23 What is the "Stars and Bars"? (U.S. Civil War)
Description
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
23 What is the "Stars and Bars"? (U.S. Civil War)
The "Stars and Bars" IS NOT the familiar "rebel" flag one sees
adorning license plates and often carried by the KKK-- that is the CS
Naval Jack, based on the CS battle flag.
The Stars and Bars design was approved by a committee of the
Provisional Congress on 4 Mar 1861, but was never made official by law.
The bottom red stripe ran the entire length of the flag and was 6 units
long and 1 unit wide. Above it, and to the left was a blue square, 2
units on a side. In the blue square, a circle of stars (one for each
state, initially seven, to represent the original seven Confederate
States, eventually thirteen). To the right of the square, two stripes,
white below, red above, each 1 unit wide and 4 units long.
The Stars and Bars' similarity to the U.S. flag caused problems of
mistaken identity at 1st Bull Run/Manassas, so a battle flag for the Army
of Northern Virginia was designed. It was blue saltire ("X" shape) on a
red SQUARE field. On the saltire was placed stars equal to the number of
Confederate States (in principle, eleven at the time of the initial
design, but up to thirteen by the end of 1861). This flag design was soon
picked up by the other armies and branches of service. The CS Navy flew
an oblong version as a Naval Jack which is identical to the oblong "rebel"
flags seen today.
By a law approved 1 May 1863, a new national flag was adopted by the
Confederate States-- the "Stainless Banner". It was a field of white
twice as long as wide, in the upper left was the battle flag (square) with
a side two-thirds the width of the field. This flag had the drawback that
when partially wrapped around the flagstaff, the non-white part was
covered. This made it look like a white flag of surrender. Furthermore,
its length to width ratio of 2 to 1 made it an unusually long flag which
exacerbated the problem.
A law approved 4 Mar 1865, modified the "Stainless Banner" to correct
its problems. The revised flag was 10 units wide and 15 units long. In
the upper left was an oblong battle flag 6 units wide and 7 units long.
The field was white, as before, except on the fly end there was a vertical
red bar 4 units wide. The above dimensions, in terms of units, are
derived from the much more convoluted description given by the flag act.
This flag was the last national flag of the Confederacy.
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