Ancestry of the Confederate Battle Flag (conclusion)

Summary

The colours of the Battle Flag are in fact those of the British Union Flag, but interpreted as emblems of American republicanism. Miles, on presenting the Stars and Bars to Provisional Congress:  

The three colors of which its is composed, red, white and blue, are the true republican colors. In heraldry, they are emblematic of the three great virtues.—of valor, purity, and truth. (Preble p.506)

The cross is both the constellation Southern Cross, pointing away from the North, and the symbol of a revealed religion endorsing slavery. It was turned diagonally to make it more acceptable to protestants and Jews. In its new form, Miles even discovered some additional value:

the 'saltire' of heraldry, significant of strength and progress (from the Latin salto, to leap). (Preble p.514)

The stars represent the States in the Confederacy, forming (yet another) "new constellation in the firmament of nations".

The end 

On November 6, 1865, at Liverpool, England, CSS Shenandoah lowered the last Confederate Flag, the naval version of the Stainless Banner that had succeded to the Stars and Bars.

This flag had been a suggestion of William Tappan Thompson, editor of the 'Savannah Morning News'. On April 23, 1863 he wrote

Our idea is simply to combine the present battle-flag with a pure white standard sheet. (...) As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause. Upon a red field would stand forth our Southern Cross, gemmed with the stars of our confederation, all combined, preserving in beautiful contrast the red, white, and blue. (Preble p.524)

and five days later

Such a flag would be a suitable emblem of our young confederacy, and, sustained by the brave hearts and strong arms of the South, it would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as THE WHITE MAN'S FLAG. (Preble p.525)

 Epilogue

The Confederate States of America died a violent death at the hands of invading armies in 1865, and thus it was "proven" that secession was wrong... that no portion of the American people could elect a path of political self-determination so long as a more powerful section opposed them. (...)

The flags of the Confederacy represented the aspirations of a brave and resourceful people who determined to strike out on their own and carve their place among the nations of the earth. Their desire to live under a government based upon "the consent of the governed" should be respected; and their tenacity in attempting to preserve their chosen government, though in vain, must be admired. The people of the Confederate States of America earned for their flags an honored place among the sacred relics of human endeavor. (Cannon, p. 73)

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Ancestry of the Confederate Battle Flag (4)

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Charleston, South Carolina, December 20, 1860.

In 1860, a convention of the people of South Carolina (Columbia, December 17 - Charleston, December 20) decided to secede from the Union. In the revolutionary climate of the day, new flags and banners of various designs were all over Charleston and Columbia. As the symbol of State sovereignty the convention adopted the flag that became known as the South Carolina Sovereignty Flag.

South Carolina Sovereignty Flag, 1860

The crescent and palmetto tree were traditional elements of South Carolinian flags, but the field of the new flag was red instead of blue. Several other new flags, too, had a revolutionary red field or a red star. Interestingly, Chester County had a Sovereignty Flag, preserved till today, with the colours red and blue reversed, which set the crescent and palmetto in their traditional blue field.

Chester County Sovereignty Flag

Evidently, the fifteen stars represent the "slave states", and the larger central star is the sovereign State of South Carolina. No name of a designer is known, but George William Bagby, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger based in Richmond, Virginia, surely was very early and very eloquent in proposing the Southern Cross with fifteen stars, Christian interpretation included. In an editorial letter dated "Dec. —, 1860" he writes

Let us by all means have this glorious Confederacy. Let us achieve a Revolution worthy of our patriot fathers. Let us throw off a tyranny infinitely more hideous than that of George the Third. Let us tear from the national flag the fifteen stars which the despots of the North have attempted to sully with the imputation of barbarism. Let us give these stars a double brilliance by forming them into a cross—the Southern Cross—emblem of that pure and holy religion which has been reviled, trampled and spit upon in the interest of Abolitionism. Under this sacred banner, under this Southern Cross, which symbolizes the holiness of our cause, and points the way our march of empire tends—under this sublime banner, let us fight for our honour, for our rights, for our homes; let us fight for our wives, our children, and our aged sires, whom the mercenary hordes of the North would fain deliver over to the sword of the invader and the pike of the negro insurrectionist. (Messenger, vol. 32, January 1861, pp. 75-76, full text here or here.)

The South Carolina Sovereignty Flag differs from Bagby's description only in its references to that particular state.

Montgomery, Alabama, February 9, 1861.

In February 1861, the Confederate Provisional Congress gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to draft a new Constitution. At the same time, it wanted to adopt a new National Symbol for the Confederacy, which gave rise to an informal flag competition. Some 120 designs were submitted, a few dozens featuring a cross of some kind (Bonner p.22). The debates on the flag designs were open to the public, and much comments were made in the press and in countless individual letters. On February 9, Christopher Gustavus Memminger, later cabinet member, presented to the convention the following design "sent by the young ladies of Charleston, S.C." It had seven stars, six for the States already represented in this Congress, and the seventh for Texas, whose deputies we hope will soon be on their way to join us.

These were his words while presenting the flag.

Mr. President, the idea of union, no doubt, was suggested to the imagination of the young ladies by the beauteous constellation of the Southern Cross, which the great Creator has placed in the southern heavens, by way of compensation for the glorious constellation at the north pole. The imagination of the young ladies was, no doubt, inspired by the genius of Dante and the scientific skill of Humboldt. But, sir, I have no doubt that there was another idea associated with it in the minds of the young ladies,—a religious one,—and although we have not seen in the heavens the 'In hoc signo vinces,' written upon the laburnum of Constantine, yet the same sign has been manifested to us upon the tablets of the earth; for we all know that it has been by the aid of revealed religion that we have achieved over fanatism the victory which we this day witness; and it is becoming, on this occasion, that the debt of the South to the cross should be thus recognized. (Preble p.502)

The ideas and the words could have been Bagby's, with the number of stars reduced from fifteen to six-and-counting. While an ever varying number implies an ever varying flag, the smaller number of stars has the advantage of stronger resembling the real constellation Southern Cross, which is traditionally represented with only five.

Along with the flag above, Memminger presented a similar one, "a commission from a gentleman of taste and skill in the city of Charleston", with the cross "upon a different ground" and with fifteen stars. This sounds very much like Chester County Sovereignty Flag, again without the references to South Carolina.

Montgomery, Alabama, March 4, 1861.

The Provisional Congress had established a Committee on Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina. On March 4, 1861, the day Lincoln was to be inaugurated in the North, the Committee submitted to the Congress a shortlist of four designs to chose from. The flag hoisted later that day was the unfortunate Stars and Bars. Among the three losing finalists was this one, which chairman Miles, in a later letter, called "my design" (Preble p. 516).

Miles, who was knowledgeable in heraldry, had eliminated an heraldic error by adding a white fillet separating red and blue, at the same time making the white colour (one of the "republican" threesome) more conspicuous. Most importantly, he had turned the upright cross into a heraldic saltire. Chairing the Flag Committee, he was aware of the objections that had been raised to the cross. Protestants found it either blasphemy or superstition, and Jews—with 25,000 a significant presence in the Confederacy, some holding important positions— objected to "the attempt to encapsulate religion with government" (Bonner p. 101). Miles integrated all these aspects skilfully and deliberately. In a letter dated August 27, 1861, he writes

The three colors of red, white, and blue were preserved in it. It avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed up-right (...) It would not do to put a blue cross on a red field. Hence the white, being metal argent, is put on the red, and the blue put on the white. (Preble p. 514)

Unfortunately, a St. Andrew's cross does not allow seven stars to be arranged symmetrically, and this unbalanced impression may have contributed to its being rejected.

Army of the Potomac, September 1861

To avoid further confusion on the battle field, the confederate generals Johnston, Smith and Beauregard decided to adopt a battle flag for their forces. Beauregard:

Many designs were presented, and we gave the preference to the one offered by Col. J. B. Walton, commanding the Washington Artillery, which corresponded closely to one recommended by Col. Miles to Congress as our first National flag. Both were oblong; the field was red; the bars blue, and the stars white; but Col. Walton's had the Latin cross, and Col. Miles's the St. Andrew's, which removed the objection that many of our soldiers might have to fight under the former symbol. Gen. Johnston preferred a square flag, to render it more convenient to carry; and we finally adopted, in September, 1861, the well known 'battle flag' of the Army of the Potomac (as it was first called), to which our soldiers became so devoted.

Its field was red or crimson, its bars were blue, and running diagonally across from one corner to the other, and the stars on them were white or gold, their number being equal to the number of States in the Confederacy; the blue bars were separated from the red field by a small fillet. (Preble p.512)

So Walton's design (below; actual number and arrangement of stars unknown)

Walton's Battle Flag

was, at the last moment, traded for Miles's (below). 

Miles's Battle Flag

Both Beauregard and Johnston say that they had chosen the former, and Walton himself wrote of his design's adoption by the conference of officers, and subsequent modification to correspond with Colonel Miles's draft. (Preble p.515) It looks as if there has been some external pressure, by Miles or others, with respect to the objection that many of our soldiers might have, to fight under the former symbol [the Christian cross].

The asymmetry in Miles's flag had fortunately been lifted, because twelve stars could be added: by that time, there were eleven states in the Confederacy and Missouri had also seceded.

Army of the Potomac, November 28, 1861

Late November, 1861, the new banners were issued to the troops, with the following words by Beauregard.

Headquarters 1st corps army of the Potomac, near Centreville, Nov. 28th, 1861.

General Orders, No. 75.

A new banner is intrusted 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. 

  Thomas Jordan, A. A.-Genl.

December 10, 1861, Kentucky was admitted as 13th state in the Confederacy, and the battle flag acquired its final form featuring 13 stars.

P.S. The colours and shapes in our illustrations (taken or adapted from the internet) should in no way be regarded as exact. There has never been any "confederate uniformity", and flags varied a lot. Stars, for instance, pointed every way and were often very clumsily arranged. Patriot ladies sewing flags used the materials at hand, and they were not afraid to throw in some of their own imagination. Thus the first three battle flags manufactured had fancy gold leaf instead of white, no doubt because generals prefer golden stars. Beauregard himself describes the stars on his battle flag as white or gold. So much for the republican emblems red-white-blue that Miles had been so careful to preserve!

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Ancestry of the Confederate Battle Flag (3)

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George Washington's legacy: a constellation

When George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army, he designed a personal standard. The original flag is preserved, and features an array of thirteen 6-pointed stars, facing in all directions, on a blue field.

Washington's Commander-in-Chief Flag, 1775

Clearly, each star represented one of the seceding colonies. In European heraldry, political or geographical units had been represented by stars before; such was the case in 17th century Wallis, Switzerland. (See here.) 

On June 14, 1777,  the Marine Committee of Continental Congress resolved That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. The configuration or individual shape of the stars was not fixed though, and there have been multiple designs and forms. Below is one example.

Flag of the USA, June 1777

The members of the Marine Committee were more explicit than Washington in calling his configuration of stars a new constellation. The blue background of the canton, originally the daylight sky above Scotland, was now definitely a starred night sky. It is traditionally interpreted as the firmament of nations, though no contemporary source appears to use that expression.

Washington, a slave-holding Virginian, was so esteemed by his seceding fellow-southerners, that he's the central element in the Great Seal of their Confederacy. His catching idea of a new constellation, integrated in the flag of the United States, was copied in the multiple confederate flag designs that used stars to represent the seceded states in their new constellation. The Confederacy even found in the night sky of the deep south of Texas and Florida a constellation to cherish: Crux in Latin, the Southern Cross. Here is how it was seen low in the sky of Miami, in confederate Florida, on April 30, 1861, 22:10. (Courtesy Sky View Café)

 The segments outlining the constellations are, of course, purely conventional—as are the constellations themselves. The Southern Cross is a very small constellation, with Acrux or Alpha Crucis as its brightest star. With three other bright stars, it forms a neat cross, with a fifth bright star unfortunately spoiling the symmetry. 

The symbolism of the Southern Cross would have been evident to every seceding southerner. In the lower latitudes and throughout the southern hemisphere, it replaces the northern Polar Star: an infallible celestial guide, it points to the south pole—away from the North. Moreover, being undeniably a cross, it stood for Christian values, including slavery (endorsed by the bible, let's not forget it). It quickly became part of confederate poems and songs (here a fine example). In a stylized form, it also turned up in flags. Since the days of the confederacy, there have been several modern nations proudly displaying the Southern Cross in their flag, and it is invariably shown in its natural position: standing upright, as it appears on the horizon of Miami above. The confederates were not the first rebels to use the Southern Cross for an emblem. Six years earlier, it had been the war flag of the 'Eureka Rebellion' at Ballarat, Australia. (More about the event here.) On this flag, which is preserved, the five bright stars of the Southern Cross are arranged symmetrically upon a white cross. 

Southern Cross flag of the Eureka Rebellion, 1854

 

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Ancestry of the Confederate Battle Flag (2)

(continuation)

The British legacy: three colours

Tracing back the oldest ingredients of the confederate battle flag, one ends up in Scotland. Near Athelstaneford, in 832AD, an army of Scots and Picts defeated, against all odds, a much larger force of Angles. Legend has it that during the battle white clouds formed an X-shaped cross in the blue sky, and that's how St. Andrew, crucified on such a cross, became the patron saint of Scotland, and Scotland's flag became a white St. Andrew's cross on a blue field.

Scotland

Some five centuries later, England adopted a red cross on a white field, being the arms of Saint George (Perrin pp. vi and 36). There is so much similarity between this warrior saint and the archangel —also called "saint"— Michael that it seems likely that the former was some re-edition of the latter. Anyhow, Michael is also slaying dragons wearing a shield or a banner with a red cross on white. A flaming sword is also seen in his hands. The cross on the shield is the emblem of Christianity facing its enemies, and "red" traditionally refers to blood and fire, symptoms of battle. In St. George's case, it may also refer to his martyrdom. The white background, of course, reflects purity.

England

In 1606, the kingdoms of Scotland and England came to be ruled by the same king, who established a new flag: Azure, the Cross Saltire of St Andrew Argent surmounted by the Cross of St George Gules, fimbriated of the second, being: on top of the Scottish flag the English flag with its white field shrunk to a small border around the cross.

British Union (flag), 1606-1801

At sea, the Union was placed as a canton on an ensign with a red, white or blue field. In and around British America mostly the Red Ensign was seen. The three ensigns correspond to the three colours of the Union Flag. If so, the red in the Red Ensign is that of Saint Michael/George. The "canton with the Union" was also called "union" for short.

British Red Ensign, 1620-1801

December 2, 1775, an American rebel at sea altered the Red Ensign by adding six white stripes, creating thirteen stripes to represent the rebel colonies. On July 4, 1776, these Continental Colors became the common flag of the united colonies. (Cannon p. 26)

Flag of the USA, 1776-1777

The canton of the USA flag would be changed one year later, but the British colours were there to stay. The newborn Americans, proud of their achievement and their flag, thought of red-white-blue as the "liberty colors" (Preble p. 509), associated with "republican forms of government" (Bonner p. 52)—quotations taken from later Confederate sources. The secessionists thought very highly of the old constitution of the "former USA", which they adopted as their own. Some even advocated to simply adopt the USA flag, because the Confederacy stood for the values it represented, while the North had abandoned them. Most wanted at all price to preserve at least its colours. And thus it happened. The designer of the later confederate battle flag wrote: The three colors of which it is composed, red, white and blue, are the true republican colors. (Preble p. 506)

The colours were symbolically re-interpreted by the founding fathers of both the USA and the CSA, but, originally, "blue" is the sky above Scotland, "red" is the blood-and-fire of the warrior archangel Michael, and "white" is both clouds in the Scottish sky and St. Michael's purity.

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Ancestry of the Confederate Battle Flag (1)

References

Graham Bartram, The Story of Scotland's Flags, XIXth International Congress of Vexillology Proceedings, 2001 (full text here).

Robert E. Bonner, Colors & Blood, 2002.

Devereaux D. Cannon, The Flags of the Confederacy, 1994. 

  
W.G. Perrin, British Flags, 1922. (Available here; four relevant pages here.)  

Geo. Henry Preble, Origin and history of the American flag, vol. II, ed. 1917. (Full text of the section on confederate flags here.)

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The United States of America (USA) were born in 1776, when 13 rebellious colonies seceded from the British crown. By 1860, the USA consisted of over thirty states. Late that year, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and first seven, then four more "slave states" formed the Confederate States of America (CSA). Two more states, Kentucky and Missouri, were divided on the matter but the Confederacy admitted them nonetheless, making the "rebellious states" equal in number to the former "rebellious colonies": thirteen. Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were rebel states as they had been rebel colonies. Two slave states, Maryland and Delaware, did not secede. Four years and countless casualties later, the southerners had been brutally forced back into their unhappy marriage with the Yankees.

While it lasted (1861-1865), the Confederacy had its own government, president, capital, currency and flag. Its first national flag, the "stars and bars", proved a tragic mistake. From a distance, it looked so much like the enemy's "stars and stripes", that soldiers and commanders got confused on the battle field. As a result, confederate general Pierre Beauregard decided to create a separate "battle flag" for military use. He chose a design which William Foster Miles had submitted to be the national flag, but which had been rejected, in spite of Miles chairing the selection commitee. Today, Beauregard's battle flag is best known in the following form:

   

Historical examples may be square instead of oblong, have a crimson instead of red background, less than 13 stars, stars six-pointed or gold, no white fillet separating blue and red, coloured borders added. Here and in other confederate flags, stars reflected the number of states seceded or admitted to the confederacy (3, 7, 11, 12, 13) or the total number of slaveholding states (15). In a number of successive posts, we will try to reconstruct how this design came into being.

Let's also say a few words on secession proper.

When the Southern States seceded from the United States of America in 1860 and 1861, they believed that they were acting in a perfectly legal and acceptable manner. The Constitution of 1787 had been drafted by delegates from the States and had been voluntarily ratified by the people of the several States. No State had been forced into the union, and any State whose people did not wish to join the union could go its own way. Logically, it followed therefore that any State could also voluntarily leave the union when its people believed that the union was no longer serving its purpose or establishing justice and/or insuring domestic tranquility. (Cannon, p.1-2.)

After the war, confederate rear admiral Raphael Semmes put it thus:

I have never warred against the institutions of my country. I have always cherished an affection for the principles of the old Constitution and the old flag; and it was only when the old flag ceased to represent those principles, that I consented to war against it. One of the first acts performed by the Provisional Congress that met at Montgomery was to adopt the old Constitution as the Constitution of the Confederate States. (...) As, then, our war was one for the old Constitution, it follows, logically, that we were arrayed against the old flag, because it had ceased to represent that constitution. (Preble, II, p. 509.)

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