The Confederacy and the Flags
No other flag in the history of mankind has caused more fervor and debate than the Battle Flag of the Confederate States of America. In 1861, seven states in the Confederacy seceded from the United States before Abraham Lincoln took office. After the April 1861 attack on Ft. Sumter in South Carolina, four more states seceded and the Civil War officially began. The War of the States lasted four long years. During this time three official Confederate flags were developed. The passionate debate remains over the one flag that was the most popular and divisive: the Confederate Battle Flag.
Design of the Confederate Flags
Most people believe the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, also known as the Dixie Flag and the Rebel Flag, was the singular official flag of the CSA. However, although it was the most popular, it never held the official designation. Three other flags did. The first flag was so similar to the American flag that it caused confusion. The second was white and was easily mistaken for a truce flag. The third was never used, as it was unveiled just before the Confederate surrender by General Robert E. Lee.
Controversies over the Rebel Flag
The Rebel Flag was extremely popular by 1863 by Southerners. The beginning of the Civil War will celebrate its 150th anniversary in April of 2011. The flag continues to be debated. Opponents of the Rebel Flag see it as overt racism, while supporters see it as a symbol of southern history and heritage. This heritage feeling generates from a deep-seated feeling of oppression in the South, where the region desires the freedom of a distinctive southern culture.
Dixie Flag Remains a Political Powderkeg
The explosive nature of the Battle Flag controversy made headlines again on April 12, 2000---exactly 139 years after the first shots of the Civil War rang out on Ft. Sumter, South Carolina. The State House of South Carolina in Columbia removed the Rebel Flag from atop the building. This was amidst growing and heated debates and boycotts of the state from the NAACP. The Battle Flag and its subsequent placement caused more uproar. When the legislature removed it from the dome, they placed it directly on the statehouse grounds at a Confederate memorial. The flag and its current placement are protected by South Carolina law and cannot be removed from the grounds.
The Flag Cost a Governor His Job
Around the same time South Carolina was rooting the Rebel Flag firmly in official ground, the flag caused a Georgia governor to lose his gubernatorial re-election bid. In 2001, Georgia Governor Roy Barnes pushed through a new flag design. The official state flag of Georgia was the Battle Flag with the State Seal of Georgia in a blue stripe on the side. Citizens were outraged and swiftly voted Barnes out of office. This defeat also marked the election of the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. The new design is not the Battle Flag, but a design that is very similar to the first "official" flag of the Confederacy.
The Continued Flag Influence
Most southern states have state flags that reflect the Confederacy. Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina all have CSA-based state flags. When the furor erupted in Mississippi, it was put to a referendum and the people voted. The continuation of the CSA-based flag won hands down.