The 35th Star was added to our flag when West Virginia became a state on June 20, 1863.   Many people believe in error that the split in the Virginias was a direct result of differences in allegiances as our Nation entered civil war.  Actually, the differences between the two regions were more cultural than philosophical and had existed for many years before the Civil War began.

The rugged western regions of Virginia were settled by a hardy, independent breed of men and women, quite unlike the aristocracy that populated the rich plantations of the east.  These "frontiersmen" owned few slaves and survived primarily on farming and livestock.   By Virginia statute, slaves were taxed at a lower rate than were livestock; but were counted as "persons" when determining how state legislators would be apportioned.  This meant that the residents of the western area of Virginia paid HIGHER taxes, but received a LOWER degree of representation in the Virginia legislature.   Talk of separation had begun in this growing region as early as the 1820s, and the advent of steam shipping on the Ohio and Mississippi made western farmers less reliant on eastern shipping.  When Virginia voted to sever itself from the United States in 1861, inhabitants of the area not only opposed the action but held a citizens' convention to consider separation from Virginia and requesting of statehood from the United States.   The people of West Virginia voted 18,408 to 781 to establish their own state, separate from Virginia.  On April 3, 1862 they adopted a new constitution and two and a half months later were admitted as our 35th State.

that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved."

December 20, 1860

With that declaration, South Carolina attempted to remove itself from the Union.  States rights flags, consisting of a simple banner with a single large star in the center, were paraded through the cities to demonstrate the new freedom from the United States that South Carolina claimed.  By the following March five more states declared their independence, and by June 8th Tennessee became the 11th state to leave the union and join a confederacy under a new president and a separate flag. 

The Civil war was America's costliest and bloodiest war.  Much of the fighting was hand to hand as soldiers clashed combatively in close quarters.  Throughout the battles, the flag was a key focal point.

As you can see from the Granger painting here, often the flags were very large so as to be highly visible.  A "color detail" was usually assigned to each unit for the express purpose of insuring that the flag was properly displayed at the head of the unit, and great sacrifice was made to insure the safety of the flag.  If you stopped in the archives to read the story of Arthur MacArthur's flag, you can see just how important the flag was to the brave soldiers...on both sides. 

The unwieldy size of the battle flags usually carried by infantry units wasn't suitable for the swiftly moving mounted cavalry soldier.  For this reason many of them adopted a different design for the flag...the SWALLOW TAIL flag, often with gold stars instead of white.  Flags such as this one became a cavalry tradition and continued to be used throughout the Indian campaigns in the west.  General George Custer and his cavalry carried this flag for decades after the Civil War.

Sergeant Carney's Flag

Just click on me at the left to hear a wonderful story about a real Civil War Hero.