Author: Ultimate Flags Store

If you have been following this search then you know that in Part II the evidence began to point to a lone star on a blue field as being the Confederate flag of Alabama at secession.  In this final segment we will see what this flag actually looked like.

The turbulent times of 1860-1861 called for political messages to be sent by the man on the street, and many flags were being flown.  For example, the following is taken from an article in the December 22^nd, 1860 edition of the Utah Territory newspaper, “The Mountaineer”:

“The principal flag being shipped to Alabama is one modeled after our national bunting, but having fifteen stripes and fifteen stars in a blue field, encircling the words: “A united South.”

No one, though, would imagine this was a candidate for the new state flag.

Alabama Republic Flag

On the other hand, we know that flags with a single star did fly over Alabama after secession; indeed, in many areas of the South:  it was a popular image (more on that in a moment).   And as covered in Part II, we have Lady Liberty on the secession convention banner holding a flag with a blue field and a single star below the letters “ALABAMA.”  Do we have anything else that makes us thing this was the pattern of Alabama’s flag at this time?

Yes, but let me provide a quick background to it.  To do this we have go back into some very ancient history for a moment.

PLEIADES: THE SEVEN SISTERS

The Pleiades is a constellation of stars that is visible from virtually everywhere humans live.  It is often called the Seven Sisters in the Western World.  These were the seven daughters of the Greek God Atlas and the sea spirit Pleione.  (Atlas is the god who holds the world on his shoulder.)

This collection of stars has been known for a long time.  We find them in Chinese writings from over 3000 years ago.  The ancient Greek Poet Hesiod mentions them in a poem written around 700 BC, and Homer speaks of them in the Iliad and Odyssey.  The Bible contains at least three references to the Pleiades, in Job 9:9 and 38:31, and Amos 5:8.

However, one of these stars is less bright than the others, and at night most people can only see six of them. The story of a lost seventh Pleiad (sister), is a universal theme on Earth.   We find the lost Pleaid myth in European, African, Asian, Native American and Aboriginal Australian lore.

“THE LOST PLEIAD FOUND”

Earlier in this story we saw how delegate William Smith kept a journal on the Alabama Secession Convention.  He concluded the journal with a poem, entitled “The Lost Pleiad Found.”  Here it is:

“Long years ago, at night, a female starFled from amid the Spheres, and through the spaceOf Ether, onward, in a flaming car,Held, furious, headlong, her impetuous race:She burnt her way through skies; the azure hazeOf Heaven assumed new colors in her blaze;Sparklets, emitted from her golden hair,Diffused rich tones through the resounding air;The neighboring stars stood mute, and wondered whenThe erring Sister would return again:Through Ages still they wondered in dismay;But now, behold, careering on her way,The long-lost PLEIAD! lo! she takes her placeOn ALABAMA’S FLAG, and lifts her RADIANT FACE!”

A lone star, in an azure sky, Alabama’s proud Confederate flag.  Azure being a bright blue, we know the flag was gold and blue, as depicted in the flag in Liberty’s hand in the Alabama Secession Flag.

This basic pattern was a familiar to Southerners.  It has taken on various forms, including that of the Bonnie Blue Flag.

The Bonnie Blue has a white star on a blue background.  It is the first recorded use of a lone star flag in the South, and dates to 1810.  At that time there was a Spanish province called West Florida, made up of parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.   West Florida declared its independence from Spain in September of 1810, and became part of the U.S. one month later.  Carrying a blue flag with a single, five-pointed star, citizen forces captured Baton Rouge without loss to themselves, and imprisoned the Spanish governor.

The Bonnie Blue flag was well known to the populations in or near the old territory of West Florida, including Alabama, and was to become a popular rebel flag.

In early 1861, the Bonnie Blue flew over the capital building in Jackson, Mississippi, inspiring the southern patriotic song – “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” composed by Harry McCarthy.  From what we can tell, this song was almost as popular as “Dixie” among Southern troops.  Here is the first verse of that song:

We are a band of brothersAnd native to the soil,Fighting for the propertyWe gained by honest toil;And when our rights were threatened,The cry rose near and far–“Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue FlagThat bears a single star!”

A chorus of the song speaks of the first states to secede:

First gallant South Carolina

nobly made the stand

Then came Alabama

and took her by the hand.

Next, quickly Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida

All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag

that bears a single star.

There is no doubt that the Bonnie Blue was flying in many locations in Alabama at the time of secession, as it was in other Southern states.  We can see how Alabama might have adopted the Bonnie Blue, but in what form?

We have indications that Alabama was using a yellow or gold star, not a white one.  One of these clues is the color of the star on the Alabama Republic flag above, which appears to have been yellow or gold.  This color is also suggested by Smith’s use of the lost Pleiad’s “golden hair” in his sonnet about the flag.  The Seven Sisters of Greek mythology are traditionally portrayed with darker hair, in keeping with their Mediterranean heritage.

The likely design of the Confederate Flag of Alabama at secession, the Alabama flag of independence, had a single golden star on a blue field.  We can be sure that the shades of color and dimensions of the flag widely varied, as certainly did the star’s size.  But the basic appearance would have been as described above.

The Convention itself had an official status, and the members of the Convention knew what the Alabama flag was.  Had we been standing in the streets of Montgomery on the 11^th of January, 1861, we would have seen flags with a lone star on a blue field – or been waving them ourselves.  This was the accepted flag of Alabama at the time of secession, regardless of its unofficial status in the eyes of our modern authorities.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

In Part I of this series we took up the point that in modern times we are supposed to believe that Alabama did not have a state flag during the Civil War.   In our search to see if this is true, we started with the star of the Alabama Secession Convention.  Part II continues that story, with important revelations.

FLAG OF THE ALABAMA SECESSION CONVENTION

      After the Convention began, debate lasted four days.  Then, on the 11^th of January, 1861, the Convention voted to secede.  Up to this point meetings had not been open to the public, but after the vote the doors were opened.  William Smith, the delegate from Tuscaloosa that we met in Part I, described the scene this way:

     “When the doors were thrown open, the lobby and galleries were filled to suffocation in a moment. The ladies were there in crowds, with visible eagerness to participate in the exciting scenes. With them, the love songs of yesterday had swelled into the political hosannas of to-day.

     “PRESENTATION OF THE FLAG.

     “Simultaneously with the entrance of the multitude, a magnificent Flag was unfurled in the centre of the Hall, so large as to reach nearly across the ample chamber! Gentlemen mounted upon tables and desks, held up the floating end, the better thus to be able to display its figures. The cheering was now deafening for some moments. It seemed really that there would be no end to the raptures that had taken possession of the company.”

This was a beautiful ceremonial flag with two distinctly different sides.  You can see a modern reproduction of this flag below:

The flag had a field of blue, the front side displaying Liberty with both a sword and a flag.  On the reverse we see a rattlesnake within a cotton bush.  The rattlesnake is a common symbol of American independence and willingness to fight for liberty, dating back to the 1760’s.  The Latin words “NOLI ME TANGERE” are written on the reverse, meaning literally “Do not touch me.”  The Latin expression was a warning against meddling or interference, and is a common translation into Latin translation of a famous Greek phrase, which actually meant , “cease holding onto me,” “let me go,” or “do not hold me.”  This made clear Alabama’s intentions.

This flag was not completed in minutes, so the prevailing sentiment and outcome of the vote must have been predicted.  In our own time it has become common practice to call this the Alabama Republic Flag, or the Flag of the Alabama Secession Convention.   Unfortunately, popular writings also contain statements that lead one to believe that this was the flag of Alabama at Secession.  It was not.

This was a newly created banner.  In fact, William Smith himself spoke these words right after the presentation:

“Mr. President–I was not prepared for this surprise. I knew nothing of this intended presentation.”

Smith went on to talk about and describe the newly presented flag.  Recall that just four days ago the Convention had resolved that the flag of Alabama would fly over the capital while the Convention was in session.  This flag was different.

Montgomery Capital, J. Davis Inauguration, 18 Feb 1861

In fact, it was decided to fly this new flag over the capital building.  It was displayed over the capital less than a month:  On February 10th, 1861,  It was damaged by high winds, taken down, and never flown again.  The flag was largely ceremonial, not fabricated in such a way to withstand extended outdoor display. It is now stored in the Alabama Department of Archives and History.  Due to its delicate and very faded condition it is not available for public viewing.

So far as we can determine, this was a one-of-a-kind flag.  We have no evidence that any others of its description were made.  Yet, in the Convention Journal we read that right after the announcement of secession, “The roar of cannon was heard at intervals during the remainder of this eventful day. The new flag of Alabama displayed its virgin features from the windows and towers of the surrounding houses.”

Yes, the “new flag of Alabama” with its “virgin features” was suddenly flying around the city.     In fact, Smith stated, “Guns had been made ready to herald the news, and flags had been prepared, in various parts of the city, to be hoisted upon a signal.”  

We can see that the large flag presented at the Convention was different from the state flag, but that ceremonial flag does contain vital clues.  Remember that Liberty is holding a flag in her left hand.  That flag also has a blue field, with the word “ALABAMA” over a single star.

On page 121 of his History of the Debates of the Convention Mr. Smith has this description of the presentation:

“We accept this flag; and, though it glows with but a single star, may that star increase in magnitude and brilliancy, until it out-rivals the historic glories of the Star-Spangled Banner!”

It would seem the flag presented at the Convention has the new flag of Alabama on it, being held in Liberty’s hand.  Fortunately, we have more information about this, covered in Part III, the final chapter of this story.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

     The general wisdom among scholars is that Alabama did not have an official state flag during the Civil War.  Consequently, modern authorities simply don’t recognize the people of Alabama as having had a flag symbolizing their state.  Insert the sound of my sigh here.   It is hard to imagine a fiercely independent and proud state like Alabama not having a commonly recognized flag as its symbol.   This is Part I of the search for the Civil War Flag of Alabama.

7-Star Confederate 1st National

If we use the same reasoning of no official flag, then the Confederacy itself did not have a flag until 1863, when it adopted a new design.  In their hurry to adopt a flag and have it ready in March of 1861, the Confederate Congress forgot to enact a flag law. Nowhere in the statute books of the Confederate States is there a Flag Act of 1861.  In use for years, the Confederate 1^st National Flag was never established as the Confederate Flag by the laws of the land.  But no one has imagined that the South did not have a flag.

True, we have no record of a government resolution about the Alabama flag of this period, so we could say there is nothing “official.”  However, it just doesn’t make sense that a people who felt so strongly about States Rights did not have a flag with which they could identify.  Not to mention that Alabama had just declared itself an independent republic (it was not until February that representatives met in Montgomery to form the Confederate States of America).  So let’s look at the evidence.

SECESSION

In December 1860, William Russell Smith was elected as a delegate to the Alabama secession convention, which met in Montgomery in on January 7^th, 1861.  Smith also went on to organize and command the 26^th Alabama Infantry Regiment, and was later elected to the Confederate Congress.

Smith compiled and edited a book on the secession convention, entitled The History and Debates of the Convention of The People of Alabama.  On page 56 he wrote:

     “MR. DOWDELL moved an amendment, that when this Convention is in open session, the flag of Alabama shall be raised from the Capitol. The amendment was accepted, the motion adopted, and the doors of the Convention opened.”

Well, this tells us that there must have been a recognized “flag of Alabama.”   The reason that the Convention even made this resolution was because it was the custom of Alabama to use the Stars and Stripes for official government buildings.  Easy to see why a gathering to discuss secession might not want to fly the flag of the United States.

But what did this Alabama flag look like?  You can follow the next step in this trail in Part II of this series, which I will post tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

Confederate batteries opened fire.  The first shots missed their target, but gunners soon established the range and shells began bursting on the ramparts of Fort Sumter.  Soon the stronghold was ringed with fire and smoke, geysers of stone, brick and mortar flying skyward.

This was the scene in Charleston harbor in the early hours of April 12^th, 1861.  The American Civil War had begun.

Fort Sumter Today

After a couple of hours, the guns of Fort Sumter began returning fire.  When Captain Seymour and his men came to replace Captain Doubleday’s detachment of gunners, Seymour dryly asked, “Doubleday, what in the world is the matter here, and what is all this uproar about?”

Doubleday replied, “There is a trifling difference of opinion between us and our neighbors opposite, and we are trying to settle it.”

     Flying over Sumter during the 34 hours of bombardment was a 33-star flag of the United States. It had a distinctive “diamond” pattern of stars.  We can reproduce it in modern replicas because the original flag has been preserved and maintained by the National Park Service.

At about 1:00 P.M. on April 14th a shot snapped Sumter’s flagpole, bringing the Stars and Stripes down.  A temporary pole was rigged, and soon the flag was once again waving in the wind.

The Federals were nearly out of food, and had no means of silencing the enemy guns.  Inside the fort, fires were out of control, and most of the gunpowder had been tossed into the harbor to prevent it from exploding. The Union gunners were so harassed by the smoke and heat that by late morning they were face-down with wet handkerchiefs to their faces; nonetheless, they kept returning fire.  The Rebels admired the defenders’ perseverance so much that they began cheering every shot from Sumter.

At one point Major Anderson and his officers had calculated how many troops it would take to resupply the fort and oppose the Confederates.  The Lieutenants gave numbers between 2000 and 5000.   Captains Doubleday and Foster guessed it would take 10,000 men.  Major Anderson, the fort’s commander and a very seasoned veteran, said he would not risk fewer than 20,000 troops. The calculations of the more experienced officers meant that defending the fort was impossible:  the entire U.S. Army at the time totaled 16,000 officers and men, most of them stationed in the west.

So it was that on the 14^th surrender of the fort was arranged.  The Federals had defended it with honor, but the situation was hopeless.

That same day the Charleston Volunteer Guard entered the fort, and their flag was the first Confederate banner to be displayed at Fort Sumter.  Private Byrd hung the Palmetto Flag from the parapet.  This is another flag pattern we know, and which is still proudly flown.

The Palmetto Flag was replaced the next day by the Confederate First National Flag, the Stars and Bars.  We actually have a photo of this flag over Sumter, taken on April 15^th, 1861.

Another flag which flew over Ft. Sumter during the Civil war was the Confederate 2^nd National Flag, adopted in 1963.

Today we can see the 33-star USA and Confederate National flags flying on the restored fort in Charleston Harbor, along with the current USA flag, and one from the American Revolutionary War.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

It was 4:30 in the afternoon of July 2^nd, 1863.  General Hood shouted, “Fix bayonets, my brave Texans.  Forward and take those heights.”

This was the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and Hood’s Texas Brigade was part of a large Confederate attack.  Lt. Colonel Work, of Hood’s 1^st Texas Regiment, pointed to his regimental flag and bellowed, “Follow the Lone Star Flag to the top of the mountain.”  The 1^st Texas was to assault the Devil’s Den, noted for its many scattered boulders on the hillside (see below).

The Texan’s advanced through thunderous shelling by Union artillery.  There was no wind that day, and the Devil’s Den looked like a volcano, the smoke belching from the guns of the Federal battery on top of the hill.  As the 1^st Texas moved up the hill, fighting was intense.

William J. Barbie, one of Hood’s scouts, came riding to the front of the line.  Suddenly, his horse was shot.  Barbie leaped down, and without missing a step, scrambled up one of the boulders.  He looked at the Yanks on the top of the hill, and commenced shouting.  His words were – well, unpleasant, such that I cannot repeat here.

Perhaps this did not create sufficient effect, so Barbie had the wounded Texans below start tossing up their rifles.  Calmly standing on top of the boulder, Barbie fired up the hill.  One Texan related that the scout fired 25 times.  The fellows below were reloading the guns, so this was going efficiently.

Nonetheless, Barbie was totally exposed to the fire of the Federals.  Finally, he took one in the leg, and toppled off the boulder.  He was a Texan, so he climbed back up, where he resumed firing.  (I imagine he shouted a few more choice comments, but history does not tell us whether he did or what he might have said.)

The hail of Union bullets continued, and another one clipped Barbie in the leg.  Down he went.  But Texans are hard to kill, so he clambered back up the rock.

Barbie renewed firing until another mini ball stuck him, this time in the chest.  He tumbled off the rock, but could not get back up on his own.  Out of the fight with the Yanks, Barbie cursed his fellow Texans for not helping him back onto the boulder.

This was definitely a man who would have shot craps with the devil himself.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

When we hear “Color Guard” today, we think of ceremonies, not battle.  True, a color guard is today responsible for a unit’s colors, their flag.  They care for it and ensure its proper display.  In that sense the word “guard” still applies.  But in the Civil War, guarding the flag meant a lot more.  These flags were a vital tool in directing soldiers on the battlefield.

Flags also served as a means of inspiring morale, and intimidating the enemy.   These are the words of some of the Billy Yanks that faced the men under the Southern Cross of the Confederacy:

“…their battle flags looked redder and bloodier in the strong July sun than I had ever seen before…”

“No such sight in all the history of battles had ever been seen.  On they came regardless of the carnage among them, nearer and nearer until horse and rider, officer and private, standards and banners waving in the lead were plainly seen.”

A color guard was an elite unit.  Led by a color sergeant, it consisted of up to a dozen soldiers.  Great courage was necessary to carry the flag:  everyone knew that the enemy would be aiming for him.  And as the flag was typically at the front of his unit, its bearer was very exposed.  The flag “drew lead like a magnet.”   Private Mockbee of the 14^th Tennessee Regiment was carrying the flag at Gettysburg:

“…the waving battle flags seemed to be the special mark as soon as we came in range of the small arms.”

Modern Reproduction of the 4th NC Regiment Battle Flag

John Strikeleather of the 4th North Carolina Regiment said this about the nature of the men chosen to bear the colors:  “I doubt if there was a nobler hero in the war, North or South.”   At the Battle of Seven Pines Strikeleather volunteered to carry the colors.  This is the same battle in which all 25 officers of his regiment were lost, and South Carolina’s Palmetto Sharpshooters lost 10 of 11 members of its color guard.  At one point the flag passed through four hands without touching the ground.

Why would men take the great risk of carrying the “damned red flags of the rebellion?”  No matter its condition, a battle flag represented the ideals of the men who followed it into the fire and hell of combat.   Memories of struggle, loss, and glory were sealed into the very fabric of a unit’s flag.  Every soldier knew his honor was embodied in the flag, and knew the sacrifices made by the color guard.  A story about the Battle of Antietam demonstrates this.  Hood’s Texas Brigade was in that bloody fight, and his 1^st Texas Regiment fought in the now famous Cornfield.  Private Berry of the 4th Texas Regiment was captured at Antietam, but later described something:

“I saw coming up the road from the battlefield some colours…. the Major asked the Yankee with the colours where they got them.  He said in the cornfield…..  I knew the colours.  I told him they belonged to the 1st Texas Regiment….  He said there were 13 dead men lying on or around it when he found it. I asked him to hand it to me a moment, which he did.  I took it in my hand, kissed it, and handed it back to him, tears blinding my eyes.”

1st Texas Regiment Battle Flag, Reproduction

Such was the passion felt for the fiery red cross of the Confederate Battle Flag and the men who defended it in battle.  Randolph Harrison McKim, a Confederate who fought for nearly four years, wrote these words many years after the war:

“We must forevermore consecrate in our hearts our old battle flag of the Southern Cross –not now as a political symbol, but as the consecrated emblem of an heroic epoch. The people that forgets its heroic dead is already dying at the heart and we believe we shall be truer and better citizens of the United States if we are true to our past.”

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

It is the 12^th of April, 1861. Three days ago, in the late afternoon, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant had met at Appomattox.

     Now men in grey and blue are gathering.  There is tension, but no fear.  A valley separates them, the Confederates on one the hill, the Federals on another.  These are seasoned veterans, and they all understand what is about to happen.  They and their commanders have faced each other before:  some of these men have been fighting since the first shots of the war, their flags inscribed with the names of battle waged over four years.

General Gordon

General Gordon commands the Confederates.  He already had battle scars when he was shot four times at Antietam, and continued to lead his men.  It took a fifth bullet that same day to finally bring him down.  Wounded again at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, blood streaming from his head, he again carried on with his command.

Today, sitting on his horse, his leg aches from another bullet he took just 18 days ago.  None the less, Gordon leads his men off the hill and into the valley, toward the Federals.

General Chamberlain

General Chamberlain watches the approaching Rebels.  He, too, sits astride his mount, but his men are dressed in blue.  Chamberlain has also faced everything the war could throw at him.  A former college professor, he has been wounded six times, had six horses shot from beneath him, and earned the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg.  An injury in 1864 was so severe that his death was reported in newspapers.

Like Gordon, Chamberlain is nursing a new wound.  Shot in the chest two weeks ago, knocked unconscious and thought dead, his demise was reported in a telegram to New York.  Chamberlain later wrote that his reappearance brought a wild response from men on both sides:

“I was astonished at the greeting of cheers….  Strangest of all was that when I emerged to the sight of the enemy, they also took up the cheering. I hardly knew what world I was in.”

These two remarkable generals, and some of the most rugged soldiers in history, are closing on each other. Their meeting was arranged just three days ago, at Appomattox:  Gordon to surrender arms and flags, Chamberlain to receive them. In Chamberlain’s words:

“Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond; was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured? “

What happens next, though, is not part of the plan.  Chamberlain explains:

“With my staff I was on the extreme right of the line, mounted on horseback, and in a position nearest the Rebel soldiers who were approaching our right.

“Ah, but it was a most impressive sight, a most striking picture, to see that whole army in motion to lay down the symbols of war and strife, that army which had fought for four terrible years…”

“The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply. I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition, which could be no other than a salute of arms.”

Chamberlain, without orders or permission, performs a noble act:

“When General Gordon came opposite me I had the bugle blown and the entire line came to ‘attention…

“Gordon at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual, honor answering honor.”

Chamberlain was criticized by some for the salute, but he was unrepentant.  Many years later, Gordon, in his own memoirs, called Chamberlain “one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal Army.”

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

The last salute, given and returned, was a fitting honor to former enemies.

Madison county honors their fallen soldiers of the American civil war with a tall monument in Four Freedoms Park. At the base are the names of 196 soldiers, 100 of which died from direct combat actions. Almost four percent of the Madison population was taken during the civil war from 1861-1865 and in 1860 over half of the population in Madison were slaves.

Confederate monument honors Madison’s Confederate dead

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

Barksdale’s Brigade:  Charge at Gettysburg

“I am sure that it was the grandest charge that was ever seen by mortal man.”

Those are the words of Union Colonel Worthen, whose men at Gettysburg tried – and failed – to stand against General Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade.

Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.  There are many tales of the brave men that fought there, but this is a tale of the “grandest charge.”   And this is not the view of only one man.  Many on both sides described this event.  One newspaper, Meridian Dispatch, carried an article about a Gettysburg reunion of both Union and Confederate soldiers.  It contains descriptions of Barksdale’s charge, with quotes by some of the Federal soldiers that were present:

“Why, you were the grandest men the world ever saw.”

“You made the grandest charge of the war.”

“Your line was perfect and you held it…”

“I was giving you all the canister my guns could carry but you never halted, but charged right on over us.”

It was the afternoon of July 2^nd, 1863.  Lieutenant General Longstreet needed to create an opening in the Union lines.  Attacks by four of his brigades had failed, at places with names we remember today:  Little Round Top, the Devil’s Den, and the Peach Orchard.

Barksdale

The approach to the Peach Orchard was covered by Union artillery.  Brigadier General Barksdale approached Longstreet with a request:  “I wish you would let me go in, General; I would take that battery in five minutes!”   The men of Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade were itching to get into the fray.  Composed of four regiments, the brigade was famous as a tough, hard fighting bunch.

Barksale’s Divisional commander, General McLaws, later reported:

“Barksdale had been exceedingly impatient for the order to advance, and his enthusiasm was shared in by his command.  Barksdale was standing in front ready to give the word and to lead.”

When the order came, the Mississippians showed their grit:  the First Rhode Island artillery battery was overwhelmed.  Captain Lamar, aide to General McLaws, described it this way:

“I had witnessed many charges marked in every way by unflinching gallantry…but I never saw anything to equal the dash and heroism of the Mississippians.  You remember how anxious General Barksdale was to attack the enemy, and his eagerness was participated in by all of his officers and men… I saw him as far as the eye could follow, still ahead of his men, leading them on. The result you know.  You remember the picket fence in front of the brigade?  I was anxious to see how they would get over and around it.  When they reached it, the fence disappeared as if by magic, and the slaughter on the other side was terrible.”

11th Mississippi Regiment Flag

But the Mississippi Brigade was not done.  They raced on, into the Peach Orchard where the 68^th Pennsylvania awaited.  The 68^th collapsed within 30 minutes:  “We held the position as long as it was possible to hold,” wrote the commanding officer.  Half the regiment was killed or wounded before retreating.

But the charge was not yet over.  Onward the Mississippi Brigade.

The next regiment to be shattered was the 57^th Pennsylvania, losing 157 killed, while the Union prisoner count mounted higher.  But this was the “grandest charge,” and still not over.

21st Mississippi Regiment Flag

There yet remained the 141^st Pennsylvania at the edge of the Peach Orchard.  The clash was ferocious but brief, with 70 percent of the Federals lost before Colonel Madill ordered retreat.  As the 141^st fell back Union General Sickles rode up, exclaiming, “Colonel, for God’s sake can you not hold on?!”  Waving his arm to the field behind him Madill said, “Where are my men?”  Barely a hundred remained in his regiment.

     One of the Confederate soldiers reported that a Federal soldier from Pennsylvania insisted on shaking hands “with one of the men who made the most splendid charge of the war.”

Before it was all done, the Confederates had driven a hole a mile deep into the Federal lines.  Union Colonel Worthen’s description included the following:

“Nothing we could do seemed to confuse or halt Barksdale’s veterans.  We federals had five regiments fronting Barksdale’s small brigade, and these were supported by two additional regiments stationed just behind the five…, but nothing daunted Barksdale and his men.  You just came on, and on, and on, and when you came in gun shot of us, the carnage you inflicted on us boys in blue would be impossible to detail…  they are the bravest men I ever met or ever expect to meet.” 

Confederate Veterans at Gettysburg Reunion

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

The people that make up North Carolina have a long history of rebellion.  Most folks know that North Carolina declared its independence twice, in 1776 and in 1861.  But it may surprise you that some citizens in North Carolina declared their independence in 1775.   In fact, the current state flag continues to bear the date of this first Secession:  May 20, 1775.

Let’s take a look at the story of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

The declaration was a resolution drawn up by citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to be sent to their representatives at the Continental Congress, stating that they had separated from Great Britain.  A bold move.

Up to this time many in the American Colonies were in loud protest against oppressive acts of the British Parliament, but they still considered themselves British subjects.   Events like dumping tea into the Boston harbor were civil protest and disobedience, but they were acts of citizens who did not yet think of themselves as rebels.

But the people of Britain had a long history rebellion already, and early Americans inherited this tradition of fighting for freedoms.  Many others that had come to the continent were also pretty independent types, such as the Irish.

And most of the people of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, traced their roots back to Scotland and Ireland.  A feisty lot, indeed.  Let’s cover what had been happening that led up to the declaration.

In the early hours of April 19^th, 1775, British soldiers were on their way toward two locations in Massachusetts:  Lexington, where they were to capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock;  and Concord they were to seize gunpowder.   But the Colonists had prepared for such an event.  Men rode swiftly to give warning, fellows with names like Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott.

So it was that in Lexington about 70 Minutemen gathered to confront 240 British Redcoats.  This was a new thing, armed men ready to fight, facing the soldiers of the Crown.

The face-off began, both sides wary, no one sure what would happen.  Suddenly a shot was fired, “The shot heard round the world,” the shot that now is legendary.  Ralph Waldo Emerson later wrote the poem Concord Hymn, which begins with these words:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world.

The Redcoats won that skirmish and continued on.  Meanwhile, American militias had gathered in Concord, and things there turned out differently.  By the time the next series of battles were over the British losses were 73 killed, 174 wounded, and 26 missing.   Lord Percy, who had led the British back to Boston after the Concord defeat, later reported on the events to London, and included this statement:

“Whoever looks upon them as an irregular mob will be much mistaken.”

     The first American rebels had made their mark.

The next month the elected representatives of Mecklenburg County were meeting at the courthouse in Charlotte, to discuss the tensions with the British government.  That same day an express rider arrived with news of the battles of Lexington and Concord.  Hearing that British soldiers had fired on and killed fellow British citizens, discussions grew intense.  Resolutions were composed which we now know as the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.  It was to be sent to the North Carolina representatives at the Continental Congress, declaring that they had separated themselves from Britain:  the first North Carolina secession.

The citizens of Mecklenburg stated that Great Britain had “wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties and inhumanly shed the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington” and that we “dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother country” and declare ourselves “a free and independent people.”

North Carolina still honors these early Americans, men and women whom many feel may have been the first to declare their independence from Great Britain.

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags

The Conch Rebellion:  They Fought with Bread

     It was the 1980’s, and drug smuggling was a noisy issue.  Runners would take delivery of the stuff off shore, then travel north to big cities.  So the Federal Government came up with a brilliant plan:  the Border Patrol placed a roadblock at the northern limits of the Florida Keys.  Yep, folks traveling from inside the United States to another place inside the United States were subject to Border Control inspections.  Every car was being stopped to search for illegal aliens.

Well, residents of the Keys got pretty upset.  Gee, who would have guessed?

Naturally, tourists were avoiding this traffic jam like the plague, and the Federal Executive Branch didn’t give darn.  So the citizens of Key West sought help from the Judicial Branch.  Mayor Wardlow of Key West went to Federal Court in Miami on April 22nd, 1982.

Alas, the Court decided in favor of the Federal Government:  the checkpoint was legal.  Fourth Amendment be damned, let’s search everyone:  “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…”   I suppose all those folks in brightly colored shirts looked mighty suspicious, especially the ones being rude about the 15-mile traffic jam.   Bet some of the scoundrels even had unpaid parking tickets!

Outside the courthouse Mayor Wardlow was asked what he was going to do next.  He responded:  “We are going to go home and secede.”

The next day the mayor addressed a huge and excited crowd.  Reading the Conch Republic Proclamation of Secession, Wardlow ended with these words:

“Big trouble has started in much smaller places than this.  I am calling on all my fellow citizens here in the Conch Republic to stand together, lest we fall apart – fall from fear, from lack of courage, intimidation by an uncaring government whose actions show it has grown too big to care for people on a small island.”

The official flag of the Conch Republic was raised, and the Mayor, now Prime Minister, declared war on the United States.  He promptly broke some stale Cuban bread over the head of someone in a U.S. Navy uniform, and residents of the Republic began throwing bread at the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Diligence.  About a minute into the war, the Prime Minister surrendered to a U.S. Naval Officer that was present, and demanded financial aid from the United States for the Conch Republic.

The US did not give the Conch Republic any financial aid, but the roadblock was immediately removed.  With the economic embargo lifted, prosperity once again came to the Republic.

Office of the Secretary General of the Conch Republic (Passports issued by appointment)

Thanks for reading. Please share our posts with your friends and family so they too can learn more about Southern Heritage and History.

Brought to you by: Ultimate Flags