The Stainless
Banner
Although it solved the problem of
confusion with the
U.S. flag, the Stainless Banner had
other defects
that made it
unsatisfactory. It was so long that it
was hard for
the wind to open it out, and when it was
limp, it
very closely
resembled a white flag of truce or
surrender. In
October 1864, a design for yet another
Confederate
flag was proposed
to the Senate, and on March 4, 1865,
exactly four
years after the first national flag was
first flown
over Montgomery,
Ala., the 2nd Confederate national flag
was retired
and replaced with the new design.
The 2nd Confederate national flag,
known as the
"Stainless Banner," was adopted on May
1, 1863; it
was purposely
distinctive and could not be confused
with the
Union army's flag. The new flag was
twice as long as
it was wide, much
longer than the 3:2 ratio of most
flags, and had
the square Confederate battle flag in
the corner of
a snow-white
field. By President Jefferson Davis's
order, the
first Stainless Banner ever made was
draped over
General Stonewall
Jackson's coffin while he lay in state
before his
May 15, 1863, burial. The 2nd
Confederate national
flag served the
Confederacy for almost two years.
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