To the extent that the March 21 ceremony retiring the tattered American flag was unusual, it had to do with a dispute that had played out over the past year, in which the city and local veterans clashed over the best plan for redeveloping the armory site. The veterans’ proposal to restore the armory was initially turned down, while the city pursued others that the veterans felt could imperil the site.

Both Mr. Parente, a former Republican candidate for City Council, and Mr. Valencia cited the armory’s history and importance at the ceremony, where a new American flag was raised and the Gadsden flag was raised beneath it.

Bob Cox, managing editor of the local Talk of the Sound blog, which covered the ceremony, said there was no political discussion or Tea Party message.

Still, he said, “If there was a message, it was a poke in the eye of the mayor over the armory — don’t tread on us, which you’re doing with the armory.”

Six days later, Mr. Parente heard from the city manager, Chuck Strome, who wrote in an e-mail that he had received numerous complaints that the yellow flag made a political statement. “I have been advised by several people that this flag is a Tea Party Flag,” he wrote to Mr. Parente.

That began a back and forth in which Mr. Parente described the flag’s long history and said it was not a Tea Party flag. Mr. Strome first agreed, then said that a majority of the City Council had decided otherwise. As a result, city officials ordered the flag taken down on March 28. At an April 9 council meeting, members voted 5 to 2 along party lines, with Republicans in the minority, against flying the flag. One council member, Jared Rice, citing the Tea Party association, said the flag was “divisive” and represented “a brand of politics that is very offensive” to many people locally and nationally.

The story caught the attention of local news outlets. They were soon joined by Fox News and the conservative Thomas More Law Center, which filed suit on behalf of the veterans and whose advisory board includes Representative Michele Bachmann and former Representative Allen B. West.