The Tupelo journal., 1903-04-03
CONFEDERATE FLAGS.
ga
Bill Arp Describes Them and Gives
Their History.
General BeaureEard Designed the
"Battlefag'' and 1t Became the
Distinctive Emblem OF the
South-A War TabIeau.

distinctive EmDIem OF the
south-A War Tableau.
lSemany young people who are thirst
ing for historical knowledge write to
me for help, that l feel encouraged, and
will answer their inquiries as far as
can. These young people in the coun-
try towns have schools to go to, but
they lack books-reading books, cyclo-
pedias, biographies, and if | was as
rich as Carnegie, L would plant a Ii
brary of such books in every commu-
nifty. / would have a million sets of
some standard %cyclopedia printed for
every school, even if they cost
$4,000, 900. That would diffuse
knowledge among the. young peo-
pie, and do more good than all
he is doing in the big cities.
But what we most need in the south are
historical books that will be stand
ard with us and relate the truth about
the south and secession and the con
federacy and slavery and the war and
reconstruction. / had a ~cyc1opedia
that gave a whole column of apology
for old John Brown and the pedigree of
every Lorse, and no men
ton of John b. Gordon or Forrest or
any OF our southern poets or authors or
orators. snapped it off at half price
for the international, by Dodd, Meade
& Co. The tributes in that work to Mr..
Davis and Lee and Jackson are all that
could be desired, and more than was
expected.
L wonder what has become of that
great southern publishing house that
was projected in Atlanta some time
ago. That is what we want and must
have to perpetuate southern history
and defend our fathers and GRANDPA
theirs from SANDERS of northern foes.
In a Missouri paper l saw where a
Yankee troupe were playing "Uncle
Toms Cabin" And now a fool fell
low from Wisconsin wants to get our
governors to appoint delegates to a
convention in Atlanta to determine
the race problem, and it is said that
that man Spooner is at the bottom of
it to get up a presidential boom for
himself. l suspected there was a mig
ger in the ~woodpile, for these north
ern politicians never do anything from
patriotic, unselfish motives. Hanna's
scheme fell through and Spooner
thought he could patch it up. But the
south never was more aroused and
united on the negro question, and will
resent all interference, whether it
comes from Washington or Wisconsin.
INicnnncint What ~ D,,Janoaf ++o
whose foreign population is 62 percent.
of the whole, and of these there are S.
600 who can't speak English, and only
700 negroes in the state, and three times
as many Indians. What does Wiscon-
sin know or care about our race prob
lem? In the last few days | have re-
ceived three letters from young people
wanting to know something about the
confederate flags, what were the de-
signs and who designed them. l wish
that l could sketch them and paint
them in this letter, but all l can do is
to describe them and give their his
tory.
No. 1, or the "stars and bars" was
adopted by the confederate congress
at Montgomery. Its stars were on a
blue field, and its red and white oars
made it look somewhat like the stars
and stripes, and sometimes was mis-
taken for the United States flag. and so
Gen. Beauregard designed No. 2, "the
battle flag" and Gen. Joe f. Johnston
adopted it, and it was never changed.
1t was a blue cross, or, rather. an X
studded with stars, and set on a red
field.
No. 3. In May, 1868, the confederate
congress adopted a national flag. 1t
was a miniature battle flag set on a
white field that had a white border at
the side and at the bottom. But it
proved TO be a mistake, for it had too
much white, and afar off was mistaken
for a flag of truce.
And so, on March, 1865. congress
adopted No. 4 as the natior al flag. This
had the same battle flag on a blue
field, but the white border was small
err, and a red one put on she ontside of
that. This flag did not wave very long.
only about a month, but, nevertheless,
it remained as the national flag of the
confederate states.
But the dear old battle flag No. 9
the fighting banner of every COM
pany. Our wives and our daughters
made them for the boys in gray, and
many of them were struggled back
home again after the surrender. and
still kept as household treasures. Our
boys, the Rome light guards, had one,
and one night the young people gave
q tableaux performance in the city
hall to raise a little money to put
some benches in the desecrateS
churches, for all the pews had been
taken out and converted into horse
troughs for the staff horses. One scene
i'll the tableaux represented a battle
field where women were ministering
to the wounded and the dying. and
n dying soldier, the ensign, had this
old tattered and war-stained flag
grasped in his hand, just as he held it
when he fell. The Spanish command
ant of the post was there with his wife,
and when he discovered the flag, got flu
riously mad. He jumped up on his
seat and yelled "Take dat ting away,
dat is treasoT-dat is an insult to me
and de United States. 1 send for
my soldiers and / arrest the whole
He ran wildly down the stairs
and across the street to his quarters
and came back quickly with half a
dozen Dutchmen in arms to make the