Adopted in 1799. Pennsylvania shares with Virginia, Kentucky and Massachusetts the designation "Commonwealth." Pennsylvania's flag is composed the state Coat of Arms on a blue field. The first official flag bearing the State Coat of Arms was authorized by the General Assembly in 1799. During the Civil War, many Pennsylvania regiments carried flags modeled after the U.S. Flag, but substituted Pennsylvania's Coat of Arms for the field of stars. An act of the General Assembly of June 13, 1907, standardized the flag and required that the blue field match the blue of Old Glory. (ref; portal.state.pa.us, Symbols of Pennsylvania.