"The Bonnie Blue Flag"

The flag was first used during the 1810 West Florida Rebellion, before that territory was incorporated into Mississippi and Florida as part of the U.S. It was revisited in the late 1850's by secessionists who advocated complete separation from the U.S., and consisted of a flag of a single white, five-pointed star on a rectangular flag of solid, dark blue. In 1860-61, it was unofficially adopted as the first flag of the fledgling Confederacy before the First National flag was officially voted in by the Confederate Legislature. In the spring of 1861, a composer and comedian by the name of Harry McCarthy (who was originally from Great Britain) wrote the song, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" using the tune of the traditional Irish melody known as, "The Irish Jaunting Car". It was an immediate success throughout the South, second only in popularity to Dan Emmett's "Dixie's Land". During the period of the war---from 1861 through spring, 1865, eleven editions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" were published in the Confederacy. During the occupation of New Orleans by Union troops, General Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts, officially outlawed the performance of the music, or the recitation of the song's lyrics--which recount in chronological order the sequence of what states seceded from the Union and the reasons why they left the Union. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" was considered a highly subversive and treasonous musical work and was universally censored in loyal states. Its popularity in the South waned only slightly in the last months of the war when composer Harry McCarthy abandoned the Confederacy and moved his residence to Philadelphia, PA. Largely unsung and forgotten during the late 1860's and the Reconstuction era, it's popularity received a big boost in the 1930's when Georgia novelist, Margaret Mitchell, mentioned it in her work, "Gone With the Wind" and had her main characters, Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara name their only daughter, Bonnie Blue Butler. For those who wish to see it, "The Bonnie Blue Flag" lives on in the Texas state flag.