The first official use of the "Stainless Banner" was to drape the coffin of General Thomas J. The chairman was William Porcher Miles, who was also the Representative of South Carolina in the Confederate House of Representatives. Heres why each season begins twice. Miles received various feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion." [6] In explaining the white background of his design, Thompson wrote, "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause." It is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Stars and Bars, the name of the first national Confederate flag. As might be expected 2 of the flags from Virginia (the eighth state to join the Confederacy) bear seven stars around a larger center star, and 2 of the flags from North Carolina (the tenth Confederate state) bear ten stars. The Stars and Bars Flag is the first official flag of the Confederacy. 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. / Forwarded to Montgomery, Ala. Feb 12, 1861, / Adopted by the Provisional Congress March 4, 1861". Rogers lobbied successfully to have this alteration introduced in the Confederate Senate. The first Confederate national flag bore 7 stars representing the first seven states to secede from the U.S. and band together as the Confederate States of America: South Carolina, Mississippi . The editor of the Charleston Mercury expressed a similar view: "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. Long COVID patients turn to unproven treatments, Why evenings can be harder on people with dementia, This disease often goes under-diagnosedunless youre white, This sacred site could be Georgias first national park, See glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazils other rainforest, 9 things to know about Holi, Indias most colorful festival, Anyone can discover a fossil on this beach. On April 23, 1863, the Savannah Morning News editor William Tappan Thompson, with assistance from William Ross Postell, a Confederate blockade runner, published an editorial championing a design featuring the battle flag on a white background he referred to later as "The White Man's Flag," a name which never caught on. The . 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). The ANV was never the official flag of the Confederacy and was not called The Stars and Bars. Judging from the $12.00 price that Ruskell later received for a bunting Confederate 1st national that was 6 feet long on the fly, it is thought that the 43 flags that he delivered in July and August were 4 feet on their hoist by 6 feet on their fly with eleven white, 5-pointed stars arranged in a circle or ellipse. In an effort to avoid the visual confusion, General Pierre Beauregardcommissioned a new battle flag design. Also available below is a Vinyl Decal (suitable for outdoor use). Jefferson Davis State Historic Site & Museum. 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." [49], Though never having historically represented the Confederate States of America as a country, nor having been officially recognized as one of its national flags, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia and its variants are now flag types commonly referred to as the Confederate Flag. The first national flag of the Confederate States of America was created in 1861 and had seven stars to represent the breakaway states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,. Please be respectful of copyright. The flag that Miles had favored when he was chairman of the "Committee on the Flag and Seal" eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the Confederacy's most popular flag. STARS AND BARS Images of 11 Star versions of the first Confederate national flag. This action piqued the interest of other members of the Foundation, reenactment groups and family members. This would serve to show the world the South was truly sovereign. It is commonly referred to as the Rebel Flag, and often mistakenly called the Stars & Bars. Introduction: National Flags of the Confederacy . 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. From the heartland of the Confederacy (Tennessee and Kentucky) 18 identified flags were surveyed. the Confederate States of America began to use its first flag, the Stars and Bars, on March 5, 1861. THE CONFEDERATE 1ST NATIONAL FLAG (THE STARS & BARS) AS A MILITARY FLAG. 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. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? "[11], The flag is also known as the Stainless Banner, and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. 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. Return to the Confederate Flags Home Page. The stars are usually arranged in a circle and number seven or more. Flag flown by Confederate Missouri regiments during the Vicksburg campaign. The "Stars and Bars" flag, now called the Confederate first national pattern, was selected (without a formal vote) by the Confederate government in March 1861. were conserved soon after. For use of Confederate symbols in modern society and popular culture, see, Flags of the Confederate States of America. The federal dark state is creating laws without congress. As historian John M. Coski writes, Confederate heritage organizations insisted that the flag was rightfully theirs and stood only for the honor of their ancestors. At the same time, however, the symbol was publicly claimed by those who challenged Black peoples humanitypeople like Byron De La Beckwith, a Mississippi white supremacist who murdered civil rights activistMedgar Evers in 1963 and who wore a Confederate flag pin on hislapel throughout his 1994trial. The three states with coasts along the Gulf (Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana) accounted for 39 flags in the survey. Which travel companies promote harmful wildlife activities? Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright Saint George's cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.[41]. It resembles the Yankee flag, and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." [ 1] The Stars and Bars flag was adopted March 4, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama and raised over the dome of . 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. But how did the battle flag, also known as the Southern Cross, come to represent the Confederacy in the first place? 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. Miles' flag and all the flag designs up to that point were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. On 4 March 1861 the Confederate States of America adopted its first national flag, the "Stars and Bars", and raised it over the dome of the temporary capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.. Hundreds of designs were submitted and on May 4, 1861, the First National Flag was adopted (there would eventually be two others). Besides, many military units had their own regimental flags they would carry into battle. The white stars on the blue field represent the original Confederate States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. So Gen. Pierre G. T. Beauregard decided that he needed to design a different national flag so that it would . Enterprise. 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. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The museum is also known as Louisianas Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall. 1861 until 1 May 1863. 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. The union blue extending down through the white space and stopping at the lower red space. In 2000, the flag over the state house was removed, at the . In 2000, the NAACP began a 15-year-long economicboycott of South Carolina because of its use of the flag. By Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 25 January 2000. Denounced as a hate symbol, the Confederate flag remains popular among white supremacists and Southerners who claim it as their heritage. Though inextricably linked with the Confederacy, the flag was never its official symbol. Designed by William Porcher Miles, one of the congressmen of the Confederate, the new flag had a blue X-shaped pattern called St. Andrew's Cross against a red background. The ensign of the Confederate States Revenue Service, designed by Dr. H. P. Capers of South Carolina on April 10, 1861. In 1816, the command operated in Missouri and Arkansas but was transferred to Northern Mississippi. The battle flag of Gen. Polks Corps saw action from Shiloh through the final surrender of the Army of Tennessee. [citation needed]. 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. Find the perfect the stars and bars flag stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. The Dixiecrat-era fad flag stoked its sale on everything from T-shirts to mugs and bumper stickers. When the Confederate States of America was founded during the Montgomery Convention that took place on February 4, 1861, a national flag was not selected by the Convention due to not having any proposals. A white rectangle, one-and-a-half times as wide as it is tall, a red vertical stripe on the far right of the rectangle, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire. 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. Unauthorized use is prohibited.