The first flags to represent West Virginia following statehood were battle flags utilized by West Virginia regiments during the American Civil War. West Virginia's first official state flag was adopted in 1905, based upon the flag designed and used by the West Virginia State Commission at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. This flag was altered in 1907 for the Jamestown Exposition and featured the coat of arms on the obverse and a sprig of "Rhododendron maximum" on the reverse. In order to reproduce the flag more inexpensively, the West Virginia Legislature ratified the current flag with the state's coat of arms integrated with the rhododendron, which appears on both the obverse and the reverse. The "Pledge of Allegiance to the West Virginia State Flag" was unanimously adopted by the office of the Secretary of State of West Virginia in 1977.