CIVIL WAR FLAGS Forts were supplied with flags of 2 sizes. The larger flag was the garrison flag, and the smaller, the storm flag that was flown in bad weather. The Confederacy adopted its own national flag, called the First National Flag, on March 4, 1861. During the course of the war, the Confederacy had 3 different National Flag designs. When the southern armies surrendered in 1865, their battle flags generally were sent to the War Department. Later, in an effort promote reconciliation, President Theodore Roosevelt issued an order to return the flags to the southern states. In the North, soldiers returning from the war, placed their flags in various state capitals where most can be seen today. For more information about American battlefields, see the American Battlefield Protection Program web site at: http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/index.htm