The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American CivilWar. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to1865; and the "Blood-Stained Banner", used in1865 shortly before the Confederacy's dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battleflag by the ConfederateArmy 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.

Following the end of the American Civil War, private and officialuse of the Confederateflags, particularly the battleflag, has continued amid philosophical, political, cultural, and racial controversy in the UnitedStates. These include flags displayed in states; cities, towns and counties; schools, colleges and universities; private organizations and associations; and individuals. The battleflag was also featured in the stateflags of Georgia and Mississippi, although it was removed by Georgia in2003 and Mississippi in2020. However, the new design of the Georgiaflag still references the original "Stars and Bars" iteration of the Georgiaflag. After the Georgiaflag was changed in2001, the city of Trenton, Georgia, has used a flag design nearly identical to the previous version with the battleflag.

It is estimated that 500–544 flags were captured during the war by the Union. The flags were sent to the WarDepartment in Washington.

First flag: the "Stars and Bars" (1861–1863)

  • Initial flag with 7 stars (March4– May18, 1861)
  • Flag with 9 stars (May18– July2, 1861)
  • Flag with 11 stars (July2– November28, 1861)
  • Final flag with 13 stars (December10, 1861– May1, 1863)
The "Stars and Bars" flies at Fort Sumter, April15, 1861.

The Confederacy's first official national flag, often called the Stars and Bars, flew from March4, 1861, to May1, 1863. Twomen claim to have designed the flag. While it has been traditionally attributed to Prussian-American artist Nicola Marschall from Marion, Alabama, evidence now shows that Captain OrrenRandolph Smith from Louisburg, NorthCarolina likely also designed a similar flag at the same time. Alabama and NorthCarolina both certified that theirs was the first design, but an investigation into both men's claims has revealed evidence that supports both men.

The flag is very similar to the flag of the United States, and is said to resemble the flag of Austria, with which Nicola Marschall would have been familiar. The original version of the flag featured a circle of seven white stars in the navy-blue canton, representing the seven states of the South that originally composed the Confederacy: SouthCarolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The "Stars and Bars" flag was adopted on March4, 1861, in the first temporary national capital of Montgomery, Alabama, and raised over the dome of that first Confederate capitol. Marschall also designed the Confederatearmy uniform.

One of the first acts of the Provisional Confederate Congress was to create the Committeeof the Flag andSeal, chaired by WilliamPorcher Miles, a Democratic representative and "Fire-Eater" from South Carolina. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian JohnM. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'oldflag' of the UnitedStates." Miles had already designed a flag that later became known as the Confederate BattleFlag, and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S.flag ("the Stars and Stripes"), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee.

As the Confederacy grew, so did the numbers of stars: two were added for Virginia and Arkansas in May1861, followed by two more representing Tennessee and NorthCarolina inJuly, and finally twomore for Missouri and 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. (orUnion) flag, especially when it was hanging limply on its flagstaff. 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. As early as April1861, 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. In January1862, GeorgeWilliam Bagby, writing for the Southern Literary Messenger, wrote that many Confederates disliked the flag. "Everybody wants a new Confederateflag," Bagby wrote. "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the Yankeeflag, and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." The editor of the Charleston Mercury expressed a similarview: "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. They resemble too closely the dishonored 'Flagof Yankee Doodle' ...we imagine that the 'BattleFlag' will become the SouthernFlag by popular acclaim." WilliamT. Thompson, the editor of the Savannah-based Daily Morning News, also objected to the flag, due to its aesthetic similarity to the U.S.flag, which for some Confederates had negative associations with emancipation and abolitionism. Thompson stated in April1863 that he disliked the adoptedflag "on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting."

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 borderstates of Kentucky and Missouri, where slavery was still widely practiced. The first showing of the 13-star flag was outside the BenJohnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky; the 13-star design was also in use as the Confederatenavy's battle ensign. The 13-star design uses the same starformation as the Betsy Ross flag.

Second flag: the "Stainless Banner" (1863–1865)

Second national flag (May1, 1863– March4, 1865), 2:1ratioSecond national flag (May1, 1863– March4, 1865) as commonly manufactured, with a 3:2ratioA 12-star variant of the "Stainless Banner" produced in Mobile, AlabamaVariant captured following the Battleof Painesville, 1865Garrison flag of Fort Fisher, the "Southern Gibraltar"

Many different designs were proposed during the solicitation for a second Confederate nationalflag, nearly all based on the Battle Flag. By1863, 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 battleflag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the groundred; thereupon a broad saltire of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the ConfederateStates."

Stainless Banner grave flag at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina

The flag is also known as the Stainless Banner, and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. On April23, 1863, the Savannah MorningNews editor WilliamTappan Thompson, with assistance from WilliamRoss Postell, a Confederate blockade runner, published an editorial championing a design featuring the battleflag on a white background he referred to later as "The WhiteMan's Flag", a name which never caught on. In explaining the white background of his design, Thompson wrote, "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacyof the whiteman over the inferior or coloredrace; a whiteflag would thus be emblematical of our cause." In a letter to Confederate Congressman C. J. Villeré, dated April24, 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, propos[ing] that 'a good design for the nationalflag would be the present battle-flag as UnionJack, and the rest all white or all blue'... The final version of the second nationalflag, adopted May1, 1863, did just this: it set the St.Andrew's Cross of stars in the UnionJack with the rest of the civilian banner entirely white."

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 battleflag must be used, but it was necessary to emblazon it for a nationalflag, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field. When Thompson received word the Congress had adopted the design with a blue stripe, he published an editorial on April28 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." Confederate Congressman PeterW. Gray proposed the amendment that gave the flag its white field. Gray stated that the white field represented "purity, truth, and freedom."

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 May1, 1863. The flags that were actually produced by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the Confederatenavy's battle ensign, rather than the official 2:1 ratio.

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 flagof truce, especially on naval ships where it was too easily soiled. The Columbia-based Daily South Carolinian observed that it was essentially a battle flag upon a flagof 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.

The first official use of the "Stainless Banner" was to drape the coffin of General ThomasJ. "Stonewall" Jackson as it layin state in the Virginia Capitol, May12, 1863. As a result of this first usage, the flag received the alternate nickname of the "JacksonFlag".

Third flag: the "Blood-Stained Banner" (1865)

Third national flag (after March4, 1865)Third national flag as commonly manufactured, with a square cantonThird national flag variant produced from an example of the second national flagA 12-star variant of the "Blood-Stained Banner" produced in Mobile, Alabama

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 Scottishflag and the red bar from the flagof France, and having "as little as possible of the Yankeeblue"– the UnionArmy wore blue, the Confederatesgray.

The Flag Act of 1865, passed by the Confederate Congress near the very end of the war, describes the flag in the following language:

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the ConfederateStates 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 groundred and a broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or fivepointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the ConfederateStates; the field to be white, except the outerhalf from the union to be a redbar extending the width of the flag.

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 nationalflag rather than the slightly rectangular one that was specified by the law.

State flags

Alabama and Arkansas are not on this list because they did not have flags during the American Civil War. Although Alabama had a secession flag in 1861, it does not count as a state flag due to it not being flown again, after being placed in the state archives.

Indian Territory

Battle flag

Battle flag of the ConfederateStates (1861–1865)
Three versions of the flag of the ConfederateStates ofAmerica and the Confederate BattleFlag are shown on this printed poster from1896. The "Stars and Bars" can be seen in the upperleft. Standing at the center are Stonewall Jackson, P. G. T. Beauregard, and Robert E. Lee, surrounded by bust portraits of Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens, and various Confederate army officers, such as James Longstreet and A. P. Hill.
Drawing in the United Confederate Veterans 1895 Sponsor souvenir album
Cherokee Confederates reunion in NewOrleans, 1903

At the First Battle of Manassas, near Manassas, Virginia, the similarity between the "Stars and Bars" and the "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 nationalflags were hard to tell apart. 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 [ourflag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battleflag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federalflag". He turned to his aide, who happened to be WilliamPorcher Miles, the former chairman of the ConfederateCongress's Committeeon the Flag and Seal. Miles described his rejected nationalflag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committeeon the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request that the nationalflag be changed. The committee rejected the idea by a four-to-one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having twoflags. He described the idea in a letter to his commanding general JosephE. Johnston:

I wrote to [Miles] that we should have 'two' flags– a 'peace' or paradeflag, 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 WarDept. on the subject of Regimental or badgeflags 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.

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

According to Museum of the Confederacy Director JohnCoski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionistflags" flown at the SouthCarolina secession convention in Charleston of December1860. That flag was a blue St. George's Cross (an upright or Latincross) on a redfield, with 15white stars on the cross, representing the slave-holding states, and, on the redfield, 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 "...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 early1861. 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."

According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross (also used on the flagof Scotland as a white saltire on a bluefield) had no special place in Southern iconography at the time. If Miles had not been eager to conciliate the SouthernJews, his flag would have used the traditional upright "SaintGeorge's Cross" (as used on the flagof England, a redcross on a white field). JamesB. Walton submitted a battleflag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright SaintGeorge's Cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.

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 BattleFlag's design at the Ratcliffehome, which served briefly as Beauregard's headquarters, near Fairfax CourtHouse in September1861. The 12thstar represented Missouri. President JeffersonDavis arrived by train at FairfaxStation soon after and was shown the design for the new battleflag at the RatcliffeHouse. Hetty Cary and her sister, along with her cousin, ConstanceCary Harrison, made prototypes. One such 12-star flag resides in the collection of Richmond's Museumof theConfederacy and the other is in the Confederate MemorialHall Museum in New Orleans.

On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General Robert E. Lee's newly reorganized Armyof NorthernVirginia received the new battleflags in ceremonies at Centreville and Manassas, Virginia, and carried them throughout the CivilWar. 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 FirstManassas. From then on, the battleflag grew in its identification with the Confederacy and theSouth in general. 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 Kentucky and Missouri joined in late1861.

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 SouthernArmy's post-war veteran's groups, the United Confederate Veterans(U.C.V.) and the later Sonsof 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 battleflag."

The square "battle flag" is also properly known as "the flag of the Armyof NorthernVirginia". It was sometimes called "Beauregard'sflag" or "the Virginia battleflag". A Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker declaring Fairfax, Virginia, as the birthplace of the Confederate battleflag was dedicated on April12, 2008, near the intersection of Main and OakStreets, in Fairfax, Virginia.

To boost the morale of the Army of Tennessee, GeneralJohnston introduced a new battleflag for the entire army. This flag bore a basic design similar to the one he had contributed to creating in Virginia in1861 and had been commissioned in Mobile while he was in command in Mississippi in1863. These flags for infantry and cavalry were to measure 37 by 54 inches (94 by 137 centimeters). The white edgingcross was about 2in (5cm)wide and was often filled with battle honors. The stars were from 3+1⁄2to 4in (9 to 10cm), with a 6-inch-wide (15cm) cross. Flags for artillery were 30 by 41in (76 by 104cm) overall.

Naval flags

The fledgling Confederate States Navy (CSN) adopted and used several types of flags, banners and pennants aboard all CSNships: jacks, battleensigns and smallboat ensigns, as well as commissioning pennants, designatingflags and signalflags.[citation needed]

The first Confederate Navy jacks, in use from 1861 to1863, consisted of a circle of seven to fifteen five-pointed white stars against a field of "mediumblue." 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 CSSAtlanta) that is actually darkblue. The first ConfederateNavy jack closely resembles the navyjack of the UnitedStates.

The second Confederate Navy Jack was a rectangular cousin of the ConfederateArmy's battleflag and was in use from1863 until1865. It existed in a variety of dimensions and sizes, despite the CSN's detailed naval regulations.There is a claim that the bluecolor of the diagonal saltire's "Southern Cross" was much lighter than the battleflag's darkblue.But in fact the museum exhibits have the dark blue color on the cross.

  • The first Confederate Navy Jack, 1861–1863
  • The second Confederate Navy Jack (rectangular), 1863–1865
  • The second Confederate Navy Jack (square), 1863–1865
  • The first Confederate Navy ensign, 1861–1863
  • The second Confederate Navy ensign, 1863–1865

Other navy flags

The first national flag, also known as the "Stars and Bars" , served from1861 to1863 as the ConfederateNavy's first battleensign. It was generally made with a 2:3aspect ratio, but a few verywide 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 darkblue 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]

The second national flag was later adapted as a naval ensign, using a shorter 2:3aspect ratio than the 1:2ratio adopted by the ConfederateCongress for the nationalflag. This particular battleensign was the only example taken around the world, finally becoming the last Confederateflag lowered in the CivilWar; this happened aboard the commerce raider CSSShenandoah in Liverpool, England on November7, 1865.

National flag proposals

Hundreds of proposed national flag designs were submitted to the ConfederateCongress during competitions to find a first (February–May 1861) and second (April1862; April1863) nationalflag.

First national flag proposals

When the Confederate States of America was founded during the Montgomery Convention that took place on February4, 1861, a nationalflag was not selected by the convention, as no proposals had been submitted. President JeffersonDavis's 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 Committeeon Flag and Seal. The chairman was WilliamPorcher Miles, who was also the SouthCarolina representative in the Confederate Houseof Representatives.

The committee began a competition to find a new national flag, with an unwritten adoption deadline of March4, 1861, the date of PresidentLincoln's inauguration. This would serve to show the world that theSouth was truly sovereign. Hundreds of examples were submitted from across the ConfederateStates and from states that were not yet part of theConfederacy (e.g.Kentucky), and even from Unionstates (such as NewYork). Many of the proposed designs paid homage to the "Stars and Stripes", the result of a sense of nostalgia in early1861 that many of the new Confederate citizens felt toward theUnion. 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'sflag 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 "Stars and Bars" flag. This flag was selected by theCongress on March4, 1861, the day of the deadline. The firstflag 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 wool, was raised by Letitia Tyler over the Alabama State Capitol. TheCongress inspected two other finalist designs on March4. One was a "Blue ring or circle on a field of red", while the other consisted of alternating red and blue stripes with a bluecanton containing stars. These two designs were lost, and their existence is known only from an 1872letter sent by Miles to P. G. T. Beauregard.

Miles was not pleased with any of the proposals. He did not share in the Unionnostalgia, believing that the South'sflag should be completely different from that of the North. He proposed a flag design featuring a bluesaltire 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 SouthCarolina SovereigntyFlag, but was dissuaded from doing so. Within the bluesaltire were seven white stars representing the current seven states of the Confederacy, two on each of the leftarms, one on each of the rightarms and one in the middle. However, Miles'sflag was not well-received by the rest of theCongress. Onecongressman even mocked it as looking "like a pair of suspenders". Miles'sflag lost to the Stars and Bars.

  • First variant of flag proposal by A.Bonand of Savannah, Georgia
  • Second variant of flag proposal by A.Bonand
  • Flag proposal submitted by the "Ladiesof Charleston"
  • First variant of flag proposal by L. P. Honour of Charleston, South Carolina
  • L. P. Honour's second variant of first national flag proposal
  • Confederate first national flag proposal by John Sansom of Alabama
  • William Porcher Miles' flag proposal, ancestor flag of the Confederate BattleFlag
  • John G. Gaines' First national flag proposal
  • Flag proposal by J. M. Jennings of Lowndesboro, Alabama
  • Samuel White's flag proposal
  • Flag proposal submitted by an unknown person of Louisville, Kentucky
  • One of three finalist designs examined by Congress on March4, 1861, lost out to Stars and Bars
  • Second of three finalists in the Confederate first national flag competition
  • Confederate flag proposal by E. G. Carpenter of Cassville, Georgia
  • Confederate flag proposal by ThomasH. Hobbs of Chattanooga, Tennessee
  • Flag proposal by EugeneWythe Baylor of Louisiana
  • Flag proposal submitted by 'H' of South Carolina
  • A Confederate flag proposal by Hamilton Coupes that was submitted on February1, 1861
  • The Confederate national flag proposal of Irene Riddle of Eutaw, Alabama
  • This flag proposal was the first variant submitted by WilliamT. Riddle of Eutaw, Alabama. Riddle submitted his flag proposals to Stephen Foster Hale on February21, 1861.
  • Flag proposed in 1862
  • Flag proposed in 1862
  • Flag proposed in 1863
  • Flag proposed in 1863
  • Congressman Swan's Amendment to SenateBill No.132

Flag variants

In addition to the Confederacy's national flags, a wide variety of flags and banners were flown by Southerners during the CivilWar. Most famously, the "Bonnie Blue Flag" was used as an unofficialflag during the earlymonths of1861. It was flying above the Confederate batteries that first opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, beginning the CivilWar. The "Van Dorn flag" was carried by several Confederate regiments from Arkansas and Missouri fighting in the Trans-Mississippi and Westerntheaters ofwar and were, or had been, a part of the Army of the West in 1862. Many military units also carried their own regimentalflags into battle. Though there are only three officialflags with the correct number of stars.

Controversy

The second naval jack is the most common modern variation that is often used and mistaken to be the official Confederateflag.

Though never having historically represented the Confederate States ofAmerica as a country, nor having been officially recognized as one of its nationalflags, the BattleFlag of the Armyof Tennessee and its variants are now flagtypes commonly referred to as the "Confederateflag". It is also known as the "rebelflag", "Dixieflag" and "Southern Cross". It is sometimes incorrectly called the "Stars and Bars", the name of the first national Confederateflag.

The "rebel flag" is considered by some to be a divisive and polarizing symbol in the UnitedStates, while its supporters maintain that it is a symbol of regional cultural pride.

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. A July2021 Politico–Morning Consultpoll 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. In a 2017scientific article about the psychology of the Confederateflag'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.

Gallery

Arkansas

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

See also

Notes

Sources

"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