Air Date: 042905
Subject: John M. Coski: Should the Stars be Barred?
Books: The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem
Guest: John M. Coski
Summary: Dr. John M. Coski of the Museum of the Confederacy talks about the subject of his book, The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem.
Brett’s Summary: John Coski discusses what is known today as the “Confederate flag”. The Confederate Battle flag seen so often today was NOT the national flag of the Confederacy, despite popular belief. The blue St. Andrew’s Cross on a red background was first used as a battle flag in the Army of Northern Virginia. Interestingly, it was square. The rectangular pattern so often seen today is actually the naval version, and it was used late in the war in the Army of Tennessee as well in an effort by Joe Johnston to standardize that army’s flags. Coski also goes into the historiography of the flag after the war. At first, Confederate organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Daughters of Confederate Veterans were the only groups who used a flag, doing so to honor fallen Confederate soldiers. Interestingly, the Confederate flag “fad” didn’t really emerge until after World War II, Coski believes as a result of the flag being flown by a southern fraternity. Students at southern colleges began flying the flag at football games in the late 1940s. Coski believes the battle flag has been a symbol of the South’s “mature independence” since 1863, when it appeared on one of the Confederacy’s official national flags. Obviously, the flag is seen by many today as a racist symbol. John and Gerry discuss the Museum of the Confederacy in the last third of the interview.
Civil War Talk Radio airs most Fridays at 12 PM Pacific on World Talk Radio Studio A. Host Gerry Prokopowicz, the History Chair at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, interviews a guest each week and discusses their interest in the Civil War. Most interviews center around a book or books if the guest is an author. Other guests over the years have included public Historians such as park rangers and museum curators,wargamers, bloggers, and even a member of an American Civil War Round Table located in London, England.
In this series of blog entries, I will be posting air dates, subjects, and guests, and if I have time, I’ll provide a brief summary of the program. You can find all of the past episodes I’ve entered into the blog by clicking on the Civil War Talk Radio category. Each program should appear either on or near the date it was first broadcast.
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