1st Confederate National Flag

The first version of the First Confederate National Flag (1861 - 1863) was adopted but never officially enacted. In their haste to have a flag prepared for the flag raising ceremony on March 4, 1861, the Confederate Congress neglected to formally enact a flag law. The seven stars represent the seven Confederate States. This number jumped to eleven with the secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee, and finally to thirteen (in recognition of the symbolic admission of Kentucky and Missouri to the Confederacy). Of all the types of Confederate flags, this First National Flag (and its different versions) saw more battle service than any other and was still in use at the end of the war.