The Many Civil War Flags - Value Of Antiques
The Many Civil War Flags
When any country has a civil war, one thing that happens is the creation of at least one new flag. In the case of the US Civil War, many new flags were created. The Union flag changed on a number of occasions as new states were added, and there were many differing Confederate flags in use. In addition, Union soldiers displayed state flags, regiment flags, and battle flags, and some generals flew special flags over their headquarters.
The United States flag had only thirty-three stars at the beginning of the war, soon changing to thirty-four with the addition of Kansas. In 1863, West Virginia separated from Virginia and was accepted by the Union, bringing the total to thirty-five.
The Confederate States of America began with one flag, but went through three over the course of its existence. Before the official flag was commissioned, many people in the South used the Bonnie Blue Flag - a blue flag with a single white star. When the time came to create the flag, the public begged the commission not to abandon the old US flag design.
The first commissioned Confederate flag was the Stars and Bars, and was used until 1863. A circle of stars on a blue field with three bold red and white bars, it was often confused with the Union flag on battlefields. It began with seven stars, but eventually that numbers rose to thirteen. The second official flag was called the Stainless Banner, and featured the Confederate battle flag most of us are familiar with in the upper left of a plain white banner. It is also called the Stonewall Jackson flag, since it was used to cover Jackson’s coffin during his funeral.
The third flag added a red border on the right side of this flag to keep the previous version from looking like a truce flag. It was shorter than the Stainless banner, and was adopted in 1865, just before the Confederacy fell. In addition to the official Confederate flag, troops also flew state flags, headquarters flags, division flags and the familiar Confederate battle flag, which became the most popular flag of the Confederacy over time. This Civil war flag is also called the Dixie or Rebel flag.
Most of the Civil War flags from this era didn’t survive, but there are a few that have been preserved. There are a number of these flags on display at battle sites overseen by the National Parks Service, for instance. Some vestiges of Confederate flags also still survive in the official state flags of a number of Southern states, including Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
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