Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1903-12-23
THE STARS AND BARS
Confederate General Tells How
Flag Was Made

history Of the battle-hag Of the
! Confederacy, about which there
has been more or less controversy
The General says:
"When the Confederate army,
commanded by General Beaure-
gard, and the Federal army con-
fronted each other at Manassas it
was seen that the Confederate
flag and the Stars and Stripes
looked at a distance so much alike
that il was hard to distinguish
one from the other. General
Beauregard, thinking that serious
mistakes might be made in recog-
nizing our troops, ordered, after
the battle Of July Is, at Blackburn
Ford, that a small red badge should
be worn on the left shoulder by our
troops, and as / was chief quarter
master, ordered me to purchase a
large amount Of red flannel and
distribute it to each regiment. ]
distributed the red flannel to
several regiments, who placed
badges on the left shoulders of the
men. During the battle of Bull
Run it was plainly to be seen that
great number of Federal soldiers
wore a similar red badge. | saw
these badges on number OF
prisoners we captured that day.
Generals Beauregard and John
ston met at Fairfax Courthouse in
the latter part of August or early
September and determined to have
a battle flag for every regiment or
detached command, that could
easily be recognized. was tele-
grnphed for to come at once to
Fairfax Courthouse. found Gen
erals Beauregard and Johnston in
General Beanregard's office dis
cSssing the kind Of flag that
should be adopted. General
JOhnstOn's flag was in the shape Of
an ellipse-a red flag, with blue
st. Andrews cross and stars on
the cross (white), to represent
TIE different Sol thern States. No
white border of any kind was at
tsched to this cross. General
Beauregard's was rectangle, red,
with blue st. Andrews cross and
white stars similar to General
JohnstOn's.
"After we had discussed the
two styles, taking into considera-
ton the cost of material and the
care of making the same, it vas
decided that the elliptical flag
would be harder to make, that it
would take more cloth. and thar
distance that the rectangular flag
drawn and suggested by General
Beauregard should be adopted.
General Johnston yielded at
once when the reasons given by
General Beauregard and myself
were so good and substantial. No
one else was present but us three
until an order was issued adopting
the Beauregard flag, as it was
called, and directing me, as chief
quartermaster, to have the flags
m sde as soon as it could be done.
81 Immediately issued an ad-
dress to the good ladies of the
South to give me their red and
blue silk dresses and to send them
to Captain Collin McRae Selph,
uuartermoster at Richmond Gap
tain Selph is now living in New
Orleans), where he was assisted
by two young ladies, the Misses
Carey from Baltimore, and Mrs.
General Henningsen Of Savannah,
and Mrs. Judge Hol kins Of Ala
bama. The Misses Carey made
battle-hags for Generals Beanre-
gard and Van Dorm, and, ! think,
for General j. f. Johnston, and
they made General Beauregard's
out of their OWE silk dresses.
"This flag is now in Memorial
hall, New Orleans, with state
ment of that fact from General
Beauregard. General Van Dorm :
flag WAS made of heavy material,
but was very pretty.
"Captain Selph had several Of
these flags made and sent them to
me at Manassas. They were dis
tributed by order of General
Beauregard. One flag had made
and gave it to the Washington
artillery. They have it yet.
"My wife, who was in Richmond,
made beautiful flag out of her
own dresses and sent it to cousin
of hers who commanded an Ark
ansas regiment. This flag WAS
lost at Elk Horn, but was re-
captured by a Missouri division
under General ;nry Little.
"The statements going the
rounds that this battle-hag was
first designed by a Federal prisoner
is false. No living soul except
Generals Beauregard and John
ston and myself knew anything
about the flag until the order was
issued to me to have them made as
soon as it could be done"