The Star-Spangled Cross And The Pure Field Of White

The 2nd Confederate National Flag "Stainless Banner" over
Fort Sumter, October 20, 1863.
Oil painting done from a sketch made by Conrad Wise Chapman.

The Star-Spangled Cross and the
Pure Field of White

 

The Star-Spangled Cross and the pure field of white,
Is the banner we give to the breeze, 

'This an emblem of Freedom unfurled in the right,

O'er our home and our lands and our seas.

Chorus: 

We'll stand by the Cross
And the pure field of white,
While a shred's left to float on the air:

Our trust is in God, who can help us in fight,
And defend those who ask Him in prayer. 

For years we have cringed to the uplifted rod,

For years have demanded our right,

Our voice shouts defiance, our trust is in God,

And the strong arm that gives us our might.

Chorus

Our hills and our values with the death shriek may right,

And our forest may swarm with the foe,

But still to the breeze our proud banner we'll fling,

And to Vict'ry or Death we will go.

Chorus 

Composed by Subaltern
Created & Published by
Geo. Dunn & Company, Richmond, VA. 1864

The Second National Flag was approved by both houses of the Confederate Congress and became official on May 1, 1863. It was first used to cover the coffin of the beloved Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who had been badly wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2nd and later died of pneumonia on May 10th. His coffin was draped with the new Second National Flag and lay in state in the chamber of the House of Representatives on May 12th. As a result of this connection, as well as due to the fact that both this flag and Jackson's picture appeared on the Confederate $2 dollar bill of the February 2, 1864 issue, the Second National Banner was often called the "Jackson Flag". The pure white field also led to the Second National Flag being nicknamed the "Stainless Banner".