THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 3

FLAGS AND SYMBOLS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES

From 1641, when Massachusetts first legalized slavery, until 1865, when the Confederate struggle for independence ended, slavery was a legal institution in America. The Confederate battle flag flew for 4 of those 224 years, but the U.S. flag and its colonial predecessors flew over legalized slavery for ALL of those 224 years. It was the U.S. flag that the slave first saw, and it was the U.S. flag that flew on the mast of New England slaves ships as they brought their human cargo to this country. It is clear, that those who attack the Confederate flag as a reminder of slavery are overlooking the most guilty of all reminders of American slavery, the U.S. flag.

The following information is provided as a general guide to the flags of the Confederate States of America. There were many variations in the flags and particularly the battle flags. This chapter will provide good background information on the CSA flags but cannot in the space provided cover all the variations, materials, colors, and times of service. There are many works that focus just on the battle flag variations and students are encouraged to review those works referenced.
We would also like to gratefully acknowledge Devereaux D. Cannon Jr. and Greg Biggs for valuable information shared over the years within their research and publications. A great deal of their work has been compiled here, however certainly endorse the purchase of their works for the serious student of Confederate flags to get the full and complete history.

Objective: To develop an awareness of the history behind the flags and symbols of the Confederate States of America and to dispel myths about them being hateful or racist in origin.

Flags of the Confederate States of America Government

National flags are those that identify a nation. These flags were very important and a matter of great pride to those citizens in the Confederate States of America. It is also a matter of great pride for their ancestors as part of their heritage and history. For the first 24 days, the Confederate government had no officially approved flag. The capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama flew the State flag of Alabama. When Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President of the Confederacy, the inaugural parade was led by a company of infantry carrying the State flag of Georgia.

History does not record who made the first Georgia state flag, when it was made, what it looked like, or who authorized its creation. Probably, the banner originated in one of the numerous militia units that existed in antebellum Georgia.

In 1861, a new provision was added to Georgia's code requiring the governor to supply regimental flags to Georgia militia units assigned to fight outside the state. These flags were to depict the "arms of the State" and the name of the regiment, but the code gave no indication as to the color to be used on the arms or the flag's background. In heraldry, "arms" refers to a coat of arms, which is the prominent design–usually shown on a shield–located at the center of an armorial bearing or seal. Arms usually appear on seals, but they are not synonymous with seals. Based on the best available evidence, the flag at right is a reconstruction of the pre-1879 Georgia state flag as it would have appeared using the coat of arms from the 1799 state seal.

The Great Seal of the Confederacy A committee on Flag and Seal was appointed by the Provisional Congress, the chairman of the committee was William P. Miles of South Carolina. Hundreds of flag designs were received from all over the new nation and from the now foreign country of the United States. There was an unwritten deadline for a flag design of 4 March 1861 because that was the day Lincoln was to be inaugurated president of the United States. On that date the Confederate States were determined to fly a flag to express their own sovereignty.

There were 3 major "official" flags of the Confederate nation from 1861 to 1865, but many people only know of the "Battle Flag", which was not a national flag at all.