Mike,

The website is very general and its claims are not backed by citable sources.

Considering how few of the Bowen battle flags still survive the claim of 60,000 Missorians fighting under them is specious at best. We only know that the flag was designed by Memphis refugee Belle Edmondson who sent her design to Sterling Price in early 1863 (her design had stars ion the cross) and he thanked her for it. I have copies of both her letter to him and her design as well as his letter to her. We know the flag first saw use by Bowen's troops in February, 1863 from Edmondson's diary accounts. We also know that Bowen's Division served in the Vicksburg Campaign and that these flags were surrendered there because of those that have been captured in the campaign and from the period woodcut showing them. We also know that some units of Carter Stevenson's Division used these flags based on the surviving example of the 39th Georgia (with red field) as well as a period newspaper reporter describing them.

The flags did get revived for Price's MO Raid of 1864 but we have no clue how many were made and, for the most part, what units used them. Only one or two of this issue survives (and they are slightly different to the 1863 versions). One simply cannot make the claim that 60,000 Missourians fought under the pattern when lots of other flags for Missouri troops still exist of different types.

In fact, the Van Dorn flag pattern, two types made in Nune and September, 1862 respectively, is more a Missouri flag than the Bowen pattern for it used the cresecent taken from the state coat of arms to help lure Missourians to the Confederate side and fight east of the Mississippi River. This is why the first examples were issued in June, 1862 to the Missouri Brigade. These had different star patterns to the later issues and were fringed unlike the later issues.

We don't even have a full clue as to how many of these flags were made nor exactly what units got them.

I am not blaming you with this at all by the way - you are only citing the source that you know. I think the website needs to cite its sources basically which is what good historians do. They are so general, and there's a couple errors that I doubt the site creators did any real research into these flags. They certainyl did not use the Flags of the Confederacy website that I write for (www.confederateflags.org).

Greg Biggs