THE FLAGS OF THE CONFEDERACY
No. 1. The “Stars and Bars,” the first “National Flag.” No. 2. The “Battle Flag.” No. 3. In 1863 replaced No. 1 as the “National Flag.” No. 4. In 1865 replaced No. 3 as the “National Flag.” No. 5. “The Bonnie Blue Flag.”
No. 1. The “Stars and Bars” was the first National Flag of the Confederate States of America. It was adopted by the Confederate Congress, and raised at sunrise over the Confederate Capitol at Montgomery, Alabama, March 4th, 1861, where the Provisional Congress was holding its first session. At the time of its adoption, it was ordered that a star be added to the flag for each new state joining the Confederacy. This flag is used as the emblem of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
No. 2. The “Battle Flag” was designed after the first Battle of Manassas, and afterward was adopted by the Confederate Congress. The reason for its adoption was that, in battle, the “Stars and Bars” was frequently mistaken for the “Stars and Stripes”. It remained the Battle Flag until the close of the war. This flag was the insignia of the United Confederate Veterans, and is now the insignia of the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
No. 3. To prevent further confusion arising from the mistaking of the “Stars and Bars” for the “Stars and Stripes”, the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863, adopted a new National Flag. This flag is used as the emblem of the Children of the Confederacy, and is well worth remembering for its use on Stonewall Jackson’s casket.
No. 4. On March 4, 1865, the Confederate Congress again changed the design of the National Flag. This new design was adopted because the second National Flag, when hanging limp, looked too much like a flag of truce. For a time this flag was used as the insignia for the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
No. 5. Before the “Stars and Bars” had been designed and adopted by the Confederate Congress, a beautiful blue silk flag bearing a single star, presented at the open meeting of the Mississippi Secession Convention in the State Capitol at Jackson, Mississippi, January 9, 1861, was the inspiration for the new Republic’s first Battle Song—“The Bonnie Blue Flag”. The Irish comedian, Harry McCarthy, filling an engagement at the Jackson theatre at that time, was a witness to the thrilling scene following the adoption of the Ordinance of Secession, and penned the original verses of The Bonnie Blue Flag as an expression of his aroused emotion. He sang the song that night to a loudly applauding audience overflowing the theatre.
JEFFERSON DAVIS’ RIGHTFUL PLACE IN HISTORY
By Mildred Lewis Rutherford, Historian
1. Distinguished services in the Black Hawk War.
2. Served valiantly in the Mexican War.
3. Hero at Monterey; wounded at Buena Vista; scaled the walls of the City of Mexico.
4. He introduced the wedge movement and saved the day at Buena Vista.
5. United States Senator from Mississippi.
6. Secretary of War in Pierce’s Cabinet.
7. First to suggest transcontinental railroads connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific.
8. First to suggest camels as ships of the uninhabitable West to convey military stores.
9. First to suggest buying Panama Canal Zone.
10. First to suggest buying Cuba.
11. He planned American Trade with China and Japan.
12. He suggested closer relations with South America.
13. He urged preparedness in the event of an enemy attack.
14. He enlarged the United States Army by four regiments.
15. He organized cavalry service adapted to our needs.
16. He introduced light infantry or rifle system of tactics.
17. He caused the manufacture of guns, rifle, and pistols.
18. He rendered invaluable service to Colt’s Armory.
19. He ordered the frontier surveyed.
20. He put young officers in training for surveying expeditions.
21. He sent George McClellan to Crimea to study the military tactics of British and the Russian armies.
22. He appointed Robert E. Lee as Superintendent of West Point.
23. He advanced Albert Disney Johnston to important posts.
24. He had forts rebuilt and repaired.
25. He strengthened forts on the Western frontier, frequently drawing on arsenals in the South to do so.
26. He had the Western part of the continent explored for scientific, geographical and railroad work.
27. He was responsible for the new Senate Hall, the new House of Representatives, and for the extension of many public buildings in Washington, especially the Treasury Building.
28. He was responsible for the construction of the aqueduct in the National Capital.
29. He was responsible for Armed Liberty on the Capitol having a helmet of eagle feathers instead of the cap of a pagan goddess.
30. He had Cabin John Bridge with a span of 220 feet built.
31. He was United States Senator under President Buchanan.
32. He was nominated for President by Massachusetts men in 1860.
33. He refused to allow his name to be presented for President at the Charleston Convention.
34. He stood strongly for the Union, but stressed the constitutional right of a state to secede if it wished.
35. He did secede with Mississippi, as he had been taught at West Point.
36. Nowhere did his genius display itself more significantly than as Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce.
37. When it was known that he was to make his “Farewell Speech” to the Senate in 1861, the building was crowded to overflowing. He was one of the most gifted orators of the Congress. At West Point he studied “Rawle’s View of the Constitution” and was taught that if a state seceded the duty of a soldier reverted to his state—hence Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. Jackson, the Johnstons, and others acting upon this instruction cast their lot with their States in 1861.