Having studied Georgia Civil War flags for at least 20 years (and maybe someday my book on them will get done), the Georgia coat of arms dates to 1799 which is post-Rev War.

Secondly, while Georgia never adopted a republic/state flag in 1861, there were a number of units that got flags with the GA COA on them, mostly at company level. The Columbus Light Guards were one of them (I should have the flag presentation in my files). It was very common indeed for state militias to use blue flags with the state COA on them in the ante-bellum period. South Carolina codified theirs into law in 1839 in fact. At the inaugural of Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama, the only flag carried in the military parade was the GA COA flag of the company from Columbus. Tennessee never adopted a state flag either (but one was proposed) and a number of flags were presented to units that were just like the proposed state flag!

I have examples of existing GA COA flags on blue, red and green fields by the way.

Greg Biggs