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As the first flag of the Southern Cause, the famous
Bonnie Blue flag was an elegant and distinctive design that was
used by Terry's Texas Rangers, perhaps the most valorous regiment
from the Lone Star State.
Being completely different from the United
States flag, the Bonnie Blue flag was immediately popular at secessionist
rallies and more importantly distinctive through the haze of the
battlefield. A well-known Irish minstrel of the era wrote a poem
that was a nice match to an Irish melody and quickly became as
popular a tune as Dixie throughout the south.
This origin is, by
the way, very similar to the origin of Francis Scott Key's Star
Spangled Banner in the War of 1812. It seems that the Bonnie Blue
Flag was first performed at the Capitol Street Theatre in Jackson,
Mississippi, while the flag was waved on stage.
New Orleans was
a major center of Southern military activity and patriotism, and
so the tune found particularly wild acceptance there. After one
performance, the flag design was quickly adopted by the Texas Volunteers
visiting the city in September of 1861. In fact, after the fall
of New Orleans to the North, the song became such a nuisance to
the Union general occupying the city that orders were issued that
anyone playing or singing the tune was to be fined.
See the Flag
Size and Pricing Guide...
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