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Stars and Bars flag (U.S.)

First National Flag of the Confederacy

by Rick Wyatt, 20 November 1997
7 Star Version

by Rob Raeside, 25 November 1997
13 Star Version

Stars and Bars
Variation in the number of stars
12 Star from Vicksburg Garrison
Seventeen Stars

See also:

Stars and Bars (First National Flag)

by Wayne J. Lovett, 24 June 2001
The flag which first flew over Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, SC in 1861.

The first official flag of the confederacy was the Stars and Bars, and was reported to the provisional congress of the C.S. by the flag committee on March 4,1861. It appears to have not had a recorded vote. It was written into the journal of the congress. It is said to have been designed by Nicola Marschall, a Prussian Artist and to have been inspired by the Austrian flag. It appears in many variations with stars ranging from 7 to 15 stars. 11 states that seceded from the Union, 2 (Kentucky and Missouri that had confederate and union governments), 1 (Maryland) that attempted to secede but whose legislature was disbanded by federal officials and was unable to join the confederacy, even though it furnished more troops to the cause then at least one member of that country and 1 slave state (Delaware) that remained loyal to the union.
William M. Grimes-Wyatt, 29 April 1996

There is a tombstone in Henderson, NC for Orrin Randolph Smith with an inscription "designer of the Stars and >Bars". He claimed (some time after the fact) that he had designed the original national flag of the Confederate States of America, commonly known as the "Stars and Bars". His claim is in conflict with a similar claim by Nichola Marschal. There was a great conflict between the descendants and partisans of these two claimants in the early years of the 20th century.

Without going into great detail, I am inclined to favour Marschal's claim, because he was known as a designer and painter of flags, and Smith was not, and Marschal was in Alabama, not far from the seat of the Confederate government, when the flag was adopted, while Smith was in North Carolina, which was still a member of the Un