Long-lost file sheds light on first flag

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 7-4-03 | Jim Galloway

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The first bit of campaign literature for next year's state flag referendum has been let out of the box. Finally.

It's been lost for 125 years, and consists of a batch of state documents misfiled under "Mining" instead of "Military."

The records were discovered in state archives last month and detail the origins of the first official Georgia flag, adopted in 1879. They include a striking pen-and-watercolor drawing that looks something like the new banner now being raised across the Georgia -- which will be one of two candidates in the March 2004 vote.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

It must have been a temp worker.

[PAR35]

"More important, historians say the documents prove the flag was designed and approved by Confederate veterans.

Such lineage is important to supporters of the new flag -- they include Gov. Sonny Perdue -- who are anxious to seize the historical high ground from those still angered by the elimination of the Confederate battle emblem from the statewide vote. The only other flag on the ballot is the blue flag adopted in 2001 at former Gov. Roy Barnes' urging.

"This is documented proof, in the words of the Confederate soldiers of Georgia, of the flag they preferred," said state Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus), who helped design the current flag.

(SNIP)

Proposed by officers

Other Southern history buffs have countered that Confederate veterans made their own choice in 1879 -- when the Legislature adopted a state flag with a vertical blue band, and alternating horizontal bars of red, white and red. It was a variation of the Stars and Bars.

But no one could find the paperwork behind the 1879 flag, and some battle emblem enthusiasts questioned its pedigree.

(SNIP)

That design was approved by the Legislature in 1879, with the support of two African-American lawmakers, and it went through a number of minor changes over the next 70 years.