The Army of Northern Virginia Flag, also known as the Battle fFag of the Army of Northern Virginia, was created in September 1861 in Virginia.
This articles answers all the questions you may have about the history, meaning, and symbolism of the Army of Northern Virginia Flag.
How has the deisgn of the flag has changed over time?
It was initially made as a square flag to save material. It came in three different sizes, 48 inches squares, 36 inches squared, and 30 inches squared.
The flag did change over time, but the flag stayed similar throughout its progress. It ended up with a red background and a 5 inch wide blue St. Andrews cross with ½ inch white edging on the cross. There are 13 4 ½ inch white stars on the blue cross, and they are placed in 7-inch intervals. The flag was also standardized to 48 inches for all uses.
Colors and Symbols Of The Flag
The flag was actually reused from a competition for the national flag design. You will also see that the colors are the same as the United States national flag: red, white, and blue. Even the stars are used on the flag.
Over time the amount of each color changed, and the flag had a few variants as time went out. Still, the general use of colors and general design stayed the same.
What does the red represent on the flag?
The red has a similar meaning as the original United States flag. It represents hardiness and willingness to sacrifice.
From a more specific confederate perspective, the red represents the valor of the confederacy.
What does the white represent on the flag?
White is another matching color with the United States flag. It has a less known meaning, but it’s thought it represents purity and innocence of ideas. Some others believe that white within a flag represents a group’s or countries allegiance to God.
What does the blue represent on the flag?
The blue used on this flag is a dark or navy blue; it’s most often called “Bonnie Blue” and was originally taken from the Louisiana state flag; it’s thought to represent southern pride.
Later the blue was used to represent justice, perseverance, and determination of the people.
What do the stars represent on the flag?
The designer added one star for each state in the confederacy, so this did change over time. So you may find flags with 7, 12, 13, and even 11. It just depends on who made the flag and when it was made.
However, the first official use of this flag as the army of Northern Virginia flag in September 1861 had 12 stars on it.
What does the St. Andrews cross represent on the flag?
During the design process, the designer initially used a standard cross on the flag. Still, many believed this excluded non-Catholics, so the St. Andrews cross was used instead. In addition, the designer referred to it as a saltire (a diagonal cross) to further distance the flag from a particular group.
So you can take the St. Andrews cross as a representation of inclusion of those within the army and union overall. Though potentially not of inclusion in general. At least not for this flag.
That should give you a good overview of the flag, its symbols, what colors were used. Provided below is some further information that you should explain the history of the flag further.
Who created the flag?
The flag was drawn by William Porcher Miles who was a congressman from South Carolina. It was originally meant to be the new confederate national flag but did not win. So he decided to reuse it for the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag.
Why did they need the flag?
The Confederate Battle Flag and the United States flag looked very similar. It was causing issues on the battlefield with soldiers firing on their own men. As a result, some units started creating their own battle flags to represent themselves. However, not everybody knew whom each battle flag belonged to, so there was still confusion.
Several generals for the Northern Virginia army decided to create a battle flag to be distributed to all units so that they all knew what it looked like and could fly it to ensure safety from their own men.
Who made the flags?
The flags were being made by sewing circles of women from various southern towns. So there was some difference in quality, size, and general layout of the flags. However, overall you could tell that they belong to the army of Northern Virginia.
The flags were initially sewn using silk, but silk started to run out, so flags began to be produced using a cotton blend in later versions of the flag.
In even later versions, the creation of the flags fell to the Richmond clothing depot, which was able to produce a uniform flag to be used by everyone using a wool-bottom blend material.
How long was the flag used for?
The flag was created in September 1861 for the Army of Northern Virginia, and the army dissolved in April of 1865.
However, the flag would continue to be used until even today under different names.
How is the flag viewed today?
The flag is no longer just considered the Army of Northern Virginia flag. Instead, it’s a symbol of the entire confederacy. Therefore, it is more often used and more recognizable than the official Confederate flag. Most people not from the southern United States would only recognize this flag and not the actual Confederate Flag.
It is a flag that now has powerful emotions attached to it from multiple sides. Some people believe it to be a potent symbol of southern pride, and others consider it a strong symbol of racism and something to be left in the past.
Many government buildings and state buildings are starting to remove it due to inciting violence in its name. There have also been monuments of military leaders taken down that fought under the flag.
Whatever you may think about the flag, it was only used for a few years but has endured and been remembered until today. But, unfortunately, I’m sure many flags have been lost to time.
