The Union and the Confederacy, as combatants in the Civil War, were each represented by a national flag.
The Union flag—not to be mistaken for Britain’s Union Jack—featured thirteen alternating red and white stripes and a white star for each state in the Union on a field of blue. The Union Flag of 1859 sported 33 stars when Oregon joined, 34 in 1861 following Kansas, and 35 in 1863 when West Virginia was welcomed into the fold.
Interestingly, and perhaps in a little-known feat of clairvoyance, the stars representing states that seceded to join the Confederacy were never removed throughout the conflict, which meant that they were represented by the flags on both sides.
The Confederates’ national flag evolved from one not unlike the Union’s—with its stars arranged in a circle—into the Stars and Bars and the battlefield’s Southern Cross, until they settled on the Stainless Banner with a red bar to avoid the flag being mistaken as an attempt to surrender.
While the Southern Cross still makes appearances, one can hope that someday it will become as detestable a symbol of “racial purity” as the Nazi swastika or the Schutzstaffel lightning bolts.
Category: General Politics, Military & War
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Thursday, 24. September 2009
The Southern Cross does have a poor image, but I think its been overemphasized to have a relation to slavery. While the South was absolutely wrong about its intent to keep slaves, the real motivation is not unlike modern right-wingers scared of Big Government. The Confederacy was just scared of change (although that doesn’t justify as Civil War). The North on the other hand had no real love for freeing the slaves. The real situation was that the amount of immigration into the North was causing lack of jobs for free citizens due to the free labor of slavery. Lincoln also used the Emancipation Proclamation as a military tool to try to cause unrest in the South, not to make a political statement.
Thursday, 24. September 2009
My buddy had a confederate flag on his truck growing up. He was a jackass after I got older.
Friday, 25. September 2009
Hey Tweeek, you make some excellent points. My take on it is that regardless of the individual or personal details (and I’m well aware of the fact that neither North nor South were spotless when it came to slavery), when a symbol has evolved to represent something to a majority, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. The swastika was originally a Buddhist sanskrit symbol with a positive meaning, but no one can change or deny what it represents today. I feel the same way about the Southern Cross. While it may not symbolize the support of slavery to everyone, it did stand for that ideal and continues to represent that to a majority of the world’s people, which makes it a racist emblem in my book.
Friday, 25. September 2009
Hey FormatMe… isn’t it interesting, how Southern Cross flyer often equals jackass?
Friday, 25. September 2009
As a kid I always thought it was a cool looking flag, never associated it as anything racist.
Friday, 2. October 2009
Some people may use confederate flags as racist symbols, but here is a man who is well qualified to disagree that it IS a racist symbol:
http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/winbush.htm
Friday, 2. October 2009
Very interesting article… and I might add that, technically speaking, every citizen is “well qualified to disagree” with anything they find disagreeable, regardless of their race, gender, orientation, etc. I fully respect the fact that this individual does not see the confederate flag as a racist symbol, and respectfully still believe that it is. R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Wednesday, 7. October 2009
Screw that! It’s not racist! It’s about southern pride, damnit!