Confederate Battle Flag
date: label: date made
content: 1861
label: associated date
content: 1863-07-02
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Red, white, and blue cloth.
label: Description
content: General History
label: Description
content: The Confederate battle flag was born of necessity after the Battle of Bull Run. Amid the smoke and general chaos of battle, it was hard to distinguish the Confederate national flag, the “Stars and Bars," from the U. S. national flag, the "Stars and Stripes.” Confederate Congressman William Porcher Miles suggested that the army have a distinct battle flag. General Pierre T. Beauregard chose a variation on the cross of St. Andrew. The battle flag features a blue cross, edged with a white band on a red field. There are three stars on each arm of the cross and one star in the center. The stars represented each of the states of the Confederacy, plus one. Beauregard was betting that one of the states with pro-Confederacy leanings, Maryland, Kentucky, or Missouri, would join the Southern cause. That never happened, but the flag remained the same for the remainder of the war.
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Gettysburg
topic: label: Subject
content: Flags
label: related event
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: ThinkFinity
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.59858M
label: catalog number
content: 59858M
label: accession number
content: 219818
objectType: label: Object Name
content: flag
label: Other Terms
content: flag; Military; CSA, Army; Battle; Rgt, North Carolina
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wool (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 48 in x 48 in; 121.92 cm x 121.92 cm