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Flags of the Confederacy
and Union
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| For most people,
the image of the Confederate Flag conjures up the “blue cross with white
stars on a red background” which is more properly known as the Confederate
battle flag, but in fact many regiments and companies had their own unique
flags. |
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| The Union Flag of
1861 was used in the Civil War. It had 34 Stars for 34 states, which
included the South. |
If you want to enlarge the picture , just
click on the picture.
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| The Confederate Flag
of 1863 had stars for 11 states and for secession governments in Kentucky
and Missouri. They said that it looked too much like a flag of truce
so a red bar was added in 1865. |
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| The Second Bunting
Issue was issued in early 1862 with thirteen stars. Richmond Clothing
Depot had on hand a large quantity of orange material that was used to
border the flag on its upper, lower, and fly edges (host edge was white).
For about six months this flag was the predominant flag of the Army of
Northern Virginia. The infantry flags were about 51 inches square.
The cavalry were much smaller and didn't have the compressed star pattern
on them.
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| In the beginning
summer of 1862 the Third Bunting Issue came out. It brought back
the white border. It saw extensive action in late 1862 and 1863.
It was used in the Battle of Gettysburg for the Confederates.
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| Prior to Shiloh,
General Beauregard ordered a special flag for the Corps of General Braxton
Bragg (Bragg’s Corps regiments First Issue) in the Confederate Army of
the Mississippi. It was composed of four Corps. Three of Corps,
Hardee’s, Bragg’s, and Polk’s each had a different battle flag pattern.
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| Van Dorn’s regiments
flag represents the battle flag of General Earl Van Dorn. It was
commonly seen after the crossing of the Mississippi from Trans-Mississippi.
The flag missed Shiloh but soon was used in Cornith although there is a
claim that 9th Texas Cavalry used a prototype at Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge)
in Arkansas. This flag was mainly used in mid 1862 and 1863 but quickly
faded after Van Dorn’s untimely Death in 1863. The border of the
flag has been seen in white, yellow, and often yellow/gold fringe.
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| There were 31 different
Confederate flags used in the Civil War. On April 9, 1865 Lee surrendered
at Appomattax Court House. On May 10, 1865 Jefferson Davis was captured.
More than 620,000 Union and Confederates died. It was the bloodiest
war in the history of the nation. There ended up being four different
Bunting Issue flags throughout the Civil War. |
