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Virginia officially
adopted its state flag in 1861. The flag as it appears today dates
from 1931. It bears the front of the state seal. The seal of the
Commonwealth was adopted on July 5, 1776. The front side shows the
Roman goddess Virtus as the genius of the Commonwealth, dressed as
an Amazon, triumphant over Tyranny. She holds a spear and a
sheathed sword. The back of the seal displays the Roman goddesses
of eternity, liberty, and agriculture.
Virginia, a Southern State of the United States, was the site of
some of the most important events in American history. The first
permanent English settlement in America was made at Jamestown in
1607. In 1619, the Jamestown colonists established the first
representative legislature in America. Some of the greatest
battles of the Revolutionary War in America and the American Civil
War were fought in Virginia. American independence from Britain
was assured when George Washington forced Lord Cornwallis to
surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. The Civil War ended when
Confederate forces surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, in 1865. |
