Author: Ultimate Flags Store

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After its birth the First National Flag of the Confederacy became known as the Stars and Bars.   Now some may raise their eyebrows, believing that term applies to the Confederate Battle Flag.  I don’t want to upset anyone, but the Battle Flag was known to soldiers as the Southern Cross.  (I’ve written about its tale in an article on the battle flag, where you can read the words of the Confederate veterans themselves.)

7-Star First National Flag of the Confederate States of America

We say “First National” because this was the first of three official national flags of the Confederate States of America.  Its design was presented to the provisional congress of the Confederate States by the flag committee on March 4, 1861 – about five weeks before Ft. Sumter was fired on (that is Ft. Sumter in the first photo of this article, the Stars and Bars flying).  The records show no recorded vote:  it was adopted by just writing it into the congressional journal.

There are two common stories about who designed this flag, and a lot of folks have debated and fussed over which is right.  The disagreement has never reached the level of the Hatfields and McCoys feud, but there have been some raised voices, and we can  a black eye or two.

Nicola Marschall, Self-Portrait of 1881

One of these tales says that the flag was drawn by Nicola Marschall, a successful artist of the era.  In fact, Marschall painted a portrait of President Jefferson Davis himself.  Marschall joined the Confederate army, rose to be a Lieutenant in an engineering regiment, and chief draftsman for various maps and fortifications during the war.

Marschall wrote that he did three different designs for the flag, one of which resulted in the Stars and Bars.  Details are written up in an interview he did for a 1917 newspaper article.  One can read this information in many works from university and government sources (particularly Alabama, where Marschall lived at the outbreak of the war).

One might be convinced by this scholarly work.  Of course, the sentences and wording do seem to repeat a great deal, as if these writings were going along in a series, one copying another.  Marschall is commonly described as a German-American or a Prussian, and it is often stated that he was inspired by the Austrian flag.  Well, the Austrian flag had three bars, red on top and bottom and white in the middle.  Makes for good story-telling, but as evidence it has discard value only.

Another story revolves around a tombstone in Henderson, North Carolina, marking the burial spot of Orren Randolph Smith.  This stone has an inscription, “Designer of the Stars and Bars.”   Smith claimed (in his later years) that he had designed the original national flag of the Confederate States of America.

Let’s take a look at what the wartime records show.

The National Archives has the flags book of the Confederate Congress, all the letters and documentation, and many of the design submissions for the various Confederate national flags during the war.  While not everyone provided a name on their proposal, all those that did are in the records.

Neither Smith’s nor Marschall’s name appear anywhere in the book, nor in the notations of the Confederate Committee on Flag & Seal.   On the contrary, the chairman of the Flag Committee, William Porcher Miles, was very clear on this matter.  He wrote that the flag design presented to the Confederate States Provisional Congress was not chosen from any of the submitted designs, but was created by the flag committee itself.

William Porcher Miles

None of the period newspapers of the time (March, 1811) ever stated anyone as being the designer.  If there had been a name circulated at all, it most certainly would have made its way into the press.  And I think we can count on the fact that the reporters would have been looking for one (especially that of a prominent person such as Marschall).   Those newspaper accounts that mention the details of how the flag came are unanimous that it was created by the flag committee.

In truth, design proposals had flooded in from all over, including many from the North.  With so many designs there were bound to be some that had one or more similarities to the final product, bringing about situations where various people might claim they designed the flag.

In fact, we know of such a design in the records of the Committee on Flag and Seal of the Confederate States Congress, submitted by someone from South Carolina.  That design resembles the First National, with some differences.  The stars are on a red field, instead of a blue field.  There are three bars, but instead of  top and bottom bars of  red, they are blue.

So the best evidence is that the Confederate Congress Committee on Flag and Seal came up with the design, as Miles reported.  But some individuals presented designs that were close enough to the final result that they could have believed they were the actual designer.  Any number of folks may have thought this was the case, but never made a case for it.  And we can be pretty sure others than Marschall and Smith spoke up, but we just don’t have a record of it.  (Bear in mind that both Nicola Marschall of Alabama and Orren R. Smith of North Carolina made their claims as the designers after the war was over – in the case of Smith way after the war.)

On the other hand, who am I to get in the way of a good feud?

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West Point Military Academy 1828

As was true of many generals on both sides of the Civil war, Robert E. Lee was a graduate of West Point with a distinguished military career.   This was so much the case that in April of 1861 Lincoln offered Lee command of Federal forces, an offer he turned down.   Let’s examine why.

Lee was an exceptional commander, holding out against an army three times larger than his own, his enemies far better equipped. Adored by his men, it can be said that he never asked more than he was willing to do himself.

Known as “Uncle Robert” to thousands of his troops, he inspired the kind of confidence that has to be felt to fully understand.  Once, in the chaos of the battle of Sayler’s Creek, Lee rode into the thick of his men.  He grabbed a Battle Flag, holding it high and facing the enemy while hot flames lit the scene.  These are the words of Capt. John Cooke:

“… The sight of him aroused a tumult.  Fierce cries resounded on all sides and, with hands clinched violently and raised aloft, the men called on him to lead them against the enemy.  ‘It’s General Lee!’  ‘Uncle Robert!’  ‘Where’s the man who won’t follow Uncle Robert?’  I heard on all sides – the swarthy faces full of dirt and courage, lit up every instant by the glare of the burning wagons.”

Taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee used a unique headquarters flag.  While the well-known Southern Cross was used on the field of battle itself, commanders typically used the National Flag of the Confederacy to indicate their headquarters location.  Lee’s flag was the First National Flag, with a distinctive star pattern.

R. E. Lee Headquarters Flag

The flag’s thirteen stars represent the eleven states that seceded and joined the Confederacy, along with Missouri and Kentucky which had strong Confederate leanings.  On Lee’s flag the stars are arranged in the so-called Bread of Life pattern.

It is thought that this flag was sewn by Lee’s wife and daughters. We are speculating at this point as we don’t have any first hand reports, but it is said that Mary Custis Lee used this pattern to represent the biblical Ark of the Covenant.  (Mary Custis was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington.)

We know this flag was flying up to and through the Gettysburg campaign of July 1863, and was likely used for months later.  It was preserved and still exists today.  Few flags are so well associated with a single man; fewer yet are still reproduced and flown in honor of an individual.

A final word on the man himself.  Today some may wonder why he and so many others chose their states over the union.  It may help to try to put ourselves in their position.  Let give you some words from a letter Lee wrote to his sister right after he resigned his commission is the United States Army:

“I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.”

How would it be to take arms against relatives, children and home?  One shudders to imagine.  So many today talk of the social and political issues behind these matters, and they were grave, indeed.  But for the individuals involved it was a matter of protecting the lives and homes of family and friends, or being with those who would destroy them.

So Lee saw his duty as first to his State of Virginia:

“If Virginia stands by the old Union, so will I. But if she secedes (though I do not believe in secession as a constitutional right, nor that there is sufficient cause for revolution), then I will follow my native State with my sword, and, if need be, with my life.”

Lee recognized the conflicting standards of his times.  His skills were amazing on the battlefield and in leading men, and in this he did what he thought was right.  It is easier to understand this when we consider the still-strong Southern love of family and the home.

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This story begins near Appomattox Courthouse, the 12th of April, 1865.  Battle-hardened Union and Confederate soldiers are facing each other across a road, both sides holding their weapons and flags.

But today there will be no fight.  Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia is here to surrender its arms, and Union Major General Chamberlain has been tasked to receive them.  Imagine yourself at this scene, and read the words of Gen. Chamberlain:

  “….the men face inward towards us across the road, twelve feet away; then carefully “dress” their line, each captain taking pains for the good appearance of his company….  They fix bayonets, stack arms; then, hesitatingly, remove cartridge-boxes and lay them down.”

Keep hold of this scene, the hesitant surrender of weapons.  Then read what Chamberlain wrote next:

“Lastly, reluctantly, with agony of expression, they tenderly fold their flags, battle-worn and torn, blood-stained, heart-holding colors, and lay them down; some frenziedly rushing from the ranks, kneeling over them, clinging to them, pressing them to their lips with burning tears.”

Is it any wonder that today many hold dear the Southern Cross, that battle flag of the Confederacy?  Those men of the South had been through fire and hell with that banner, and their passion has been passed down through the years. Let me give you one story of the 55^th North Carolina.

This unit had arrived to Gettysburg as an untried regiment, under its commander, Colonel J. K. Connally.  He and his men were advancing toward Union troops, along with two Mississippi regiments to their right.

NC Cherokee Veterans

Things heated up fast, and several color-bearers of the 55^th went down.  The colonel then seized the flag and moved forward, but was also shot.  Major Belo raced to his commander and asked if he was badly hit.  Connally replied, “Yes, but pay no attention to me!  Take the colors and keep ahead of the Mississippians.”

Story after story tells of men seizing the colors from those fallen, lofting it high and advancing toward the enemy.  It was often fatal to do so, and these men knew the risk.  They also knew the importance of that flag in battle, and thought first of the task at hand and guiding their fellows through the fight.  Union Sgt. Alfred Carpenter once described how he had seen Confederates “…stagger from their ranks by the scores, hundreds, thousands…  Time after time, these colors fall but are quickly caught up until scarcely a man is left around them.”

Many fly this flag still, honoring the memory of men who fought and died under it.

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There are so many stories of Texan courage in battle that a book about them would need sequel after sequel. In my last article on Texans in battle you heard tell of Audie Murphy of Hunt County, Texas, the most decorated soldier of World War II.  Well, let’s not forget fellow Texan Edward Keene, the only man in World War I to earn all three of the Army’s top medals:  Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star (twice).

Not to mention seven Purple Hearts.  Yep, that’s right, seven.  The man was not a quitter.

Heck, even the French got in on the act with four awards of valor, including its top medal (personally pinned on by the head of the French Army, Field Marshall Koch).  Oh yeah, I almost forgot:  two more countries were also busy making Keene’s dress uniform heavier, something I am not altogether sure a Texan really appreciates.  One can just imagine this fellow from Crockett, Texas, wondering what the fuss was all about.  After all, it was just family tradition:  his great grandfather had started it by participating in the Texas revolution.

Speaking of the Texas revolution, last time I happened to mention about the Alamo fighting ’til the last man fell.  Well, a month later Sam Houston’s Army of the Texas Republic was carrying on the Texas battle for independence.  Santa Anna’s Mexican army was pursuing Houston and his men, feeling pretty sure of themselves.  But the Texans got fed up with this, and Houston sent a few men to destroy a bridge that would have been Santa Anna’s only escape.  Then the outnumbered Texans lined up for the Battle of San Jacinto. 

Houston ordered the advance, and shouts of “Remember the Alamo” were heard.  The battle took 18 minutes.  630 of Santa Anna’s men were killed, another 730 captured.  The Texans lost nine men killed and 30 wounded (one of them Houston, who also had two horses shot out from underneath him).  The next morning Santa Anna was found hiding in the grass, dressed as a common foot soldier.

It does not pay to get overconfident when you are attacking Texas.

That battle changed everything, and shortly one million square miles were free and independent.  Of course, this is a blog about the Confederacy, so I guess I better get down to business.  Many Civil War stories come to mind, but let’s cover one that happened in Texas itself.

Union Gunboat Mendota

It was 1863, and the Yankees were pretty much having their way along the Texas coast.  Union gunboats were a real threat to the Texas interior because of the rivers that emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.  The commander of Confederate forces in Texas, General Magruder, quickly got a fort built at one of these vulnerable points:  Sabine Pass, where two rivers empty into the Gulf.  To man the fort Magruder sent the 42 men of the Davis Guards, an artillery unit.

These fellows of the Davis Guards had a bit of a reputation.  Seems they liked their drink, enjoyed a good brawl, and were not the model of respectability that some thought they ought to be.  These were Irish-Texans, after all, and I might as well confess the rest:  their commander, Dick Dowling, was a saloon owner, and a lot of the men in his unit were his customers.

A rowdy lot, indeed.  In fact, the Davis Guards had been ordered disbanded, but battle-hardened Gen. Magruder reversed that order.   He knew that while it might be ideal that a fellow was a fighter and a gentleman, it was not the manners of men that won battles.

Well, the brawlers of the Davis Guards settled into the fort and took up target practice with their cannons.  Good thing, too, because it was not long before four Union gunboats appeared, escorting a bunch of troop transports up the river – a total of 5000 Federals.  The fort was not supposed to be much of a challenge to this force.

Richard W. Dowling

The Texans sent a telegraph up to headquarters, but there was no way to get reinforcements in time.  The situation appeared hopeless, so top command ordered the Guards to destroy the fort and retreat.  But the way the order finally arrived to Dowling was that they had permission to retreat.  Dowling talked it over with his men and they decided to fight.  After all, it was just a few thousand of ‘em.

Dowling had most of his men hide below as the enemy approached, making the Federals overconfident – and we already know that’s a mistake when facing a Texan aiming to fight.

The gunboats started firing, the fort taking hits.  When the first gunboat got within 1000 yards, Dowling scrambled his men onto the battlements, and they opened fire.  One thing led to another, and the Texans blasted two of the gunboats, two vessels got grounded, and the whole thing was a mess for the attackers.  Most of the Union force withdrew, and two boats surrendered.

Now this surrender was a problem for Dowling. He did not need hundreds of prisoners to march up to the fort, only to discover he had but a few dozen men.  So Dowling waded out into the river to accept the Union surrender and arrange for their custody without risk to the fort.

The Texans had defeated an overwhelming force and taken no casualties, probably the most lopsided victory of the war.  And stopped an invasion to boot.

The consequences to the Union were disastrous.  If the federals had managed to land a force of thousands then the Texan heartland would have been at serious risk.  Instead, this Confederate victory made sure that the Union never got a foothold on the Texan interior, the only state to be able to make that claim.

Forty-two Texans can sure make a statement.

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The bravery of Texans was established long ago.  Most Americans know the story of the Alamo, defended without surrender, literally down to the last man.  It is also true that the most decorated combat soldier during World War II was a Texan:  Audie Murphy was not only awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, but all four of the Army’s top awards for valor – three of them repeatedly.

In researching the history of flags, I spend a lot of time reading copies of original documents.  Those records have more than their share of stories about Texans.   I’m going to give you a couple from the Civil War.

General John Bell Hood

The first is an event on May 7th, 1861, at Elthem’s Landing on the York River in Virginia.  Had to do with General John Bell Hood, a legendary name.  Seems that Union Gen. McClellan had been trying to get to Confederate General Johnston’s troops to engage them when they were vulnerable.  By the 7th of May Johnston was secure enough from serious harm, but his supply train was still at risk.  He sent Hood’s Brigade to ensure the supplies remained safe from attack.

Anyway, a force of a few thousand federals disembarked from river gunboats.  Now Johnston’s orders to Hood were, “…feel the enemy gently and fall back, avoiding an engagement, and draw them away from the protection of their gunboats…”  Hood, however, found the federals away from the protection of their gunboats.  So he attacked, and ended up driving them back a mile or two until they were again under the protection of the boats.  Hood’s Texans killed or wounded 300 and captured 126. The Texans loss was 37 killed or wounded.

We have this report of a later exchange between General Joseph E. Johnston and General Hood:

Johnston:  “General Hood, you have given an illustration of the Texas idea of feeling the enemy gently and falling back. What would you Texans have done, sir, if I had ordered you to charge and drive back the enemy?”

Hood:  “I suppose, general, they would have driven them into the river and tried to swim out and capture the gunboats.”

Small wonder Hood and his brigade of Texans are so well-known today.

Bear with me through another story that I like.  If you are a Civil War buff you may have heard the quote, but I bet you have never seen the full paragraph from the source, or the background on it.

Wolseley

One of the most popular British generals of the nineteenth century was Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913).  In 1861 Wolseley – then a colonel – was sent to Canada.  Union forces had taken two Confederate diplomats from a British ship, and his assignment was to help prepare for a possible war with the Union.  Wolseley decided to travel to the South, where he visited Robert E. Lee.  Wolseley wrote about his trip in an article, “A Month’s Visit to the Confederate Headquarters,” published in a British magazine in 1863.

This much we definitely know about Wolseley’s visit, but the colonel is often stated to be the man described in the famous statement below.  The quote is from a book entitled Hood’s Texas Brigade, written by Joseph Benjamin Polley and published in 1910.  Polley was battle-hardened himself, wounded at the battle of Gaines Mills in 1862, and losing his right foot near Richmond in October, 1864.  He later became an attorney and writer.  Here is what we find on page 239 of Hood’s Texas Brigade:

“In the matter of dress, as above indicated, the First Texans were neither dudes nor dandies. Their fondness for and frequent indulgence in games of cards, naturally had a disastrous effect upon the seats of their trousers. One day when the army was marching from Sharpsburg (Maryland) toward the Rapidan (river in Virginia), General Lee and a distinguished English guest sat on their horses by the roadside — Lee naming the commands by States as they passed, and the Englishman observant and critical, his look, that of admiration. As the First Texas filed by, though, the look changed to one of derision, and noting it, General Lee said : ‘ Never mind their raggedness. Colonel— the enemy never sees the backs of my Texans.’ ”

Chicamauga 1863

It has long been assumed that the “distinguished English guest” was Wolseley, and we can place the colonel with R. E. Lee in this period.  I will let you decide.  Nonetheless, Lee’s statement gives a sense of his high regard for his Texans.  (And believe me, this is hardly the only record we have of Lee’s praise of these men.)

I will say one last thing.  Hood was severely injured at Chickamauga.  I have been to Chickamauga  in northeast Georgia many times, and a more beautiful setting you will not find, but the sadness lingers to this day.  (Only Gettysburg was more bloody – and Hood was seriously wounded there, too).  At  Chickamauga Hood was so badly wounded that the surgeon sent his severed leg with him as Hood went behind the lines, so it could be buried with him.   Hood’s last order to the Texas Brigade paints the picture:

“Go ahead and stay ahead of everything.”

His men took his advice.  Hood wasn’t finished with the war, though, so he stubbornly lived.   Missing his  right leg, he was soon back leading his men in battle.  I suppose more than one Texan would say, “Well, sure, a man can ride with one leg.”

If you want more stories about Texans in battle, check out Part II of this series.

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Ft. Sumpter April 1861 Under Confederate Flag

By spring of 1861 seven states had left the Union, but majority sentiment in North Carolina was not in favor of secession.  Then came April 12^th and the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina.  The Confederate cannon fire resulted in no deaths and only minor injuries, but three days later came an announcement from Washington.

Today we think of April 15^th as the day Federal taxes are due, but in 1861 there was no income tax.  However, that date became charged with emotion for another reason.  President Lincoln issued a proclamation that included these words:

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the … number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations…”

The “said combinations” was the formation of a Confederate States of  America.  Secretary of war Seward told the North Carolina governor that his quota of troops was two regiments, a total of 1,560 officers and men.

Governor Ellis responded with, “You can get no troops from North Carolina.”

Discussions had been ongoing in the state about the question of secession, many leading citizens being involved.  One of these was Zebulon B. Vance, a man later to be twice elected governor of North Carolina.  When word arrived of Lincoln’s summons, Vance, with arms upraised, was in the middle of a talk about preserving the Union.  Here is what he later said:

“When my hand came down from that impassioned gesticulation, it fell slowly and sadly by the side of a secessionist.” 

Any chance of a peaceful resolution had vanished, and North Carolina secession became official on the 20^th of May, 1861.  A Constitutional Convention created a flag ordinance creating the banner we know today as the flag of the North Carolina Republic.

North Carolina troops were rightfully proud of their state flag, and used it throughout the war.  In fact, the people of North Carolina so admired this flag that no one can miss its influence on the existing state flag, adopted in 1885.  It has had only only minor changes since, and continues to bear the other date found on the Republic of North Carolina flag:  May 20, 1775.  This is the date of the so-called “Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence” in 1776.

The Mecklenburg Declaration was a resolution of the citizens of Mecklenburg County, N.C., stating that they had separated from Great Britain.  Let’s look at what led up to this.

In the early hours of April 19^th, 1775, British General Gage dispatched soldiers toward two locations in Massachusetts.  In Lexington his troops were to capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock.  In Concord they were to seize gunpowder.

Warned by riders such as Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott, about 70 American Minutemen swiftly gathered in Lexington to confront the 240 British Redcoats.  Facing off, both sides were wary, unsure of what would happen.  Suddenly a shot was fired, “The shot heard round the world.”  Outnumbered, the Minutemen suffered seven killed and the British marched onward to Concord, joined by additional Redcoat forces.

By this time American militias had been able to gather in Concord, and the tables were turned.  Lord Percy, who had led the British back to Boston after the Concord defeat, later wrote to London:

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

     The first American rebels had made their mark.

On May 19th, 1775, the elected representatives of Mecklenburg County met at the courthouse in Charlotte to discuss rising tensions with the British government. On the same day an express rider arrived with news of the battles of Lexington and Concord.  After hearing that British soldiers had killed and wounded fellow British citizens, resolutions were drawn up, including these words:

“…we the citizens of Mecklenburg County, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, …who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties—and inhumanly shed the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington.”

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.

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In Part II of this story we looked at how the design of the famous Southern Cross was conceived.  Here we look at how the first flags were made.

Once the design of the Confederate Battle flag had been worked out, the army needed some prototypes made.  This task fell to three ladies of Richmond, Virginia:   Constance Cary and her cousins, Hetty and Jennie Cary.  Constance later wrote:

Constance Cary

     “During the autumn of ‘61, to my cousins, Hetty and Jennie, and to me was entrusted the making of the first three battle flags of the Confederacy. They were jaunty squares of scarlet crossed with dark blue edged in white, the cross bearing stars to indicate the number of the seceded states. We set our best stitches upon them, edged with golden fringes, and, when they were finished, dispatched one to General Joseph Johnston, another to General Pierre Beauregard, and the last to General Earl Van Dorn. The banners were made from red silk for the fields and blue silk for the crosses.”

The borders had gold fringe, and 12 gold stars were painted onto the flags. Used only as headquarters flags and never in battle, these prototypes have survived.  The Jennie Cary flag, in the Louisiana State Museum, is in remarkably good shape.  You can see it at the link here.

Constance explained that the right material was hard to find, and that a lining had to be sewn to one of the flags for strength.  She also wrote:

     “It is generally stated by historians that these flags were constructed from our own dresses, but it is certain we possessed no wearing apparel in the flamboyant hues of poppy red and vivid dark blue required.”

Beauregard introduced the new banner to his officers at a dinner party on Nov. 27, 1861.  A reporter for the Richmond Daily Dispatch attended the event and afterwards wrote, “The flag itself is a beautiful banner, which, I am sure, before this campaign is over, will be consecrated forever in the affections of the people of the Confederate States.”

Once these first flags had passed muster, it was time to get them made for the men in the field.  The army ordered 120 silk flags, sewn by ladies of Richmond.  As noted in Part II, different sizes were produced for infantry, artillery and cavalry units.

It seems the army purchased much of the silk supply of Richmond.  Red fabric was scarce, so while the Cary cousins may have sewn flags with “jaunty squares of scarlet,” the only red-like colors available in sufficient supply in Richmond were either pink or rose.  The first flags issued to the men on the field were made of these lighter shades, not the red we know today. In fact, when some units from the Army of Northern Virginia were sent to help in east Virginia, a circular was issued to describe the flag the reinforcements would carry.  From that dispatch:  “…Pink Ground – Blue diagonal cross-bars with white stars along the bars – yellow border binding two inches wide.”

Yes, the first of these flags to see gunfire were pink.  But that did not diminish the pride held for them.  Colonel Thomas Jordan wrote the order issuing the flags:

                                                “Headquarters 1^st Corps Army of the Potomac,

                                                            Near Centreville, Nov. 28^th, 1861

General Orders, No. 75.

     A new banner is entrusted to-day, as a battle-flag, to the safe keeping of the Army of the Potomac.  Soldiers: Your mothers, your wives, and your sisters have made it.  Consecrated by their hands, it must lead you to substantial victory, and the complete triumph of our cause. It can never be surrendered, save to your unspeakable dishonor, and with consequences fraught with immeasurable evil.  Under its untarnished folds beat back the invader, and find nationality, everlasting immunity from an atrocious despotism, and honor and renown for yourselves – or death.

     By command of General Beauregard.”

In Jordan’s words we can see the intense value these flags had for the soldiers that followed them.  One of them was issued to the North Carolina Fourth Regiment on December 8, and in a letter to his mother the following day, a North Carolina soldier wrote the following:

“We are expecting a battle daily. Yesterday we were presented with a battle flag from General Beauregard….  This is for us to fight under and also every other regiment has one. The enemy knows our national flag and had already tried to deceive us by hoisting it at their head. Now I guess we will deceive them next time.”

And so the first Southern Cross Battle Flags went onto the field and into history.

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By the summer of 1861 there was a pressing need for a Confederate Battle Flag that was distinctly different  from the flag of the North.

In Part I of this series we covered how catastrophe was narrowly averted for the Confederacy at Manassas, the first major battle of the Civil War.  Here are the words of General Thomas Jordan in a letter written to General Beauregard (Jordan was a colonel at Manassas):

     “…I distinctly recollect that the origin of our battle-flag was due to the trouble which arose, as you say, at the battle of Manassas, in consequence of the similarity between the Confederate and Federal flags…. I recollect myself that, after the battle was over, and I had ridden in advance, I saw a flag with a regiment well in advance of me, that I was for the time confident must be the Federal flag, and which I could not believe could be ours from its appearance, even when very close to it.  It was only the appearance of the men that gave me confidence to approach.”

William Porcher Miles

General Beauregard was determined that the trouble at Manassas not happen again.  One of his military aides was William Porcher Miles, who was also a Confederate Congressman from South Carolina.  One of his duties was serving on the Flag Committee, where he had championed a rejected flag design, one congressman describing it as “a pair of suspenders.”  Miles told the general of this rejected design, and Beauregard agreed that it would make a good flag for the Confederacy.

Miles suggested to the Committee that a new national flag be adopted so as to avoid confusion on the battlefield.  But the committee refused to replace the national “Stars and Bars,” as it had come to be known.

Beauregard then decided there should be a separate flag for battle.  On the 4^th of September, 1861, he wrote to Miles:

“I regret to hear of the failure about the change of flag; but what can be done is, to authorize commanding generals in the field to furnish their troops with a ‘field, or battle-flag,’ which shall be according to your design…”

     The next day Beauregard wrote in a letter to his immediate superior, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston:

     “Dear General, Colonel Miles informs me that they voted down any change to our flag by a vote of four to one, he being alone in favor of it.  I wrote to him to propose that we should then 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 in the matter.  How would it do for us to address the War Dept. on the subject for a supply of regimental, war … flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally, on which shall be introduced the stars – the edge of the flag to be trimmed all around with white, yellow, or gold fringe?  We would then, on the field of battle, know our friends from our enemies.”

Fairfax Courthouse During Civil War

An historic meeting soon took place in the town of Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia.   The purpose was to work out the details of the proposed battle flag.  A number of officers were in attendance, including generals Beauregard and Johnston.  We have letters that were written later by some of these officers, including one from Johnston to Beauregard:

“…after the battle of Manassas… I attempted to procure, from the different Southern States, State flags for their regiments.  Only the Virginia regiments were supplied in this way, however, when, you and other leading officers concurring as to the necessity, I determined to have colors made by the Quartermaster’s Department.  Many designs, drawn by members of the army, were offered – most by you…. I selected one of those you offered, but changed the shape to square, and fixed the size:  colors of infantry to be four feet, of artillery three, and standards (for cavalry) to be two and a half. …

The now-famous design for the Confederate Battle Flag had been established.  Next, a model was needed.  Part III will look at how this was done, and what the very first Battle Flags looked like. 

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Bull Run during Civil War

Signaled by a cannon’s roar at 5:30 AM, General McDowell’s Union army attacked across a Virginia stream known as Bull Run (a run is a small stream or brook).  It was still dark and the green  troops had a hard time making their way, but soon the battle was in full rage.

It was July 21st of 1861, in Manassas, Virginia.  Confederate General Beauregard was in tactical command of the Southern troops.  Advantages went back and forth throughout the day, but General Joseph E. Johnston had brought reinforcements by train and things were looking good.  Then, Beauregard saw a column of troops maneuvering to his left. In his own words:

    “At their head waved a flag which I could not distinguish. Even by a strong glass I was unable to determine whether it was the United States flag or the Confederate flag.  At this moment I received a dispatch from Capt Alexander, in charge of the signal station, warning me to look out for the left; that a large column was approaching in that direction, and that it was supposed to be Gen. Patterson’s command coming to reinforce McDowell.  At this moment, I must confess, my heart failed me.”

Confederate Private Carlton McCarthy, a witness to this event, described it in a book he wrote after the war:

     “General Beauregard tried again and again to decide what colors they carried.  He used his glass repeatedly, and handling it to others begged them to look, hoping their eyes might be keener than his.”

     “General Beauregard was in a state of great anxiety…”

The general knew that his men, worn and exhausted from hours of fighting, would not be able to hold out against an additional attack by fresh troops.  He wrote:

     “I came, reluctantly, to the conclusion that after all our efforts, we should at last be compelled to yield to the enemy the hard fought and bloody field.”

Beauregard instructed one of his officers to go to the rear and inform Gen. Johnston to prepare reserves to support the retreat. But just as the officer turned to go, Beauregard told him to wait:

     “I took the glass and again examined the flag. … A sudden gust of wind shook out its folds, and I recognized the stars and bars of the Confederate banner.”

Private McCarthy described it this way:

     “Suddenly a puff of wind spread the colors to the breeze.  It was the Confederate flag – the Stars and Bars!  it was Early with the twenty-fourth Virginia, the Seventh Louisiana, and the Thirteenth Mississippi…  Beauregard turned to his staff right and left, saying ‘See that! The day is ours!’ and ordered an immediate advance.”

The flag Beauregard recognized was the Confederate First National Flag, at the front of Colonel Hay’s 7th Louisiana Volunteers.  The 7th was part of Jubal Early’s brigade that was launching an attack on the Union flank.  Early’s attack helped turn the tide, and the First Battle of Manassas ended in a resounding Confederate victory.

Streams of Union soldiers began racing to the rear, many of them rushing by Congressmen, reporters and other onlookers who had come to picnic and watch the rebels be defeated.  Only now the Federals were in rapid and disorderly retreat to Washington, only 25 miles distant.

Beauregard’s uncertainty could have proved pivotal, but confusion about the flags was widespread on both sides.  Thirteen years later General Johnston wrote these words:

“It was generally believed by those with whom I was in the habit of conversing, just after the battle of Manassas, that some of the Federal regiments bore Confederate colors in the action, and Northern papers contained similar accusations against us.”

The truth was that Southerners had a deep attachment to George Washington and the flag their fathers and grandfathers had adopted.   As a result, the national flag of the Confederacy was strikingly similar to the Union Stars and Stripes.

Both Union and Confederate troops were plagued by this problem.  A solution was needed, and Beauregard put things in motion that would make history:  the creation of the Confederate Battle Flag.  In Part II of this story the flag design and approval will unfold.

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It was June of 1863, in Mississippi, and “…rain fell in torrents flooding the streams, the roads became impassable, and country bridges were washed away. Vicksburg was being besieged by Grant, and reinforcements were ordered…  Chunkey River intervened and the bridge across the river was submerged…. The engineer was under military orders, and his long train of cars was filled with Confederate soldiers, who like the engineer, were animated with but one impulse, to Vicksburg! to victory or death!

“Onward rushed the engineer. All passed over except the hindmost car. The bridge had swerved … into the raging waters with nearly one hundred soldiers the rear car….   “Help!” was the cry, but there was no help.”

For those men trapped in the river, hope was fading fast.  All would have been lost but for one thing:  the 1^st Choctaw Battalion was at a Confederate camp nearby.  The quotes above are from their commander, Col. Spann, who continued:

“…in less time than I can tell the story every Indian was at the scene. It was there that Jack Amos again displayed his courage and devotion to the Confederate soldiers (Jack’s true name was E-aht-onte-ube). I must not omit to say, however, that with a like valor and zeal Elder Williams, another full-blood Indian soldier, proved equal to the emergency….  Led by these two dauntless braves, every Indian present stripped and plunged into that raging river to the rescue of the drowning soldiers. Ninety-six bodies were brought out upon a prominent strip of land above the water line. Twenty-two were resuscitated and returned to their commands…”

E-aht-onte-ube name meant “Going Out There to Kill.”  This courageous man was the grand-nephew of the great chief Pushmatah, but known to his white friends as Jack Amos.

The Native Americans of the Choctaw Nation fought with the South in the Civil War, and were renowned by those who knew them as being without fear.

When the Choctaw allied themselves with the Confederacy, they became the first United States tribe to adopt a flag.  It was blue with a red circle in the center, the circle edged with white.  Within the red were the white shapes of a peace pipe, a bow, and arrows.  The Choctaw seal of today draws on this same image.

Renditions of the Choctaw Brigade Flag still fly today, honoring the brave men who found beside it.

In 1861 the Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles formed (the Chickasaw are another Native American nation of the same area).  Over 1000 Choctaw warriors dressed as they saw fit, some wearing Euro-American clothing, others traditional garb.  These warriors were fierce fighters, and were described as being at their best in close-quarter skirmishes or serving as sharpshooters.

These men were highly skilled as “scouts and pilots through pathless swamps and jungles and over boundless prairies.”    It was said that “none but the truly brave and purely honest at heart could command the Indian soldiers, but for such the Indian would die in the execution of a command.”

In 1863 a brigade commanded by Col. Cooper included a regiment of the Native Americans.  During an engagement, facing superior Union artillery and coping with poor Confederate powder imported from Mexico, Federal troops defeated Cooper and forced him into the Choctaw Nation. Cooper later wrote in his report that his retreating units were saved from capture by the aggressive rearguard actions of the Choctaw and Chickasaw regiment. He said at the end of his report “… [The] Choctaws behaved bravely, as they always do.”

Loyalty and honor were very prominent attributes of the Choctaw.  Confederate Captain S. S. Scott wrote that “…not only had no member of that nation ever gone over to the enemy but that no Indian had ever done so in whose veins coursed Choctaw blood. …  Be it ever remembered that as a Confederate soldier he never betrayed a trust, nor did one of them ever desert our flag.”

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We all know about the Southern rebellion we now call the Civil War.  And many know and love the Bonnie Blue Flag, cherished as a symbol of the rebellious and freedom-loving spirit that still lives in so many in the South – and yes, other Americans across our land.  It is best known as a flag of the Rebels of the Civil War, as we will cover.  But the Bonnie Blue’s heritage goes deeper, into an earlier rebellion in a Southern land before it was even part of the United States.

It was September of 1810, and a troop of men about 60 strong rode out in revolt against the Spanish Governor in Baton Rouge.   These men were commanded by Philemon Thomas, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War.  Thomas had run away from home at the age of 17 to fight for American independence, “…in spite of the fact his father, fearing such a move, had locked up his clothes.”

At Thomas’ side was Major Issac Johnson, whose wife Melissa had made their flag just days before:

“At the head of the column rode a flag-bearer. The banner that waved in the early morning breeze from the staff he carried was a strange one, all blue, like the azure of the sky, in its center a single five-pointed gleaming white star.”

These men lived in West Florida, a strip of land along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, not very wide north and south, but extending from the Florida panhandle well into Louisiana.  A large number of people living in this territory were English speaking folk, despite the fact that West Florida was then owned by Spain.

The rebellion did not spring out of nowhere.  These people, used to the traditional rights of British subjects or American citizens, did not take warmly to the authoritarian rule of Spain.  And while many wanted to work out their differences with the Spanish rulers, there was another issue.

West Florida had a significant number of inhabitants of French descent.  No problem there, but actions were afoot by a few of them to try to bring West Florida under the control of Napoleon Bonaparte.  Bonaparte was a malicious dictator who was busy waging war on anyone he could find, having wiped out much of the gains the French had made in their own revolution.

The threat of Napoleonic rule was not going down well with the freedom-loving sons of Britain and America.

Things came to a head when these men discovered that Governor de Lassus had requested additional troops from East Florida.  “From now on it was to be war! The sword was to take the place of the crow quill!”

So it was that the now-rebels set out to wrest control of their land.  Not two weeks later they captured Baton Rouge and its governor with no loss to themselves.  On the 23^rd of September, 1810, they raised the Bonnie Blue over the fort they now commanded.  Three days later a Declaration of Independence was signed, and the new Republic of West Florida was born.

Meanwhile in Washington, President James Madison had been kept closely informed of what was transpiring.  One thing led to another, and 75 days later West Florida was annexed to the United States:  the Stars and Stripes was now flying in West Florida.  However, the Bonnie Blue was on its way to lasting fame.

Twenty-nine years later the Republic of Texas was in rebellion against Santa Anna of Mexico.  The Texans adopted a similar national flag, replacing the white star with a golden one.  We know it today as the Burnet Flag, and it is still proudly flown by many.  Burnet, the provisional president of Texas, had lived in Louisiana, and certainly knew the legend of the flag of West Florida.

We come now to 9 January 1861 and Mississippi’s secession from the Union.  Upon the announcement, a large blue flag bearing a single white star was raised over the capitol building in Jackson.  Two days later, in Montgomery, Alabama announced its secession, and Bonnie Blue flags were displayed throughout the city.

One of those who witnessed the raising of the Bonnie Blue in Jackson, Mississippi, was Harry McCarthy.  He was so impressed that he wrote a song entitled, “ The Bonnie Blue Flag”.  It was destined to be one of the most loved songs in the Confederacy, second only in popularity to “Dixie.”

This song spread the lore of the Bonnie Blue far and wide, across the Confederacy and into the hearts of Southerners to this day:

We are a band of brothersAnd native to the soil….

The cry rose near and far–“Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue FlagThat bears a single star!”

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Flags were a vital part of the Civil War battlefield.  They guided soldiers into and through a battle, and identified other groups of men as friend or foe.  Commanders used them to help know what was going on in the disorder and chaos of the field.

Loss of a flag might mean troop confusion, and lead to disaster. A unit’s flag was a source of pride, and its capture could lower morale or bring shame.  In fact, the Union issued many medals for capturing an enemy flag, or saving their own.

It is no wonder men valued them so much, and still do today.

A unit’s flag, or “colors,” was the responsibility of a Color Guard.  This was typically a squad of eight corporals and a color sergeant.  In battle these men took up formation in front of and alongside of the flag.  If the color bearer himself was hit, another member took up the flag.

As you can imagine, the color bearer was a tempting target.  This was certainly the case when the 26th North Carolina Regiment was ordered forward at Gettysburg.  Within ten minutes nine men went down carrying the battle flag, men we know the names of to this day.  A tenth man, unnamed, took it up and kept moving.  The entire color guard was lost, but another soldier had stepped up as the regiment raced on.

In the words of the Union colonel of the opposing 24th Michigan “Iron Brigade,” the Southerners “came on with rapid strides, yelling like demons” as they swept into the Union lines.  The battle raged, and Lieutenant Blair of the 26th saw the flag was again on the ground.  Knowing how many had been lost carrying it, he exclaimed, “no man can take those colors and live.” Regardless, Lt. Colonel Lane, now commanding the 26th, picked up the flag and yelled, “twenty-sixth, follow me.”  Lane became the 14th man to fall that day while carrying the flag.  (Lane recovered and returned to command the 26^th until the end of the war, though not without sustaining several more serious wounds).

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.  Whether of humble thread and origin, or of the finest silk and carefully sewn, war is hard on a flag.  A Union Officer had this to say after seeing some Confederate battle flags from Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg:

These ‘Rebel’ flags were mostly homemade affairs…. Torn by battle, dirty, and cheap looking, no wonder our boys designated them ‘rebel rags.’

Though scorned by this man, those “rebel rags” had a value to the Southern soldier that is hard to put into words.  We Americans are rightly proud of our Stars and Stripes, and the sight of it flying can make us stand tall, but few of us revere the early flags of the United States as so many Southerners today honor the Southern cross of the Confederacy.  All these years later it can still represent the tough, persistent and, yes,  sometimes rebellious character of the Southern man and woman.

The words of one man describe well the meaning of this flag to those who served under it.  Randolph Harrison McKim enlisted as a Confederate private, and rose to be a lieutenant and a chaplain in that army.  After the war he served for 32 years as the pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C.  This is from a speech he gave to the United Confederate Veterans at their 1904 reunion in Nashville, Tennessee:

This is now for us an indissoluble Union of indestructible States. We are loyal to that starry banner…And yet, to-day, while that banner of the Union floats over us, we bring the offering of our love and loyalty to the memory of the flag of the Southern Confederacy.

     More than 100 years later these words still ring true for many.  Most have cast off certain values that gripped so many in both North and South of the nineteenth century.   But other timeless virtues are still embodied in the men and women of the South, and for many them this flag is a symbol of that spirit.

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