March 4th is Confederate Flag Day in most Southern States in the United States of America.
It was on this day in Southern history, Saturday, March 4, 1865, the Third (and final) Confederate National Flag was adopted on this day by the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia.
It was on this day in Southern history, Saturday, March 4, 1865, the Third (and final) Confederate National Flag was adopted on this day by the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia.
"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 saltier 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." -- Flag Act of 1865
This flag -- informally referred to by Confederate heritage promoters today as the "Blood Stained Banner" -- served as the national flag of the Confederate States of America until the government of that nation was formally dissolved by President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet on Friday, May 5, 1865 in Washington, Georgia -- only 63 days, making it the shortest serving flag of an American nation.
Few historical copies of this banner remain in existence today in museums and private collections.
4 comments:
Hey there C.W. still at it I see.
Am I correct in assuming that you are of the opinion that, upon his surrender to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, General Lee presented to General Grant a written copy of the "pledge of allegiance" to his then dissolved Confederate States of America?
Am I also correct in assuming that Robert E. Lee and his so called "slaves" recited that pledge together, shortly after Lee resigned his commission as a Union soldier to champion the Confederate cause to uphold and preserve the US Constitution?
It is true, is it not, that in its stripped down form that was so highly respective of all the religions in the CSA, such a pledge must be the true origins of our present day Pledge of Allegiance?
If such a pledge existed, as it most certainly must have, would it not also include some small snippet or snippets from Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence?
It seems rather obvious to me that if anyone of you Confederates could accurately reproduce such a document just by trying to type it out verbatim it would be you Roden.
Am I not correct on that point as well?
Hello Steve G.
Thank you for your comment. I can't say for certain what your question has to do with the topic of the blog post, or why you feel it has any bearing on the origins and service of the 3rd Confederate National Flag. It seems that this sort of question would have been more appropriate on my previous blog post regarding the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House (April 9-10, 1865).
As for the questions, the best answers I can offer are as follows:
To my knowledge General Lee offered no pledge of allegiance to General Grant, nor did Grant himself request any such pledge. In fact, Grant did not even demand or expect Lee to offer his sword in any formal surrender, as was the military custom of the time.
When the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 10th, stacking their arms and their furled battle flags, the former Confederate soldiers were not made to take any specific "oath of loyalty" beyond signing their paroles and returning to their homes. I could be mistaken on those details, but this is the truth as far as I know it to be based on all the accounts I've read in 30 years of study.
The current "Pledge of Allegiance" to the US Flag that we know did not exist until the 20th century and has no specific origin related to the War Between the States. I plan to do a blog post eventually on the origins of the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag sometime in the future, be sure to check it out.
Now as to the rest of your comments, I have a question for you, if you don't mind answering:
What do you mean when you say "you Confederates" exactly?
Its a strange statement to make since, to my knowledge, the last person who could legitimately be called a "Confederate" -- or former-Confederate to be more accurate -- left this life in 1958, and the last surviving widow of a Confederate veteran passed away in 2003, if I'm not mistaken. There are still children and grandchildren of these veterans who knew their parents alive today, though I doubt any of them presume to actually call themselves "Confederates".
Being at least five generations removed from my own Confederate ancestor, I certainly don't think of myself as a Confederate veteran, even though I respect them as American soldiers and veterans of America's wars, in spite of my own personal anti-war views and philosophies.
Perhaps you can clarify this seemingly bizarre anomaly at some point in the near future for both myself and my world-wide audience?
Once again thank you for taking the time to post. ~From C.Roden "The Man Deniers Fear The Most"
C'mon Roden get real. You're a present-day Confederate. It's as pure and simple as that, while also being as complex as that.
You have a heritage as do I. And there is no way or reason for any of us to deny such things.
Your Confederate ancestors sacrificed all for their descendants, did they not?
Didn't that code of conduct and belief system of yours come from somewhere other than Star Trek episodes?
Think Roden, think! The "third" Confederate Flag. The one with the shortest time of wartime use, and yet the most endearing and enduring lifespan?
Somewhere in that super-trained historian brain and body of yours are the associated sets of facts that you are still steadfastly refusing to access.
Why?
Take the leap of faith Roden. Just assume that Lee did present Grant with some secret oath that was known to your ancestors. Then start typing the thing or writing it out longhand.
Yeah, and you just convinced me that you're either a troll, of very VERY confused about reality.
There are no "present-day Confederates" anymore than there are present-day members of Napoleon's Old Guard.
There are people that deem themselves "neo-Confederates" or are called such by certain, uh, less-than-credible historians and social activists, but again they are not Confederates as defined by the actual definition of the term. To believe otherwise (on either the part of people like the League of the South, or on the part of Left-wing activists and modern-day historians) is to live a delusion.
Or, to quote the infamous Dr. Gregory House M.D.: "You're a moron."
I possess no such inflated opinion of myself. I am the descendant of a Confederate soldier, and I am proud of that certainly, but that does not mean that I am a "Confederate" or believe myself in keeping with 19th century mindsets as a 21st century man.
I strive to live in a realistic world...except maybe at Renaissance Festivals, Furry gatherings, or cosplaying at Comic Cons where I can indulge in fantasy on a limited basis.
Again thank you for your comment, and Happy Easter 2023!
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