Flags of the Confederacy

If there was a song the Confederate soldier loved almost as much as "Dixie," it was "The Bonnie Blue Flag."
Sung to the folk melody "The Irish Jaunting Car," it lays out the order in which the Southern states seceded along
with the grievances that caused their departure. The song was premiered by lyricist Harry Macarthy during a concert
in Jackson, Mississippi, in the spring of 1861 and performed again in September of that same year at the New Orleans
Academy of Music in front of an audience of soldiers headed for the Virginia front. The response was enthusiastic, and
Macarthy had one of the first "hits" of the War on his hands.

According to Mark Boatner's Civil War Dictionary, the Bonnie Blue Flag was "the blue field of the United States flag bearing first a single star for South Carolina (which seceded first), joined later...by the other ten, and was used before the adoption
of the now-familiar Confederate flags." Another account claims that the flag made its first appearance at the Mississippi
Secession Convention in January of 1861, having been sewn by the wife of a convention delegate.

Whatever its origins, the flag was often carried by Texas troops, and its design served as the basis for the 3 state
flags of Virginia South Carolina and Texas. This flag was used by the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1839 and
became the first unofficial flag of the Confederacy (the South united under one star). The Confederate Government
did not adopt the flag but the people did.

The Bonnie Blue Flag	First National Confederate Flag 1861	The Battle Flag
We are a band of brothers, and native to the soil, Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil; And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far:Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star! Chorus: Hurrah! Hurrah! for Southern rights, Hurrah! Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag That bears a single star! As long as the Union was faithful to her trust, Like friends and like brothers, kind were we and just; But now when Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar,We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star. (Chorus) First, gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand; Then came Alabama, who took her by the hand; Next, quickly Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida -- All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star. (Chorus) Ye, men of valor, gather round the banner of the right; Texas and fair Louisiana join us in the fight. Davis, our loved president, and Stephens, statesman are;Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star. (Chorus) And here's to brave Virginia! The Old Dominion State, With the young Confederacy at length has linked her fate;Impelled by her example, now other States prepareTo hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag, That bears a single star! (Chorus)	Stars & Bars flag . It is the first of three National Confederate Flags flown over Texas between 1861 and 1868.On March 4, 1861, the same day that Lincoln was inaugurated, the assembly of Montgomery, Alabama adopted the first flag of the Confederacy. They retained theblue canton of the UnitedStates Flag and used stars to represent the States. They replaced the thirteen stripes of alternatered and white with three of thesame colors. These they called Bars, which gave rise to the popular name, the Stars and Bars. The flag was designedby Nicola Marchell; a noted Southern artist.	At the first battle of Bull Run (Manassas) some difficulty was experienced by Confederate leaders in distinguishing, at a distance, the Stars and Bars of their own troops from the Stars and Stripes of the Federal forces. General P.G.T. Beauregard designed the famous Battle Flag of the Confederacy to remedy this defect, and it was retained throughout the war. Thirteen stars represented the States of the Confederacy.