This design was modified with assistance from other commissioners, Branch T. The design apparently used sixteen green and white stripes, a red and white English jack in the canton, and a red and white star in the fly.
Austin designed his flag in New Orleans between December 1835 and January 1836, while he was serving as a commissioner to the United States. Austin designed a proposed Texas flag that was never adopted, and some authorities also claim that Lorenzo de Zavala designed a Republic of Texas flag. Texas has had three official national or state flags during its existence: the 1836 national standard, the 1836 national flag for the naval service, and the 1839 national flag, which became the state flag. Legend has it that the Aztecs saw this omen at Lake Tenochtitlán, the site of the future Mexico City. The eagle and serpent represent the tradition that the Aztecs were to make their permanent settlement where they saw a snake being eaten by an eagle standing on a nopal growing from a rock in the middle of water. Both flags show an eagle holding a serpent in its mouth and standing on a nopal, or cactus, but the current Mexican flag depicts a stylized Aztec eagle rather than the more natural eagle in the 1823 flag. This flag is similar to the current Mexican flag, with vertical stripes of green-white-red, representing the "Three Guarantees" of religion, independence, and union. In April 1823, Mexico adopted its first republican flag, which was used until 1863. Another French flag frequently displayed in Texas today contains three or more fleurs-de-lys on a blue field this was the French state flag and ensign from about 1370 to about 1600. This flag (circa 1643 to October 31, 1790) was a simplified version of the French state flag and ensign that bore the entire arms of France on the field of fleurs-de-lys. The flag of France that was allegedly carried by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was probably a plain white flag strewn with fleurs-de-lys. These flags were used until April 27, 1931. King Charles III established the familiar Spanish flag, with horizontal stripes of red-gold-red and the simple arms of Castile and León as the Spanish ensign, effective on May 28, 1785, and as the Spanish state flag on land, effective March 8, 1793. A variant of the state flag and ensign 1580 to 1640 depicted the complete Spanish coat of arms on a white field. From 1516 to May 28, 1785, Spain used a state flag and ensign consisting of a modified red saltire on white to signify the house of Burgundy. The royal banner of Castile and León, bearing two lions and two castles, was used as a state flag and ensign from around 1230 to around 1516. Spain has had four significant flags during its occupation of the New World. The strong Texas interest in flags is shown in public and private displays of the "Six Flags Over Texas," i.e., the flags of the six countries that have ruled over Texas: the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Spain, the Mexican Federal Republic, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.