View source for Flags of the Confederate States of America

{{Short description|none}}
{{For|the contemporary usage|modern display of the Confederate battle flag}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2014}}
{{over-quotation|date=July 2022}}<!-- In First and Second flag sections-->
{{Infobox flag
| Name = Confederate States of America
| Image = Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg
| Imagetext = National flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname = "The Stars and Bars"
| Use = National flag
| Symbol = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion = 5:9
| Adoption = March 4, 1861 (first 7-star version)<br />December 10, 1861<!-- EDITORS NOTE: On December 10, 1861, Kentucky became the 13th state admitted to the Confederacy. The last star added to the C.S. flag was for the state of Kentucky. --> (final 13-star version)
| Design = Three horizontal stripes of equal height, alternating red and white, with a blue square two-thirds the height of the flag as the canton. Inside the canton are seven(1861), eleven(1863), or thirteen(1865) white five-pointed stars of equal size, arranged in a circle and pointing outward.
| Designer = [[Nicola Marschall]]
| Image2 = Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svg
| Alt2 = Second flag of the Confederate States of America
| Imagetext2 = The second national flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname2 = "The Stainless Banner"{{efn|[[William Tappan Thompson]], editor of Savannah's ''Daily Morning News'', used a different nickname for the flag, calling it "The White Man's Flag", saying that the flag's white field symbolized the "[[White supremacy|supremacy of the white man]]". But it was a nickname that never gained traction with the public.<ref name="GHPreble1872">{{harvnb|Preble|1872|pp=414–417}}</ref><ref name="GHPreble1880">{{harvnb|Preble|1880|pp=523–525}}</ref><ref name=StainlessBannerBirth>{{harvnb|Coski|2013}}. "A handful of contemporaries linked the new flag design to the "peculiar institution" that was at the heart of the South's economy, social system and polity: slavery. Bagby characterized the flag motif as the "Southern Cross" – the constellation, not a religious symbol – and hailed it for pointing 'the destiny of the Southern master and his African slave' southward to 'the banks of the Amazon,' a reference to the desire among many Southerners to expand Confederate territory into Latin America. In contrast, the Savannah, Ga., Morning News editor focused on the white field on which the Southern Cross was emblazoned. "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored races. A White Flag would be thus emblematical of our cause." He dubbed the new flag "the White Man's Flag," a sobriquet that never gained traction."</ref><ref name=SMNApril23>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=April 23, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=SMNApril28>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=April 28, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=SMNMay4>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=William T.|title=[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]|location=Savannah, Georgia|date=May 4, 1863}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref name=StainlessBannerNeo>{{cite book|author-link1=James W. Loewen|last1=Loewen|first1=James W.|last2=Sebesta|first2=Edward H.|year=2010|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson, Mississippi|isbn=978-1-60473-219-1|oclc=746462600|title=The Confederate and Neo Confederate Reader: The Great Truth about the 'Lost Cause'|page=13|url=http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338|access-date=December 5, 2013|quote=Confederates even showed their preoccupation with race in their flag. Civil War buffs know that 'the Confederate flag' waved today was never the Confederate States of America's official flag. Rather, it was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. During the war, the Confederacy adopted three official flags. The first, sometimes called 'the Stars and Bars,' drew many objections 'on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting,' in the words of the editor of the ''Savannah Morning News'', quoted herein.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213161623/http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338|archive-date=December 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=whatyoushouldknow>{{cite news|last1=Kim |first1=Kyle |last2=Krishnakumar |first2=Priya |title=What you should know about the Confederate flag's evolution |url=http://www.latimes.com/visuals/graphics/la-na-g-confederate-flag-history-20150623-htmlstory.html |location=California |work=Los Angeles Times |issue=June 23, 2015 |access-date=July 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712023515/http://www.latimes.com/visuals/graphics/la-na-g-confederate-flag-history-20150623-htmlstory.html |archive-date=July 12, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=MSWWood1957p44>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VkZVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA44 |title=Stevens-Davis and allied families: a memorial volume of history, biography, and genealogy|page=44|last=Wood|first=Marie Stevens Walker|access-date=September 1, 2015|date=1957|quote=This design was suggested by William T. Thompson, editor of the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News, who, in an editorial published April 23, 1863, stated that through this design could be attained all the...}}</ref><ref name=FAllenp67>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UgsxY0tm_8C&pg=PA67 |title=Atlanta Rising: The Invention of an International City 1946–1996|last=Allen|first=Frederick|page=67|access-date=September 1, 2015|quote=By modern standards, the greatest flaw of the 'Stainless Banner' was its other popular nickname, bestowed by William T. Thompson, editor of the ''Savannah Daily Morning News'', who called it 'the White Man's Flag' and argued that it represented 'the cause of a superior race and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism' – a bit of racist rhetoric that is plainly unacceptable in current public discourse.|isbn=978-1-4616-6167-2|date=May 25, 1996|publisher=Taylor Trade }}</ref>}}
| Use2 = National flag
| Symbol2 = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion2 = 1:2{{efn|Although the officially specified proportions were 1:2, many of the flags that actually ended up being produced used a 1.5:1 aspect ratio.<ref name="fotc">{{cite web |url=http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTCsbr.htm |title=The Second Confederate National Flag (Flags of the Confederacy) |access-date=October 24, 2005 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209190749/http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTCsbr.htm |archive-date=February 9, 2009 }}</ref>}}
| Adoption2 = May 1, 1863
| Design2 = A white rectangle two times as wide as it is tall, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire.
| Image3 = Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg
| Alt3 = Third flag of the Confederate States of America
| Imagetext3 = The third national flag of the Confederate States of America
| Nickname3 = "The Blood-Stained Banner"
| Use3 = National flag
| Symbol3 = {{FIAV|historical}}
| Proportion3 = 2:3
| Adoption3 = March 4, 1865
| Design3 = A white rectangle, one-and-a-half times as wide as it is tall, a red vertical stripe on the far right of the rectangle, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire.{{efn|Although the officially designated design specified a rectangular canton, many of the flags that ended up being produced utilized a square-shaped canton.<ref name="fotc3" />}}
| Designer3 = Maj. Arthur L. Rogers<ref name="autogenerated1" />
}}
The '''flags of the Confederate States of America''' have a history of three successive designs during the [[American Civil War]]. The flags were known as the "'''Stars and Bars'''", used from 1861 to 1863; the "'''Stainless Banner'''", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "'''Blood-Stained Banner'''", used in 1865 shortly before the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]'s dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. Although this design was never a [[national flag]], it is the most commonly recognized symbol of the Confederacy.

Since the end of the Civil War, [[Modern display of the Confederate battle flag|private and official use of the Confederate flags]], particularly the battle flag, has continued amid philosophical, political, cultural, and racial controversy in the United States. These include flags displayed in states; cities, towns and counties; schools, colleges and universities; private organizations and associations; and individuals. The battle flag was also featured in the [[Flags of the U.S. states and territories|state flags]] of [[Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[Flag of Mississippi|Mississippi]], although it was removed by Georgia in 2003 and Mississippi in 2020. However, the new design of the Georgia flag still references the original "Stars and Bars" iteration of the Georgia flag. After the Georgia flag was changed in 2001, the city of [[Trenton, Georgia]], has used a [[Flag of Trenton, Georgia|flag design]] nearly identical to the previous version with the battle flag.

It is estimated that 500–544 flags were captured during the civil war by the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. The flags were sent to the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 32., Confederate States' flags. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2001.05.0290:chapter=1.37 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Returned Flags Booklet, 1905 {{!}} A State Divided |url=https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ket-history-civilwar58/returned-flags-booklet/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=PBS LearningMedia |language=en}}</ref>

=={{anchor|First flag}}<!--[[Stars and Bars (flag)]] redirects here--> First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)==
{{gallery
| height=100
| width=210
| align=center
| mode=nolines
| File:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|First flag with 7 stars<br />(March 4 – May 18, 1861)
| File:CSA Flag 21.5.1861-2.7.1861.svg|Flag with 9 stars<br />(May 18<!-- EDITORS NOTE: On May 18, 1861, Arkansas became the 9th state admitted to the Confederacy. The 9th star added to the C.S. flag was for the state of Arkansas. --> – July 2, 1861)
| File:CSA Flag 2.7.1861-28.11.1861.svg|Flag with 11 stars<br />(July 2<!-- EDITORS NOTE: On July 2, 1861, North Carolina and Tennessee became the 10th and 11th states admitted to the Confederacy. The 10th and 11th stars added to the C.S. flag were for the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. --> – November 28, 1861)
| File:Flag of the Confederate States (1861–1863).svg|Last flag with 13 stars<br />(December 10, 1861<!-- EDITORS NOTE: On December 10, 1861, Kentucky became the 13th state admitted to the Confederacy. The last star added to the C.S. flag was for the state of Kentucky. --> – May 1, 1863)
}}
[[File:Fort Sumter, April 15, 1861.jpg|thumb|250px|The "''Stars and Bars''" flies at [[Fort Sumter]], April 15, 1861.]]
The Confederacy's first official national flag, often called the ''Stars and Bars'', flew from March 4, 1861, to May 1, 1863. It was designed by [[Prussia]]n-American artist [[Nicola Marschall]] in [[Marion, Alabama]]. The flag is very similar to the [[flag of the United States]], and is said to resemble the [[Flag of Austria]], with which Marschall would have been familiar.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-1134|title= Nicola Marschall|date= April 25, 2011|publisher=The Encyclopedia of Alabama |access-date=July 29, 2011 |quote= The flag does resemble that of the [[German language|Germanic]] European nation of Austria, which as a [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] artist, Marschall would have known well.}}</ref>{{efn|[[Catherine Stratton Ladd]] is said to have designed the first Confederate flag.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Ladd, Catherine |encyclopedia=Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889 |publisher=Appleton & Company |volume=3 | pages=584–585}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Ladd, Catherine |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography |volume=III | page=196 }}</ref>}} The original version of the flag featured a circle of seven white stars in the navy-blue [[Canton (flag)|canton]], representing the seven states of the South that originally composed the Confederacy: [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]], [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]], [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]], [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]], [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]], [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]], and [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]]. The "Stars and Bars" flag was adopted on March 4, 1861, in the first temporary national capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama]], and raised over the dome of that first Confederate capitol. Marschall also designed the [[Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces|Confederate army uniform]].<ref name="hume">{{cite journal |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/german.html |title=Nicola Marschall: Excerpts from "The German Artist Who Designed the Confederate Flag and Uniform" |first=Edgar Erskine |last=Hume |journal=The American-German Review |date=August 1940 |access-date=June 26, 2015 |archive-date=May 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528220738/http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/german.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A monument that was in [[Louisburg, North Carolina]], claims the "Stars and Bars" "was designed by a son of North Carolina / Orren Randolph Smith / and made under his direction by / [[Catherine Rebecca Murphy Winborne|Catherine Rebecca (Murphy) Winborne]]. / Forwarded to Montgomery, Ala. Feb 12, 1861, / Adopted by the Provisional Congress March 4, 1861".<ref>{{cite web |title=First Confederate Flag and Its Designer O.R. Smith, Louisburg |author=Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina |date=March 19, 2010 |publisher=[[Wilson Library]], [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] |url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/22/}}</ref>

One of the first acts of the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] was to create the ''Committee of the Flag and Seal'', chaired by [[William Porcher Miles]], a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] congressman, and [[Fire-Eaters|Fire-Eater]] from [[South Carolina]]. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." Miles had already designed a flag that later became known as the Confederate ''[[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]'', and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the [[Flag of the United States|U.S. flag]] ("the Stars and Stripes" – originally established and designed in June 1777 during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=4–5}}</ref>

As the Confederacy grew, so did the numbers of stars: two were added for [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]] and [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]] in May 1861, followed by two more representing [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]] and [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]] in July, and finally two more for [[Missouri in the American Civil War|Missouri]] and [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky]].

When the American Civil War broke out, the "Stars and Bars" confused the battlefield at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]] because of its similarity to the U.S. (or [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) flag, especially when it was hanging limply on its flagstaff.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=8}}</ref> The "Stars and Bars" was also criticized on ideological grounds for its resemblance to the U.S. flag. Many Confederates disliked the Stars and Bars, seeing it as symbolic of a centralized federal power against which the Confederate states claimed to be seceding.<ref name="The Declarations of Causes of Seceding States">{{cite web |url=https://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/declarationofcauses.html |work=Civil War Trust |title=The Declarations of Causes of Seceding States |access-date=February 23, 2016|quote="Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product that constitutes the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution and was at the point of reaching its consummation. No choice left us but submission to abolition's mandates, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove."}}</ref> As early as April 1861, a month after the flag's adoption, some were already criticizing the flag, calling it a "servile imitation" and a "detested parody" of the U.S. flag.<ref name=StainlessBannerBirth /> In January 1862, [[George William Bagby]], writing for the ''[[Southern Literary Messenger]]'', wrote that many Confederates disliked the flag. "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag," Bagby wrote. "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the [[Yankee]] flag, and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." The editor of the ''[[Charleston Mercury]]'' expressed a similar view: "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. They resemble too closely the dishonored 'Flag of [[Yankee Doodle]]' ... we imagine that the '[[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]' will become the Southern Flag by popular acclaim." [[William Tappan Thompson|William T. Thompson]], the editor of the Savannah-based ''[[Savannah Morning News|Daily Morning News]]'' also objected to the flag,<ref name=SMNMay4 /> due to its aesthetic similarity to the U.S. flag, which for some Confederates had negative associations with emancipation and abolitionism. Thompson stated in April 1863 that he disliked the adopted flag "on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting."<ref name="GHPreble1872" /><ref name=SMNApril23 /><ref name=SMNApril28 /><ref name=StainlessBannerNeo />

Over the course of the flag's use by the CSA, additional stars were added to the canton, eventually bringing the total number to thirteen-a reflection of the Confederacy's claims of having admitted the [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] of [[Kentucky]] and [[Missouri]], where slavery was still widely practiced.{{efn|Neither state voted to secede or ever came under full Confederate control. Nonetheless both were still represented in the Confederate Congress and had Confederate shadow governments composed of deposed former state politicians.}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/confederate-flag-myths-facts/index.html |title=Confederate battle flag: Separating the myths from facts |author=Ben Brumfield |date=2015-06-24 |publisher=[[CNN]]}}</ref> The first showing of the 13-star flag was outside the [[Ben Johnson House (Bardstown, Kentucky)|Ben Johnson House]] in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]]; the 13-star design was also in use as the Confederate navy's battle [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]]. The 13-star design uses the same star formation as the [[Betsy Ross flag]].

=={{anchor|Second flag}}Second flag: the "Stainless Banner" (1863–1865)==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States of America (1863-1865).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Confederate States Naval Ensign after May 26 1863.svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Mobile, Alabama variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Battle of Painesville variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Stainless Banner (Fort Fisher variant).svg|x100px]]
|-
| width=200px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Second national flag (May 1, 1863 – March 4, 1865), 2:1 ratio
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Second national flag (May 1, 1863 – March 4, 1865) as commonly manufactured, with a 3:2 ratio
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |A 12-star variant of the Stainless Banner produced in [[Mobile, Alabama]]
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Variant captured following the Battle of Painesville, 1865
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Garrison Flag of [[Fort Fisher]], the "''Southern Gibraltar''"
|}

Many different designs were proposed during the solicitation for a second Confederate national flag, nearly all based on the [[#Battle flag|Battle Flag]]. By 1863, it had become well-known and popular among those living in the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress specified that the new design be a white field "...with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad [[saltire]] of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with [[Star (heraldry)|mullets]] or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States."<ref name="fotc"/>

The flag is also known as ''the Stainless Banner'', and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. On April 23, 1863, the ''Savannah Morning News'' editor William Tappan Thompson, with assistance from William Ross Postell, a Confederate blockade runner, published an editorial championing a design featuring the battle flag on a white background he referred to later as "The [[White people|White Man]]'s Flag", a name which never caught on.<ref name=SMNMay4 /> In explaining the white background of his design, Thompson wrote, "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained [[White supremacy|supremacy of the white man]] over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause."<ref name=StainlessBannerBirth /><ref name=FAllenp67 /> In a letter to Confederate Congressman C. J. Villeré, dated April 24, 1863, a design similar to the flag which was eventually created was proposed by General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], "whose earlier penchant for practicality had established the precedent for visual distinctiveness on the battlefield, proposed that 'a good design for the national flag would be the present battle-flag as Union Jack, and the rest all white or all blue'... The final version of the second national flag, adopted May 1, 1863, did just this: it set the St. Andrew's Cross of stars in the Union Jack with the rest of the civilian banner entirely white."<ref>Bonner, Robert E., "Flag Culture and the Consolidation of Confederate Nationalism." ''Journal of Southern History'', Vol. 68, No. 2 (May 2002), 318–319.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2013}}. "Some congressmen and newspaper editors favored making the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag (in a rectangular shape) itself the new national flag. But Beauregard and others felt the nation needed its own distinctive symbol, and so recommended that the Southern Cross be emblazoned in the corner of a white field."</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Letter of Beauregard to Villere, April 24, 1863 |work=Daily Dispatch |location=Richmond, VA |date=May 13, 1863 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2006.05.0747%3Aarticle%3D18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=J. Michael |last1=Martinez |first2=William D. |last2=Richardson |first3=Ron |last3=McNinch-Su |title=Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2000 |page=98 |isbn=978-0-8130-1758-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ERsyiUOYI4kC&pg=PA98 }}</ref> Most contemporary{{clarify|date=June 2025}}<!--Contemporary to the creation of the flag or contemporary to us?--> interpretations of the white area on the flag hold that it represented the purity of the secessionist cause.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Confederate Flag History |url=http://www.civilwar.com/resources/313-flags/150182-confederate-flag-history.html#Second_national_flag_.28.22the_Stainless_Banner.22.29 |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=www.civilwar.com |language=en-gb}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2025}}<!--Nothing in the source indicates that the content is vetted by experts or historians; it is just operated by a 'for-profit business' whose 'owners have always held a fascination with the American Civil War'.-->

The Confederate Congress debated whether the white field should have a blue stripe and whether it should be bordered in red. William Miles delivered a speech supporting the simple white design that was eventually approved. He argued that the battle flag must be used, but it was necessary to emblazon it for a national flag, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=16–17}}</ref> When Thompson received word the Congress had adopted the design with a blue stripe, he published an editorial on April 28 in opposition, writing that "the blue bar running up the center of the white field and joining with the right lower arm of the blue cross, is in bad taste, and utterly destructive of the symmetry and harmony of the design."<ref name="GHPreble1872" /><ref name=SMNApril28 /> Confederate Congressman [[Peter W. Gray]] proposed the amendment that gave the flag its white field.<ref>Journal of the Confederate Congress, Volume 6, p.477</ref> Gray stated that the white field represented "purity, truth, and freedom."<ref>Richmond Whig, May 5, 1863</ref>

Regardless of who truly originated the Stainless Banner's design, whether by heeding Thompson's editorials or Beauregard's letter, the Confederate Congress officially adopted the Stainless Banner on May 1, 1863. The flags that were actually produced by the [[Richmond Clothing Depot]] used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the Confederate navy's battle ensign, rather than the official 2:1 ratio.<ref name="fotc" />

Initial reaction to the second national flag was favorable, but over time it became criticized for being "too white." Military officers also voiced complaints about the flag being too white, for various reasons, such as the danger of being mistaken for a [[white flag|flag of truce]], especially on naval ships where it was too easily soiled.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=17–18}}</ref> The Columbia-based ''Daily South Carolinian'' observed that it was essentially a battle flag upon a flag of truce and might send a mixed message. Due to the flag's resemblance to one of truce, some Confederate soldiers cut off the flag's white portion, leaving only the canton.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=18}}</ref>

The first official use of the "Stainless Banner" was to drape the coffin of General [[Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] as it [[lay in state]] in the Virginia capitol, May 12, 1863.<ref>John D. Wright, The Language of the Civil War, p.284</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=17}}</ref> As a result of this first usage, the flag received the alternate nickname of the "Jackson Flag".

=={{anchor|Third flag}} Third flag: the "Blood-Stained Banner" (1865)==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States of America (1865).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States (1865, variant).svg|x100px]]
|[[File:Flag of the Confederate States (1865, variant 2).png|x100px]]
|-
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag (after March 4, 1865)
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag as commonly manufactured, with a square canton
| width=150px style="font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;" |Third national flag variant produced from an example of the Second national flag
|}

Rogers lobbied successfully to have this alteration introduced in the Confederate Senate. Rogers defended his redesign as symbolizing the primary origins of the people of the Confederacy, with the [[saltire]] of the [[Flag of Scotland|Scottish]] flag and the red bar from the [[flag of France]], and having "as little as possible of the Yankee blue" — the [[Uniforms of the Union Army|Union Army wore blue]], the [[Uniforms of the Confederate States Armed Forces|Confederates gray]].<ref name="autogenerated1" />

The Flag Act of 1865, passed by the [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate congress]] near the very end of the War, describes the flag in the following language:

{{blockquote|The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue [[saltire]] thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag.<ref name="fotc3">{{cite web|url=http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTC3dnat.htm |title=The Third Confederate National Flag (Flags of the Confederacy) |access-date=July 29, 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130091945/http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTC3dnat.htm |archive-date=January 30, 2009 }}</ref>}}

Due to the timing, very few of these third national flags were actually manufactured and put into use in the field, with many Confederates never seeing the flag. Moreover, the ones made by the [[Richmond Clothing Depot]] used the square canton of the second national flag rather than the slightly rectangular one that was specified by the law.<ref name="fotc3" />

==State flags==
{{gallery items
|[[File:Flag of Alabama (1861, obverse).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Alabama in the American Civil War|Alabama]] (''[[Obverse and reverse|obverse]]'')<br />(January 11, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of Alabama (1861, reverse).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of Alabama (''[[Obverse and reverse|reverse]]'')<br />(January 11, 1861)
|[[File:No flag.svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Arkansas in the American Civil War|Arkansas]]<br /> No flag{{efn|"Neither Arkansas nor Missouri enacted legislation to adopt an official State flag" (Cannon 2005, p. 48).}}
|[[File:Flag of Florida (1861-1865).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Florida in the American Civil War|Florida]]<br /> (September 13, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of the State of Georgia (1861, red).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Georgia in the American Civil War|Georgia]]<br /> (''[[de facto]]''){{efn|"A surviving Georgia flag in the collection of the [[American Civil War Museum|Museum of the Confederacy]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] . . . places the arms on a red field" (Cannon 2005, p. 39).}}
|[[File:Flag of Louisiana (February 1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Louisiana in the American Civil War|Louisiana]]<br /> (February 11, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of Mississippi (1861-1865).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]]<br /> (March 30, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of North Carolina (1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[North Carolina in the American Civil War|North Carolina]]<br /> (June 22, 1861)
|[[File:Flag of South Carolina (January 1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina]]<br /> (January 26, 1861)
|[[File:Tennessee 1861 proposed.svg|180x100px|border]]|width=180|Flag of [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]]<br /> (''proposed''){{efn|"Despite . . . inaction of the [[Tennessee General Assembly|Tennessee legislature]], the flag recommended by Senator [Tazewell B.] Newman did see some limited use" (Cannon 2005, pp. 46-47).}}
|[[File:Flag of Texas (1839–1879).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]]<br /> (January 25, 1839)
|[[File:Flag of Virginia (1861).svg|180x100px|border]]|Flag of [[Virginia in the American Civil War|Virginia]]<br /> (April 30, 1861)
}}

==Indian Territory==
{{main|Indian Territory in the American Civil War}}
{{gallery|mode=nolines|width=180|height=100
|File:Flag of the Choctaw Brigade.svg|Flag of the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma|Choctaw Nation]]<br /> ({{circa|1860|lk=yes}})<ref>[http://www.tmealf.com/DH/choctaw.html "Don Healy's Native American Flags: Choctaw Nation."] Retrieved January 15, 2014.</ref>
|File:Flag of the Confederate States for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.svg|Flag of the [[Muscogee Nation|Creek Nation]]<br /> ({{circa|1861|lk=yes}}){{cn|date=February 2023}}
|File:Seminola confederats.svg|Flag of the [[Seminole Nation of Oklahoma|Seminole Nation]]<br /> ({{circa|1861|lk=yes}})<ref>{{cite book | last1=Healy | first1=Donald T. | last2=Orenski | first2=Peter J. | title=Native American flags | publication-place=Norman | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-8061-5575-3 | oclc=934794160 | page = 211}}</ref>
|File:Flag of the Cherokee Braves.svg|National Color of the [[1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles]]{{sfn|Cannon|p=64|2005}}
}}

==Battle flag==<!-- This section is linked from Kentucky and Flag of Georgia (U.S. state) -->
[[File:Our Heroes and Our Flags 1896.jpg|thumb|right|Three versions of the flag of the Confederate States of America and the Confederate Battle Flag are shown on this printed poster from 1896. The "Stars and Bars" can be seen in the upper left. Standing at the center are [[Stonewall Jackson]], [[P. G. T. Beauregard]], and [[Robert E. Lee]], surrounded by bust portraits of [[Jefferson Davis]], [[Alexander H. Stephens|Alexander Stephens]], and various Confederate army officers, such as [[James Longstreet]] and [[A. P. Hill]].]]
[[File:Sponsor souvenir album - history and reunion (1895) (1895) (14576050240).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Drawing in the [[United Confederate Veterans]] 1895 ''Sponsor souvenir album'']]
[[File:Cherokee Confederates Reunion.gif|thumb|right|[[Cherokee in the American Civil War|Cherokee Confederates]] reunion in New Orleans, 1903]]

At the [[First Battle of Bull Run|First Battle of Manassas]], near [[Manassas, Virginia]], the similarity between the [[#First flag|"Stars and Bars"]] and the [[Flag of the United States|"Stars and Stripes"]] caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gevinson, Alan |url=http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19424 |title=The Reason Behind the 'Stars and Bars |work=Teachinghistory.org |access-date=October 8, 2011}}</ref> Also, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion.

After the battle, General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag".<ref name="autogenerated2" /> He turned to his aide, who happened to be [[William Porcher Miles]], the former chairman of the Confederate Congress's ''Committee on the Flag and Seal''. Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request that the national flag be changed. The committee rejected the idea by a four-to-one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commanding General [[Joseph E. Johnston]]:
{{blockquote|I wrote to [Miles] that we should have 'two' flags – a 'peace' or parade flag, and a 'war' flag to be used only on the field of battle – but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter – How would it do us to address the War Dept. on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, ... We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies.<ref name="autogenerated2" />}}

The flag that Miles had favored when he was chairman of the "Committee on the Flag and Seal" eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the Confederacy's most popular flag.

According to Museum of the Confederacy Director John Coski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionist flags" flown at the [[South Carolina secession convention]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] of December 1860. That flag was a blue [[St George's Cross]] (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the slave-holding states,<ref name="COSKI2009">{{harvnb|Coski|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC&pg=PA5 5]}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=5}}</ref> and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. Miles received various feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion." Moise liked the design but asked that "...&nbsp;the symbol of a particular religion not be made the symbol of the nation." Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic [[saltire]] ("X") for the upright cross. The number of stars was changed several times as well. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The diagonal cross was preferable, he wrote, because "it avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed upright thus." He also argued that the diagonal cross was "more Heraldric {{sic}} than Ecclesiastical, it being the 'saltire' of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress."<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=5}}: "describes the 15 stars and the debate on religious symbolism."</ref>

According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross (also used on the [[flag of Scotland]] as a white saltire on a blue field) had no special place in Southern iconography at the time. If Miles had not been eager to conciliate the Southern Jews, his flag would have used the traditional upright "[[Saint George's Cross]]" (as used on the [[flag of England]], a red cross on a white field). James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright Saint George's cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=6–8}}</ref>

Miles' flag and all the flag designs up to that point were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Generals Beauregard and Johnston and Quartermaster General Cabell approved the 12-star Confederate Battle Flag's design at the Ratcliffe home, which served briefly as Beauregard's headquarters, near [[Fairfax, Virginia|Fairfax Court House]] in September 1861. The 12th star represented Missouri. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at [[Fairfax Station, Virginia|Fairfax Station]] soon after and was shown the design for the new battle flag at the Ratcliffe House. [[Hetty Cary]] and her sister and [[Constance Cary Harrison|cousin]] made prototypes. One such 12-star flag resides in the collection of Richmond's [[American Civil War Museum|Museum of the Confederacy]] and the other is in the [[Confederate Memorial Hall Museum]] in [[New Orleans]].

On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s newly reorganized [[Army of Northern Virginia]] received the new battle flags in ceremonies at [[Centreville, Virginia|Centreville]] and [[Manassas, Virginia]], and carried them throughout the Civil War. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat the new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered. Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the "fighting colors" boosting morale after the confusion at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|Battle of First Manassas]]. From then on, the battle flag grew in its identification with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] and the South in general.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=10}}</ref> The flag's stars represented the number of states in the Confederacy. The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of [[Confederate government of Kentucky|Kentucky]] and [[Confederate government of Missouri|Missouri]] joined in late 1861.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|p=11}}</ref>

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag assumed a prominent place post-war when it was adopted as the copyrighted emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its continued use by the Southern Army's post-war veteran's groups, the [[United Confederate Veterans]] (U.C.V.) and the later [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]], (S.C.V.), and elements of the design by related similar female descendants organizations of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]], (U.D.C.), led to the assumption that it was, as it has been termed, "the soldier's flag" or "the Confederate battle flag."

The square "battle flag" is also properly known as "the flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]". It was sometimes called "Beauregard's flag" or "the Virginia battle flag". A [[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]] marker declaring [[Fairfax, Virginia]], as the birthplace of the Confederate battle flag was dedicated on April 12, 2008, near the intersection of Main and Oak Streets, in Fairfax, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7095 |title=Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag |website=The Historical Marker Database}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |series=Notes on Virginia |number=52 |year=2008 |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources |title=37 New Historical Markers for Virginia's Roadways |page=71 |url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/Notes_On_Virginia_08.FINAL.Web.pdf |quote=B-261: Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fairfaxrifles.org/Photos-Fx_Mkr_Ded.html |title=2008 Virginia Marker Dedication: Birthplace of the Confederate Battle Flag |access-date=October 5, 2014 |website=FairfaxRifles.org}}</ref>

To boost the morale of the [[Army of Tennessee]], [[Joseph E. Johnston|General Johnston]] introduced a new battle flag for the entire army. This flag bore a basic design similar to the one he had contributed to creating in Virginia in 1861 and had been commissioned in Mobile while he was in command in Mississippi in 1863. These flags for infantry and cavalry were to measure 37 by 54 inches. The white edging cross was about 2 inches wide and was often filled with battle honors. The stars were from 3 ½ inches to 4, and a 6 inch wide cross. Flags for artillery 30 by 41 inches overall.[https://confederateflags.org/army/fotcaot/#aot]

{{gallery items
| width=210
| [[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (With White Border).svg|x100px|border]]|The Battle Flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]
| [[File:South Carolina Sovereignty-Secession Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|The South Carolina sovereignty/secession flag is said to have inspired the battle flag.
| [[File:Army of Tennessee Battle Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle Flag of the [[Army of Tennessee]], late 1863 to 1865
| [[File:Army of the Trans-Mississippi Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|The battle flag used by the [[Army of the Trans-Mississippi]]
| [[File:Forrest's Cavalry Corps Flag.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of [[Forrest's Cavalry Corps]], 1863–1865
| [[File:Army of kentucky banner.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of the [[Army of Central Kentucky]]
| [[File:Flag of Bragg's Corps.svg|x100px|border]]|Battle flag of [[Second Corps, Army of Tennessee|Bragg’s Corp]]
||
}}

==Naval flags==
The fledgling [[Confederate States Navy]] adopted and used several types of flags, banners and pennants aboard all CSN ships: [[Jack (flag)|jacks]], battle [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]]s and small boat ensigns, as well as commissioning pennants, designating flags and signal flags.{{citation needed|date = November 2015}}

The first Confederate Navy [[Jack (flag)|jacks]], in use from 1861 to 1863, consisted of a circle of seven to fifteen five-pointed white stars against a field of "medium blue." It was flown forward aboard all Confederate warships while they were anchored in port. One seven-star jack still exists today (found aboard the captured ironclad [[USS Atlanta (1861)|CSS ''Atlanta'']]) that is actually dark blue.<ref name=ancestors>{{cite web |last1=Loeser |first1=Pete |title=American Civil War Flags |url=http://www.loeser.us/flags/civil.html |website=Historical Flags of Our Ancestors |access-date=July 22, 2019}}</ref> The first Confederate Navy jack closeley resembles the [[Jack of the United States|navy jack of the United States]].

The second Confederate Navy Jack was a rectangular cousin of the Confederate Army's battle flag and was in use from 1863 until 1865. It existed in a variety of dimensions and sizes, despite the CSN's detailed naval regulations. The blue color of the diagonal saltire's "Southern Cross" was much lighter than the battle flag's dark blue.<ref name=ancestors />

{{gallery items
| width=210
| [[File:Jack of the CSA Navy 1861 1863.svg|x100px|border]]|The first Confederate Navy Jack, 1861–1863
| [[File:Naval jack of the Confederate States of America (2-3).svg|x100px|border]]|The second Confederate Navy Jack, 1863–1865
| [[File:CSA FLAG 4.3.1861-21.5.1861.svg|x100px|border]]|The first Confederate Navy ensign, 1861–1863
| [[File:Confederate States Naval Ensign after May 26 1863.svg|x100px|border]]|The second Confederate Navy ensign, 1863–1865
||
}}

===Other navy flags===
<gallery class="center" widths="140px" heights="120px">
File:StainlessbannerCSSAtlanta.png|The second Navy Ensign of the ironclad [[CSS Atlanta|CSS ''Atlanta'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (9 stars).svg|The 9-star first Naval ensign of the paddle steamer [[CSS Curlew|CSS ''Curlew'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (11 stars).svg|The 11-star ensign of the Confederate [[Privateer]] [[Jefferson Davis (privateer)|''Jefferson Davis'']]
File:Ensign of the Confederate States (12 stars).svg|A 12-star first Confederate Navy ensign of the gunboat [[CSS Ellis|CSS ''Ellis'']], 1861–1862
File:ConfederateRevenueServiceEnsign11stars.png|The [[Command flag]] of Captain [[William F. Lynch]], flown as ensign of his flagship, [[CSS Sea Bird|CSS ''Seabird'']], 1862
File:2011-10-1 Pennant, Personal, CSN, Admiral Buchanan (5375014875).jpg|Pennant of Admiral [[Franklin Buchanan]], {{Ship|CSS|Tennessee|1863|6}}, at [[Battle of Mobile Bay]], August 5, 1864
File:Admiral Flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|Digital recreation of Admiral Buchanan's pennant
File:Admiral's Rank flag of Franklin Buchanan.svg|<small>Admiral's Rank flag of Franklin Buchanan, flown from [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] during the first day of the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] and also flown from the CSS ''Tennessee'' during the Battle of Mobile Bay</small>
File:Confederate Naval Flag, captured when Sherman took Savannah - Wisconsin Veterans Museum - DSC02988.JPG|Confederate naval flag, captured when General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William Sherman]] took [[Sherman's March to the Sea|Savannah]], Georgia, 1864
File:Flag of Louisiana (February 1861).svg|Ensign of the Louisiana State Navy
</gallery>

The first national flag, also known as the Stars and Bars (see above), served from 1861 to 1863 as the Confederate Navy's first battle ensign. It was generally made with a 2:3 aspect ratio, but a few very wide 1:2 ratio ensigns survive today in museums and private collections. As the Confederacy grew, so did the number of white stars on the ensign's dark blue canton: seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-star groupings were typical. Even a few 14- and 15-starred ensigns were made to include states expected to secede but that never completely joined the Confederacy. {{citation needed|date = November 2015}}

The second national flag was later adapted as a [[Maritime flag#Ensigns|naval ensign]], using a shorter 2:3 aspect ratio than the 1:2 ratio adopted by the Confederate Congress for the national flag. This particular battle ensign was the only example taken around the world, finally becoming the last Confederate flag lowered in the Civil War; this happened aboard the commerce raider [[CSS Shenandoah|CSS ''Shenandoah'']] in Liverpool, England on November 7, 1865.

==National flag proposals==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2021}}

Hundreds of proposed national flag designs were submitted to the Confederate Congress during competitions to find a First National flag (February–May 1861) and Second National flag (April 1862; April 1863).

===First national flag proposals===
When the Confederate States of America was founded during the Montgomery [[Constitutional Convention (political meeting)|Convention]] that took place on February 4, 1861, a national flag was not selected by the convention, as no proposals had been submitted. President Jefferson Davis' inauguration took place under the 1861 state flag of Alabama, and the celebratory parade was led by a unit carrying the 1861 state flag of Georgia.

Realizing that they quickly needed a national banner to represent their sovereignty, the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] set up the Committee on Flag and Seal. The chairman was [[William Porcher Miles]], who was also the South Carolina'a representative in the Confederate House of Representatives.

The committee began a competition to find a new national flag, with an unwritten adoption deadline of March 4, 1861, the date of President Lincoln's [[First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln|inauguration]]. This would serve to show the world that the South was truly sovereign. Hundreds of examples were submitted from across the Confederate States and from states that were not yet part of Confederacy (e.g. Kentucky), and even from Union states (such as New York). Many of the proposed designs paid homage to the [[Flag of the United States|Stars and Stripes]], the result of a sense of nostalgia in early 1861 that many of the new Confederate citizens felt toward the Union. Some of the homages were outright mimicry, while others were less obviously inspired by the Stars and Stripes yet were still intended to pay homage to that flag.

Those inspired by the Stars and Stripes were discounted almost immediately by the committee because they mirrored the Union's flag too closely. While others were wildly different, many of which were very complex and extravagant, they were largely discounted because of the complexity and expense that would be involved in their production.

The winner of the competition was Nicola Marschall's [[#First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)|"Stars and Bars" flag]]. This flag was selected by the Congress on March 4, 1861, the day of the deadline. The first flag was produced in a rush, as the date had already been selected for an official flag-raising ceremony, W. P. Miles credited the speedy completion of the first "Stars and Bars" flag to "fair and nimble fingers". This flag, made of [[Merino]], was raised by Letitia Tyler over the Alabama state capitol. The Congress inspected two other finalist designs on March 4. One was a "Blue ring or circle on a field of red", while the other consisted of alternating red and blue stripes with a blue canton containing stars. These two designs were lost, and their existence is known only from an 1872 letter sent by Miles to [[P. G. T. Beauregard]].

Miles was not pleased with any of the proposals. He did not share in the Union nostalgia, believing that the South's flag should be completely different from that of the North. He proposed a flag design featuring a blue saltire on white [[fimbriation]] with a field of red. He had originally planned to employ a blue St. George's Cross similar to that of the South Carolina Sovereignty Flag, but was dissuaded from doing so. Within the blue saltire were seven white stars representing the current seven states of the Confederacy, two on each of the left arms, one of each of the right arms and one in the middle. However, Miles' flag was not well received by the rest of the Congress. One congressman even mocked it as looking "like a pair of suspenders". Miles' flag lost to the Stars and Bars.

{{gallery
| mode=nolines
| height=75
| width=150
| align=center
| File:A. Bonand's flag proposal 1.jpg|First variant of flag proposal by A. Bonand of Savannah, Georgia
| File:A. Bonand's flag proposal 2.svg|Second variant of flag proposal by A. Bonand
| File:Confederateproposalladiesofcharleston.png|Flag proposal submitted by the "Ladies of Charleston"
| File:ConfederateproposalLPHonour1.jpg|First variant of flag proposal by L. P. Honour of [[Charleston, South Carolina]]
| File:ConfederateproposalLPHonour2.png|L. P. Honour's second variant of First national flag proposal
| File:ConfederateproposalJohnSansom.jpg|Confederate First national flag proposal by John Sansom of Alabama
| File:Confederate States Proposed1 1861.svg|William Porcher Miles' flag proposal, ancestor flag of the Confederate Battle Flag
| File:Confederateproposaljohnggaines.png|John G. Gaines' First national flag proposal
| File:ConfederateproposalJMJennings.png|Flag proposal by J. M. Jennings of [[Lowndesboro, Alabama]]
| File:Confederateproposalsamuelwhite.png|Samuel White's flag proposal
| File:Confederate flag proposal (Louisville).svg|Flag proposal submitted by an unknown person of [[Louisville, Kentucky]]
| File:Confederate States Proposed3 1861.svg|One of three finalist designs examined by Congress on March 4, 1861, lost out to Stars and Bars
| File:Confederate States Proposed2 1861.svg|Second of three finalists in the Confederate First national flag competition
| File:ConfederateproposalMrsEGCarpenter.png|Confederate flag proposal by E. G. Carpenter of [[Cassville, Georgia]]
| File:ConfederateproposalThomasHHobbs.png|Confederate flag proposal by Thomas H. Hobbs of [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]]
| File:ConfederateproposalEugeneWytheBaylor.png|Flag proposal by Eugene Wythe Baylor of Louisiana
| File:ConfederateproposalbyH.png|Flag proposal submitted by "H" of South Carolina
| File:Confederateproposalhamiltoncoupes1stfeb1861.jpg|A Confederate flag proposal by Hamilton Coupes that was submitted on February 1, 1861
| File:Confederateproposalireneriddle.png|The Confederate national flag proposal of Irene Riddle of [[Eutaw, Alabama]]
| File:WilliamTRiddleproposed1.png|This flag proposal was the first variant submitted by William T. Riddle of Eutaw, Alabama. Riddle submitted his flag proposals to Stephen Foster Hale on February 21, 1861.
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1862.svg|Flag proposed in 1862
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1863.svg|Flag proposed in 1863
| File:Confederate States Proposed 1863 Amendment1.svg|Flag proposed in 1863
| File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (3-5).svg|Congressman Swan's Amendment to Senate Bill №132{{Citation needed|reason=Could not find supporting documentation using search or ChatGTP, possible misinformation|date=March 2025}}
}}

==Flag variants==
[[File:Bonnieblue.svg|thumb|180px|right|The [[Bonnie Blue flag]]]]
In addition to the Confederacy's national flags, a wide variety of flags and banners were flown by Southerners during the Civil War. Most famously, the "[[Bonnie Blue Flag]]" was used as an unofficial flag during the early months of 1861. It was flying above the Confederate batteries that first opened fire on [[Fort Sumter]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]] harbor, in [[South Carolina]] beginning the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The "[[Van Dorn battle flag]]" was also carried by Confederate troops fighting in the [[Trans-Mississippi]] and Western theaters of war. Many military units also carried their own regimental flags into battle. Though there are only three official flags with the correct number of stars.<ref>[[North & South (US magazine)|North & South – The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society]], Volume 11, Number 2, Page 30, Retrieved April 16, 2010, [http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/images/volume11/ind11-1.pdf "The Stars and Bars"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714195019/http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/images/volume11/ind11-1.pdf |date=July 14, 2011 }}</ref>
{{clr}}

{{gallery
| mode=nolines
| height=75
| width=150
| align=center
| File:Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.svg|Flag of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] or "[[Robert E. Lee]] Headquarters Flag"
| File:KGC FLAG.png|Flag of [[Knights of the Golden Circle]]
| File:The Van Dorn Flag.svg|The "[[Van Dorn battle flag]]" used in the Western theaters of operation
| File:Flag of the Confederate States Marine Corps.svg|7-star First national flag of the [[Confederate States Marine Corps]]
| File:Polk’s Corps Battle Flag Second Issue.svg|Flag of [[First Corps, Army of Tennessee]]
| File:10th_Mississippi_flag.png|A Polk's Corps-style Battle Flag of the [[10th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Perote Guards flag.svg|The first battle flag of the [[Perote Guards]] (Company D, [[1st Regiment Alabama Infantry]]). Flag officially used: September 1860 – Summer, 1861
| File:JP Gillis Flag.svg|George P. Gilliss flag, also known as the Biderman Flag, one of the few Confederate flags captured in [[California in the American Civil War|California]] ([[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]])
| File:SibleyFlag.svg|The "Sibley Flag", Battle Flag of the [[Army of New Mexico]], commanded by General [[Henry Hopkins Sibley]]
| File:Flag of the Confederate States Revenue Service.svg|The ensign of the Confederate States Revenue Service, designed by H. P. Capers of South Carolina on April 10, 1861
| File:Missouri Regiments Army Banner.svg|Flag flown by Confederate Missouri regiments during the [[Vicksburg campaign]]{{sfn|Tucker|1993|p=122}}
| File:Garrison flag of Vicksburg.svg
| Flag variant with 12 stars that served as the Garrison Flag of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]] during the [[Vicksburg campaign]]
| File:Flag of the Cherokee Braves.svg|Flag of the [[1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles|Cherokee Braves]]
| File:Flag of Breckinridge's Corps.svg|Flag of regiments of the [[Orphan Brigade]]
| File:Hardee's moon flag.png|Hardee battle flag
| File:6th FLA 3rd Pattern Hardee Flag.jpg|6th Florida Hardee battle flag
| File:Cassidy battle flag.svg|Cassidy battle flag
| File:1FLAinf1.gif|Flag of the [[1st Florida Infantry Regiment]]
| File:1st Florida Cavalry & 4th Florida Infantry Regiments Flag.png|Flag of the combined [[1st Florida Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|1st Florida Cavalry]] and [[4th Florida Infantry Regiment]]s
| File:Maryland 2nd Inf-1st Bn Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Maryland Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|2nd Maryland Infantry Regiment/1st Maryland Battalion]]
| File:17th Texas Infantry Flag.svg|Flag of the [[17th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
| File:37th VA Inf.jpg|Flag of the [[37th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of the Sixth Louisiana Regiment.svg|Flag of the [[6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment]]|File:7th Florida Infantry Regimental Colors - ANV Pattern.jpg|Flag of the [[7th Florida Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of the 26th Texas Cavalry Regiment.svg|Flag of the [[26th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
| File:32nd Texas Cavalry.svg|Flag of the [[32nd Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
| File:47VAflag.png|Flag of the [[47th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
| File:Flag of Waul's Legion.gif|Flag of [[Waul's Legion]]
| File:Flag of Terry's Texas Rangers.gif|Attributed flag of [[Terry's Texas Rangers]]
| File:6th FL 4th Hardee Pattern.jpg|Flag of the 6th Florida Infantry Regiment}}

==Controversy==
{{for|use of Confederate symbols in modern society and popular culture|Modern display of the Confederate battle flag}}
[[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America (3-5).svg|thumb|Elongated version of the battle flag, similar to The Second Confederate Navy Jack, but with darker blue]]
[[File:Battle flag of the Confederate States of America.svg|thumb|175px|Square version]]

Though never having historically represented the Confederate States of America as a country, nor having been officially recognized as one of its national flags, the Battle Flag of the Army of Tennessee and its variants are now flag types commonly referred to as the "Confederate flag". It is also known as the "'''rebel flag'''", "'''[[Dixie]] flag'''" and "'''Southern Cross'''". It is sometimes incorrectly called the Stars and Bars, the name of the first national Confederate flag.<ref>{{harvnb|Coski|2005|pp=58}}</ref> 

The "rebel flag" is considered by some to be a divisive and polarizing symbol in the United States,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Why the Confederate Flag Made a 20th Century Comeback |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/06/150626-confederate-flag-civil-rights-movement-war-history/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815064537/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/06/150626-confederate-flag-civil-rights-movement-war-history/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2019 |website=National Geographic |access-date=June 12, 2020 |date=June 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2015/07/confederate_flag_removed_a_his.html |title=Confederate flag removed: A history of the divisive symbol |author=The Associated Press |publisher=Oregon Live |date=July 10, 2015}}</ref> while its supporters maintain that it is a symbol of regional cultural pride.<ref name="Chapman2011">{{cite book |last=Chapman |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&pg=PA114 |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7656-2250-1 |page=114 |access-date=February 21, 2013}}</ref><ref name="McWhorter">{{cite news |last1=McWhorter |first1=Diane |date=April 3, 2005 |title='The Confederate Battle Flag': Clashing Symbols |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/books/review/the-confederate-battle-flag-clashing-symbols.html |access-date=June 10, 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

A [[YouGov]] poll in 2020 of more than 34,000 Americans reported that 41% viewed the flag as representing racism, and 34% viewed it as symbolizing southern heritage.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/01/13/what-confederate-flag-means-america-today |title=What the Confederate flag means in America today |last=Sanders |first=Linley |date=January 13, 2020 |website=yougov.com |access-date=October 28, 2020 |quote=For a plurality of Americans, the Confederate flag represents racism (41%). But for about one-third of Americans (34%) – particularly adults over 65, those living in rural communities, or non-college-educated white Americans – the flag symbolizes heritage.}}</ref> A July 2021 Politico-Morning Consult poll of 1,996 registered voters reported that 47% viewed it as a symbol of Southern pride while 36% viewed it as a symbol of racism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2021 |title=American Electorate Continues to Favor Leaving Confederate Relics in Place |url=https://morningconsult.com/2021/07/14/confederate-statues-flag-military-bases-polling/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=National Tracking Poll #2107045 / July 09-12, 2021 / Crosstabulation Results |url=https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/07/14051637/2107045_crosstabs_POLITICO_RVs_v1_LM.pdf |page=176 |author1=Morning Consult |author2=Politico}}</ref> In a 2017 scientific article about the psychology of the Confederate flag's supporters, the authors found the primary reasons for the flag's support to be Southern regional patriotism, political conservatism, or White American racial biases against African Americans. However, the authors indicated that the majority of the flag's supporters did not tend towards racial biases as the reason for their support.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Esses |first1=Victoria M. |last2=Wright |first2=Joshua D. |date=2017 |title=Support for the Confederate Battle Flag in the Southern United States: Racism or Southern Pride? |journal=Journal of Social and Political Psychology |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=224–43 |doi=10.5964/jspp.v5i1.687}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Gallery==
===Arkansas===
<gallery>
File:22nd-ark-inf-flag.jpg|Flag of the [[22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment]] (Possibly Post-War)
</gallery>

===Alabama===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Hilliard's Legion.png|Flag of [[Hilliard's Legion|Hillard’s Legion]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/075.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317143343/https://archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/075.html | archive-date=March 17, 2010 | title=Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection: Hilliard's Legion }}</ref>
File:1st Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:1st Alabama Cavalry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment]]
File:PrattvilleDragoonFlag.jpg|Recreated flag of the [[Prattville Dragoons]]
File:6th Alabama Cavalry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[6th Alabama Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Florence Guards (Company K, 7th Alabama Infantry) flag.png|Flag of the Florence Guards (Company K, [[7th Alabama Infantry Regiment]])
File:8th Alabama Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[8th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:10th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:11th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:13th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:14th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[14th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:15th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[15th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:18th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:18th Alabama Infantry flag (Hardee pattern).jpg|Flag of the 18th Alabama Infantry Regiment (Hardee Version)
File:20th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[20th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:22nd Alabama Infantry flag (Polk's and Bragg's Corps pattern).jpg|Flag of the [[22nd Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:23rd Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 23rd Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:24th Alabama Infantry flag (Company E, Dickinson Guards).jpg|Flag of the 24th Alabama Infantry Regiment (Company E, Dickson Guards)
File:26th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[26th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:28th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:29th Alabama Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[26th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:36th Alabama Infantry Regiment flag, issued 1864.jpg|Flag of the [[36th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
File:57th Alabama Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the 57th Alabama Infantry Regiment
File:59th Alabama Infantry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[59th Alabama Infantry Regiment]]
</gallery>

===Florida===
<gallery>
File:Guidon of the Company B, 2nd Florida Cavalry, C.S.A.jpg|Guidon of the company B, [[2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)|2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment]]
</gallery>

===Georgia===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Fort McAllister, GA, US.jpg|Confederate National flag of [[Fort McAllister]]
File:Fort McAllister battle flag, GA, US.jpg|[[War flag|Battle Flag]] of the Emmett Rifles
</gallery>

===Louisiana===
<gallery>
File:Confederate flag of Fort Jackson, LA, US.JPG|Confederate National Flag captured from [[Fort Jackson, Louisiana|Fort Jackson]]
File:Kennedy's Battalion flag.jpg|Flag of [[5th Louisiana Infantry Battalion|Kennedy’s Battalion]]
</gallery>

===Mississippi===
<gallery>
File:Battle flag of the 2nd Mississippi Regiment.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:History of the Ninth regiment, Connecticut volunteer infantry, "The Irish regiment," in the war of the rebellion, 1861-65. The record of a gallant command on the march, in battle and in bivouac (1903) (14759587101).jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment battle flag army.mil-2008-09-10-145530.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 18th Mississippi Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 37th Mississippi Infantry.jpg|Flag of the 37th Mississippi Infantry Regiment
File:Battle flag of the 48th Mississippi Regiment.jpg|Flag of the 48th Mississippi Infantry Regiment
</gallery>

===Tennessee===
<gallery>
File:Flag of the 2nd Regiment East Tennessee Volunteers (Confedarate).jpg|Flag of the 2nd Regiment East Tennessee Volunteers
File:Battle Flag of the 4th Tennessee Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Tennessee Infantry Regiment]]
File:14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment]] 
</gallery>

===Texas===
<gallery>
File:Flag of Hood's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of [[Texas Brigade|Hood’s Texas Brigade]]
File:1stTexasFlag.jpg|Flag of the [[1st Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:3rd Texas Infantry flag.jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:TSLAC 306-4049 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment|3rd Texas Cavalry regiment]]
File:Fourth Texas Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Regimental flag of the Fifth Texas Infantry, Hood's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of the [[5th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 6th Texas Infantry and the 15th Texas Cavalry (dismounted) Consolidated, Granbury's Texas Brigade.jpg|Flag of the [[6th Texas Infantry Regiment]], [[16th Texas Cavalry Regiment]] (dismounted) Consolidated
File:Ninth Texas Cavalry Flag (black and white).jpg|First flag of the [[9th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 9th Texas Cavalry.jpg|Second flag of the 9th Texas Cavalry Regiment
File:10th Texas Infantry Regiment Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 11th Texas Cavalry.jpg|Flag of the [[11th Texas Cavalry Regiment]]
File:16th Texas Infantry Regiment, Company G flag.jpg|Flag of the [[16th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:17th and 18th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), Consolidated.jpg|Flag of the 17th and 18th Texas Cavalry Regiment
File:20th Texas.jpg|Flag of the [[20th Texas Infantry Regiment]]
File:Terry's Texas Rangers Confederate flag.jpg|Flag of [[Terry's Texas Rangers|Terry’s Texas Rangers]] 
</gallery>

===Virginia===
<gallery>
File:Battle Flag of the 2nd Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 4th Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[4th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 8th Virginia Cavalry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[8th Virginia Cavalry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 9th Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[9th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:10th Virginia Infantry Regiment flag carried into the first battle of Manassas, July 20-21, 1861.jpg|Flag carried into battle by the [[10th Virginia Infantry Regiment]] at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|first battle of Manassas]]
File:Battle Flag of the 10th Virginia Cavalry.jpg|Flag of the [[10th Virginia Cavalry Regiment|10th virginia Cavalry Regiment]]
File:13th Virginia Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[13th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:18VAflag.jpg|Flag of the [[18th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:19th Virginia Infantry Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[19th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:28th Virginia Infantry Color.jpg|Flag of the [[28th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Flag of the 42nd Virginia Infantry.jpg|Flag of the [[42nd Virginia Infantry Regiment]]  
File:Battle Flag of the 54th Virginia Infantry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[54th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:Battle Flag of the 56th Virginia Infantry, CSA.jpg|Flag of the [[56th Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
File:61st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment Battle Flag.jpg|Flag of the [[61st Virginia Infantry Regiment]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Seal of the Confederate States]]
** [[Flag of Alabama]]
** [[Flag of Florida]]
** [[Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)|Flag of Georgia]]
** [[Flag of Arkansas]]
** [[Flag of Tennessee]]
** [[Flag of Mississippi]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book | last=Bonner | first=Robert | title=Colors and Blood: Flag Passions of the Confederate South | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=2002 | isbn=0-691-11949-X}}
* {{cite book | last=Cannon | first=Devereaux D. Jr. |year=2005 |title=The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History |location=Gretna |publisher=[[Pelican Publishing Company]] |orig-year=1st pub. St. Luke's Press:1988 |isbn=978-1-565-54109-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC |year=2005 |publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01722-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Confederate Battle Flag |year=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02986-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs0VJTbNwfAC |access-date=November 24, 2016}}
* {{cite web|last=Coski|first=John M.|title=The Birth of the 'Stainless Banner' |date=May 13, 2013 |work=The New York Times |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/the-birth-of-the-stainless-banner/ |access-date=January 27, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107164729/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/the-birth-of-the-stainless-banner/ |archive-date=November 7, 2019}}
* {{cite book | last1=Katcher | first1=Phillip | last2=Scollins | first2=Rick | title=Flags of the American Civil War 1: Confederate | series=Osprey Men-At-War Series | publisher=Osprey Publishing Company | date=1993 | isbn=1-85532-270-6}}
* Madaus, H. Michael. ''Rebel Flags Afloat: A Survey of the Surviving Flags of the Confederate States Navy, Revenue Service, and Merchant Marine''. [[Flag Research Center]], 1986, Winchester, MA. {{ISSN|0015-3370}}. (Eighty-page, all Confederate naval flags issue of "The Flag Bulletin," magazine #115.)
* Marcovitz, Hal. ''The Confederate Flag, American Symbols and Their Meanings''. Mason Crest Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|1-59084-035-6}}.
* {{cite book|last1=Martinez|first1=James Michael|last2=Richardson|first2=William Donald|last3=McNinch-Su|first3=Ron|title=Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South|date=2000|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville, FL|pages=284–285|isbn=0-8130-1758-0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ourflagoriginan00prebgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/ourflagoriginan00prebgoog/page/n444 414]|quote=as a people we are fighting to.|title=Our Flag: Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America, with an Introductory Account of the Symbols, Standards, Banners and Flags of Ancient and Modern Nations|date=1872|location=Albany|publisher=Joel Munsell|oclc=612597989|last=Preble|first=George Henry|author-link=George Henry Preble}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyflagunit00prebgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyflagunit00prebgoog/page/n582 523] |quote=William Ross Postell Flag. |title=History of the Flag of the United States of America: And of the Naval and Yacht-Club Signals, Seals, and Arms, and Principal National Songs of the United States, with a Chronicle of the Symbols, Standards, Banners, and Flags of Ancient and Modern Nations |edition=2nd revised |date=1880 |location=Boston |publisher=A. Williams and Company |oclc=645323981 |last=Preble |first=George Henry|author-link=George Henry Preble}}
* Silkenat, David. ''Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019. {{ISBN|978-1-4696-4972-6}}.
* {{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Phillip Thomas |title=The South's Finest: The First Missouri Confederate Brigade From Pea Ridge to Vicksburg |location=Shippensburg, Pennsylvania |publisher=White Mane Publishing Co. |year=1993 |isbn=0-942597-31-1}}
{{refend}}

"Southern Confederacy" (Atlanta, Georgia), 5 Feb 1865, pg 2. Congressional, Richmond, 4 Feb: A bill to establish the flag of the Confederate States was adopted without opposition, and the flag was displayed in the Capitol today. The only change was a substitution of a red bar for one-half of the white field of the former flag, composing the flag's outer end.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Flags of the Confederate States|Flag of the Confederate States}}
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* {{YouTube|qJPjWWIkakM|Battle Colors of Arkansas}}
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/symbols-of-battle-civil-war-flags Symbols of Battle: Civil War Flags] at [[Google Arts & Culture|Google Cultural Institute]]
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