Second national flag: "The Stainless Banner" (1863–1865)
During the solicitation for a second Confederate national flag, there were many different types of designs that were proposed, nearly all making use of the
battle flag, which by 1863 had become well-known and popular among those living in the Confederacy. The new design was specified by the Confederate Congress to be a white field "with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad
saltire of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States."
[18]
The flag is also known as "the Stainless Banner" and was designed by
William T. Thompson, a newspaper editor and writer based in
Savannah, Georgia, with assistance from William Ross Postell, a Confederate blockade runner.
[1][2][4][5][6][7] The nickname "stainless" referred to the pure white field which took up a large part of the flag's design, although W.T. Thompson, the flag's designer, referred to his design as "The White Man's Flag.”
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In referring to the white field that comprised a large part of the flag's design elements, Thompson stated that its color symbolized the "supremacy of the white man":
[8]
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Second national flag
(May 1, 1863 – March 4, 1865
[17]), 2:1 ratio
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Second national flag, also used as the Confederate navy's ensign, 1.5:1 ratio
As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.
—
William T. Thompson (April 23, 1863),
Daily Morning News[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Edit - The question was asking for the date when the flag was first adopted, not the entire time period during which it was used.
Hoosier