Li: ritual, propriety, etiquette. Hsiao: love within the family (parents for children and children for parents. Yi: righteousness--the noblest way to act in a situation. Xin: honesty and trustworthiness. Jen: benevolence, humaneness towards others. Chung: loyalty to the state and authority. --Confucius (Kong Fuzi)

All articles appear in reverse chronological order [newest first].

Post from FaceBook may not be viewable if not signed into FaceBook.
I believe the past is relevant, sometimes more than others of course. In most cases we are seeing history being repeated, so it is most relevant.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Confederate Flag or Old Glory?

   What is identified as the modern day Confederate Flag was never the National Flag of the Confederacy. None of the three flags that were actually chosen as the national flag were ever popular or widely identifiable during the Civil War, and even less so today… which makes you wonder how well informed are those that insist on the so called Confederate(modern) Flag as a symbol of their heritage.

The first official national flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stars and Bars," was flown from March 4, 1861 to May 1, 1863. It was designed by German/Prussian artist and resembles the flag of the Austrian Empire

The "Committee on the Flag and Seal," was "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." and given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S. flag ("the Stars and Stripes"), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee. However, as hostilities grew so did public sentiment towards the Stars and Stripes change. The hostility towards the Stars and Stripes, along with the battlefield confusion caused by its similarity to the Stars and Stripes led to it being discarded.

The first Confederate National Flag, fourth and final version. "The Stars and Bars" March 4, 1861 (first 7-star version), November 28, 1861 (final 13-star version)

image_thumb"Every body wants a new Confederate flag," Bagby wrote, also stating that "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the Yankee flag and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." The editor of the Charleston Mercury expressed a similar view, stating that "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. They resemble too closely the dishonored 'Flag of Yankee Doodle' “ 

Notice the public disdain for the “Stars and Stripes”, referred to here as “the dishonored Flag of Yankee Doodle”. It was this same denouncement of the Stars and Stripes that led to the first Confederate National Flag (above, the Stars and Bars) being discarded:

image16_thumb1

The second and third national flags of the Confederacy incorporated the Saint Andrews Cross, but with the design, creation and legislating of these flags the cause of white supremacy and slavery were first and foremost in the rhetoric of their establishment.   (The Southern Cross design was taken from the Battle Flag of the Army of North Virginia which was square, and the Army of Tennessee which was rectangular)

Further disrespect by the south for the American Flag, the Stars and Stripes:

The American Flag (Stars and Stripes, Old Glory) appeared to be abandoned quickly by the south. In addition to the public disrespect presented above, the story of the original ‘Old Glory” (owned by Sea Captain William Driver of Nashville, a Unionist) further demonstrates the quick animosity that grew in the south for the American Flag;

“Soon after Tennessee seceded from the Union, Governor Isham G. Harris sent men to Driver's home to demand the flag. Driver, then 58 years old, was not intimidated; he met the men at the door and said, "Gentlemen...if you are looking for stolen property in my house, produce your search warrant." The men left, but later local Confederates made other attempts to seize the flag. An armed group showed up on Driver's front porch, but was confronted by Driver, who said, "If you want my flag you'll have to take it over my dead body," leading them to leave.
In order to save the flag from further threats, Driver (aided by loyal women neighbors) had it sewn into a
coverlet and hidden until late February 1862, when Nashville fell to Union forces. When the Union Army (led by the 6th Ohio Infantry) entered the city, Driver went to Tennessee State Capitol after seeing the American flag and the 6th Ohio's regimental colors raised on the Capitol flagstaff.”


In electing the 2nd and 3rd National Flags of the Confederacy the declaration and rhetoric was undeniably racist, focusing on slavery and white supremacy. The prominence of the Confederate Southern Cross created an association with those remarks that cannot be separated. The 2nd and 3rd Confederate Flags and the Southern Cross of the Virginia and Tennessee battle flags are tainted by the southern legislature, designers and promoters of of those designs… not people of color. Southerners then, since, and now failed to ever reclaim those flags back from that hateful rhetoric and those hateful acts that have occurred since.

 

 

The second national flag of the Confederate States of America.

Name: "The Stainless Banner" Adopted May 1, 1863.

In May 1863, when Thompson discovered that his design had been chosen by the Confederate Congress to become the Confederacy's next national flag, he was content. He praised his design as symbolizing the Confederacy's ideology and its cause of "a superior race", as well as for bearing little resemblance to the U.S. flag, which he called the "infamous banner of the Yankee vandals". Writing for Savannah's Daily Morning News

image_thumb3

In a series of editorials, Thompson wrote:

As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.… Such a flag…would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as the white mans flag… As a national emblem, it is significant of our higher cause, the cause of a superior race, and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism. Another merit in the new flag is, that it bears no resemblance to the now infamous banner of the Yankee vandals.

William T. Thompson (May 4, 1863), Daily Morning News

The third national flag of the Confederate States of America.

Name: "The Blood-Stained Banner"

Adopted:  March 4, 1865

image_thumb2
image_thumb4 image_thumb7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_%28American_Civil_War%29
 

by Glenn Littrell


Heritage or Hate?” is a 4-part series on the subject of the meaning and appropriateness of the Rebel Flag, the Southern Cross. The 4 parts are:

Click on any of these titles to read.

No comments:


Search This Blog