THE CONFEDERATE FLAG. — Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine.

The Confederate flag has been much in the news lately. As a service to readers, Dr. Boli reprints a short history of Confederate flags that first appeared here several years ago.

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Dear Dr. Boli: While examining an old painting of a Civil War battle, I saw a flag I didn’t recognize on the Confederate side. A historically-minded neighbor of mine informs me that it was the first Confederate national flag. I had no idea there were multiple Confederate flags. Can you sort out the history of the Confederate flag for me? —Sincerely, A Gentleman of Bristol, Virginia or Tennessee (not entirely sure which).

Dear Sir: The Confederate States of America, during its brief history, adopted a number of flags. The first Confederate national flag, the “Stars and Bars,” was adopted in March of 1861, but it was soon criticized as depending too much on the now-hated Union flag (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: First Confederate national flag, the “Stars and Bars.”

In response to these criticisms, Confederate generals adopted a square battle flag (see Fig. 2), which, however, was open to the criticism that its colors were still broadly similar to those of the Union flag.

Fig. 2: Confederate battle flag.

The second Confederate national flag, the “Stainless Banner,” incorporated that square battle flag in its union, the rest of the flag being spotless white, in token of the purity of the cause of preserving liberty for slaveholders (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Second Confederate national flag, the “Stainless Banner.”

This flag was at least distinctive, but it was still open to the objection that it shared its colors with the Union flag. Thus it was only one more step, namely the removal of the union altogether, that led to the final Confederate national flag, known as the “Appomattox Banner” (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Final Confederate national flag.

The development of the Confederate flag did not end, however, with the defeat of the Confederate States of America. In tribute to the brave souls who fought for the honor of the Confederacy, the old square battle flag, elongated into a rectangle, has been universally adopted in international heraldry as the symbol for “trailer park.”

Comments

Martin The Mess says:

July 10, 2015 at 4:11 pm

You left out one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULBCuHIpNgU

But now that we’re finally getting rid of the confederate battle flags, how should we handle other offensive commemorations of the confederacy, such as the “Heroes of the Confederacy” carving on Stone Mountain, GA? Should we simply dymamite it off the face of the rock, or carve an equally-large “Heroes of the Underground Railroad” next to it? Perhaps flank it on either side with a carving of Grant and Sherman peeing on the central carving, Calvin bumper sticker style?

- Dr. Boli says:
  
  July 10, 2015 at 5:03 pm
  
  Your idea of filling the South with equal and opposite monuments to counter the prevalence of Confederate memorials would certainly lead to an unprecedented boom in the sculpture business. What other ideas can you come up with? Here are some Dr. Boli would like to see: A mountain made into a bus with Rosa Parks looking out one of the front windows; bluffs along some representative river carved into lunch-counter stools with heroes of desegregation sitting on them; a giant allegorical monument, right in the center of Richmond, of Jefferson Davis Taking the Custard Pie of History in the Face from Economic Forces Beyond White Southerners’ Control (represented as a woman in classical drapery).
  
James the lesser says:

July 13, 2015 at 11:14 pm

It seems fair that the flag be removed from the centers of power, where the rebellion was explicitly about maintaining slavery, and remain as a symbol of rebellion among the “little people” whose ancestors probably included the foot soldiers fighting for ideals and home. (It’s hard to imagine fighting with such tenacity just so that somebody else could own slaves. The “little people” were used, as usual.)