English: State Flag of Pennsylvania, circa 1863; source: State Museum of Pennsylvania, crop of public domain image to highlight state coat of arms. According to Greene County, Pennsylvania administrators, the coat of arms shown here was the second prepared for use by the state and its residents. (The first, a coat of arms employed by the Penn Family, was Provincial Pennsylvania's coat of arms.) This second coat of arms was designed in 1778 by Philadelphia resident Caleb Lownes. "Heraldic in design, it consisted of: a shield, which displayed the emblems of the State Seal - the ship, plough, and sheaves of wheat; an eagle for the crest; two black horses as supporters; and the motto 'Virtue, Liberty and Independence.' An olive branch and cornstalk were crossed below the shield. Behind each horse was a stalk of corn but these were omitted after 1805. Numerous modifications were made to this coat of arms between 1778 and 1873, chiefly in the position and color of the supporting horses. In 1874, the legislature noted these variations and lack of uniformity, and appointed a commission to establish an official coat of arms for the Commonwealth. In 1875, the commission reported that it had adopted, almost unchanged, the coat of arms originally designed by Caleb Lownes 96 years earlier.”[1] The image shown here is a close up of the coat of arms taken from a Pennsylvania state flag carried into battle during the American Civil War, c. 1863.