Would've CSA change their national flag to the Battle flag post-victory?

[GameBawesome]

(Disclaimer: I do not support racism in any form. This is merely a hypothetically question. Be respectful, and don't say any racial slurs or ideas.)

A popular misconception in the modern day is that this flag was the national flag used by the Confederate States of America:

This was not the flag of the CSA. It was elongated version of the Confederate Battle Flag. also know today as the Rebel Flag. These flags were national flags of the Confederacy, such as the Stars and Bars, Stainless Banner, and the The Blood-Stained Flag. However, the Battle Flag remained popular.

So in a hypothetical Confederate Victory, where the CSA won around mid-1862 to early 1863, where the CSA gotten recognition from the British and French Governments. In a post-war scenario, would've the CSA changed their flag to the Battle Flag?

 

[Nephi]

Eventually it might even look like this

 

[Mikestone8]

Perhaps a Battle Flag in the canton of a St George's vross - a bit like a White Ensign.

 

[dcharles]

eh....WC?

 

[EnvarKadri]

Eventually it might even look like thisView attachment 641578

After a black power revolution?

 

[oktermin]

After a black power revolution?

Looks like.

 

[9 Fanged Hummingbird]

Perhaps a Battle Flag in the canton of a St George's vross - a bit like a White Ensign.

The South didn't have that deep an attachment to England, and it'd run contrary to the reason the battle flag was a saltire in the first place, which was religious plurality. In fact it was based on a similar flag raised by South Carolina secessionists that was arranged as a St George's Cross and changed to a saltire after some feedback along those lines.

In any case, the battle flag was close enough to being the de facto flag of the CSA IOTL anyway, even before the end of the war and the Lost Cause movement. The first flag was widely despised and the next two not much more popular. They weren't distinctive, the first too close to the Yankee standard, the second too close to a flag of surrender, and the third was a lazy fix adopted shortly before it all went under. Meanwhile, even civilians were flying the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia outside their homes, it was just so much more distinctive, eye-grabbing, and iconic.

 

[Coyote_Waits]

Perhaps a Battle Flag in the canton of a St George's vross - a bit like a White Ensign.

This is the Polk Battle Flag used by Leonidas’ Polk’ Corp Army of Tennessee which uses St George Cross. Leonidas was also an Anglican Bishop.

 

[RedSword12]

The South didn't have that deep an attachment to England, and it'd run contrary to the reason the battle flag was a saltire in the first place, which was religious plurality. In fact it was based on a similar flag raised by South Carolina secessionists that was arranged as a St George's Cross and changed to a saltire after some feedback along those lines.

Wasn't the saltire based off the Scottish flag, since a lot of Southerners like Robert E. Lee (a descendent of Robert the Bruce) had Scottish roots?

 

[Strategos' Risk]

This is the Polk Battle Flag used by Leonidas’ Polk’ Corp Army of Tennessee which uses St George Cross. Leonidas was also an Anglican Bishop.

lmao if Australia also adopted the Eureka flag.

 

[Pauh the federalist]

Eventually it might even look like thisView attachment 641578

Is that supposed to be a pan african slave rebelion flag?

 

[NolanFoster]

Wasn't the saltire based off the Scottish flag, since a lot of Southerners like Robert E. Lee (a descendent of Robert the Bruce) had Scottish roots?

No. It is a St. Andrew's cross like the Scottish flag (and certain Spanish and Russian flags), but that's not the reason it was adopted.

Some St. George's flags (the upright cross of the English flag) were popular early on in the process of finding national symbols. Some protestants and Jews thought this design was too religiously charged. So the designer of what became the battle flag, William Porcher Miles, converted his design from a St. George's to a St. Andrew's cross, which was more ambiguous.

 

[Gentleman Johnny]

(a descendent of Robert the Bruce)

I had no idea that he was descended from Robert the Bruce. I had to double check that to confirm it. That is really interesting.

 

[Coyote_Waits]

Spain also used a St Andrew's Cross as a naval ensign during the colonial period and Florida and Alabama claim their St Andrew's Flags are based on the Spanish history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Burgundy#In_the_United_States

 

[Nephi]

After a black power revolution?

Absolutely.

 

[JWQ]

In a black Confederate alternative history they could Add a altered flag for the regiment colors

For the Northern Mexico if annexed by the Confederate States they could alter the battle flag with Mexicos flag to represent both people
{Image will be added later }

 

[Galba Otho Vitelius]

The problem with the original official flag is that it was considered to be too similar to the Stars and Stripes.

However, it depends on how the CSA survives. The most plausible survival scenario is that the states remaining in the Union are willing to negotiate a divorce settlement before Ft. Sumpter fired on, and the Deep South states don't press the issue or attempt to get the Upper South to join them. The original seven states just secede peacefully. In this scenario there is no war and no battle flags since there is no need for one. The Stars and Bars would be the Confederate flag, only with just seven stars. Maybe they add more stars if they are allowed to absorb Oklahoma and territories in the Caribbean and Central America (most likely Cuba) later.

With no war, the similarity to the Stars and Stripes is not an issue, just like Italy and Mexico, or Australia and New Zealand having very similar flags are not an issue. A recent attempt to change the New Zealand flag to make it more distinguishable from that of Australia failed.

The peaceful secession is the most and only realistic CSA survival scenario. In a scenario where the American federal government is so corrupt and inept that they are not able to but together a field army and the effort to defeat the rebellion just collapses by the end of 1862, the CSA also keeps the Stars and Bars. In this scenario it is likely that the remainder of the USA would break apart into separate countries anyway.

While the battle flag did become the de facto Confederate flag later on, you need a war that both goes past 1862 and where the CSA survives as an independent country for it to become an official national flag, and its just too hard to do that without ASB "guns of the south" type scenarios. You might have to go with a situation where the North wins the Civil War as IOTL, but screws up reconstruction so badly that the Confederacy re-emerges successfully later.