{"id":394,"date":"2013-09-26T16:18:10","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T20:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=394"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:31:06","slug":"flags-unite-flags-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-unite-flags-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Flags unite, flags divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given their nature and purpose, flags can be saluted or slandered, waved or waved away, raised up or torn down from flagpoles. That duality occurred during the Civil War, when battles in places like Gettysburg, Pa., brought brother into conflict with brother, each of whom saluted a different banner.<\/p>\n

\"An
An 1861 drawing shows the triumph of the U.S. flag over the Confederate standard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There, as on other battlefields, a Union soldier might proudly lift up his Stars and Stripes, while his Confederate sibling, under the Stars and Bars, eagerly sought to riddle it with musket balls.<\/p>\n

In 1862 in New Orleans, a man was hanged for \u201ctearing down the American flag<\/a>,\u201d reported a Boston newspaper. He was executed by the occupying Northern forces from a gallows positioned directly beneath the flagpole<\/a> he had assaulted. The location was a firm warning to other Southerners that their former flag was once again their national flag.<\/p>\n

\"Confederate
Confederate vets, reuniting in 1917, link two flags of the Civil War.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three years later, a Tennessee schoolgirl tore down a U.S. flag and then walked on it. Despite her age, Emma Latimer was court-martialed by post-war Union troops, fined and sentenced to imprisonment.<\/p>\n

A general remitted the penalties but cautioned her \u201cto remember that it will not do to trifle with the sacred emblem of our nationality. In spite of the opposition of all the school girls in the South, the \u2018Banner of Glory and Beauty\u2019 will still wave over the land of the free, and\u2026will continue to float until time shall cease.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A Confederate veteran in 1907.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As America marks the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the War Between the States, divisions over flags continue to arise. In Virginia, according to a Richmond newspaper, \u201ca Confederate heritage group\u2026plans to fly a 10-by-15-foot Confederate flag<\/a> along Interstate 95\u2026.The flag will fly on a 50-foot pole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scheduled date for the unfurling, Sept. 28, was set by an organization called Virginia Flaggers. It announced that the banner would be flown \u201cas a memorial to the memory and the honor of the Confederate soldiers who sacrificed, bled and died to defend Virginia from invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reply, the executive director of the NAACP in Virginia called the plan \u201can embarrassment\u201d that would make Richmond \u201clook like a backwater, trailer-park, hick town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling one of the causes of the Civil War, he added that \u201cif [the Confederacy] had been successful, I\u2019d still be in chains.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given their nature and purpose, flags can be saluted or slandered, waved or waved away, raised up or torn down from flagpoles. That duality occurred during the Civil War, when battles in places like Gettysburg, Pa., brought brother into conflict with brother, each of whom saluted a different banner. There, as on other battlefields, a… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,43,125,126,124,127],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flag","tag-civil-war","tag-confederate","tag-soldiers","tag-u-s-flag","tag-virginia"],"yoast_head":"\nFlags unite, flags divide - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-unite-flags-divide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flags unite, flags divide - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Given their nature and purpose, flags can be saluted or slandered, waved or waved away, raised up or torn down from flagpoles. 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