The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-06-10
FLAGS THAT MEN DIED FOR.
Colers Round Which Soldiers of North
and South Rallied.

| plEooCu LII IAOOS OoJo PolioA
cal opponents would be considered
tire now. With respect of the
great question which caused the wal
the armies ON both sides were divided;
a flag representing slavery would have
found half the South arrayed against
it, and one emblematic Of abolition
would have divided the armed North.
There we're abolitionists in hosts in
the ranks Of the Confederacy, and
there were hosts of anti-abolitionists
in the armies of Mcclellan and Grant.
The star s~pangled banner was the
symbol of the one thing in which the
united North did believe. Military
power and the appeal to be true to the
flag proved more effective in stirring
up war enthusiasm than the slogan of
any party or section. The Southern
leaders were fully aware Of this, and
quickly devised a banner in which the
striking and familiar colors and en-
blazonry were preserved.
The custom in the Union army was
to have each regiment carry two flags,
a 1%egimental, with the State coat-of-
arms emblaEoned upon a plain blue
field, and a national, the Stars and
Stripes, with the name and number of
the regiment The regimental flags
of the Irish brigade New York; for
instance, were of deep green, emblaz-
oned with the harp, sunburst, and
shamrock. All Irish regiments in the
service carried such flags. How deep
lye Celtic enthusiasm could be stirred
by the banner Of green was illustrated
during the repulse of Pickett at Get
tysburg. Cowan's First New York
battery was ordered in to relieve
Cushing about the time that Armi-
stead's men had reached the stone
wall. A simultaneous movement was
made by the Irish brigade from the
left toward the threatened point, One
of Cowan's drivers, an Irishman not
especially brave, hesitated about urg-
ing his team forward where the mis-
| sles flew thick and fast. Suddenly
Eriu's banner flashed from behind a
ledge of rock and caught his eye.
Rising in his stirrups, he exclaimed:
"Mither of Mosesl the ovid flag"
and dashed and spurred his horses on
with a display of zeal that his cap
tain, by the most p%rofane# appeals, had
never been able, to arouse.
All that can be said of Northern
battle flags can be said Of Southern
ones, too. Each seeding State sent
out troops on it's own account, and
with them, as a symbol, it's own col
ors, usually the coat Of arms Of the
State on a plain field. Among such
were the famous Palmetto Of South
Carolina, the "Pelican" Of Louisiana,
and the ''Lone Star or "bonnie blue
flag" of Texas. The flag of the For
~ty-seventh North Carolina bore the
dates of May 20, 1775, and May 20,
1861, the dates of the revolt Of the
colonies against England and Of the
secession of the State.
The first official flag of the South
was the Stars and Bars, a flag partly
copied from the Union banner and
bearing such a strong resemblance to
it that the two were not distinguished
BILE in the field. In battle the oppos-
ing commands became hopelessly en-
tangled, as in the first Bull Run, and
though the results were bloody
enough to suit the occasion, the South
erners thought the slaughter was not
we'll distributed, and began to intro
duce new colors as battle flags, leav-
ing the Stars and Bars for civil and
headquarters use. A flag known as a
''battle flag appeared in 1862, and
the cross, similar to hat of the Cres-
cent City flag of 1861, was its princi-
pal emblem. This flag consisted of a
red fly with two blue diagonal bars
having narrow white borders crossed
in the centre, the bars were white
stars numbering according to fancy.
Some of the Texans pinned their bars
with a single star. The famous flag
song,
Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag
That bears a single star,
was suggested by the flag of Texas.
The original Texas flag had been blue
fly with a white star in the centre, and
when the Texas troops took the cross
they retained the lone star.
The cross made the Confederate
flag conspicuous in battle and it was
retained to the end, being twice modi-
fed. On the battle flag of 1862 the
crossed bars extended from corner to
corner, making an easy target for
Union guns, and that arrangement
gave place in 1863 to one with a white
fly having a reduced battle flag as a
corner piece. But the white so pre-
dominated in mass that the color be-
came almost invisible in a strong
breeze, and The flag looked like a sig
nal. of truce. To remove this objec-
ton, a wide, vertical bar of red was
placed on the other edge of the fly.
There was no mistaking this symbol,
and it satisfied the South, as the feat
ures of the cid flag still remained, the
stars, and the red, white and blue.
The flags Of the Forty-ninth Geor-
gia and the Sixth Kentucky are types
of the Confederate battle flags of the
East and the West, as they were first
designed with the mammoth blue cross
with white stars and borders on a red
ground.
The Sixth Kentucky belonged to
the renowned Orphan brigade of that
State, a name bestowed by Gen.
Breckenridge after the battle of Muir
freesboro. Previous to the battle
these men had been referred to as or
phans, because they were expatriated
sons Of Kentucky, disfranchised and
disowned by their native State for
joining the C%onfederacy. At Muir
freesbor- they lost their leader, Col.
Hanson, The father of the brigade,
who was killed while leading them,
under the fire of 50 Union cannon, a
fire that not only moved down ranks
of men but laid trees of the forest
low, as with the shifting hand of a
tornado. Thus they became doubly
orphaned. Prof. Shaler, of Harvard,
in his study of "Mau and Nature in
America speaks Of the men COM
posing this brigade as illustrating the
highest type of American manhood.
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