# Pre-Civil War Flags **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-flags/70774 "2001-06-30T21:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-flags/70774/1 "2001-06-30T21:29:07Z")
So, what did the losers flags look like before the Civil War and readmission to the Union? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-flags/70774/2 "2001-07-01T03:08:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\*So, what did the losers flags look like before the Civil War and readmission to the Union? > \*\* OK, let’s start with the obvious one, Texas always had the flag of Texas. However… It seems a majority of states (southern or northern) did NOT have **officially-designated** State Flags until after the war, and if they even bothered to fly any sort of state ensign, it would be the battle flag from some historic or currently-important military unit. The “blue bedsheet” state flags of many northern states, for example, ARE essentially the regimental flags of their Civil War-era militia. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-flags/70774/3 "2001-07-01T03:51:05Z")
From the [Flags of the World](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/index.html) site: **Alabama** : no state flag from 1819 - 1861 [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-al.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-al.html) **Arkansas** : no state flag prior to 1913 [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ar.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ar.html) **Florida** : a whole bunch of different flags (the earliest used by Anglo-American invaders trying to take the Gulf Coast away from Spain). Included among these was the “Bonnie Blue” (a single white star on a dark blue field) that was borrowed at different times by the successor states of formed along the Gulf, particularly as battle flags during the unpleasantness from 1861 - 1865. Florida did not have an official flag until the secession, although the Mosley flag was flown at the time Florida became a state in 1845. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-fl3.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-fl3.html) [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-fl2.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-fl2.html) **Georgia** : no official state flag prior to 1879, although the state seal was pictured on fields of red or blue or white at different time. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ga3.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ga3.html) [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ga2.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ga2.html) **Kentucky** (not a successful secessionist state): basically variations of the flag in use, today, although there was never an official flag until 1963. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ky.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ky.html) **Louisiana** : no state flag prior to 1912, (although a “national” flag was used during the Civil War). [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-la.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-la.html) **Maryland** (not a successful secessionist state): no official flag prior to 1904. A flag is mentioned earlier, but no specific mention is made of its appearance. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-md.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-md.html) **Mississippi** : no official flag prior to 1861. (The Bonnie Blue had been flown on occasion.) The Magnolia flag flew from 1861 to 1894. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ms.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ms.html) **Missouri** (not a successful secessionist sate): no official flag before 1913. Various flags carried by Confedrate regiments during the war. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-mo.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-mo.html) **North Carolina** \*\*: no official flag prior to 1861. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-nc.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-nc.html) **South Carolina** : the crescent on a dark blue field was selected as a battle flag during the Revolutionary War. Various versions (apparently including the palmetto on some) flew between 1775 and 1861. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-sc.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-sc.html) **Tennessee** : no official flag prior to 1905. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tn.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tn.html) **Texas** : the “Lone Star” flag (with a debt to the Bonnie Blue) was adopted as the national flag in 1836 and has remained. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tx.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-tx.html) **Virginia** : The Great Seal of Virginia was adopted around 1776, but no flag was identified until the seal was put on a blue field in 1861. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-flags/70774/4 "2001-07-01T03:54:04Z")
**Virginia** link: [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-va.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-va.html)