Flags of the Confederacy

The American Civil War started in April 1861 with an attack on Fort Sumter and ended in April 1865 with the Battle of Appomattox Court House. In that time the Confederate States of America would go through three primary flag designs, with multiple iterations within each design, and many states would change their flag as they joined the Confederacy. The Confederate military would also get its own flags and ensigns.

In the early moments of the Civil War, the Confederacy would use the Bonnie Blue as its symbol. But the unofficial symbol would be replaced by what would become the flag of the Confederacy for the following several years. On March 4th 1861 the first national flag of the Confederate States of America would fly, generally called Stars and Bars. This had seven stars, reflecting the number of states in the Confederacy upon its formation: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. As the Confederacy grew, the flag would be updated with the number of stars reflecting the number of states and territories in it, with the final version having thirteen stars. The final line-up of the Confederate States of America would be: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and the territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

However the Stars and Bars design was not popular. It was criticized by the Southern Illustrated News for that it "is suggestive of the detested Federal Government and its oppressions." For a group trying to distance itself from the United States of America, they wanted a flag to make that clear. The battle flag of the Confederacy would gain popularity and eventually become the primary symbol in the flag.

In 1863 the Confederate Congress would vote on a new flag, called the Stainless Banner. Leading up to the vote was an increased dislike of the Stars and Bars design with the committee stating that the new flag "should be as unlike as possible the Stars and Stripes of the United States." The Stainless Banner combined the Confederate battle flag on a white field. The "stainless" comes from the pure white field.

By late 1864, it was clear that the flag was too white, too easily being confused with a flag of truce. Major Arthur L. Rogers proposed adding a vertical red stripe to make it stand out. In 1865 the new flag would be adopted, called the Blood-Stained Banner. A month later, Robert E. Lee would surrender to Ulysses S. Grant.

As a symbol of their secession, many of states changed their flags. Some of them, such as South Carolina, Texas, and Mississippi would change their flags multiple times as the Confederacy established itself.

What is today called the Confederate Flag was never a national flag of the Confederacy but has become a controversial symbol of the Confederacy which persists. Sometimes called the Dixie Flag, the Rebel Flag, or Southern Cross, the modern Confederate Flag was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederate Flag has been adopted by White Nationalist and White Supremacist groups. Wide spread use emerged, by both political parties and white supremacist groups, as a response to the civil rights movement in the 1950s. According to reporting by Logan Strother, Thomas Ogorzalek, and Spencer Piston, usage of the Confederate Flag had largely disappeared prior to the civil rights movement. In 1948 Strom Thurmond lead a protest against President Truman's push for civil rights, called the Dixiecrat revolt. Dixiecrats were a short lived political party in the US with pro-segregation as their primary issue. The Confederate Flag was the party flag. In 1956, the state of Georgia would change its flag to incorporate the Confederate Battle Flag. While there is no explicit account of why Georgia chose to change its flag, U.S. congressman James Mackay, who opposed the change, stated: "There was only one reason for putting the flag on there: like the gun rack in the back of a pickup truck, it telegraphs a message." The flag would be changed in 2001, removing the battle flag.

That is not to say that the usage of the flag disappeared entirely after the Civil War. In 1894, 30 years after the Civil War ended, Mississippi passed the Flag Act of 1894, changing the flag to use the Confederate Battle Flag combined with horizontal stripes. In the wake of civil rights protests in 2020 lawmakers have began the process of securing votes to change it. On January 11 2021, the new flag of Mississippi was adopted, featuring a white magnolia blossom and the words "In God We Trust".

Modern usage of the Confederate Flag does not designate a particular group or organization, but instead is often used as one of many ideological symbols. At the Unite the Right rally in 2017, the Confederate Flag can be seen used among many other flags with similar, white supremacist, beliefs such as the Nazi flag.