The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-20

ern ~Confederacy. it's most enthusiastic supporters were women. and ere the new nation was an hour old had fairly de- luged its creators with designs for a. na' ttonal banner.
 The choosing of "a flag to represent the Confederate States of America was no small matter and the the designs hand ed In varied in size and color rom 3 visiting card to a bed sheet and rom somber black to the gorg sous tints of the aurorea borealis The number ran into thousands, ard most of them were the handiwork of women, and were accom- panied by letters of explanation. These designs and letters were captured al Richmond along with other Confederate archives While few of the designs bore signs of a vengcfu1 feeling, from every side came the cry to stick to the Stars and Stripes under which our glo. rious freedom was won, and an attemp, to carry out this loyal idea led to the adoption. later on, of the flag known as the Southern Cross. On March 5th. 1861 the Convention adopted the design of what is now known as the Stars and Bars, and within two hours of that action the ladies. of Montgomery had completed the first flag of the Confederate States oi America. It was made of merino, of goodly size, and was immediately run ur over the State House at Montgomery amid the continuous cheers Of a loyal people.
 A Southerner. describing these designs as he saw them, spoke of one as having thirteen stripes of red and white upo1 which rested seven red stars and a cres- cent Across all this lay huge rattle snake of black and yellow, with mott1 urderneath: Don't tread on me- Is certain death,
 One woman wrote: Keep the stars, Keep the stripes! Keep the azure field Cross-cutting the stripes at right ans lgleS. +s f-
 The Southern star appeared in many different ways. and a lady writing of her model said: "The white ground is an emblem of innocence; the blue ring last ing love; the red center, on which IS placed a cross. represents Christian nation; the crescent over the cross Is our Southern Confederacy. and the green stars are our seven States: and, as all these are placed in ring they represent one union in the Southern Confederacy never to be broken"
 Another woman designed an immense eye peering forth from bed of blue and yellow. and nearly surrounding the eye crescent of white stars. This eye, she explained, might represent first, the President watching over the nation for the good of the people; an1. secondly, the all-seeing eye of God, by whose guardian care all nations have their existence"
 Evidently the women never anticipated defeat, and when one recalls this deer faith. what wonder the tearing down oi those cherished hopes wss like tearing out human hearts.
 But the Stars and Bars was not a sue cess on the battlefield for the reason il could not be readily distinguished from the stars and stripes of the rival army and after the battle of Bull. Run Gen. erals Beauregard and Johnston, realizing the necessity for new banner, reverted to the idea of the cross and produced the flag known as the Southern Cross, and 1t was adopted ny the Confederate Congress at Richmo1i and was after wards used on the battle fields in lieu of the Stars and Bars, and some there are who will ever revere it as the true flag of the Confe6eracy.
 As the more minute details in the chain of events orowdlng that bloody period are added link to link. each new hnk de- vclops some important part played by a woman. Long rides through the wet and cold of a stormy night to warn threat ened camp. honor risked to shield a pur- sued soldier, self-sacrific.ng devotion to duty in the hospitals and on the field with the woundeds places the women side by side with the sterner sex in the records nf the brave.