Third National

From Dixiepedia: The PC-Free Encyclopedia

The Third National flag of the Confederate States of America was adopted on 4 March 1865, a month before the fall of the Confederacy. The red vertical stripe was added to the previous design of the 1863 Second National flag to dispel confusion with the flag of surrender when the flag was not unfurled. It was sometimes called the "Blood-Stained" or "Blood-Dipped Banner." The official dimensions of the union also were altered, but according to the Flags of the Confederacy website, most, if not all, actually produced during the war continued to use the square union of the 1863 flag.

The Flag Act of 1865 described the flag in the following language:

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag.

The few examples of the Third National Flag actually made prior to the end of the war were modifications of the 1863 ensign with a red bar added.