More below:

>>>>Thanks Greg. I knew you would know when and where the Van Dorn patterns were first issued. Thus, these banners could not have been carried by Missouri units at Prairie Grove, AR on Dec. 7, 1862. Would you agree that first national patterns were probably the flags the Confederate Missouri units carried at Prairie Grove?>>>>

I would think First Nationals. Part of the myth of early war Van Dorns comes form the 9th Texas Cavalry and the Sparks account that states the flag came to the unit early in the war.

>>>>As for the flags carried by the Confederate Missouri infantry in the TMD during the second half of the war (white Latin cross, blue field, red trim), Mosby M. Parsons' second Missouri brigade (10th, 11th, 12th, 16th Infty, Pindall's MO SS Bttn) received them on April 18, 1863. A member of the 16th MO Infty. described in his diary that the brigade received their new flags on that date at a review in Little Rock>>>>>

Would it be possibe to get a copy of this entry? Where was the command posted at the time?

The book on Gen. Bowen talked about the February, 1863 flag issues of this pattern to his troops and we know that some of the Vicksburg garriosn got them - including Carter Stevenson's Division whihc used variants that were red with white Latin Crosses and yellow borders. The woodcut of the Vicksburg surrender as well as some period newspaper accounts describe these flags.

>>>>I've not found any evidence that the units that would later become Parsons' first brigade (8th & 9th MO Infty.) ever received this pattern. In April 1863, the 8th & 9th MO Infty were under the command of Maj. Gen. D. M. Frost at Pine Bluff, AR in April 1863; in October 1863 these units were under the command of Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Drayton. They would not be incorporated with the other MO infantry units into Parsons' Missouri division until March 1864. In February of 1864, a member of the 8th MO sketched the unit's flag, which was a first national pattern. Whether the 8th & 9th ever received the distinctive Latin cross banners remains to be determined. If you run across any information related to the flags of the 8th & 9th MO infantry, please let me know.>>>>

The crux of this is that we do not know how extensive these flags were in terms of distribution. This is one of the patterns for which there's not much about.

I do have a letter froman Arkansas soldier (27th I think) and he writes to his wife about their new flag and draws one in the upper left corner in color. It is the Bowen/Missouri pattern and he remarks that he does not like it as it is a "Catholic flag."

I have the FN account for the 8th Missouri.

>>>>I know that 2nd national patterns were issued to many units in the TMD, any idea when this occurred? >>>>

Well - they did not get to the ANV until the Fall of 1863 at the soonest and the earliest I can find them for the AOT is December, 1863. So I would say possibly around this time frame.

Greg Biggs