Hi Roger,

The source for the description of the flag of the 18th Mississippi Cavalry Battalion comes from an officer of Co. B of the 81st Illinois Infantry, the regiment that captured the flag at Brice's Crossroads. His name is Edmund Newsome. As follows:

"In a moment more, the Rebel color-bearer, carrying their new flag...." Newsome describes the flag below his page about its capture in his book he wrote in 1880, "The first Rebel flag was composed of two red stripes with a white stripe between, and a blue square in the corner containing seven stars. The new flag was all white except the blue square with its stars. By holding up part of the flag around the staff the blue was hidden and only the white appeared."

The 7th Tennessee Cavalry also bore a Second national there as did one more regiment of Forrest's (if I can correctly recall). Most of the rest had First National flags. The 12 star Mobile Depot flags were not issued to Forrest until July 1864 and first used in the Memphis Raid of August where the flag of the 22nd Tennessee Cavalry was taken by an Illinois unit. I have an account from Brice's that states that the rebels were using a US flag to deceive them - this was a First National actually. I have seen the same description for First Nationals in other battles from Federal soldiers.

Hope this helps.

Greg Biggs