[34][35] As a result of this first usage, the flag received the alternate nickname of the "Jackson Flag". So Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard decided that he needed to design a different national flag so that it would . William Porcher Miles, however, was not really happy with any of the proposals. The blue color of the diagonal saltire's "Southern Cross" was much lighter than the battle flag's dark blue. The Confederacy's first official national flag, often called the Stars and Bars, flew from March 4, 1861, to May 1, 1863. The Bonnie Blue Flag is on the right. He also argued that the diagonal cross was "more Heraldric [sic] than Ecclesiastical, it being the 'saltire' of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress. There were three bars on the flag, two red and one white, and thus the popular name "Stars and Bars." First Flag of the Confederate States of America, March 4, 1861 The seven stars represent the seven original states: South Carolina; Mississippi; Florida; Alabama; Georgia; Louisiana and Texas. A crowd of white teenagers protest school integration in Montogmery, Alabama, in 1963. 1st National Confederate Flag 7 Star Stars and Bars Confederate 1st National Cotton Flag 4 x 6 ft. $ 109.95. Thus, there would have been 7 stars from 4 March 1861 until 7 May 1861, when Virginia became the 8th Confederate State by Act of Congress. (How the assassination of Medgar Evers galvanized the civil rights movement.). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Three horizontal stripes of equal height, alternating red and white, with a blue square two-thirds the height of the flag as the canton. Isnt the Rectangular battle flag really the Navy Jack? Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. STARS AND BARS Images of 8, 9 and 10 Star versions of the first Confederate national flag. William Miles delivered a speech supporting the simple white design that was eventually approved. Pinterest. ", "Gen. Beauregard suggested the flag just adopted, or else a field of blue in place of the white." Adult Admission: Adult $10.00 Children (under the age of 14) $5:00. The very first national flag of the Confederacy was designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. The committee rejected the idea by a four-to-one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. The design of the Stars and Bars varied . 1861 until 1 May 1863. STARS AND BARS Images of the first Confederate national flag with more than 13 stars. [15], A monument in Louisburg, North Carolina, claims the "Stars and Bars" "was designed by a son of North Carolina / Orren Randolph Smith / and made under his direction by / Catherine Rebecca (Murphy) Winborne. The "Sibley Flag", Battle Flag of the Army of New Mexico, commanded by General Henry Hopkins Sibley. "Southern Confederacy" (Atlanta, Georgia), 5 Feb 1865, pg 2. The Stars and Bars Flag is the first official flag of the Confederacy. ", The square "battle flag" is also properly known as "the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia". To this end, he proposed his own flag design featuring a blue saltire on white Fimbriation with a field of red. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S. flag ("the Stars and Stripes" originally established and designed in June 1777 during the Revolutionary War), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee.[17]. The colors red, white and blue were symbolic of France, red and gold colors of Spain and 13 stripes of the United States. Although the officially specified proportions were 1:2, many of the flags that actually ended up being produced used a 1.5:1 aspect ratio. The stars are usually arranged in a circle and number seven or more. Lightboxes. Segregation and oppressiveJim Crow laws soon disenfranchised Black Southernersand members of the Ku Klux Klan terrorized them. Some of the homages were outright mimicry, while others were less obviously inspired by the Stars and Stripes, yet were still intended to pay homage to that flag. Unauthorized use is prohibited. June 14, 2020. The result was anything but uniformity in the colors carried by the armies that coallesced in the Shenandoah Valley and around Centreville in June. The thirteen stars stand for the thirteen states that were . Van Dorn was relieved of command after the Battle of Corinth in 1862. Georgia adopted a new state flag in 2000, which contained a small inset image of the 1956 flag, along with other historical flags. The 12th star represented Missouri. The "Stars and Bars" caused much confusion on the battlefield because of its similarity to the United States flag, the "Stars and Stripes." The Confederate Army never had an official battle flag. Choose from a wide range of high quality 4K or HD videos and footage. That flag was a blue St George's Cross (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the slave-holding states,[38][39] and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. The first official flag of the confederacy was the Stars and Bars, and was reported to the provisional congress of the C.S. The first flag was raised over the capitol in Montgomery by Miss Letitia Christian Tyler, the granddaughter of President John Tyler. But though it was extremely popular, this new battle flag which eventually became known as the Southern Crosswasnt adopted as the Confederacys official military or government symbol. Blue Collar. flag. The ensign of the Confederate States Revenue Service, designed by Dr. H. P. Capers of South Carolina on April 10, 1861. Even a few fourteen- and fifteen-starred ensigns were made to include states expected to secede but never completely joined the Confederacy. Confederate Memorial Hall is a museum located in New Orleans, Louisiana containing historical artifacts related to the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War. [18] The "Stars and Bars" was also criticized on ideological grounds for its resemblance to the U.S. flag. Its popularity persisted, and over the ensuing decades, the battle flag became a generic symbol of rebellion spotted on TV shows like The Dukes of Hazzardand on stage with bands likeLynyrd Skynyrd. Copy link. The Confederate battle flag was born of necessity after the Battle of Bull Run. This flag was known as the 'Stars and Bars', though ironically the Stars and Bars have a completely different design as compared, to the rectangular Confederate flag. Can we bring a species back from the brink?, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. The Southern Cross symbolized rebelliousness,writes historian John M. Koskibut now it gained a more specific connotation of resistance to the civil rights movement and to racial integration.. In this image from January 6, 2021, a man flies the flag at the rally for then-President Donald Trump that led to an armed siege of the U.S. Capitol. In 2000, the NAACP began a 15-year-long economicboycott of South Carolina because of its use of the flag. [note 4][20] The first showing of the 13-star flag was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky; the 13-star design was also in use as the Confederate navy's battle ensign[citation needed]. As a result, Confederate military presentation flags made throughout the South in 1861 and 1862 demonstrate no common proportions or sizes. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request that the national flag be changed. Since the end of the Civil War, private and official use of the Confederate flags, particularly the battle flag, has continued amid philosophical, political, cultural, and racial controversy in the United States. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "Blood-Stained Banner", used in 1865 shortly before the Confederacy's dissolution. [30] When Thompson received word the Congress had adopted the design with a blue stripe, he published an editorial on April 28 in opposition, writing that "the blue bar running up the center of the white field and joining with the right lower arm of the blue cross, is in bad taste, and utterly destructive of the symmetry and harmony of the design. Moreover, the ones made by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the square canton of the second national flag rather than the slightly rectangular one that was specified by the law. First National Confederate Flag - "Stars and Bars" Offline . The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of Kentucky and Missouri joined in late 1861. Kentucky), and even from Union states (such as New York). But the battle flag has since been claimed by white supremacists and mythologized by others as an emblem of a rebellious Southern heritage. The three states with coasts along the Gulf (Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) accounted for 39 flags in the survey. LEE. 04 Mar 2023 21:30:08 "[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], The Confederate Congress debated whether the white field should have a blue stripe and whether it should be bordered in red. The final version of the second national flag, adopted May 1, 1863, did just this: it set the St. Andrew's Cross of stars in the Union Jack with the rest of the civilian banner entirely white. The first flag was produced in rush, due to the date having already been selected to host an official flag-raising ceremony, W. P. Miles credited the speedy completion of the first "Stars and Bars" flag to "Fair and nimble fingers". These include flags displayed in states; cities, towns and counties; schools, colleges and universities; private organizations and associations; and individuals. Although future official Confederate banners did incorporate its symbolism in the left-hand corner, they instead added a white field that represented purity. Confederate monuments soondotted the South, and the battle flag was added to the state flag of Mississippi. While others were wildly different, many of which were very complex and extravagant, these were largely discounted due to the being too complicated and expensive to produce. Despite the 9:14 proportions established by the Confederate War Department, other civilian makers of the Stars & Bars soon gravitated to different proportions that included 2:3, 3:5, and 1:2. "[11], The flag is also known as the Stainless Banner, and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. These flags show a high preponderance of flags with thirteen and fifteen stars, with most arranged in a circle around a center star, either of the same size or larger than the balance of the stars. According to Museum of the Confederacy Director John Coski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionist flags" flown at the South Carolina secession convention in Charleston of December 1860. In the early summer of 1861, the army was renamed the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) commanded by Gen. R.E. Many different designs were proposed during the solicitation for a second Confederate national flag, nearly all based on the Battle Flag. Stars and Bars From March of 1861, through April of 1863, during America's Civil War, the Stars and Bars was the official flag of the Confederacy. In a Feb. 10 memo to its public affairs offices, the Defense Department said that having service members carry the U.S. flag horizontally or land it on the ground after a parachute jump is no . The blue flag with the circle of white told the Yankees that they facing the troops of Gen. Wm. The 1879 flag was introduced by Georgia state senator Herman H. Perry and was adopted to memorialize Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. [18] He turned to his aide, who happened to be William Porcher Miles, the former chairman of the Confederate Congress's Committee on the Flag and Seal. After images of the shooter, Dylann Roof, carrying Confederate battle flags emerged, multiple states bowed to pressure to remove them from memorials. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. The official version was to have the stars in a circle, with the number corresponding to the States actually admitted to the Confederacy. In addition to the 112 1st national flags from states east of the Mississippi, a number of Confederate 1st national flags from the trans-Mississippi region have also been surveyed. Why are there 13 stars on Confederate flags? As the Confederacy grew, so did the numbers of white stars on the ensign's dark blue canton: seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-star groupings were typical. Just under half of these flags (18) bore eleven stars, of which 8 bore a center star with the other ten stars surrounding it. It was also challenged by Black activists and their white allies. Deep South. Four flags with nine stars (eight around a center star) emanated from Louisiana but two also were made in Mississippi in the same style. "[40], According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross (also used on the flag of Scotland as a white saltire on a blue field) had no special place in Southern iconography at the time. One Congressman even mocked it as looking "like a pair of Suspenders". But how did the battle flag, also known as the Southern Cross, come to represent the Confederacy in the first place? Though inextricably linked with the Confederacy, the flag was never its official symbol. After the battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag". No seven star Confederate flags survive from these states. Hundreds of examples were submitted from across the Confederate States and from states that were not yet part of Confederacy (e.g. The result was the square flag sometimes known as the . The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars&qu. By the early 20th century, white Southerners had mythologized an imagined South that fought the war not to uphold slavery but to protect states rights and a genteel way of lifean idyll endangered by Northern aggression and interference. [37] Also, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion. General Johnston suggested making it square to conserve material. Were most of the flags made in the Confederacy sewn by hand or by sewing machine? But it didnt look like that from a distanceand in the thick of battle, it was hard to tell the two apart. 1st National Confederate Flag 7 Star Stars and Bars Confederate Cotton Flag 5 x 8 ft. $ 149.95. The similarity between the stars and bars and the stars and strips caused many cases of mistaken identity during the first battle of Manassas or Bull Run in July of 1861. [citation needed]. Besides, many military units had their own regimental flags they would carry into battle. This bunting was placed in the hands of Richmond military goods dealer, George Ruskell. Because of the large number of Tennessee regiments in this corps the flag is sometimes referred to as the Tennessee Moon flag. Inside the canton are seven to thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size, arranged in a circle and pointing outward.