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They thought there was no propriety in retaining the emblems of a Government which had become so oppressive and injurious to their interests as to require a separation from it. Yet they did pay deference to that sentiment in others, by recommending a flag that had a certain resemblance to the one they were deserting.
It was to consist of “a red field with a white space extending horizontally through the center, and equal in width to one-third the width of the flag” --in other words, three stripes, two of them red, and one white: the union, blue, extending down through the white space, and stopping at the lower red space.
In the center of the union a circle of white stars, corresponding in number with the States of the “Confederacy.”
This was the flag under which the maddened hosts of that “Confederacy” rushed to
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The conspirators' flag. |
battle, at the beginning of the war that ensued.
It was first displayed in public on the 4th of March, when it was unfurled over the
State House at
Montgomery.
The first assumption of sovereignty on the part of the Convention was on the 12th,
when it was resolved that the new Government should take under its charge all questions and difficulties then existing “between the
Sovereign States of this Confederacy and the
Government of the
United States,” relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, navy yards, and other public establishments.
The President of the
Convention was requested to communicate this resolution to the
Governors of the several States.
This was extremely offensive to the South Carolinians.
They saw in it dark visions of the passing away of the “sovereignty” of their State.
That Commonwealth, so lately proclaimed a “nation,” was thereby shorn of its greatness, and placed on a common level with “sister States.”
The
Mercury, speaking for the Hotspurs of the coast region, at once preached rebellion against the usurpers at
Montgomery.
It declared
that
Fort Sumter belonged to
South Carolina alone.
It was the pet victim of the Palmettoese, and no other wolf should seize it. “After two efforts,” said the
Mercury, “to obtain peaceable possession of
Fort Sumter, and a submission, for two months, to the insolent military domination in our bay of a handful of men, the honor of the
State requires that
no further intervention, from any quarter, should be tolerated, and that this fort should be taken, and taken
by South Carolina alone. By any other course, it appears to us, unless all the positions of the
Governor are false,
the State must be disgraced.”
The
South Carolinians were pacified by promises, and, as we shall observe, were gratified in their belligerent desires.
On the 13th, John Gregg, one of the delegates from Texas.
appeared1 and took a seat in the Convention, although the Ordinance of Secession adopted in that State had not been ratified by the people, according to legal requirement.
The rest of the delegation were on their way. In this act, as in all others, the conspirators utterly disregarded the will of the people.
On the same day, the Convention commenced preparations for war, by instructing
