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New Flag of the Confederacy

Found this interesting piece while cruising the web this evening.

George Martin

The New Flag of the Confederacy.

April 21, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

The Committee appointed by Congress to choose a suitable flag for the Confederate States, has at last closed its labors, and recommended for adoption the design given above. The flag is thus described in the terms of English heraldry:

On a field qules (red); a saltier argent (white); a Norman shield azure (blue), charged with a sun or (yellow).

The new ensign is certainly rich, brilliant, and easily distinguishable. The Sun has been very frequently urged as the proper emblem for the South, and the rays, which are to be alternately long and short, will suffice to represent the separate sovereignty of the States. Many would have preferred a more simple arrangement, to consist of two colors only; but, inasmuch as the Committee’s device in no wise resembles the flag of the Yankees, we suppose that it will be generally well relished by the people. The new flag, however, has yet to receive the sanction of Congress, and may be rejected altogether by that body.

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