Failed Contestants for the First Confederate Flag
(February-March 1861)
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 25 February 2000
This is the first of three designs
submitted by William T. Riddle, of
Eutaw, Alabama. It was sent on
21 February 1861, to Stephen Fowler
Hale, one of Alabama’s delegates in
the Provisional Congress of the
Confederate States. The first quarter
of the shield has seven stars for the
original Confederate States; the
second and third quarters each show a
cotton plant in natural colours on a
black ground; and the fourth quarter
adds stars for States entering the
Confederacy after the first seven.
Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr.
by Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr. 12 July 1998
Mr. Riddle’s second design is shown
here. (The third he submitted was by
a different artist, and is show on the
Other Simple Designs page.) This
flag has 12 rays of red and blue
emanating from a central white star.
Six additional white stars are added
to the blue rays at their wider ends
near the edge of the flag. As a variant
of this design, Mr. Riddle suggested
that the “Center Star may be red in a
white square.”
Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr.
 Modifications of the US flag |
 Other Simple Designs |