This is roughly correct. The donation of silk dresses is pure bunk. The silk was purchased in bulk from at least two Richmond dry goods stores by QM Captain Colin M. Selph (I have the invoices from the National Archives) and then sewn by three Richmond sewing circles (which explains why there are three versions of the ANV silk flag).

The article also neglects to mention that the flag was actually designed by William Porcher Miles who had submitted the design as the CS national flag in February 1861. Miles called the flag the "saltire of heraldry," by the way - not the St. Andrews Cross, since the symbol actually dates way back to ancient Greece.

Greg Biggs