American flag star arrangements
At Flagstuff.com, we receive a lot of inquiries about historic American flags and many of them deal specifically with the correct arrangement of stars on any given flag. Most of our customers are surprised to learn that until about 93 years ago, the placement of the stars and the proportions of the flag itself had not been determined. An executive Order of June 24, 1912 standardized the proportions and star arrangement for the American flag.
Most American flags of the 18th and 19th centuries were hand made and, other than thirteen stripes, design elements were left up to the imagination of the flag maker. Some flag makers were pretty imaginative too, so it isn’t unusual to find some odd looking flags from the early days of our country.
The flag pictured above is known as the "Great Star" flag. This one is the actual flag that draped President Abraham Lincoln’s casket.