City of Five Flags

"Five Flags" redirects here. For other uses, see Five Flags (disambiguation).

Pensacola is often called the City of Five Flags due to the five national governments who have controlled the area at various times: Spain, France, Britain, the Confederacy and the United States. These five governments in fact used a variety of flags over the years.

Flag	Name	Usage	Notes
	Flag of Castile and León	Luna expedition 1559	Notes
	Cross of Burgundy flag	First Spanish period 1698-1719	Notes
	French flag	French period 1719-1722	The France Modern banner of Charles V, representing the Trinity
	Cross of Burgundy flag	Second Spanish period 1723-1763	Notes
	British flag	British period 1763-1781	Notes
	Naval ensign of Charles III	Third Spanish period 1781-1819	Notes
	Antebellum U.S. flag (23 stars)	United States 1821-1861	The U.S. flag gained ten stars between 1821 to 1861, from 23 to 33. Florida became the 27th star when it received statehood on July 4, 1845
	Confederate first national pattern "Stars and Bars" flag	Civil War 1861-1862	The U.S. flag was actually restored when Pensacola was surrendered to Union forces on May 10, 1862. The state surrendered on May 20, 1865.
	Modern U.S. flag	United States 1865-Present	Notes

Confederate flag

For many years, the flag flown over Pensacola to represent Confederate rule was the "battle flag."

On January 25, 2000, Pensacola City Manager Tom Bonfield decided to replace the battle flag with the Stars and Bars flag, which was deemed more appropriate and "historically correct" by local historians. The Pensacola City Council voted 7-2 on February 10 to confirm the use of the Stars and Bars flag instead of the battle flag; on the same day, the Escambia County Commission voted unanimously to keep the battle flag.