"The Bonnie Blue flag of a white star on blue, was used as the state flag briefly. The Bonnie Blue type currently flown in Jackson at the Sillers Building, the state office building, is of a shade of blue like that of Somalia. The state then used a white flag which had a white star on a square canton of blue. The shade of blue varied greatly. Centered in the fly area was supposed to be a magnolia tree (Magnolia grandiflora) in natural color.
The red actually is quite problematic. The way that the description is written can lead to an interpretation of a red fringe, a red border, a red bar on the fly and other variations.
There is one 6' x 10' version that flies regularly with other historical flags at the Sillers Building. This "recognized" version has a dark blue canton (the same as the U.S. flag) with the single white star. The canton is square and two-thirds of the width of the flag (like the current Mississippi flag). It has a magnolia tree in the fly in natural color (normally green and white-no brown trunk). The dispute over the red and where it is to go has led to the decision to omit it altogether. Also, many of the known variations of this flag used in the American Civil War do not have any red in them. Many of those use blue and white only without the natural colored tree or with unit markings instead of the tree.
The same type of debate over the description of the Magnolia Tree Flag also afflicts the current flag. The description of the current flag, as submitted by the Joint Committee on state symbols, is:
'They recommended for the flag one with width two-thirds its length; with the union square, in width two-thirds of the width of the flag; the ground of the union to be red and a broad blue saltier [sic] thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with thirteen (13) mullets of five-pointed stars corresponding with the number of the original States in the Union; the field to be divided into three bars of equal width, the upper one blue, the center one white and the lower one, extending the whole length of the flag, red--the national colors; the staff surmounted with a spear head and a battle-axe below; the flag to be fringed in gold and the staff gilded with gold.'
Many problems arise because the description would allow for stars to be placed anywhere on the saltire (even all on one arm of the saltire) and still be valid as an official state flag. However, the greater debate is whether there should be a fimbriation or none. A fimbriation is not mentioned, but the clear implication of the drafters was to reinstall (or fondly remember) the Confederate flag. The current flag, regardless of its declared symbolism, is an attempt to combine the national flags of the Confederacy in a new way. In the past, it was quite common to see both fimbriated and non-fimbriated flags flying over the Mississippi capitol.
Until about 1995 or 1996, there were no specifications as to where the stars should be placed, what their size should be, what direction they should point or if the canton should be fimbriated. In 1995 or 1996, Governor Kirk Fordice sent a memorandum, prepared by Clay Moss, to every manufacturer which regularized the format of the canton. This was the first time that so high an official sent such regulations.
Officially, the current flag of the State of Mississippi should have a fimbriation and the stars should point towards the top of the flag. The fimbriation should be the same width as the white bordering the canton (about 1/5 or 1/6 of the width of the blue bars that make up the saltire).
However, legally, the non-fimbriated version is still possible. It is just more difficult to locate a copy.
Sources: Report of the Joint Committee; _Hot_CofFEE_, Vol. 4, February 1995;
Personal discussion with Clay Moss throughout the process.
Paige Herring, 30 March 1998
I just came home from a road trip that included a week in Mississippi and can report that I saw not a single state flag flying anywhere in the state that lacked the fimbriation around the canton. The only non-fimbriated Mississippi flag I saw on the entire trip was in a display of all 50 state flags at the USS Alabama military and naval museum in Mobile, Alabama.
Joe McMillan, 1 August 2003 |
