Did the Confederate States of America have a national bird and if so what was it?

[SPJ]

I found an answer to this question an wiki.answers which states that it was either an eagle(likely golden) or LA's pelican. Are either of these correct?

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Originally Posted by SPJ

I found an answer to this question an wiki.answers which states that it was either an eagle(likely golden) or LA's pelican. Are either of these correct?

A cooked goose?

Seriously, why would they have bothered? It's not like any nation had to have a 'national X' (X in {bird, flower, rock, ...}) back then. First you fight for your life, THEN you come up with any national symbols you might use, would be my suggestion for priorities.

Pelican sure sounds like Louisiana to me, rather than Confederate, but I don't know that.

[SPJ]

Originally Posted by Dathi THorfinnsson

A cooked goose?

facepalm+LOL

[Errnge]

I don't think they did. BUT if they did have one, here are some ideas:

The Hawk (war Hawks, ect.)
The Pelican
The Cardinal
The Dove

And, because the CSA had a habit of establishing their superiority to their slaves on things like their money and other documents, I could see this bird consistently being shown with a Crow in its talons

[jayel]

How about Jim Crow?

[DValdron]

What's the name of that prairie bird that makes a big noise, puffs up its chest, and then collapses?

Or possibly a magpie or a cuckoofor Confederate birds.

[mowque]

Probably would have kept the eagle, just not used it as much.

[Mikestone8]

The turkey.

[SPJ]

Originally Posted by mowque

Probably would have kept the eagle, just not used it as much.

Originally Posted by Mikestone8

The turkey.

What is the most plausible descision that the could be made by the officials of the CSA in a victory scenario if they never made one during the war. I thought of the turkey myslef since most believe Ben Franklin wanted the USAs national bird to be a turkey but he never nationaly declared this. The facts of Benjamin Franklin and the national bird suggestion are linked here. I wonder if they would try to keep the bald eagle but that may cause alot of fuse from peace officials in the US and those in the CSA who want to distence the CSA from the US. Could they chose the golden eagle instead?

[Reggie Bartlett]

Originally Posted by SPJ

What is the most plausible descision that the could be made by the officials of the CSA in a victory scenario if they never made one during the war. I thought of the turkey myslef since most believe Ben Franklin wanted the USAs national bird to be a turkey but he never nationaly declared this. The facts of Benjamin Franklin and the national bird suggestion are linked here. I wonder if they would try to keep the bald eagle but that may cause alot of fuse from peace officials in the US and those in the CSA who want to distence the CSA from the US. Could they chose the golden eagle instead?

The Golden Eagle seems likely for the CSA.

It's American, but distinctively different from the Union's.

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Originally Posted by Reggie Bartlett

The Golden Eagle seems likely for the CSA.

It's American, but distinctively different from the Union's.

Otoh, its not distinctly different from mexicos. I was going to say, or germany or rusia or... but those were pretty stylized.

Actually a pelican would make sense, possibly even a brown one. The csa would be very oriented toward the gulf.

Pelicans were even used in heraldry and religious iconography. Usually, a mother pelican with her young. Look for pelican in her piety.

Edit: now that I'm on a real computer with a real keyboard.
Pelicans in their piety were a mother pelican feeding her brood of chicks. Mediaeval nobles and churchmen not being very good naturalists (to say the least), thought that the mother pelican feed her chicks with her own blood, that she pierced her chest to get. This made for great religious imagery, being analogous to Christ shedding HIS blood for us, and feeding us, his children, with his (body and) blood at the communion table. The sense of 'Christian self-sacrifice' was just too good to pass up, even if it has absolutely no basis in the real world. Sigh.

IF the CSA used a pelican in her piety, they could ring changes on the idea of bloody self-sacrifice (the bloody war in which they freed themselves), the sacrificial nation giving of herself for her children (citizens, or the individual states, depending on context). An iconic depiction could be with the mother pelican and the brood of 11(?) young, one representing each state. It could also, in theory, used as an icon of how Christian the whole nation was.

Of course, there is one minor, teensy problem with this. That imagery is Roman Catholic (or would likely be perceived that way), and the South was most thoroughly Protestant. But aside from that minor little (OK, fatal) quibble, it would be a WONDERFUL idea. If I don't say so myself. Of course, I did, so maybe it isn't....

[jayel]

the problem with the golden eagle is that it is not indigenous to the Confederacy except western Texas which was still mostly Indian (Comanche) territory at the time, the Confederacy would chose a well known local bird for any such symbol

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Originally Posted by jayel

the problem with the golden eagle is that it is not indigenous to the Confederacy except western Texas which was still mostly Indian (Comanche) territory at the time, the Confederacy would chose a well known local bird for any such symbol

Of course, there arent many lions in england, scotland or norway....

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by SPJ

I found an answer to this question an wiki.answers which states that it was either an eagle(likely golden) or LA's pelican. Are either of these correct?

They had 3 official flags and 1 unofficial one in 4 years, so I think it will take a while before the Confederacy would agree on a national bird. The most popular state bird among former Confederate states is the Northern Mockingbird.

[Wolfpaw]

I feel like I read somewhere that it was the turkey buzzard, but I may be hallucinating that.

I don't see the Confederates using a bird as their main symbol, though. They'd probably go with a cougar or something.

[pieman97405]

I'd guess a hawk, but I could see a pelican.

[frlmerrin]

The national bird was the blackbird,
the national animal was the barnacle (but a green elephant was voted for in Texas),
the national plant was the red cabbage (but the mandrake was championed by the Virginia). Assembly),
the national musical instrument was the ukulele-banjo,
the Confederate post office symbol was a mail bag and this became the national luggage,
and the national academic costume supplier was Ede and Ravenscroft.

[SPJ]

Originally Posted by frlmerrin

The national bird was the blackbird,
the national animal was the barnacle (but a green elephant was voted for in Texas),
the national plant was the red cabbage (but the mandrake was championed by the Virginia). Assembly),
the national musical instrument was the ukulele-banjo,
the Confederate post office symbol was a mail bag and this became the national luggage,
and the national academic costume supplier was Ede and Ravenscroft.

Source(s) please?

[frlmerrin]

I don't think the Confederations had a national sauce but they probably had a national dish.

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by frlmerrin

the national musical instrument was the ukulele-banjo

Afraid the instrument wasn't invented until fifty years after the Confederacy fell.