Not saying any weren't carried upside down. Some even had battle honors painted on the reverse. Imagine that. In flag nomenclature, when viewing a flag, the "hoist" is always placed to the left. The free end or "fly" is then to the right. What you are looking at is the front, or "obverse". The other side (back) is the "reverse". Yes, for a symmetrical flag like the battle flag, it would be very easy to fly it "upside down". But, the point remains, the center star does NOT determine the orientation of the flag.