This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Official reports of actions with Federal
gunboats
,
Ironclads
and vessels of the
U. S. Navy
, during the war between the
States
, by officers of
field Artillery
P. A. C. S.
Agreement between the
United States Government
and
South Carolina
as to
preserving the status
of the
Forts
at
Charleston
.
The last chapter in the history of Reconstruction in
South Carolina
— administration of
D.
H.
Chamberlain
.
The last chapter in the history of Reconstruction in
South Carolina
—Administration of
D.
H.
Chamberlain
.
Is the,
Eclectic history of the
United States
,
written by
Miss
Thalheimer
and published by
Van
Antwerp
,
Bragg
& Co.
,
Cincinnati
, a fit book to be used in our schools?
[29] that the timely appearance of the forces of General Early, with his brigade of Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi troops, on the extreme right flank of the enemy, thereby insuring their defeat on that historic day, had well-nigh caused ruin to the Confederates, because Early's troops were supposed to be a part of the enemy's forces, and it was with difficulty that they could be distinguished by their flag. After this graphic and brilliant introduction, which want of space has here required to be curtailed, the eloquent speaker continued as follows: General Beauregard had determined that no troops of his command would again be exposed to such a mistake, and he did all in his power to accomplish that end, General Johnston, as the Commander in-Chief of our united forces, greatly assisting him in his efforts. General Beauregard first endeavored, through Colonel Miles, of South Carolina, chairman of the House Military Committee in the Confederate Congress, to have our national flag entirely changed. Failing in this he proposed a battle flag different in every respect to any State or Federal flag hitherto used. Finally the three senior Generals, at Fairfax Courthouse—Generals Johnston, Beauregard and G. W. Smith—met in conference in the latter part of September, and after examining many designs—for many had been sent—‘one of several presented by General Beauregard,’ says General Johnston, ‘was selected. I modified it,’ he continues, ‘only by making the shape square instead of oblong, and prescribed the different sizes for infantry, artillery and cavalry.’ Such was the origin of the battle-flag of the Army of the Potomac, as it was first called, which soon became the rallying emblem of every Confederate soldier, whatever the army he served in, and following which he showed on many a bloody field, from and after Manassas to the battle of Bentonville, the last of the war, that numbers did not always stand in the way of victory. Its field was red or crimson, its bars blue with a narrow white fillet separating the red from the blue. On the bars, which formed a Greek cross, were stars, white or gold, equal in number to the States in the Confederacy. Its size was four feet by four for infantry, three feet by three for artillery, two feet and a half by two and a half for cavalry. This design, by a very singular coincidence, had been devised by Colonel Miles, of South Carolina, and offered to Congress as the Confederate flag as early as March, 1861. It had likewise been
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.