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The Stars and Bars
The first official flag of the Confederacy was The Stars and Bars, which was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 1863. One of the first acts of the Confederacy's Provisional Congress was to create a "Committee on the Flag and Seal", chaired by William Porcher Miles. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag'." Miles had already designed a flag that would later become the Battle Flag, and he favored his flag over the Stars and Bars proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the Stars and Stripes, the Stars and Bars design was approved by the committee. When war broke out, the Stars and Bars caused confusion on the battlefield because it was so similar to the Stars and Stripes of the Union forces. Eventually, a total of thirteen stars would be shown on the flag. Its first public appearance was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky.
The Stainless Banner
The second national flag of the Confederacy was The Stainless Banner, which was put into service on May 1, 1863. To avoid battlefield confusion between the Stars and Bars with the Union's Stars and Stripes, this new flag was designed with the battle flag placed in the first quarter. This flag, however, had its own problem: when the battlefield was windless, it was sometimes mistaken for a flag of truce or surrender because the white field often concealed the first quarter.
In the South, the nickname "Stainless" was held to refer to "the unspotted virtue and honor of Southerners and their fight for independence from the tyranny and aggression of northern states." The flag is often referred to as the "'Stonewall' Jackson Flag" due to its inaugural use of covering General Stonewall Jackson's coffin at his funeral.
According to the Flags of the Confederacy website, the flags actually made by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the Naval ensign rather than the official 2:1 ratio. The flag had thirteen stars [1], one for each of the eleven Confederate states and one each for Missouri and Kentucky. (Alternately interpreted as 13 stars for each of the original colonies.)
The Third National Flag
This is the third official flag, adopted March 4, 1865, very shortly before the fall of the Confederacy. The red vertical stripe was added to dispel confusion with the flag of surrender when the flag was not unfurled. It was sometimes called the blood-stained or blood-dipped banner. The official dimensions of the union also were altered, but according to the Flags of the Confederacy website, most, if not all, actually produced during the war continued to use the square union of the 1863 flag.
The Flag Act of 1865 describes the flag in the following language: The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag.
The few examples of the Third National Flag actually made prior to the end of the war were modifications of the 1863 ensign with a red bar added.
Civil War News
This is the front cover from an original June 15, 1861 Harper's Weekly. The Confederate Flag is shown flying over the Marshall House Tavern in Alexandria, Virginia. This is a fascinating image with an interesting story. For more information, go to The Civil War for an excellent website.
For more information, go to Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia
The first official flag of the Confederacy was The Stars and Bars, which was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 1863. One of the first acts of the Confederacy's Provisional Congress was to create a "Committee on the Flag and Seal", chaired by William Porcher Miles. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag'." Miles had already designed a flag that would later become the Battle Flag, and he favored his flag over the Stars and Bars proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the Stars and Stripes, the Stars and Bars design was approved by the committee. When war broke out, the Stars and Bars caused confusion on the battlefield because it was so similar to the Stars and Stripes of the Union forces. Eventually, a total of thirteen stars would be shown on the flag. Its first public appearance was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky. 
The second national flag of the Confederacy was The Stainless Banner, which was put into service on May 1, 1863. To avoid battlefield confusion between the Stars and Bars with the Union's Stars and Stripes, this new flag was designed with the battle flag placed in the first quarter. This flag, however, had its own problem: when the battlefield was windless, it was sometimes mistaken for a flag of truce or surrender because the white field often concealed the first quarter.
This is the third official flag, adopted March 4, 1865, very shortly before the fall of the Confederacy. The red vertical stripe was added to dispel confusion with the flag of surrender when the flag was not unfurled. It was sometimes called the blood-stained or blood-dipped banner. The official dimensions of the union also were altered, but according to the Flags of the Confederacy website, most, if not all, actually produced during the war continued to use the square union of the 1863 flag.
This is the front cover from an original June 15, 1861 Harper's Weekly. The Confederate Flag is shown flying over the Marshall House Tavern in Alexandria, Virginia. This is a fascinating image with an interesting story. For more information, go to