Flag of Mississippi

"The Bonnie Blue Flag" by Harry McCarthy

Mississippi

Name	Magnolia Flag
Use	State flag
Adopted	March 30, 1861 (1861-03-30)
Relinquished	August 22, 1865 (1865-08-22)
Design	A white field with a large red border and magnolia tree in the center; in the canton, one white five-pointed star on a blue field.
Designed by	Mississippi State Convention Committee to Prepare Flag and Coat of Arms for the State
Variant flag of Mississippi
Use	State flag
Design	Common unofficial flag variant (likely postbellum and used by U.C.V. camps in Mississippi), similar to the "Magnolia Flag."[3]

When the State of Mississippi declared its secession from the United States ("Union") on January 9, 1861, near the start of the American Civil War, spectators in the balcony handed a Bonnie Blue Flag down to the Mississippi state convention delegates on the convention floor,[4] and one was raised over the state capitol building in Jackson as a sign of independence.[5] Later that night residents of Jackson paraded through the streets under the banner. Harry McCarthy, an Irish singer and playwright who observed the street parade, was inspired to write the patriotic song "The Bonnie Blue Flag," which, after "Dixie," was the most popular song in the Confederate States at the time.[2][6]

The first flag of Mississippi was known as the "Magnolia Flag." It was the official state flag from March 30, 1861, until August 22, 1865.[3] The flag remained in use in an unofficial capacity until 1894,[lower-alpha 1] when the current version was first adopted.[7] On January 26, 1861, the delegates to the state convention approved the report of a special committee that had been appointed to design a coat of arms and "a suitable flag".[4] The flag recommended by the committee was "A Flag of white ground, a magnolia tree in the centre, a blue field in the upper left hand corner with a white star in the centre, the Flag to be finished with a red border and a red fringe at the extremity of the Flag."[8] Due to time constraints and the pressure to raise "means for the defense of the state," the delegates neglected to adopt the flag officially in January but did so when they reassembled in March 1861.[9] The Magnolia Flag was not widely used or displayed during the American Civil War, as the various Confederate flags were displayed more frequently.[10] Following the conclusion of the war, a Mississippi state constitutional convention that met in Jackson nullified many of the ordinances and resolutions passed by the conventions of 1861. Among those nullified was the 1861 ordinance "to provide a Coat of Arms and Flag for the State of Mississippi," leaving Mississippi without an official state flag.[11]

On February 7, 1894, the Legislature replaced the American Civil War era Magnolia Flag[2] with a new design that incorporate the Confederate battle flag in its canton.

The Mississippi Code of 1972, in Title 3, Chapter 3, describes the flag as follows:

§ 3-3-16. Design of state flag. The official flag of the State of Mississippi shall have the following design: with width two-thirds (2/3) of its length; with the union (canton) to be square, in width two-thirds (2/3) of the width of the flag; the ground of the union to be red and a broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with thirteen (13) mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding with the number of the original States of the Union; the field to be divided into three (3) bars of equal width, the upper one blue, the center one white, and the lower one, extending the whole length of the flag, red (the national colors); this being the flag adopted by the Mississippi Legislature in the 1894 Special Session.[12][13]

In 1906 Mississippi adopted a revised legal code that repealed all general laws that were not reenacted by the legislature or brought forward in the new code.[14] The legislature inadvertently omitted mention of the 1894 flag. Because of this oversight, while inadvertent, the state had no official state flag from 1906 to 2001, however, this defect was not discovered in Mississippi statute until the 21st century.[15][12] In 2000 the Supreme Court of Mississippi confirmed that the state legislature in 1906 had repealed the adoption of the state flag in 1894.[16] What was considered to be the official state flag was only so through custom or tradition during the previous 94 years.[17]

2001 flag proposal

In January 2001 then-Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed an independent commission which developed a new proposed design.[13][17] On April 17, 2001, a legally binding[18][19] state referendum to change the flag was put before Mississippi voters by the legislature on recommendation of this commission.[15]

The referendum, which asked voters if the new design prepared by the independent commission should be adopted, was defeated in a vote of 64% (488,630 votes) to 36% (267,812), and the 1894 state flag was retained.[20] The proposed flag would have replaced the Confederate battle flag with a blue canton with 20 stars. The outer ring of 13 stars would represent the original Thirteen Colonies, the ring of six stars would represent the six nations that have had sovereignty over Mississippi Territory (various Native American nations as a collective nation, French Empire, Spanish Empire, Great Britain, the United States, and the Confederacy), and the inner and slightly larger star would represent Mississippi itself. The 20 stars would also represent Mississippi's status as the 20th member of the United States.

Since Georgia adopted a new state flag in 2003, the Mississippi flag is the only U.S. state flag to include the Confederate battle flag's saltire. In 2001 a survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) placed Mississippi's flag 22nd in design quality of the 72 Canadian provincial, U.S. state, and U.S. territorial flags ranked.[21]