Flags & Seals

In efforts to be as accurate as possible it is important to be acquainted with the situation and conditions under which ​Missouri entered as the 24th state of the United States of America and subsequently entered into conflict in the early days before the MSG (Missouri State Guard) transfer to the CSA.  Some inferences will be needed to conclude what the official unit flags may have appeared when ordered by General Sterling Price less than one month after Camp Jackson affair in St. Louis, Missouri on May 10, 1861.

State Seal

The State of Missouri is located in the Midwest region of the US. What is now Missouri was originally land purchased from France in 1803 that became part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri entered the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, in which Congress determined which new states formed from the US territories could allow slavery.

​The state seal of Missouri was created by Robert William Wells, who was later appointed a federal district judge for the United States District Court of Missouri by President Andrew Jackson. The Missouri General Assembly adopted Wells’ design on 11 January 1822.

In the center of the state seal of Missouri is a circular shield divided in half by a vertical line. The coat of arms and crest of the US is displayed in the center of the right half of the shield. A bald eagle with wings and legs spread is covered by a breast shield of alternating white and red stripes hanging from a banner of blue, representing the original 13 states. In one claw the eagle holds an olive branch and the other a clutch of arrows, symbolizing both America’s power of peace through strength. The eagle holds in its beak a ribbon with the US motto E Pluribus Unum, “From the Many One,” and above the head of the eagle are 13 blue stars bursting through a golden light surrounded by a ring of cloud.On the left half of the circle, which is further divided in half, are two state symbols, a grizzly bear below a crescent. The crescent on the state seal of Missouri has two symbolic meanings, one has to d

o with what Missouri was like at the time of its entry into the Union and what it hoped to become. Although small in population, it would increase like a new moon in size and prosperity. The grizzly walks across an open field representing freedom and the abundance of land. Encircling the shield is a buckled belt bearing the state motto, “United we stand divided we fall.”

Two grizzly bears stand on either side of the shield, facing each other as they hold it upright. The bears stand on the ends of a scroll on which is inscribed the Latin phrase Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto, meaning “The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.” Below the scroll appear the Roman numerals for the year 1820, when it was decided that Missouri could become a state.

In the remaining symbols of the state seal of Missouri, a knight’s helmet tops the shield and represents Missouri’s state sovereignty as part of the Union. A large star surrounded by 23 stars denotes Missouri’s place as the 24th US state. The cloud around Missouri’s star symbolizes the state’s struggles to gain admittance to the Union.

Flags

The Missouri State Guard did not have an official flag until MSG General Sterling Price ordered on June 5, 1861,[5]

"III. Each regiment will adopt the State flag, made of blue merino, 6 by 5 feet, with the Missouri coat-of-arms in gold gilt on each side. Each mounted company will have a guidon, the flag of which will be of white merino, 3 by 2½ feet, with the letters M.S.G. in gilt on each side."

Interestingly, a number of Missouri (Federal) volunteer regiments were issued a flag of an almost identical pattern: a blue flag, with the Missouri state arms in gold.[6] This is an example of the long-running struggle between Missouri's (post-Jun 17, 1861) Unionist government in Jefferson City and Claiborne Fox Jackson's (and later Thomas C. Reynolds') secessionist government-in-exile for control of symbols of Missouri governmental legitimacy.

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More on history of Confederate flags is available at General Joseph Finegan SCV Camp 745 website

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Photos and information are welcome to resolve this page.  Please write to us at farrisbattery@gmail.com   ​