Union of the flag. Custom came to prefer flve*pointed stars, though stars with more points would be used until the middle of the nineteenth century.
In 1861. when the Southern States left the American union and formed the new Confederacy, they chose for the new nation a flag with the same elements as the old. but reduced the thirteen stripes to three bars. As in the case of the Continental Congress in 1777, by 1863 the Confederate Congress was ready to remove from their flag reminders of the old government. An initial proposal to reverse the colors of the "Stars and Bars" was amended by removing the bars altogether, leaving the red battle flag of the army as a canton on a "stainless" white field.
Figure 22: Flag of the United States—1776 to 1777
In 1865. with concern expressed by na'al officers that the flag of 1863 could be mistaken for a flag of truce, the dimensions were altered and a red bar was added to the fly creating the last flag of the Confederate States of America.
Thus was established the long and proud heritage of the Confederate Flag. One could say that the British Union flag, in the form of the red en> sign, was the great-great-great grandfather of the Confederate Flag of 1865. In the tradition of biblical genealogy, we could fashion a geneaology of the Confederate Flag as follows:
The Union flag of 1606 and its red ensign begat the Grand Union flag of 1775. the symbol of American liberty;
The Grand Union flag begat the "Stars and Stripes" of 1777, the s>'mboI of American independence:
The “Stars and Stripes" begat the "Stars and Bars" of 1861, the symbol of Southern liberty;
The “Stars and Bars" begat the "Stainless Banner" of 1863. the of Southern independence; and
The “Stainless Banner" liegat the Confederate Flag of 1865, the final expression in bunting of the sovereignty of the Confederate States of America.
World History
