAMPSON

Rufus Lenoir Patterson
Thomas J. Wilson

Thomas Bunting
Robert Algernon Moseley

FRANKLIN

STANLY

W.P. Williams

Ebenezer Hearn

GASTON

STOKES

S.X. Johnson

John Hill±

GATES

SURRY

A.J. Walton

Thomas Vestal Hamlin

GRANVILLE

TYRRELL

T.L. Hargrove
Solomon S. Royster
Abraham Watkins Venable

Eli Spurill

GREENE

UNION

William Abraham Darden, Jr.

Hugh McCombs Houston

GUILFORD

WAKE

Robert Paine Dick
John Adams Gilmer
Ralph Gorrell

George Edmund Badger
Kemp Plummer Battle, Sr.
William Woods Holden

HALIFAX

WARREN

Littleberry Watts Batchelor
Richard Henry Smith

Francis A. Thornton

HARNETT

WASHINGTON

Archibald Stewart McNeill

William Shepard Pettigrew

HAYWOOD

WATAUGA

William Hicks

J.W. Counsel

HENDERSON

WAYNE

William M. Shipp

George Vaughan Strong
Ervin Atkinson Thompson

HERTFORD

WILKES

Kenneth Rayner

James Calloway
Peter Eller

HYDE

YADKIN

Edward Lockhart Mann

Robert Franklin Armfield

YANCEY

Milton Pinckney Penland