Last modified: 2004-12-22 by rick wyatt
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It was common practice till long after the Civil War to have a distinct Battle flag. The idea was that the red battle flags were highly visible on the field, and the troops could orient on them. Usually the national flag was also visible, at least on a battalion level.
The Union had also such a thing. Each regiment had its own flag, but there was no standardized format for the regimental flags. Few were red, for obvious reasons. The Irish Brigade had green flags, for instance. Most Union regimental flags were blue, and most Union regiments also carried the national flag.
Sandy, through Josh Fruhlinger, 24 January 1996
The battle flags of the Army of Northern Virginia were square. Beginning in Jan. 1864, the Army of Tennessee was issued a rectangular version of the ANV flag. This issue was used until the end of the war.
Andy Wirch, 4 May 1998
The popularization of the Battle Flag in the post war years, particularly in the years after 1880, had a more political
purpose. When the Confederate Veterans organizations were organized, eventually merging into the United Confederate Veterans in the early 1880s, there was a degree of vocal opposition to such organizations from some sources in the North, who suspected them of being cells preparing for a new war. Unrealistic paranoia, but it made for good print I suppose. The veterans were naturally most fond of their old regimental flags, but their use of the Battle Flag in public and the spreading use of the Battle Flag as a symbol of the South, instead of one of the old national flags was also a way to defuse the "Reb Peril" cries from the North. The battle flag was deliberately chosen as the flag representing the valor of the Southern soldier, rather than one of the political flags, which could be seen as representing the South's political aspiration for independence.
I think that was the intent of both the Second and Third National CS flags - using as the canton the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was intended then to display the valor of the troops of the army that the government in Richmond knew - and saw - best, and that included their distinctive flags. One can wonder what the canton would be like if the capitol of the Confederacy had been in Atlanta and the flags the government would have seen were the 9 or so patterns used by the Army of Tennessee! How good would a Second or Third National flag look with the Hardee or Polk corps battle flags in the canton instead?
As for the post-war adoption by the veterans of the more famous rectangular "battle flag" - Devereaux is correct. However, the rectangular version being used caused problems from within the Southern veterans groups.
I have gone through every volume of the old magazine Confederate Veteran and have noted numerous letters sent in that wondered why the flags us