Bonnie Blue Flag
The first recorded use of the lone star flag dates to 1810. On September 11, 1810 a troop of West
Florida dragoons set out for the provincial capitol at Baton Rouge under this flag. They were joined
by other republican forces and captured Baton Rouge, imprisoned the Governor and on September 23, 1810
raised their Bonnie Blue flag over the Fort of Baton Rouge. Three days later the president of the West
Florida Convention, signed a Declaration of Independence and the flag became the emblem of a new republic.
By December 10, the flag of the United States replaced the Bonnie Blue after President Madison issued a
proclamation declaring West Florida under the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Louisiana Territory.
With this rebellion in mind, this flag was used by the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1839. On January 9,
1861 the convention of the People of Mississippi adopted an Ordinance of Secession. With this announcement
the Bonnie Blue flag was raised over the capitol building in Jackson. Harry Macarthy was so inspired
that he wrote a song entitled "The Bonnie Blue Flag", first sang in New Orleans, Louisianna, which
became the second most popular patriotic song of the Confederacy. The Confederate government did not
adopt this flag but the people did and the lone star flags were adopted in some form in five of the
southern States that adopted new flags in 1861. Some units from Louisiana and Texas adopted the Bonnie
Blue Flag as their unofficial banner of the Confederacy.
