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Confederate Flags

www.battle-flag.com

Originally aired on May 26, 1995 - In part 39 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson describes the various flags of the Southern Confederacy.

#39 – The Confederate Flags

The most visible symbol of any country is its flag. The “Stars and Stripes” personify the United States, just as the “Union Jack” is the essence of all that is England. Such was not the case with the Southern Confederacy. It had not one but several flags – a development that today confuses many people, including United States senators.

Leading the mistaken notions with the Confederate standard is applying the name “Stars and Bars” to the wrong banner. In its four years of existence, the Confederacy had three different national flags. The first, adopted in March, 1861, combined a field consisting of three equal horizontal bars (red, white and red) with a blue canton in the upper left-hand corner. Inside it was a circle of seven stars corresponding to the number of Confederate states at the time the flag was adopted. This is the flag known as the “Stars and Bars”.

The deliberate similarity of this flag to the “Stars and Stripes” ultimately led to a mixture of confusion and dislike. Hence, in May, 1863, the Southern nation came out with an all-white banner with a red and blue St. Andrew’s cross as the canton. This flag became known as the “Stainless Banner”. One of the first of such flags manufactured was used to enshroud the body of General “Stonewall” Jackson.

In calm weather, however, a limply hung “Stainless Banner” with its predominantly white color easily passed for a flag of truce or surrender. Accordingly, on March 4, 1865, the Confederate Congress added a red vertical bar to the fly end of the field. This third national flag had a short-lived existence, for the Confederacy ceased to exist a few weeks later.

Only occasionally are any of the three national flags seen, and then usually in front of museums. The Confederate banner and then usually in front of museums. The Confederate banner that sparked the greatest inspiration then – and the most emotions now – is the Southern battle flag. Its shape and its purpose are still not fully understood.

Southern national and state flags identified political entities inside a confederative government. They also made for a rainbow-like profusion of colors, as well as widespread chaos, on a battlefield. This led to the evolution of Confederate battle flags. Although a number of different designs came into use, the most famous of those battle standards was one used here in the Eastern theatre.

Endorsed by Generals P. G. T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston, then adopted in September, 1861, the flag was square (not rectangular as are cheap modern-day imitations). The design was a dark blue St. Andrew’s cross, edged with a narrow strip of white, with a red background. The flag bore thirteen stars. Although only eleven Confederate states existed, the Southern nation claimed Kentucky and Missouri as member-states.

The Confederate cavalry flag was three feet square; infantry fought under a banner four feet square. Many regiments added battle names to their flags as badges of honor. So revered were these standards that at Appomattox countless soldiers hid or destroyed their unit flag rather than surrender it – along with themselves – to the enemy.

Flags have different meaning for different people. Of paramount importance for all to remember, however, is the fact that what a flag symbolizes in one age will change with the coming of another age. Slavery flourished under the American flag for almost 100 years. Now the “Stars and Stripes” waves for freedom the world over. Likewise, the Confederate flag once typified a proud definition of America by a portion of its people. Today, that helpless flag can insult even proud Southerners when it becomes a banner for racism. Such use is desecration. A national emblem deserves a better fate.

Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech.