Development of the Confederate Flag

The first official flag of the Confederacy is referred to as the Stars and Bars. This flag was the official flag from March 5, 1861 to May 26, 1863. This flag was changed throughout the two and a half years that is was flown because they would add one star for every state that joined. It started with the original 7 in March of 1861 and ended with 13 stars in May of 1863.

The second national flag of the confederacy was nicknamed “the stainless banner.” It had many different designs but it became commonly known because of the battle flag that was represented with the white background. This was created because of the confusion that arose in battle when both sides were hoisting the stars and stripes and the stars and bars since they had too close of a relation in both appearance and color. This flag was flown until March 1865.

The third flag of the Confederacy was known as the “blood stained banner” and it was made because the Confederates believed that the previous flag needed a change because the all-white nature of the previous flag could be mistaken as a sign of truce.

The Confederate flag that we know today is actually a combination of both the battle flag comprised from the previous national flags and the naval jacks (additional national flags flown by Confederate warships and other naval ships; found at the head of the ship) that were used during the war. This flag has become the known flag of the south today and it never even represented the Confederacy during the civil war.