There's more to the story of these flags than John has posted.

The flag was designed by Gen. Simon B. Buckner, a division commander of the Army of Central Kentucky based in Bowling Green, KY at the time. This army came into existence in September, 1861 when troops from Tennessee, including the KY Orphan Brigade, moved to the town to advance the Western Confederacy's defense line.

Buckner, in a 1909 Nashville newspaper article, stated that since the army had no distinctive battle flag that he would create one. He possibly used as its inspiration one of the flags for the KY State Guard, in which he was a high ranking officer before the war and into it as secession began. That flag is blue with a light blue circular center and an eagle coat of arms. The modern KY state flag is blue with a white circular center and the KY Coat of Arms. In essence they fly this pattern of battle flag for their state flag.

Mrs. Buckner and other ladies of BG made the first flags which were issued in January, 1862. By this time the Arkansas troops under William J. Hardee had been sent over as reinforcements along with other units and the army then consisted of 2 divisions. In early February, Buckner's Division was detached and sent to Clarksville, TN and from there to Ft. Donelson where he would fight and then be surrendered. This was the first combat use of his battle flag which at the time, based on surviving models from this issue, was blue with a white circle bearing the unit designation in black paint and a white hoist edge only. Several of these flags were captured at Donelson by Union units.

As Buckner and his troops would remain Union POWs until the Fall of 1862, the flag pattern devolved onto Hardee and he would use it for his new corps which was created for Shiloh. From this point on it would also bear his name and newer versions would have white exterior borders on all sides for the first time. As new units arrived they got issued new flags - which, based on our research, were made by soldiers with tailoring skills in the field after being supplied with the cloth. After Shiloh, new flags of the pattern were issued at Corinth in May, 1862 using cloth bought from local dry goods dealers.

As Hardee's Corps expanded, and despite some effort by Gen. PGT Beauregard to standardize the Western army's battle flags as he did in the East, it retained these flags through the end of 1863 fighting under them from Shiloh through Ringgold Gap. Other units attached to the corps, even when Hardee was away from it training the Vicksburg parolees for example, also got these flags including DH Hill's Corps for Chickamauga and Breckinridge's Corps for Chattanooga (both having direct connections to Hardee's old corps). From the Summer of 1863 through the late Fall, the AOT underwent several reorganizations under Gen. Bragg.

In September, 1863, Pvt. Jacob Gall of the 19th Louisiana Infantry, who had been detached to be Hardee's personal tailor earlier in the year, made 34 new Hardee battle flags in late September, 1863. These had vertical ovals for their centers with the unit designations painted on. Some were captured at Missionary Ridge in late November, 1863.

In 1864, after Gen. Joseph Johnston took over the Army of Tennessee he was finally able to force the Virginia style battle flag (albeit in a rectangular style) on the troops, who had used up to nine other flag patterns in the war to that point. Hardee's Corps thus dropped their blue and white flags for new ANV style flags from the Augusta Depot save for Patrick Cleburne's Division who simply refused to do so. He was not only allowed to keep his flags but also received new issues. These were not the deep blue indigo of the earlier war issues but rather a blue-green dye mix. The white centers were now rectilinear (a square with rounded corners) and flags were decorated with not only unit designations but also battle honors (note that some Hardee flags before this time also bore both).

After the Atlanta Campaign and before the Tennessee Campaign, Cleburne's Division got replacement flags for those lost at Atlanta and Jonesboro, GA and for Mercer's Brigade which had been attached to his division in late July (they bore Charleston Depot ANV style flags). These flags were also blue-green but the centers went back to the circles of early 1862. Some bore unit designations and some did not. What was left of Cleburne's Division would fight under these flags until the surrender at Bennett Place, NC in late April, 1865.

All told there were six different versions of these battle flags - some with circular centers, some with horizontal ovals, some with vertical ovals, some with outsized centers, and the rectilinear models. It really wasn't until 1863 that the flags started to bear some resemblance of uniformity of size and style when one soldier would undertake making them for an issue. Even still, there were some models that matched the pattern only in color and the white center.

Hope this fills in the story for you.

Greg Biggs