Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-06-29

war it f1oated on many forts and was
carried by many regiments. 1t is pro-
badly that when Father Ryan wrote
his immortal requiem Of the Lost
Cause he had in mind the flag Of the
stars and bars.
The Beauregard battle flag Is the
best known emblem of the Lost Cause,
and the history Of it's origin is exceed
ingly interesting. 1t was designed
| jointly by General Pierre Gustave Tou-
tant Beauregard and Colonel William
Miles, Of General Beauregard's staff.
In heraldic terms the battle flag con-
sists Of a field of red and quartered
thereon a broad, bluesaltier bordered
with white, both bars OF the blue white
to be emblazoned with flve-pointed
stars corresponding to the number of
states in the Southern Confederacy.
| After agreeing upon the pattern and
design, a German artist serving on
General Beauregard's staff, made pic
|
Joseph E. Johnston approved, and i'm
mediately the Misses Constances and
Jennie Carey, two Baltimore bellies So
journing in Fairfax county, Va, organ
lied a sewing club and made a number
Of these flags, which were used In sub
sequent battles. In September, 1861, the
Confederate congress enacted bill au-
thorizing the design described above as
the flag Of the Southern Confederacy,
and such it continued to be to the end
Of hostilities.
| TOLD BY GENERAL BEAUREGARD.
In an address before the Louisiana
division Of the army Of northern Vir-
ginia, delivered December 6, 1877, Cen
eral Beauregard described the incl
dents leading to the adoption Of the
battle flag in substance as follows:
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, July
q, 1861, the battle was raging on the
plains Of Manassas and reinforcements
were urgently needed on both sides.
| General Mcdowell was casting anx-
ious eyes towards the Blue Ridge
mountains, hoping to see Patterson's
column emerge from the dust cloud
which hung like a pail on his flank.
General Beauregard, who was also
watching in the same direction, expect
ing Jubal Early with the Twenty
fourth Virginia. the Seventh Louisiana
and the Fifteenth Mississippi, a COL
umn sufficiently strong to rout the
enemy already hammered to the verge
Of defeat. A Confederate signal officer
informed his anxious commander that
strong column was approaching by the
Warrenton turnpike, probably Patter-
son, the signal officer stated. The air
was motionless, not a breeze stirring,
and the colors of the advancing host
dropped around the staff, that in the
distance intervening they resembled
the United States flag.
Just then a gust Of wind caught the
flag of the front line and sent 1t
streaming out from its staff, enabling
the Confederate leader to see at a
glance that it was Early and not Pat
terson he discerned. 1t was the diff
Guilty observed at the first battle of
Manassas in distinguishing between
the stars and bars and the stars and
stripes that brought about the adop-
ton Of the Beauregard battle flag,
which endured to the end Of the fatal
struggle, and has since been adopted as
the seal Of the Lost Cause.
AS has been stated, the stars and
bars, adopted March 4, 1861. at Mont
gomery, Ala, continued to be the ma
tional flag until May 1, 1863, on which
day the congress of the Confederate
States of America, in session at Rich
mond, Va, which had become the cap
ital Of the Southern Confederaoy, en-
acted a bill adopting new flag, the
model Of which is said to have been
the creation of two Mississippians The
new national flag, enacted May l, 1863,
was a solid field Of white, with the
Beauregard battle flag quartered In the
upper left-hand corner as a canton, the
width of the flag to be two-thirds OF
its length. The proportion the canton
bore to the flag was as follows: The
canton to be in width three-fifths OF
the width Of the entire flag. the width
of white beneath the canton to be one
third Of the length Of the white from
the outer border Of the canton to the
end of the flag. Actual tests of the flag
indicated fatal objections. When
wrapped on it's staff few furls of the
canton disappeared from view, leaving
in sight only the white field.
The soldiers riduculed it as the flag
Of truce" applying other epithets, and
the new flag fell into disuse. 1t Is not
likely many were ever made. There
are Confederate veterans now living
who never saw or heard Of the flag or
1863, known jocularly as the flag OF
truce, so called by the gallant boys who
believed with all the zeal Of their hearts
and the courage born Of deep conVic-
ton impressed upon their souls, that
the white flag would be raised by the
other side to the contention.
AUTHORIZED ON MARCH 6, 1865.
The national flag last authorized by
congress, in a bill enacted March t.
1865. consisted Of the flag with the
snow-white field described in the fore
going paragraph, being the same In all
| ,ort;o,,lors &c the flag adopted by the