CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE:
- The Western Army, 1861 to Late 1863
- The Polk Battle Flag
- The McCown Battle Flag
- The Hardee Battle Flag
- The Cassidy – Army of Northern Virginia Style Battle Flag
The Western Army, 1861 to Late 1863
After the secession of Tennessee, the principal line of Confederate defenses in the Western Theatre (defined roughly as that portion of the Confederacy lying between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River), were situated along a line running from Columbus, Kentucky on the west, eastwardly to Forts Henry and Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, thence to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and on eastwardly to Cumberland Gap. After the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862, Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard concentrated the various Confederate army commands at Corinth, Mississippi and formed them into an army composed of three corps and a reserve. This army was named the Army of the Mississippi. After the Kentucky campaign in late 1862, it was renamed the Army of Tennessee.
The problems caused by the similarity of the Stars and Bars to the Stars and Stripes, lead commanders in the West to adopt distincitve battle flags, just as those in Virginia had done.
The Confederate defense of the “heartland” in the western theater focused in three geographical areas. At the eastern end of the line, the Confederate response centered initially at Knoxville for the defense of Cumberland Gap. The force at this end of the line consisted of two brigades under Brigadier-General Felix Zollicoffer. These forces would be defeated at the battle of Mill Springs (Logan’s Cross Roads) on 19 January 1862, still carrying the Confederate 1st national flag. Neither the nearsighted Zollicoffer nor his successor and superior, General Crittenden conceived of the necessity for a distinctive battle flag. This was in sharp contrast to the western end of the Kentucky line.
Since 4 July 1861, Major-General Leonidas Polk commanded the section of Confederate “Department No. 2” along the Mississippi River. Under his command, the Confederate left flank occupied Columbus, Kentucky. Once General Albert Sidney Johnston assumed command of this department in September of 1861, Polk’s forces around Columbus came to be designated as “1st [Grand] Division”. At Belmont on 11 November 1862, Polk’s forces would engage General Grant’s thrust down the Mississippi, still using the Confederate 1st national flag. The confusion between the “Stars & Stripes” and the “Stars & Bars” at this battle would convince General Polk of the need for a distinctive battle flag for field service.
THE POLK BATTLE FLAG
First (silk) Issue Battle Flag
General Leonidas Polk’s pattern, January 1862
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 28 February 2000
from a sketch by Howard Michael Madaus
The battle flag devised by Major-General Leonidas Polk was initially made completely of silk, 4 feet on the hoist by 7.5 to 8 feet on the fly. Its design consisted of a medium blue field quartered by a red St. George’s cross (bars that crossed the field horizontally and vertically), inserted directly into the blue field. This 11″ wide cross bore thirteen white 5-pointed stars, each about 7 ½” to 8″ in diameter, three on each arm, and one in the center of the cross. Since these flags bore thirteen stars, it is thought that their manufacture post-dated Kentucky’s admission into the Confederacy in early December 1861.
The flags themselves were evidently made in Memphis, Tennessee. On 30 January 1862, forty-five of these flags (each costing $15.00) were shipped from Memphis to Polk’s quartermaster at Columbus. These flags were distributed to the three “divisions” and the separate brigade, totaling an aggregate of 28 infantry regiments, 10 artillery companies or batteries, and six cavalry commands of the 1st Grand Division. Although General Beauregard had ordered a new set of Army of Northern Virginia battle flags for Polk’s “Corps” in March of 1862 to replace the distinctive blue flags, they did not arrive in time for the battle of Shiloh, and Polk’s Corps accordingly continued to carry their blue “Polk’s Corps” battle flags through that engagement.
Second (bunting) Issue Battle Flag
General Leonidas Polk’s pattern, Summer 1862
by Wayne J. Lovett 29 February 2000
from a sketch by Howard Michael Madaus
During the seige of Corinth in the early summer of 1862, Polk’s 1st Grand Division (Corps) was reinforced by the arrival of new units that were assigned to the corps. These new units assigned to Polk’s command evidently received the Cassidy battle flags from the second set of 51 flags that finally arrived after Shiloh. Units of Polk’s Corps know to have received these Cassidy battle flags included the 4th, the 21st, and the 27th Tennessee Infantry.
Once General Beauregard relinquished command of the Army of the Mississippi to General Bragg, the impetus for the adoption of a uniform battle flag for the army disintegrated. General Polk subsequently ordered a new set of distinctive battle flags that were similar to his old silk battle flags. These were distributed to Cheatham’s Division of the Right Wing on 4 September 1862. The other division of the Right Wing (Withers’) did not receive these flags, suggesting that they had been ordered prior to the addition of Withers’ Division on 15 August 1862. Chattanooga was the likely source of these flags.
The new “Polk pattern” battle flags generally followed the design of the silk issue of January but were made of bunting and cotton and were considerably smaller. The new Polk pattern battle flags measured 28″ on their hoist by 51″ to 52″ on the fly. Their fields were made from dark blue wool bunting, quartered by red wool bunting St. George’s crosses, 6″ wide, bordered on the crosses’ sides with a white cotton edging 1 ¾” to 2″ wide. Only eleven stars decorated the arms of the cross, each 3″ in diameter – three on each of the horizontal arms, two on each of the vertical arms, and one in the center.
Variant of Polk’s pattern battle flag used by the 22d Alabama Infantry, 1863
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a sketch by Howard Michael Madaus
After the break-up of Bragg’s Corps to create the “Right Wing” and the “Left Wing” of the Army of the Mississippi on 15 August 1862, General Wither’s Division of Bragg’s former corps was placed in General Polk’s “Right Wing”. At least one brigade of that division evidently adopted new battle flags after the transfer. The flags of this brigade were made by regimental tailors and accordingly are neither of a common size nor of common materials. The design emulated the “Polk pattern” in that the fields of the flags were blue and were quartered by a St. George’s Cross. Rather than having a red cross with stars, however, the flags bore a plain white St. George’s cross devoid of stars. The extend of the adoption of Polk style battle flags by the elements of Withers’ former division is muddied, but at least one regiment (the 10th Mississippi) of another brigade of the division had a 12 star Polk pattern battleflag made for it in 1863.
Howard Michael Madaus
THE McCOWN BATTLE FLAG
Variant of McCown’s pattern battle flag of
the 30th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, 1862-1863
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
In March of 1862 and extending into early April, the Confederate “Army of the West” began and completed its move from its camps in Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee and eventually Corinth, Mississippi. As the army moved it was reorganized into three divisions. The third division of the Army of the West was to have consisted of three brigades, two of dismounted Texas cavalry and one a mixture of dismounted Arkansas cavalry and infantry units. Only one of the Texas brigades, however, had been sufficiently organized to cross the river.
The two brigades that did cross the Mississippi were assigned to newly appointed Major-General John P. McCown. McCown, as the name might imply was of Scotch descent, and had previously commanded a brigade in Major-General Polk’s 1st Grand Division and then the defenses around New Madrid and Island No. 10 before being ordered to report to General A.S. Johnston on 26 March 1862. During the campaign that culminated in the siege of and withdrawal of the Confederate forces from Corinth, McCown commanded a division of two brigades — Cabell’s (afterward Ector’s) Texans and Churchill’s (afterwards McNair’s) Arkansas, each containing five regiments or battalions.
When General Earl Van Dorn was detached to assume command of the Confederate forces previously commanded by General Mansfield Lovell, Major-General McCown was elevated to command the Army of the West. This promotion severely irritated Army of the Mississippi commander, Braxton Bragg, who blamed McCown for the loss of New Madrid and Island No. 10. To rid himself of the problem, Bragg transferred McCown to command the post of Chattanooga, effective 4 July 1862. The two brigades of his former division had preceded him to East Tennessee by orders of 27 June, and during the Kentucky campaign were commanded by Brigadier-General T.J. Churchill as the “3rd Division” of Major-General E. Kirby Smith. It is thought that the division adopted its distinctive battle flag during the Kentucky Campaign, sometime after the battle of Richmond, Kentucky in August.
The battle flag carried by McCown’s Division consisted of a blue field traversed from corner to corner with a white St. Andrew’s cross. As such, the flag duplicated the national flag of Scotland. To distinguish these flags from the true Scottish flag, distinctive elements were added to the flags of the division. One flag bore a white border on all four sides. Another (of a unit added in 1863) had red triangular sections in each corner. The flags evidently were made by regimental tailors, and accordingly conformed to neither common dimensions nor materials. At least one was decorated with a unit abbreviation and two battle honors.
Variant of McCown’s pattern battle flag used by
the 39th North Carolina Infantry, 1863
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a sketch by Howard Michael Madaus
Major-General McCown was relieved of the command of his division on 27 February 1863 and his former two brigades and another from East Tennessee were transferred to Polk’s Corps of the Army of Tennessee. The two original brigades of the division evidently continued to carry their blue McCown battle flags through the battle of Chickamauga and into the Spring of 1864. In May of 1864 Ector’s Brigade received a set of Army of Northern Virginia battle flags brought back from Richmond with Colonel Young. McNair’s Brigade is thought to have received some of the 12 star rectangular battle flags following the design of the battle flags of the Army of Northern Virginia from the Mobile contractors about the same time.
Howard Michael Madaus
THE HARDEE BATTLE FLAG
First Issue Hardee/Buckner Battle Flag, late 1861 or early 1862
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 29 February 2000
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard Michael Madaus
The third force organized for the defense of the Confederacy’s “heartland” was formed in September of 1861 by concentrating Brigadier-General Hardee’s forces from Arkansas with the Kentucky forces organizing from that state around the central Kentucky town of Bowling Green. This force came to be called the “Central Division of Kentucky”, the “Army Corps of Central Kentucky”, and finally the “Army of Central Kentucky.” At the end of October it numbered two divisions (the first under Major-General Hardee, the second under Brigadier-General Buckner) consisting of an aggregate of twenty-four infantry regiments or battalions, eight artillery batteries, and three cavalry units. By the end of January, 1862, this force had grown to three divisions and consisted of forty-three infantry regiments or battalions, twelve artillery batteries, and nine major cavalry units. While stationed at Bowling Green during the winter of 1861-1862, a distinctive battle flag was created for the forces of this command.
The flag was claimed (in 1909) to have been inspired by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, commanding the 2nd Division. Buckner may have drawn the design of the battle flag from the flags of his old Kentucky State Guard or from the Virginia state flags present in Floyd’s Division; the verdict is still out on this claim. Buckner claimed that the flags were made by his wife in accordance with a simple design – a blue field with a circular white center. However, though Mrs. Buckner most probably contributed to the making of the flags, there is also evidence that Mrs. Samuel Blackburn and her daughters did much of the sewing at their home near Bowling Green.
The flag that resulted was indeed very simple: a dark blue cotton field, varying considerably in size (anywhere from 2.25 feet to 3 feet on its hoist to 3.25 feet to 3.5 feet on its fly. In the center of this field was a plain white elliptical disc, about 16″ high by 21″ wide inset into the field. The regiments to which these flags were issued usually painted a regimental abbreviation on this disc. The flags had no border unless a white pole sleeve was added at regimental level to secure the flag to a staff. Although surviving flags from the first issue of flags of this pattern are few, the evidence is substantial that the flags were in use by the battle for Fort Donelson, with Brown’s Tennessee Brigade definitely known to have carried them in conjunction with their Confederate 1st national flags.
After the fall of Fort Donelson, the Army of Central Kentucky was reorganized to accommodate the loss of the forces surrendered under General Buckner. Hardee’s Division, and the survivors of Buckner’s Division in Breckinridge’s Kentucky Reserve continued to carry their distinctive blue battle flags into the battle of Shiloh. The newly reformed 2nd Division under General Crittenden, however, had no distinctive battle flags when they arrived at Corinth; however, those attached to Hardee’s 3rd Corps adopted the blue flags that distinguished his command. Hence, though Beauregard had ordered 31 extra battle flags from New Orleans with the probable intent of equipping Hardee’s Corps with the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, that effort would be resisted, and, when Beauregard became incapacitated and left the army in Bragg’s control, no effort was made to enforce a uniform battle flag in the Confederate Army of the Mississippi. Instead the old blue flags made in Kentucky were either repaired or replaced.
SECOND PATTERN HARDEE BATTLE FLAGS
Second Pattern Hardee Battle Flag, 1862
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
These repaired and replaced flags differed from their predecessors by the addition of a white border, usually about 2″ wide around all four edges of the flag. Through the summer of 1862, the central disc remained elliptical in configuration, with the major (longer) axis on the horizontal and the minor (shorter) axis on the vertical. When the army was divided into the “Right Wing” (under General Polk) and the “Left Wing” (under General Hardee) in August of 1862, Hardee’s force was enhanced by the four brigades of Jones’s Division, formerly of Bragg’s Corps.
These newly added units of the “Left Wing” adopted the distinctive blue flags of Hardee’s old corps. The regimental tailors of the new units were responsible for the production of their flags, so size and materials varied from regiment to regiment. Instead of the elliptical central disc, this newly added force made their flags with circular discs. These discs, like those of Hardee’s prior command, were often decorated by whatever means the regiment had available with an abbreviated unit designation. And in accordance with orders that had begun under Beauregard’s regime and continued under Bragg’s auspices, the names of the battles in which the unit had gained honor were painted on the field or the borders of the flag. A few regiments, in addition, decorated their colors with the “crossed cannon inverted” battle honor that General Bragg had authorized after the battles of both Perryville and Murfreesboro.
THIRD PATTERN HARDEE BATTLE FLAGS
Third Pattern Hardee Battle Flag, 1863
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
Although the make-up of Hardee’s “Wing” would be altered yet again in December of 1862 subsequent to the renaming of the “Army of the Mississippi” as the “Army of Tennessee” the previous month, the units that had adopted Hardee’s distinctive flag before the December reorganization continued to carry the blue flag regardless of affiliation with Hardee’s or Polk’s Wing, even as late of November of 1863. In the interim, new flags were occasionally provided through regimental tailors. At some time in 1863, a fourth variation of the Hardee flag came into prominence. This new variation featured a return to the elliptical white central disc on the white bordered, blue field, but with the major axis of the ellipse in a vertical, rather than horizontal mode. And, while many of the 1863 Hardee flags were still regimentally produced, it appears that in September of 1863, Private Jacob Gall, Co. D, 19th Louisiana Infantry (who had been detailed to Hardee’s headquarters as his personal tailor on 6 May 1863) was sent to Enterprise, Mississippi, where he transformed 38 yards of merino, 30 yards of “domestic” (cotton), and 8 spools of thread into “34 Battle Flags for Lieut. Gen’l Hardee’s Command”. Some of these were evidently distributed at Demopolis, Alabama, while others are thought to have been sent to forces of the Army of Tennessee.
FOURTH PATTERN HARDEE BATTLE FLAGS
Fourth Pattern Hardee Battle Flag, 1863
by Wayne J. Lovett
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
Although that number of units comprised General Hardee’s old Corps (then under the command of Lieutenant-General D.H. Hill) when the flags were paid for, the vouchers for their payment are ambiguous as to their intended recipients. One of the bills indicates these were for “Hardee’s Corps” while the other stated they were for “Hardee’s Command”. (At the time of payment, Hardee’s command technically comprised the forces from Pemberton’s surrendered Vicksburg garrison, which was, however, not a “Corps”.) Moreover, the vouchers for payment suggest that at least some of the flags were sent to Demopolis, Alabama, where the Alabama units of Pemberton’s former army were awaiting exchange.
Furthermore, on the basis of the characteristics of several Hardee pattern flags captured from November of 1864 until June of 1864, it is evident that many of the units of Hardee’s old Corps had not been recipients of the flags from the September 1863 production. Instead, some are thought to have been issued to Moore’s Alabama (the 37th, the 40th, and the 42nd) Brigade and others are suspected as having been provided to the remnants of Stevenson’s division, after its exchange and assignment to D.H. Hill’s (formerly Hardee’s) Corps of the Army of Tennessee on 17 October 1863. Additional flags from the September 1863 production may have been issued as late as 31 December 1863 to at least the 6th and the 7th Florida Infantry of Finley’s Brigade and the combined 15th & 37th Tennessee Infantry of Bate’s Brigade, both then in Breckenridge’s Division, who had adopted the Hardee battle flag when assigned to Hardee’s old Corps after service near Vicksburg in 1862.
These flags generally measured about 2.75 feet on their hoist by 3.25 feet on their fly. Their dark blue fields were made from merino and were finished on all four sides with a white cotton border, 2 1/2″ deep. In their center was a white cotton vertical ellipse, whose axes were 14″ high by 11″ wide. This disc was decorated with an abbreviated unit designation at regimental level with materials available. Although not finished in time for the battle of Chickamauga, these flags had been issued by the time of the siege of Chattanooga, where several were lost.
The Hardee battle flag would continue its legacy into the campaigns of 1864 and 1865 when Cleburne’s Division would successfully petition General Joseph E. Johnston to be exempted from the distribution of the new Army of Northern Virginia battle flags made at Augusta, Georgia, during the winter of 1863-1864. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Hardee pattern flags made for Cleburne’s Division in 1864 can be found on the Army of Tennessee (late 1863 – 1865) page.]
Howard Michael Madaus, based on research by Greg Biggs, Ken Legendre, H.M. Madaus, and a host of other flag enthusiasts.
THE CASSIDY / ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA STYLE
BATTLE FLAG
It was the intent of Gens. G.T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston to have the flag they adopted in Virginia become the standard for all Confederate armies. The first attempt to spread the Southern Cross to other forces was by Gen. Beauregard. In February, 1862, he was sent West to assist Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in Department Number 2 in Tennessee. Upon arrival, the Creole began showing his flag brought from Virginia and, as number two commander of forces in that theater, began issuing orders for that flag’s adoption by troops of his command. He was quite chagrined to find, however, that several of the armies of the area had already adopted their own distinctive battle flags – and for the same reasons that the Army of Northern Virginia adopted theirs. A such, the eastern flag was rebuffed.
As what would become the Army of the Mississippi gathered in Corinth, Mississippi after the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, Beauregard soon got his chance to have his flag adopted by Western troops. Arriving from Pensacola and Mobile under the command of Gen.Braxton Bragg, what would be known as Bragg’s Corps came north without a distinctive battle flag. As such, Beauregard had these troops adopt the Southern Cross from the East.
These new flags were ordered by Beauregard through Major-General Mansfield Lovell, commanding “Department No. 1” in New Orleans. Lovell contracted with New Orleans sailmaker Henry Cassidy for the initial and subsequent sets of flags. Cassidy had previously made Louisiana state flags for his state, flags for the Army’s fleet of gunboats assembled at New Orleans, and numerous large Confederate 1st national flags. Between early February and 29 March 1862, Cassidy would provide 132 battle flags for Beauregard’s command in three separate groups — all following the general design that Beauregard had championed in Virginia.
THE FIRST SET –
BRAGG’S CORPS BATTLE FLAGS
Cassidy ANV style Battle Flag of the 9th Mississippi
Infantry Regiment, first pattern, 1862-1863
by Wayne J. Lovett from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
The first group of flags would be for General Braxton Bragg’s forces arriving from the Gulf Coast. Fifty flags were funished on 25 February 1862 and sent to Beauregard through one of the regimental quartermasters of Bragg’s congregating forces. These flags arrived at Jackson, Tennessee on 3 March 1862.
Although based on the eastern army’s general design, the new Cassidy made battle flags differed from their Virginia counterparts in several respects. Their fields were made from a red wool-cotton blend, quartered diagonally by a dark blue St. Andrew’s cross of similar material, the cross edged on its sides with 1″ wide white cotton. Each of the four arms of the cross bore three white silk stars, totaling twelve, and hence suggesting that either Beauregard’s personal headquarters battle flag or the battle flag that he had brought from Virginia for the 5th Company of Washington Artillery of New Orleans had served as the pattern for Cassidy. Moreover, rather than the Americanized 5-pointed stars, the flags that Cassidy produced would bear heraldically correct 6-pointed stars. Finally, a yellow serge or bunting border edged the three exterior sides of the flags.
The first two sets of Cassidy-made battle flags were intended to be square, but since the borders were added to only three sides and the white cotton heading on the fourth side was considerably less in width than the borders (usually half as wide), the overall effect produced flags that were usually slightly rectangular by 3″ to 5″, with the hoist usually being greater.
Cassidy’s invoice of 29 March 1862 indicated that the 50 flags he delivered on 25 February were in three price ranges — 30 at $6.75 each, 12 at $5.25 each, and 8 at $4.75 each. These prices reflected the three sizes of flags ordered. The 30 infantry flags measured 48″ to 51″ on their hoist by 42″ to 45″ on their fly. The 12 artillery size flags had been intended to be 42″ square, but for the same reason as the infantry flags varied as much as 2″ on the fly from that ideal. The 8 cavalry size flags measured 36″ on the hoist by 34″ on the fly.
As of 9 March 1862, Bragg’s “2nd Grand Division” of the Army of the Mississippi consisted of 20 infantry battalions or regiments, 6 artillery batteries, but only two cavalry units. However, by the time of the battle of Shiloh, Bragg’s (now) “2nd Corps” had expanded to include 10 more infantry units, 2 new artillery batteries and two new cavalry units. Hence, though the artillery and cavalry flags were still in surplus of the corps’ actual needs, all 30 of the infantry flags were accounted for.
THE SECOND SET –
BATTLE FLAGS FOR POLK’S CORPS
Intending that the Army of Northern Virginia “Southern Cross” battle flags would be issued to the entire Army of the Mississippi, on 11 March 1862, Beauregard reminded General Leonidas Polk that he should order new battle flags for his corps, also noting that they should be ordered in three sizes for infantry, artillery, and cavalry. Polk acquiesed to Beauregard’s plan, and General Lovell indicated that Polk’s new battle flags were ready on 28 March. The next day 47 of these flags were sent to Polk via a staff officer and on the 31st, 4 more were separately sent. These 51 battle flags were invoiced by Cassidy on 29 March; 31 would be infantry size flags costing $8.75 each, 12 would be artillery size at $7.75 each, and 8 were cavalry size at $7.00 each. Inflation in the price of cloth rather than size accounted for the difference between Polk’s new flags and the cost of Bragg’s flags.
The flags would travel up-river. on 4 April 1862 they were at Memphis, but Polk dispaired of receiving them, believing them lost. And, indeed, Polk’s Corps would leave Corinth before they could arrive. As a result, Polk’s Corps fought the battle of Shiloh with its old blue silk battle flags that had been made in Memphis in January of 1862. Because Polk’s Corps (as well as Hardee’s) carried flags differing from Beauregard’s plan, it would be necessary for staff officers of Polk’s and Hardee’s Corps to “parade” the distinctive flags of their corps before the marching corps to insure proper recongintion in the forthcoming battle. After the battle there is evidence to indicate that some of the battle flags that Polk had ordered from Cassidy were indeed issued to units of his corps, though rather haphazardly, as one of the cavalry size flags was issued to an infantry unit!
THE THIRD SET –
THE REPLACEMENTS
Cassidy ANV style Battle Flag, third pattern, 1862-1863
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr., 28 April 2000
from a scale drawing and notes by Howard M. Madaus
On 3 March 1862 Beauregard had requested that General Lovell order another set of 31 battle flags, to be in addition to those ordered by General Polk. General Lovell placed this order with Cassidy on 6 March, the same day that Polk’s flags were ordered. Cassidy’s bill of 29 March 1862 indeed shows that 31 more battle flags, each priced at $8.00, were ordered beyond the 31 infantry battle flags for Polk’s Corps. Evidently Beauregard intended these battle flags for Hardee’s Corps; however, like those for Polk’s Corps, these 31 new battle flags did not arrive in time for the battle of Shiloh. After the retreat back to Corinth no attempt was evidently made to distribute the third set of flags to the units of Hardee’s Corps, which continued to carry their blue “silver moon” battle flags. Instead, the third set of “Southern Cross” battle flags from Cassidy were issued as replacement flags on an “as needed” basis. Unlike the first and the second sets of flags, only one size was ordered of the third set. These new flags would differ in two other respects. Instead of intentedly square, the third set of flags was definitely made rectangular, usually measuring about 3.5 feet on thier hoist by 6 feet on their fly. Also different, the exterior border now finished all four sides. This border was made of pink (rather than yellow used earlier) silk or bunting and was 6″ wide. Like the two earlier sets, the flags of the third set of flags bore only 12 white silk or polished cotton stars on the arms of the cross, and these stars continued to be 6-pointed. The white cotton headings that usually finished the staff edge were most often worked with a series of small button-hole eyelets for ties.
Although Bragg’s Corps, the prime recipient of the Cassidy made “Southern Cross” battle flags would be effectively dissolved in August of 1862, with its two former divisions divided between Polk and Hardee’s newly formed “Wings”, the battle flags that they had been issued in March of 1862 would continue in service sporadically until the Winter of 1863-1864, when General Joseph E. Johnston would “reinstitute” the Army of Northern Virginia design for the Army of Tennessee.
Howard Michael Madaus and Greg Biggs, assisted by many other flag enthusiasts.
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