The Genesis of the “Stars and Bars”

Abstract

On 4 March 1861 the Confederate States of America adopted their first flag. Fifty years later a dispute arose over whether that flag was the creation of Orren Randolph Smith of North Carolina or Nicola Marschall of Alabama. The dispute was never definitively resolved, and partisans of the two claimants continue to debate the matter today. This paper will examine the known history of the selection of the first flag of the Confederate States, the evidence supporting the two claimants, and the possibility that the actual genesis of the Stars and Bars may have arisen from an altogether different source.