American Historical Ephemera and Photography

5 1/4 x 10 in. printed silk flag. Blue canton includes circle comprised of 7 stars (toning, areas of staining, occasional spotting, some fraying to right and left edges, reverse side of flag affixed to mat with tape along right and left edges). Matted and framed, 10 x 13 in. overall.

The Confederate First National flag first flew on 4 March 1861 over the capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama. Designed by the Committee on Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina, the banner not only represented to the rest of the world a new nation but also would serve as the first battle flag for its troops and navy. Additionally, the flag would see use at forts, military posts and related sites as well as on blockade runners that brought goods into the nascent Confederate States of America.

Its description carried by telegraph to newspapers across the South as well as the North, examples of the flag were hoisted on flag poles within a day of its initial hoisting in Alabama, not only in the then seven states of the Confederacy but also in states that would eventually secede. Some examples were even flown in the North by Southern sympathizers.

In addition to serving as a political and military flag, the First National was also used for patriotic purposes. Many Southern homes made such flags to hang on a wall in their houses or to fly over their businesses. Period newspapers made note in particular of local business that had made and soon hoisted these flags. Less covered were those for homes, but some examples have been found over the years not only in documentation but also in the period press as well as diaries.

This flag was likely made following the Civil War, possibly for a United Confederate Veterans reunion, ca 1880s-1920s.