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My Professional Writing Papers

Technical Writing ·  Exposition & Argumentation ·  Non-fiction Creative Essays ·  Grammar and Usage of Standard English ·  The Structure of English ·  Analysis of Shakespeare

Analysis of Literary Language ·  Advanced Professional Papers ·  The History of the English Language ·  First Internship: Tutoring in a Writing Workshop ·  Second Internship: Advanced Instruction: Tutoring Writing

Visual Literacy Seminar (A First Course in Methodology) ·  Theories of Communication & Technology (A Second Course in Methodology) ·  Language in Society (A Third Course in Methodology) ·  The Writer's Guild

Journalism

UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" ·  UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" ·  Introduction to Journalism ·  Feature Writing ·  Science Writing Papers

Articles Written for UMBC's Conservative Newspaper:

"The Retriever's Right Eye"

Local Article 1 ·  National Article 2

Will the real flag of the Confederacy please stand up?

The "Southern Cross" or recognized by most as the "Confederate Flag" or the "Rebel Flag" bears a common misconception that it was the national flag of the Confederacy. In reality, the flag most of us have come to associate with the Southern Confederacy was strictly a battle flag. The Confederacy changed its national flag three times during the course of the war. So the truth is, the Confederacy had three different national flags none of which were the "Southern Cross."

The First National Flag of the Confederacy-the "Stars and Bars"
March 1861 to May of 1863
courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com

         The first flag as called the Stars and Bars, which included seven stars representing the first seven states to secede from the Union; South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The final form had thirteen stars adding the seceding states of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The thirteen star flag was first used at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis on March 4, 1861. This flag was used in battle by the Confederacy, but due to obvious reasons, the flag was dropped because of its similarity to the United States flag which caused confusion on the battlefield.

The Confederate Battle Flag-the "Southern Cross"
courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com

         It is the battle flag that we all recognize as the Flag of the Confederacy which is not the true national flag of the Confederacy. This flag features the cross of St. Andrew. St. Andrew was an apostle who was martyred by being crucified on an X-shaped cross, and is commonly called the "Southern Cross." One reason the Confederacy decided to use this particular flag was a large portion of the Southern population was of Scottish and Scottish-Irish ancestry. They were readily familiar with St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland and this particular representation. The stars represented the eleven states actually in the Confederacy, plus Kentucky and Missouri.

         St. Andrew, and General P. G. T. Beauregard proposed adopting a version of it as the standard battle flag of the Confederate army. The second reason why it was so readily accepted was that, unlike the Stars and Bars, the Southern Cross was impossible to confuse with the Stars and Stripes of the Union Army on the battlefield.

The Third and Last National Flag of the Confederacy
March 1861 to May of 1863
courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com

         Hopefully, this helps to clear up some of the controversy as to why some Southerners refuse to take this flag down. It is part of their extended heritage going back to Ireland and Scotland. It also honors relatives of theirs that died for a cause they believed in strongly enough to die for, the philosophy of "States Rights" where there is a small central/federal government and the state has the greater strength in its own internal affairs versus the philosophy that prevailed by winning the war, having a strong central/federal government who tells the states what is best for them. It is this very same thinking as to why the colonies separated from England almost 100 years before and a philosophical battle which is still being conducted in the halls of Congress.