History Confederate Flag

First confederate national flag.

History confederate flag. The confederate flag started as the battle flag of robert e. The confederate flag as it is colloquially referred to was the flag used in battle by the army of northern virginia during the civil war. The confederacy included the battle flag in its new flag in 1863.

The third and final national flag of the confederacy was adopted on march 4 1865 just weeks before the war ended. To eliminate the possibility of the flag being mistaken for a flag of truce or surrender a broad vertical red bar was added to the front edge of the second national flag. The battle flag features the cross of st.

The confederate states of america went through three different flags during the civil war but the battle flag wasn t one. It remained a part of the confederate. The flag has a long and divisive history.

The very first national flag of the confederacy was designed by prussian artist nicola marschall in marion alabama. After a massacre at a church in charleston south carolina s governor called for the confederate flag to be removed from the grounds of the state capitol. The confederate battle flag was never the official flag of the confederacy.

The history of the flag since 1865 is marked by the accumulation of additional meanings based on additional uses. The stars and bars the flag that officially represented the government and nation identifying itself as the confederate states of america csa for the first two. Lee s army of northern virginia.

Within a decade of the end of the war even before the end of reconstruction in 1877 white southerners began using the confederate flag as a memorial symbol for fallen heroes.