EWGS Learned About Confederate Flags At November Meeting

EWGS member (and SAR member) Dale Ryan came to the November 1st EWGS meeting with a bundle of flags and flag polls and gave us a great lesson on Civil War Confederate flags. He first explained how important flags were in those battling days of no communication. "Flags were the rallying point for the company; flags were the means of communication. Through the smoke and haze of the battlefield, men would look for their flag and run towards it."

Dale, with help from John Wilson, showed us the first official Confederate flag. "The trouble with this flag was when it was hanging limp on its pole it looked too much like the U.S. flag. Not good for Confederate soldiers to run to the wrong flag!"

This was the next "official" flag, but again, "hanging loose it looked too much like a flag of surrender. Again, not good in battle."

This was the final "official" flag and it was okay "but by then most everybody was using the one we recognize today, the one called the Stars & Bars."

Even as this Stars & Bars flag was never the official flag of the Confederacy, it is forever associated with the southern states and the Confederacy.

Thank you, Dale, for giving us this Civil War history lesson!