THE STATE HOUSE.

The first State House built at Annapolis was erected in
1696. It was burnt down in 1704.

The second State House was erected in 1704. This remain-
ed until 1772, when it was pulled down to make room for the
present edifice.

The building of this. the third State House, on the same
site of the two preceding ones. was commenced in 1772, but
the dome was not finished until after the Revolution.

This building is greatly admired for its fine architectural
proportions, its commanding site and lofty dome, but its chief
attraction is its historic associations; in it and on its site the
freemen of Maryland have always maintained their rights;
here the Father of his Country returned his military com-
mission to his countrymen; here the treaty of peace with
Great Britain, that made us thirteen free and independent
colonies, was ratified; and here, tradition tells, the first con-
ference of State was held that led to the adoption of the Con-
stitution and the formation of a more perfect union of States.

MARYLAND STATE FLAG.

The flag of the State bears the escutcheon of the great seal
—the Calvert and Crossland arms quartered. This device
seems to have been adopted by common consent, as there is no
record of the formal adoption of any design as the official flag
of the State. That the colony had a distinct flag or standard
we know. The first recorded instance of the use of a Mary-
land flag occurs in Leonard Calvert's report of the reduction
of Kent Island (February, 1638,) in which he says that he and
his force marched with Baltimore's banner displayed. At the
battle of the Severn, in 1655, where the supporters of the pro-
prietary government, under William Stone, the Governor,
were defeated by the Puritan party, under Capt. William
Fuller, Stone's forces marched under the flag of Maryland,
borne by William Nugent, ' ' standard bearer of the Province, ' '
while Fuller's party displayed the flag of the Commonwealth,
charged with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. It is
also said that a Maryland flag was carried by the Marylands
who accompanied Braddock's expedition against Fort Du
Quesne in 1755.