Battle flag of the 26th Texas Cavalry
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 23 March 2000
from detailed sketches and notes of Howard M. Madaus
Last modified: 30 December 2000 by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr.
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In June of 1862, Mrs. M.J. Young personally made and sent to the 5th Texas Infantry a battle flag for their use. The flag was made of cotton, about 3 feet on its staff by 3 1/2 feet on its fly with a 4 1/2" wide blue St. Andrew's cross bearing three 2 1/4" diameter stars on each of the cross' four arms and a 5" diameter star at the their junction, all made of white cotton. No white edging grace the sides of the cross, and no border surrounded the outer edges of the flag. Although the flag was made for a unit that served outside the Trans-Mississippi theater, its construction exhibited two features that were common to battle flags of similar design made and carried in the Trans-Mississippi: (1) the flag was "home made" (as opposed to "depot made"), and (2) while retaining the basic elements of the Army of Northern Virginia design, the flag was rectangular, lacked a border, lacked edging to the cross, and bore a larger central star.
What prompted the interpretation of the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag to differ in these details is not known, but by the middle of 1863, the "Beauregard battle flag" as made in the Trans-Mississippi usually exhibited most if not all of those four distinctive "western" elements. Indeed, in its faulty attempt to describe the new national flag adopted by the Confederacy on 1 May 1863, a reporter for the Dallas Herald indicated that the canton of the new flag was made by taking: "the usual size of the Beauregard battle flag, seven-eighths [31.5"] by one and one quarter [45"] yards of red" and applying to it "a strip of blue, say 6 inches wide, running from each corner, diagonally across". To each arm of this cross were affixed, "six white stars, with a large one at the crossing." Surprisingly, three Texas unit flags survive that are very close to that "usual size"; that of Company A, 8th Texas Infantry measures 33 1/2" by 45"; that of the 12th Texas Cavalry measures 34" by 41"; and that of Company G, 16th Texas measures 37" by 41". All bear a center star that is larger than the other twelve stars, and none bear edging on the arms of the cross or borders on the outer edges of the flags. Although it is larger (39" by 52") and has a red border on its upper and lower edges, the flag of the 26th Texas Cavalry is similarly proportioned and incorporates the other distinctive Trans-Mississippi elements.
While these common elements predominate in the surviving flags of the Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi Department, they were not uniformly applied. As each flag was crafted by a separate seamstress or sewing circle, the sewer's interpretations of the design varied. A flag attributed to having been made for Terry's Texas Rangers in 1863 is square (36" on a side), and while the cross lacks edging and the center star is larger, a narrow white border surrounds the field. Similarly, a battle flag attributed to the 4th Missouri Cavalry is also square (54" on a side), and while its cross is also unedged, but its center star is same size as the twelve on the arms, and, moreover, its field is bound with a white border and white fringe. The white exterior border (and in one case tufts of fringe) are also evident on two rectangular, unidentified battle flags from the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy, which otherwise share the lack of edging on the cross but have all 13 stars of the same size. All these flags show the use of locally available materials and hand construction of varying degrees of quality, which (for the most part) typify the Confederate battle flags of the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy. The exception to this rule seems to have been the high quality presentation flags made by Confederate exiles living in Havana, Cuba.
Howard Michael Madaus -- based on research by Al Sumrall, Robert Maberry, Greg Biggs, and Howard Michael Madaus, and Vicki Betts.