A New Museum of the Confederacy

Yes, it's brand new ... and very nice.

We're still in Appomattox.  The Museum of the Confederacy located next to the Southern White House in Richmond, Virginia, has opened this branch about a mile from Appomattox Court House where Lee surrendered to Grant.

One of their major collections is flags of the Confederacy.  They seem to be originals - some battle flags, some Southern national flags, some unit flags from different battalions or states - there are stories with each one.  There were two in particular that I liked:

The photograph on the right of this square battle flag is of little Tad Lincoln.  Seems he somehow acquired a Confederate flag and used to wave it out the second floor window of the Washington, D.C. White House.  The interpretive sign speculates that this was - might have been - Tad's flag.  He must have been a real rascal!

The second flag with a unique story looks practically new.

That's because it is.  Seems that the donor carried it on board the submarine, USS Gurnard, in 1990 when it was on a training mission to the North Pole.  His submarine met another sub, the USS Seahorse, and the two crews brought out this flag declaring the entire earth a "Southern Planet."  Sounds reasonable to me!

Flags used to be very important during wartime battles.  They would mark the frontline of opposing forces, stand high above the fray and mark a rallying point for troops, and were so important that the flag bearer would be surrounded by others charged with protecting the one carrying the flag, and they committed to dropping their own rifles to take up the flag should the bearer be shot down.

If you read our earlier post, "Official Confederate Flags," from January, then you know designing a flag can be pretty tricky - and the cost of a poorly designed flag could be deadly.  Here they have a cool computer program that lets you design your own flag, and then it rates your design.  Well, naturally, after learning of the SNAFU the Confederates created in attempting to hurriedly design their national flag, I decided I should try my hand at it.

Seems I did a "Superior" job!  "Simple, distinctive, and significant."  If we ever need a national flag, family, I'm guessin' this will do:  Red, white, grey, and dark navy blue.  Whaddya think, kids?