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Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. The museum is also known as Louisianas Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall. Most contemporary interpretations of the white area on the flag hold that it represented the purity of the secessionist cause. Confederate monuments soondotted the South, and the battle flag was added to the state flag of Mississippi. It is historically also known as Memorial Hall. [citation needed], The First Confederate Navy jacks, in use from 1861 to 1863, consisted of a circle of seven to fifteen five-pointed white stars against a field of "medium blue." Second national flag (May 1, 1863 March 4, 1865), 2:1 ratio, Second national flag (May 1, 1863 March 4, 1865), also used as the Confederate navy's ensign, 3:2 ratio, A 12-star variant of the Stainless Banner produced in, Variant captured following the Battle of Painesville, 1865, Third national flag (after March 4, 1865), Third national flag as commonly manufactured, with a square canton, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 18:54. The Confederate flag had three bars, red, white, red and a blue field with stars on it. Flag flown by Confederate Missouri regiments during the Vicksburg campaign. First National Confederate States of America Flag - Cotton. 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. The Confederate Congress specified that the new design be a white field "with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad saltire of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States. Offline . These animals can sniff it out. The result was the square flag sometimes known as the . 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". As a result, Confederate military presentation flags made throughout the South in 1861 and 1862 demonstrate no common proportions or sizes. Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic saltire ("X") for the upright cross. Adopted by the provisional Confederate Congress in February of 1861, this was the first of three national Confederate flags. The 1879 flag was introduced by Georgia state senator Herman H. Perry and was adopted to memorialize Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. The First National Flag -- Stars and Bars May 4, 1861 - May 1, 1863 The Confederate States of America solicited designs for a national flag early in 1861. The first national flag of the Confederacy was the Stars and Bars (left) in 1861, but it caused confusion on the battlefield and rancour off it "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag,". E arly in the war, most regiments carried the Confederate First National flag (the "Stars and Bars") or their state's flag since the Confederacy did not have an official battle flag. As the crowd of President Trumps supporters rioted, many hoisted the symbol of a short-lived splinter nation that tore the Union apart. Similarly the patriotic ladies of the South who prepared most of the company and regimental flags for the military units raised in the Southern states chose whatever proportions and sizes seemed aesthetic. Heres why each season begins twice. The Committee began a competition to find a new national flag, with an unwritten deadline being that a national flag had to be adopted by March 4, 1861, the date of President Lincoln's inauguration. [59][60], Drawing in the United Confederate Veterans 1895 Sponsor souvenir album. It was generally made with a 2:3 aspect ratio, but a few very wide 1:2 ratio ensigns still survive today in museums and private collections. One seven-star jack still exists today (found aboard the captured ironclad CSS Atlanta) that is actually "dark blue" in color (see illustration below, left). Heres the technology that helped scientists find itand what it may have been used for. 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. Many Confederates disliked the Stars and Bars, seeing it as symbolic of a centralized federal power against which the Confederate states claimed to be seceding. and the later Sons of Confederate Veterans, (S.C.V. For many on the receiving end of hundreds of years of racism, the Confederate battle flag embodies everything from hatred to personal intimidationa far cry from the sanitized Lost Cause narrative that helped fuel its rise. After the former was changed in 2001, the city of Trenton, Georgia has used a flag design nearly identical to the previous version with the battle flag. The first official flag of the confederacy was the Stars and Bars, and was reported to the provisional congress of the C.S. All rights reserved. This new flag spread quickly in use across the South, even beyond the borders of the seven States of the CSA. This would serve to show the world the South was truly sovereign. According to one account, these flags were later turned in so that their bunting could be recycled into other flags. Georgia adopted a new state flag in 2000, which contained a small inset image of the 1956 flag, along with other historical flags. Because of its similarity to the U.S. flag, the Stars and Bars was sometimes confused with the Stars and Stripes in the smoke of battle. Those inspired by the Stars and Stripes were discounted almost immediately by the Committee due to mirroring the Union's flag too closely. "Stonewall" Jackson as it lay in state in the Virginia capitol, May 12, 1863. [citation needed]. It was flying above the Confederate batteries that first opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, in South Carolina beginning the Civil War. "[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. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at Fairfax Station soon after and was shown the design for the new battle flag at the Ratcliffe House. The number of stars was changed several times as well. William Miles delivered a speech supporting the simple white design that was eventually approved. It is the most distinctive and popular emblem associated with the Confederacy. He described the idea in a letter to his commanding General Joseph E. Johnston: I wrote to [Miles] that we should have 'two' flags a 'peace' or parade flag, and a 'war' flag to be used only on the field of battle but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter How would it do us to address the War Dept. The very first national flag of the Confederacy was designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama. [47], The First Confederate Navy Jack, 18611863, The First Confederate Navy Ensign, 18611863, The Second Confederate Navy Jack, 18631865, The Second Confederate Navy Ensign, 18631865, The Second Navy Ensign of the ironclad CSS Atlanta, The 9-star First Naval Ensign of the paddle steamer CSS Curlew, The 11-star Ensign of the Confederate Privateer Jefferson Davis, A 12-star First Confederate Navy Ensign of the gunboat CSS Ellis, 18611862, The Command flag of Captain William F. Lynch, flown as ensign of his flagship, CSS Seabird, 1862, Pennant of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, CSSTennessee, at Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864, Digital recreation of Admiral Buchanan's pennant, Admiral's Rank flag of Franklin Buchanan, flown from CSS Virginia during the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads and also flown from the CSS Tennessee during the Battle of Mobile Bay, Confederate naval flag, captured when General William Sherman took Savannah, Georgia, 1864, The first national flag, also known as the Stars and Bars (see above), served from 1861 to 1863 as the Confederate Navy's first battle ensign. The song was sung by Mr. McCarthy in a New Orleans theater before a packed house. Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the Confederate Army and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. As word spread about the conservation program the flag of the 10th Louisiana Infantry was adopted by a Canadian Reenacting Group that portrayed the unit. Quick View. 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. -"Letter from Richmond" by the Richmond correspondent of the, Journal of the Confederate Congress, Volume 6, p.477, John D. Wright, The Language of the Civil War, p.284, Healy, Donald T.; Orenski, Peter J. Currently 24 Flags are on display, while 9 conserved flags await framing, and several others are being considered for conservation. So Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard decided that he needed to design a different national flag so that it would . Measures: 3 feet by 5 feet FLAG QUALITY AND USES Standard Quality Construction: Super-weave polyester - Our most popular quality level Early flags contain seven stars for the original seven states of the Confederacy. 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. 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. These skeletons may have the answer, Scientists are making advancements in birth controlfor men, Blood cleaning? The blue flag with the circle of white told the Yankees that they facing the troops of Gen. Wm. The three states with coasts along the Gulf (Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) accounted for 39 flags in the survey. But how did the battle flag, also known as the Southern Cross, come to represent the Confederacy in the first place? The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. After taking command of the main Confederate army in the west, Gen. Jos E. Johnson adopted this variation of the Virginia Battle Flag for the Army of Tennessee. Ships chandlers, Henry Vaughan in Mobile, Alabama and Hugh Vincent in Charleston, South Carolina, accepted orders to manufacture Confederate 1st national flags of these sizes. The name derived from the blue canton with a circle of white stars and the three red, white, and red bars in the flag's field. In Texas, various lone star designs were used during the was for Texas Independence in 1836. FIRST NATIONAL FLAGS FOR THE CONFEDERATE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. Robed Ku Klux Klan members watch Black demonstrators march through Okolona, Mississippi, in 1978. Amid the smoke and general chaos of battle, it was hard to distinguish the Confederate national flag, the "Stars and Bars," from the U. S. national flag, the "Stars and Stripes." Confederate Congressman William Porcher Miles suggested that the army have a distinct battle flag. 04 Mar 2023 21:30:08 There are over 140 flags in the collection of Memorial Hall, most of which are from Louisiana regiments. Over the course of the flag's use by the CSA, additional stars were added to the canton, eventually bringing the total number to thirteen-a reflection of the Confederacy's claims of having admitted the border states of Kentucky and Missouri, where slavery was still widely practiced. By 1863, it had become well-known and popular among those living in the Confederacy. 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." 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. On May 1, 1863, the Confederacy adopted its first official national flag, often called the Stainless Banner. Its a story of rebellion, racism, and disagreement over the true history of the Civil Warand as the controversy over its use during the Capitol riots shows, its divisive even 160 years after it was designed. The first official flag of the Confederacy, called the " Stars and Bars ," was flown from March 5, 1861, to May 26, 1863. The thirteen stars stand for the thirteen states that were part of the Confederacy. It was sometimes called "Beauregard's flag" or "the Virginia battle flag". 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.. It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Stars and Bars, the name of the first national Confederate flag. Military officers also voiced complaints about the flag being too white, for various reasons, such as the danger of being mistaken for a flag of truce, especially on naval ships where it was too easily soiled. 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. These two designs were lost, and we only know of them thanks to an 1872 letter sent by William Porcher Miles to P. G. T. Beauregard. It was also challenged by Black activists and their white allies. He did not share in the nostalgia for the Union that many of his fellows Southerners felt, believing that the South's flag should be completely different from that of the North. Choose from a wide range of high quality 4K or HD videos and footage. All rights reserved. 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. STARS AND BARS Images of 12 Star versions of the first Confederate national flag. Adult Admission: Adult $10.00 Children (under the age of 14) $5:00. Although the officially designated design specified a rectangular canton, many of the flags that ended up being produced utilized a square-shaped canton. He argued that the battle flag must be used, but it was necessary to emblazon it for a national flag, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field. [58] A July 2021 Politico-Morning Consult poll of 1,996 registered voters reported that 47% viewed it as a symbol of Southern pride while 36% viewed it as a symbol of racism. The original flag of the Confederate States of America, commonly known as the STARS AND BARS, was approved by the Congress of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States, and first hoisted over the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, on the afternoon of the 4th day of March, 1861. Miles received various feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion." Amid the smoke and general chaos of battle, it was hard to distinguish the Confederate national flag, the "Stars and Bars," from the U. S. national flag, the "Stars and Stripes." Confederate Congressman William Porcher Miles suggested that the army have a . How Long After the Battle of First Manassas did the various battle flags replace the Stars and Bars or did they ever entirely replace it? As many as eight more stars were later added to represent states admitted to or claimed by the Confederacy. Add to Plan. Although less well known than the "Confederate Battle Flags",the Stars and Bars was used as the official flag of the Confederacy from March 1861 to May of 1863.