Confederate Blackade Runner Flag?

JonnyReb_In_MI

Corporal
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Location
Southeast Michigan
Here's a flag (cheap, modern production) I've seen for sale on several sites around the web. It's always identified as the "Confederate Blockade Runner('s) Flag," but I've never seen anything describing it's origins, and I'm thinking it's just a fantasy flag created by someone who thought it would look cool (which I think it does).

Can someone possibly shed some light and tell whether or not it has any basis in history as an authentic flag design used during the war? Thanks in advance for taking the time to read, ponder, and/or research!

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Here's a flag (cheap, modern production) I've seen for sale on several sites around the web. It's always identified as the "Confederate Blockade Runner('s) Flag," but I've never seen anything describing it's origins, and I'm thinking it's just a fantasy flag created by someone who thought it would look cool (which I think it does).

Can someone possibly shed some light and tell whether or not it has any basis in history as an authentic flag design used during the war? Thanks in advance for taking the time to read, ponder, and/or research!

View attachment 115117
There is a line drawing of CSS Huntsville flying "the Battleflag and Bars" which I can't put my hands on at this moment. It has been discussed on the forum, we reached the conclusion it had no historical reality - unless someone knows better since.
 
Ive studied vexillology (flags) particularly CS flags.. for well over three decades... have never seen one or reference of same of the pattern-design in the OP... Naval vessels flew the respective National Ensign in use for the given period of the war... not the battleflag as can be sometimes seen in various artist renderings...

Blockade Runners... commonly were privateer.. or foreign owned/registered vessels in it to reap the hefty rewards and profits from blockade running... It was a common practice to await till you were well inside and beyond the grasp of blockading or pursuing vessels... in your final dash for port... then run up a CS ensign... regardless who actually owns the vessel..... as you approach within the range of CS coastal batteries, so as hopefully not be fired upon.... There was no alternate or specific blockade runner pattern or design.

Interesting looking flag... even if many parts of it goes against the rules of heraldry that was the basis of flag colors and designs... but most likely a pure fantasy concept as a collectable...
 
Is that the present day State ensign? I have this as the wartime flag:
View attachment 129935
Yes, the flag in No. 9 is the current Mississippi state flag. It was adopted in the 1890s. The "Magnolia" flag you show is much older, going back pre-war. I've seen differing accounts as to whether or not the state officially adopted it after secession in 1861, but regardless it's much older (and uniquely Mississippian) than the current flag, which is a simple amalgam of the Confederate First National and the Battle Flag.

There is a lot of pushback currently in Mississippi against the official flag, and currently none of the Mississippi's (eleven?) state universities display it, and some municipalities have dropped it as well. It's been a raucous fight in the state legislature whether to keep it or change it, that remains unresolved. A number of people, myself included, think the Magnolia Flag would be a better choice, having both a longer history in the state, as well as being more distinctly a Mississippi pattern. The Magnolia Flag, in a variety of permutations, was also a popular emblem with Confederate troops from Mississippi, so its butternut bona fides are well established, too.

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Yes, the flag in No. 9 is the current Mississippi state flag. It was adopted in the 1890s. The "Magnolia" flag you show is much older, going back pre-war. I've seen differing accounts as to whether or not the state officially adopted it after secession in 1861, but regardless it's much older (and uniquely Mississippian) than the current flag, which is a simple amalgam of the Confederate First National and the Battle Flag.

There is a lot of pushback currently in Mississippi against the official flag, and currently none of the Mississippi's (eleven?) state universities display it, and some municipalities have dropped it as well. It's been a raucous fight in the state legislature whether to keep it or change it, that remains unresolved. A number of people, myself included, think the Magnolia Flag would be a better choice, having both a longer history in the state, as well as being more distinctly a Mississippi pattern. The Magnolia Flag, in a variety of permutations, was also a popular emblem with Confederate troops from Mississippi, so its butternut bona fides are well established, too.

View attachment 129936

When I close my eyes I am able to see it waving majestically in the moonlight.
 
Yes, the flag in No. 9 is the current Mississippi state flag. It was adopted in the 1890s. The "Magnolia" flag you show is much older, going back pre-war. I've seen differing accounts as to whether or not the state officially adopted it after secession in 1861, but regardless it's much older (and uniquely Mississippian) than the current flag, which is a simple amalgam of the Confederate First National and the Battle Flag.

There is a lot of pushback currently in Mississippi against the official flag, and currently none of the Mississippi's (eleven?) state universities display it, and some municipalities have dropped it as well. It's been a raucous fight in the state legislature whether to keep it or change it, that remains unresolved. A number of people, myself included, think the Magnolia Flag would be a better choice, having both a longer history in the state, as well as being more distinctly a Mississippi pattern. The Magnolia Flag, in a variety of permutations, was also a popular emblem with Confederate troops from Mississippi, so its butternut bona fides are well established, too.

View attachment 129936
Thanks for posting this. I had heard of a magnolia flag, but not seen it before.
Are any of the revisionists suggesting returning to the magnolia flag?
 
Thanks for posting this. I had heard of a magnolia flag, but not seen it before.
Are any of the revisionists suggesting returning to the magnolia flag?
That was the leading proposal a year or so ago, to replace the current, 1890s design with the older Magnolia pattern. I haven't heard much about it since.

new-bicentennial-seal.jpg


This year is the bicentennial of Mississippi's admission as a state, so there is a Mississippi Bicentennial Flag (above) that's being promoted as an alternative to the official one. I don't know how widely it's been adopted.
 
Th
That was the leading proposal a year or so ago, to replace the current, 1890s design with the older Magnolia pattern. I haven't heard much about it since.

View attachment 131410

This year is the bicentennial of Mississippi's admission as a state, so there is a Mississippi Bicentennial Flag (above) that's being promoted as an alternative to the official one. I don't know how widely it's been adopted.
Thanks for your response. My vote is for the Magnolia Flag....
 
I like the Magnolia flag myself because it's older, and it's more distinctive and different from all the other state flags.
 
Here's a flag (cheap, modern production) I've seen for sale on several sites around the web. It's always identified as the "Confederate Blockade Runner('s) Flag," but I've never seen anything describing it's origins, and I'm thinking it's just a fantasy flag created by someone who thought it would look cool (which I think it does).

Can someone possibly shed some light and tell whether or not it has any basis in history as an authentic flag design used during the war? Thanks in advance for taking the time to read, ponder, and/or research!

View attachment 115117
 
Hello, I stumbled across this late. The flag depicted at the start of this discussion actually has historical basis and a few flags of this style - the Southern Cross canton with the CS First National body - were created during the war and a few still exist today. I attach three - one was taken from a Mississippi battery at Franklin on November 30, 1864 and is held today at the Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth. It is missing the bottom red bar. The second is a variant flag bearing 12 stars that may have a North Carolina connection. The third flag was taken at Port Hudson, LA. The latter two flags are in private collections today.

Mississippi battery flag Franklin.jpg


12 star First National Victory or Death 1.jpg


13 star First Natl var Port Hudson Hendershott.jpg
 
It is known that the CSS Huntsville flew a Second National flag. It was made in Richmond by Rebecca Seamon of silk and paid for by the ladies of Huntsville, AL in June 1863. The flag had the slogan ' "In God We Have Put Our Trust" and then "Presented by the Ladies of Huntsville Ala, June 1863." The flag is missing today and being made of silk it is highly doubtful that it ever flew in action very much.
 
Hello, I stumbled across this late. The flag depicted at the start of this discussion actually has historical basis and a few flags of this style - the Southern Cross canton with the CS First National body - were created during the war and a few still exist today. I attach three - one was taken from a Mississippi battery at Franklin on November 30, 1864 and is held today at the Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth. It is missing the bottom red bar. The second is a variant flag bearing 12 stars that may have a North Carolina connection. The third flag was taken at Port Hudson, LA. The latter two flags are in private collections today.

View attachment 397071

View attachment 397073

View attachment 397074

I'd love to know the history behind that first flag.
 
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