CONFEDERATE “BIBLE” FLAG OF THE THIRD NATIONAL (“BLOOD‑STAINED BANNER”) PATTERN

American South, circa March–April 1865. Painted silk (taffeta), the canton formed as the Confederate battle flag, indigo-blue St. Andrew’s cross bearing thirteen painted white stars on a red ground, set on a white field with a vertical red fly stripe; narrow hand‑sewn hem to three sides, the hoist edge turned and stitched; presented glazed and archivally mounted in a gilded frame. Flag measures 5" 1/2 x 4." Frame is 11 1/2 x 10" 1/4 in., overall. 

This intimate, hand‑painted silk flag is a classic “Bible” flag, a small, personal emblem made to be kept in a family Bible or a soldier’s pocket Testament. It follows the Third National flag of the Confederate States, adopted 4 March 1865, distinguished from the earlier “Stainless Banner” by the single red bar at the fly. Because this design was authorized only weeks before the Confederacy’s collapse, contemporary examples, particularly in personal, devotional format, are scarce.

The canton bears the familiar battle flag with a thirteen‑star saltire, the star count used to symbolize the eleven seceded states with the claimed border states of Kentucky and Missouri. The work is executed freehand in fugitive pigments on a fine, plain‑woven silk typical of women’s and home‑front handiwork during the war. The modest scale, careful hemming, and use of silk all align with documented patriotic tokens made by Southern women for presentation to sons, husbands, and sweethearts departing for service, or retained at home as devotional keepsakes.

“Bible flags” survive in a variety of constructions—painted silk or cotton, pieced ribbon work, and occasionally embroidered—nearly always at hand‑sized dimensions suited to use as a devotional bookmark. Examples showing the final national pattern are notably uncommon due to the design’s brief period of official use.

flags 5" 1/2 x 4" frame 11 1/2 x 10" 1/4