02-21-2007, 06:02 AM
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Machiavelli Incarnate
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Cowtown, Texas
Posts: 7,418
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cat's meow
We have gone over this before and I had posted and extensive history of the stars and bars...the meaning of the flag is entirely misconstrued and misrepresented by Southerners quite frankly.
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The Confederate Navy Jack (the Southern Cross) is not the Stars and Bars also it looks really similar to the battle flag of the Confederacy which is also different.
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First national flag of the Confederacy ("the Stars and Bars")
The first official flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stars and Bars," was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 26, 1863.
One of the first acts of the Provisional Confederate Congress was to create the Committee on the Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the "old flag" of the United States. Miles had already designed a flag that would later become the Confederate battle flag, 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. When war broke out, the Stars and Bars caused confusion on the battlefield because of its similarity to the U.S. flag of the Union Army.
Eventually, a total of thirteen stars would be shown on the flag. Its first public appearance was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky.<snip>
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The Battle Flag
The battle flag of the Confederacy is square, of various sizes for the different branches of the service: 48 inches square for the infantry, 36 inches for the artillery, and 30 inches for the cavalry. It was used in battle from November 1861 to the fall of the Confederacy. The blue color on the Saltire in the battle flag was navy blue, as opposed to the much lighter blue of the Naval Jack.
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This flag proved so popular, that it became basis for the Second National flag of the Confederacy (see above). Some prefer the square proportions of this flag over Miles' original rectangle as more sonorous and more distinct.
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Quote:
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The Naval Jack (colloquially called the "Rebel Flag")
The Confederate Navy Jack, 1863-1865
The Confederate Navy Jack, also called "The Southern Cross," is a rectangular precursor of the Battle Flag, usually about 5×3 feet. The blue color in the saltire (the diagonal cross) is much lighter than in the Battle Flag, and it was flown only on Confederate ships from 1863 to 1865.
The design was originally made by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles with the intent to be the first national flag, but it was rejected by the Confederate government. Some critics supposedly scoffed at the design, saying it looked too much like crossed suspenders. While the square battle flag was widely used, the oblong version was also used by some army units, including the Army of Tennessee as their battle flag from 1864-1865. (After General Joseph Johnston took command of the Army of Tennessee from Braxton Bragg, he ordered its army-wide implementation to improve morale and avoid confusion.) Today, it is the most universally recognized symbol of the South, where it is commonly called the rebel or Dixie flag. This flag is often erroneously called "the Confederate Flag". (This Flag is often incorrectly referred to as the Stars and Bars; the actual Stars and Bars is the First National Flag.)
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Quote:
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Displaying the flag
What is usually called "The Confederate Flag" or "The Confederate Battle Flag" (actually the Navy Jack as explained above) is still a widely recognized symbol. The display of the flag is a controversial and very emotional issue, generally because of disagreement over exactly what it symbolizes. To many white people in the US South it is a symbol of their heritage and pride in their ancestors who held out during years of war under terrible odds and sacrifice. Others see it as a symbol of the institution of slavery, or of the Jim Crow laws established by the many Southern states enforcing racial segregation within their borders for almost a century later, or even as a symbol of rebellion against the United States government. As a result, there have been numerous political fights over the use of the Confederate battle flag in Southern state flags, at sporting events at Southern universities, and on public buildings. According to Civil War historian and southerner Shelby Foote, the flag traditionally represented the south's resistance to northern political dominance generally; it became racially charged during the Civil Rights Movement, when protecting segregation suddenly became the focal point of that resistance
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_flag
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Last edited by Areyouforreal; 02-21-2007 at 06:04 AM.
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