Civil War Confederate
How did the Confederate flag grow to be such a prominent symbol of the Civil War and of the South?
My understanding is that the Confederate flag was just one of several flags flown during the Civil war and it wasn't even the flag that was flown the most or for the longest time?
First off what do you mean by the confederate flag? There were many different types of flags of the Confedercey. The one most common today is the Confederate Battle Flag.
Often referred to as "The" battle flag of the Confederacy it was the design that was the basis of more than 180 separate Confederate military battle flags.
The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag was usually 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 beginning in December 1861 until 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.
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 Missouri and Kentucky joined in late 1861
The first official flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stars and Bars," was flown from March 5, 1861, to May 26, 1863.
The very first national flag of the Confederacy was designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama. The Stars and Bars flag was adopted March 4, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama and raised over the dome of that first Confederate Capitol.
It was changed in 1863 due to confussion on the battlefield,, it looked too much like the Union's flag. The 2nd Flag was the Stainless Banner which was a Plain white flag with the Battle flag in the upper left corner. This Lasted until 1865 but had to be modified due to the fact that on windless days it looked like a surrender flag. The third and last offical flag of the confedercey was the "National Flag" it was the Stainless banner with a red stripe on the right side of the flag, It was adopted in March of 1865 but the War would be over the next few weeks so it did not see many battles. This was the last offical flag of the Confedercey.
One more flag you should be aware of is the Bonnie Ble Flag. This was a solid blue flag with a single Star on it. It represented an individial state removeing itself from the Union since it looked like a Star from the US flag.
These were not the only Confederate flags sice each state that participated provided their own flags not to mention that each army had their own individial flags so that on a battle field the men of a specific unit would know which flag to follow. These were not flags of the Confedercey though just military flags. Sort of the way the U.S. Army and the Marines have their own flags, but they are not offical flags of the U.S.
Hope this helps answer your question.
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This past Memorial Day my wife and I watched a program that showed a picture of the Lincoln Memorial.
This writing contains the thoughts aroused by that picture.
What are their thoughts as they climb the ninety-two steps to the base of the sculpture?
What emotions are stirred as they look upon the nineteen foot high sculpture of the great Emancipator?
I would be remiss if I were to attempt to disclose those thoughts and emotions so instead I would like to share with you mine.
This monument, more so than the others in Washington, speaks to me, reaches out and touches my very soul.
These are those words.
I have walked the fields of Indiana, climbed the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee, I've walked the back roads coming out of those mountains down into the valleys.
I have stood at a place called Gettysburg.
Gettysburg, a place forever stained with the blood of fathers and sons, uncles and nephews. A place where fifty thousand men died fighting for a principle. A principle so imbedded in the Declaration of Independence that this war should have never been necessary.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The premise that all men are created equal was at the very root of the Civil War. An entire group of people were enslaved strictly because of the color of their skin.
Now here we are 143 years later. I don't know what Abraham Lincoln's thoughts were as he prepared to go to war. Did he turn to the Declaration of Independence for guidance? Perhaps it was the following sentence from the Declaration that gave him the courage to fight a Civil War.
. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
A young country, it wasn't even 100 years old yet, would surely be destroyed by enslaving other men and women. All we would have to do is look back in history to the Roman Empire to see the destruction awaiting us.
It is fitting that the Lincoln Memorial is situated in such a way that it looks across the Reflecting Pool to the World War Two Memorial and just beyond that the Washington Monument.
The starkest of all the Monuments in Washington the Washington Memorial is the pinnacle from which this great country was formed. It looks upon two Memorials that preserved this country, and what it stands for, for future generations.
Abraham Lincoln stood for freedom, freedom for all men, not just a select group or race.
The World War Two Memorial stands in honor of the men and women that died fighting for the preservation of another group of people, the Jews.
Between these monuments is a reflecting pool and that is where we need to focus to-day, July, 4, 2007.
We need to reflect and realize that while the muskets and cannons of the Civil War have fallen silent the battle continues to-day. We still have Cities that are separated into blacks on one side of the river and whites on the other.
We even to this day have Churches that are separated by color.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again in Germany and other European Countries.
Will there ever be a time when those words of the Declaration of Independence, penned so eloquently 231 years ago will ring true?
Will there ever be a time when a man is defined strictly by his character and not his color or race?
Will there ever be a time when we will realize that we are all Gods' children, White, Black, Jewish.
Will there ever be a time in America when the dream of our Fore-fathers will be brought to bear and all men are truly equal?
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