Trivia #4 Square (9/4/2014)

[Trivia Master]

Tonight's Civil War Trivia Question Value: 10 points.
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This question will be open until Monday at about 9:30am EDT
New Questions are Posted Every Night at 9:30pm EDT
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Please do not post your answers anywhere but in this forum! This includes you FACEBOOK users!
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Who's idea was it to make the Confederate Battle Flag square?
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Post your answers BELOW. Good Luck!
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[hoosier]

Joe Johnston's

 

[BrrrBRRRR]

General Joseph E Johnson

Edit - There were several Confederate generals named Johnson, none of whom had anything to do with the design of the battle flag.

Fortunately, you included Johnston's first name, and there was no Confederate general named Joseph Johnson, so I'll consider the last name to be a misspelling and I don't generally mark off for misspellings, so you get credit for this answer.

Hoosier

 

[adisciu9]

Joseph E. Johnston

 

[Nathanb1]

Johnston

Edit - There were four Confederate generals named Johnston, so to get credit for a correct answer to this question, you really needed to give both the first and last name.

Hoosier

 

[Littlestown]

Joseph E. Johnston

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

The website http://www.civilwar.com/resources/313-flags/150182-confederate-flag-history.html#The_Battle_Flag states the following:
"After the battle (First Manassas), General P.G.T. Beauregard wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag."[4] He turned to his aide, who happened to be William Porcher Miles, the former chair of Committee on the Flag and Seal......Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request for the national flag to be changed. The committee rejected this idea by a four to one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags.....Beauregard writes: ""I wrote to [Miles] that we should have two flags — a peace or parade flag, and a war flag to be used only on the field of battle — but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter — How would it do us to address the War Dept. on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, ... We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies.".......The flag that Miles had favored when he was chair of the Committee on the Flag and Seal eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the most popular flag of the Confederacy......Miles' flag, and all the flag designs up to that point, were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square instead to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units."

My Answer: Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had the idea to make the Confederate Battle Flag square.

Thanks!!

 

[Eagle eye]

General Joseph E. Johnston

 

[ErnieMac]

Joseph E. Johnston.

 

[Stony]

Joseph E. Johnston

 

[Karlos63]

General Joe Johnston in order to use less material.

 

[DickWilliams]

General Joseph E. Johnston

 

[AUG]

P.G.T. Beauregard

 

[Bob Owen]

William Porcher Miles who was an aid to General Beauregard.

 

[C.S.M 1861]

General Joseph E. Johnston, CSA.

"At Johnston's urging, a square design was adopted, and each branch of the army was assigned a different size: forty-eight inches square for infantry, thirty-six inches square for artillery, and thirty inches square for cavalry."

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Confederate_Battle_Flag

 

[St Albans Raid]

General Johnston

http://www.firstwhitehouse.org/flags-of-the-confederacy.htm

Edit - Unfortunately, your link doesn't work for me. There were four Confederate generals named Johnston, so you needed to give both the first and last name to get credit for a correct answer.

Hoosier

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Joseph E. Johnston

 

[csb1971]

General Joseph E. Johnston

 

[LZRD WZRD]

Joseph E Johnston

 

[chellers]

General Joseph E. Johnston

"Beauregard forwarded his idea to Johnston, who then squared it up"
http://www.firstwhitehouse.org/flags-of-the-confederacy.html

"It was Johnston's idea to make the battle flag a square."
http://www.generaljosephejohnston.com/pages/josephejohnston.html

"General Johnston suggested making it square instead to conserve material."
http://www.civilwar.com/resources/313-flags/150182-confederate-flag-history.html