Hello,

Not another mythology based article about the St. Andrews cross flags!!!! Please - that is not how they were designed nor is it the correct basis for the flags. There is no connection whatsoever with religion (other than possibly subliminal), Celtic/Scottish blood or most of the other stuff the good preacher had in his essay. Also - the Stars and Bars is NOT the CSA St. Andrews cross flag - it is the CSA First National.

This myth started in the late Lost Cause era and continues to this day. I have been researching CSA flags for over 13 years for two books I am writing (or co-writing). I have been to every museum in the South that has them to examine their collections. I have been to every state archvies, the National Archives, libraries, county historical societies, etc. looking for period documents. I have scrolled dozens of microfilm rolls of period newspapers and read hundreds of letters and documents over the years about CSA flags. I have lectured on CSA flags, written articles on them (Flags of the Confederay website - www.confederateflags.org), etc. I know CSA flags!

The precher mentioned two of the three men who came up with this flag. Its designer was William Porcher Miles of South Carolina. Miles was Episcopalian (his brother was in the church heirarchy). This church was the American descendent of the English Anglican Church after the Rev War. Its heraldry, depending on the diocese, was either a St. George's Cross (Anglican Church) or the St. Andrews Cross (Church of Scotland). The latter was a tribute to the Scottish ministers that came over to preach in America as the Anglican Church would not send any more ministers after the Rev War was concluded. The church heraldry of each state depended on the state bishop. If I correctly recall, that for South Carolina at the time, was the Cross of St. George.

When South Carolina seceded in December, 1860, the flag that flew over the convention was red, with a blue St. George's Cross adorned by stars and the state coat of arms in the upper left corner. Miles was a delegate to that convention.

Later, when flag submissions were coming in to the Committee of Flag & Seal, which Miles chaired, searching for a CSA national flag, another flag from South Carolina, of a similar pattern was introduced. In fact most of the flags submitted were either based on the US flag, or featured the Cross of St. George! This would not have been the case if the South was the 75 per cent Scottish heritage that the minister claims! We have many of the designs depicted on our website under "Bridesmaids." These come from the actual book of the submissions in the National Archives.

In fact, the South was at least 75 per cent English in heritage, especially the middle and upper class families, and it was those families that provided the leadership of the South in the war era. There are quite a few books that you can check to find this out ("Cracker Culture" has been pretty well demolished as a source).

During this time of flag submissions two religious groups wrote Miles and period newspapers to protest the use of flags with the Cross of St. George. The first group was the large, and influential, Charleston Jewish community. They felt that a flag with such a cross would be too Christian for them to handle. The second group was fundamentialist Christians themselves, who stated the flag was a misuse of the church's cross! Even as late as 1863, Christian Confederates still opposed flags with Latin/Christian crosses on them (I have one from a soldier of the 27th Arkansas Infantry).

Faced with these objections, Miles, when creating his own design submission for the committee, simply turned the cross on an angle so that it was the St. Andrews cross style. It had absolutely nothing about alleged Scottish blood in his veins. Miles was of French Hugenot heritage! This solved the complaints from the two religious groups - and shows that the flag had nothing to do with the Christain religion (especially when Christians were complaining about its use as a flag!). Miles' design was rejected as it only had seven stars and looked too assymetrical.

After First Manassas, Gens. Beauregard and Joseph Johnston were seeking a "war" flag for the Confederate Army of the Potomac at Centreville, VA. Miles was then on Beauregard's staff and the three men tlaked about flag designs. At the same time, via Colonel Walton of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, came a design from a Mr. Hancock which featured the Cross of St. George with the various state coats of arms in the upper corners. Miles then related the past objections to this flag from the religious groups, so it was rejected. Miles then showed the generals his design, and with the CSA now having 12 states for stars, the flag looked a lot better than it did earlier with less atets and stars. The design was adopted and one of the many CS battle flags (there were nearly 20 patterns and sub-patterns actually - not the five that the preacher states in his essay!)was born.

Other CS armies and corps adopted their own designs (see the Flags of the Confederacy website for each of them), some resembling the St. Andrews cross flag and others looking nothing like it (Army of the Peninsula and the Army of Central Kentucky patterns especially). Gen. Leonidas Polk's Corps at Columbus, KY adopted a flag with the Cross fo St. George, taken directly from Episcopalian heraldry as Polk was the state bishop for Louisiana before the war. Evetually, most of the CS armies in the field used St. Andrews cross flags of one type or another - but many units did not. The only flag that can make any claim as being Scottish inspired is that for Gen. John McCown's Division of the Army of Kentucky in 1862. Being of Scotish heritage, and seeking his own distinctive battle flag, he used one taken directly from the flag of Scotland - blue field with white border and white St. Andrews Cross. But this is the only CS flag pattern that this connection can be made.

Looking at Gens. Johnston and Beauregard and their heritage, the former was English and Episcopalian and the latter was French Creole and Catholic - so there again there's no proof that teh flagw as based on alleged Scottish heritage! Miles we have already discussed.

Having seen all the period documents from these three men that cover the making of this flag pattern, I can assure you that the historical veracity of the above is true! There is no hidden documetns that mention Scottish heritage - in fact none of the three men ever bring it up either during the war or after it! It is pure poppy-cock!

I hope this helps to settle this once and for all. The good preahcer is factually incorrect in his essay and it is time to bury this myth once and for all!

Greg Biggs
Flags of the Confederacy
www.confederateflags.org