Confederate Stars and Bars
The First Official Flag of the Confederacy. Although less well known than
the "Confederate Battle Flags",the Stars and Bars was used as
the official flag of the Confederacy from March 1861 to May of 1863.
The pattern and colors of this flag did not distinguish it sharply fom the
Stars and Stripes
of the Union. Consequently, considerable confusion was caused on the battlefield.
The seven stars
represent the original Confederate States;
South Carolina (December 20, 1860),
Mississippi(January 9, 1861),
Florida (January 10,1861),
Alabama (January 11, 1861),
Georgia (January 19, 1861),
Louisiana (January 26, 1861),
and Texas (February 1, 1861).
The Confederate Battle Flag. The best-known Confederate flag, however, was the
Battle Flag, the familiar
"Southern Cross". It was carried by Confederate troops in the field which were the
vast majority of forces under the confederacy.
The Stars represented the 11 states actually in the Confederacy plus Kentucky and
Missouri.
The second Official Flag of the Confederacy.
On May 1st,1863, a second design was adopted, placing the Battle Flag (also known as the "Southern Cross")
as the canton on a white field. This flag was
easily mistaken for a white flag of surrender especially when the air was calm and
the flag hung limply.
The flag now had 13 stars having been joined officially by four more states,
Virginia (April 17, 1861),
Arkansas (May 6, 1861),
Tennessee (May 7, 1861),
North Carolina (May 21, 1861).
Efforts to secede failed in Kentucky and Missouri though those states were represented
by two of the stars.
The third Official Flag of the Confederacy.On March 4th,1865, a short time
before the collapse of the
Confederacy, a third pattern was adapted; a broad bar of red was placed on the
fly end of the white field.
Confederate Navy Jack: Used as a navy jack at sea from 1863 onward. This flag
has become the generally recognized symbol of the South.
Note: It is necessary to disclaim any connection of these flags to
neo-nazis, red-necks, skin-heads and the like. These groups have
adopted this flag and desecrated it by their acts. They have no right
to use this flag - it is a flag of honor, designed by the confederacy
as a banner representing state's rights and still revered by the South.
In fact, under attack, it still flies over the South Carolina capitol
building. The South denies any relation to these hate groups and
denies them the right to use the flags of the confederacy for any
purpose. The crimes committed by these groups under the stolen banner
of the conderacy only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to
slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's
rights.
Note contributed by BJ Meksikatsi.
Farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia
by Robert E. Lee
After four years of arduous service, marked
by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the
Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and
resources.
I need not tell the survivors of so many
hard-fought battles who have remained
steadfast to the last that I have consented to
this result from no distrust of them; but
feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the
loss that would have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the
useless sacrifice of those whose past services
have endeared them to their countrymen. By
the terms of the agreement, officers and men
can return to their homes and remain until
exchanged.
You may take with you the satisfaction that
proceeds from the consciousness of duty
faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray
that a merciful God will extend to you his
blessing and protection.
With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a
grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you all an
affectionate farewell.
The Character of Lee
by John Williams Jones
He possessed every virtue of
the great commanders,
without their vices. He was a
foe without hate; a friend
without treachery; a private
citizen without wrong; a
neighbor without reproach;
a Christian without
hypocrisy, and a man
without guilt.
He was a Caesar without his
ambition; a Frederick
without his tyranny; a
Napoleon without his
selfishness; and a
Washington without his
reward.
He was obedient to
authority as a servant, and
loyal in authority as a true
king.
He was gentle as a woman in
life; modest and pure as a
virgin in thought; watchful
as a Roman vestal in duty;
submissive to law as
Socrates, and grand in
battle as Achilles.
He Lost a War and Won Immortality
by Louis Redmond
Even among the free, it is not always easy to
live together. There came a time, less than a
hundred years ago, when the people of this
country disagreed so bitterly among themselves that some of them felt they could not
go on living with the rest.
A test of arms was made to decide whether
Americans should remain one nation or become two. The armies of those who believed
in two nations were led by a man named
Robert E. Lee.
What about Lee? What kind of man was he
who nearly split the history of the United
States down the middle and made two separate books of it?
They say you had to see him to believe that
a man so fine could e,xist. He was handsome.
He was clever. He was brave. He was gentle.
He was generous and charming, noble and
modst, admired and beloved. He had never
failed at anything in his upright soldier's life.
He was a born winner, this Robert E. Lee.
Except for once. In the greatest contest of his
life, in the war beween the South and the
North, Robert E. Lee lost.
Now there were men who came with
smouldering eyes to Lee and said: "Let's not
accept this result as final. Let's keep our
anger alive. Let's be grim and unconvinced,
and wear our bitterness like a medal. You can
be our leader in this."
But Lee shook his head at those men.
"Abandon your animosities," he said, "and
make your sons Americans."
And what did he do himself when his war
was lost? He took a job as president of a tiny
college, with forty students and four profes-
sors, at a salary of $1500 a year. He had
commanded thousands of young men in
battle. Now he wanted to prepare a few hun-
dred of them for the duties of peace. So the
countrymen of Robert E. Lee saw how a born
winner loses, and it seemed to them that in
defeat he won his most lasting victory.
There is an art of losing, and Robert E. Lee
is its finest teacher. In a democracy, where
opposing viewpoints regularly meet for a test
of ballots, it is good for all of us to know how
to lose occasionally, how to yield peacefully,
for the sake of freedom. Lee is our master in
this. The man who fought against the Union
showed us what unity means.
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