ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Exactly - look how prettily the one that the "astronauts" planted on the "moon" in '69 fluttered in the gentle breeze of the AC units in that enormous film lot out in the desert somewhere.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
This is what I found about the Civil War flag

Materials also varied according to maker. Silk was the preferred material, and many First National Flags made by hometown ladies were of this fabric. The standard carried by Co. K, 3rd Texas Cavalry at Oak Hills, Missouri, and Pea Ridge, Arkansas, was made entirely of silk by the ladies of the company's home town. However, when the women of Tyler, Texas, made a First National Flag for Co. D, I 5th Texas Infantry, they used cotton on the white bar and stars as well as the canton, but a wool/cotton mixture for the red bars. A First National Flag captured at Pea Ridge from an Arkansas brigade was entirely made of wool flannel, with the words "JEFF.DAVIS" worked in black velvet Roman uncial letters on its obverse. 
       One of the strangest First National Flags still in existence is that used from time to time by the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, Mosby's Rangers. The unit carried out guerrilla warfare behind Union lines in Northern Virginia, and therefore rarely carried its standard into action. However, the flag, which measures 51 inches on the hoist by 114 inches on the fly, was used at Mosby's headquarters. According to a veteran some years after the war: "Bunting was a scarcity in those days, and the blue field of this flag had been cut from the blouse of a Union soldier; the red stripes are of a fair quality bunting, while the white stripe is of unbleached cotton."

 hippiechick wrote: 
Riiiiiight...

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Silk is strong and light, waves nicely in a breeze. Other'n that, no idea.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Since most of the sane people live up North, I wouldn't have a problem with that seceding stuff

 aflanigan wrote:

 
Ah yes, why even have States or Congress? Just have the Prez and his Supremes work it out. What could go wrong?

 aflanigan wrote:

 

 Romulus wrote:If that's the case, you should get them declared unconstitutional by the Supremes.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

Huh? That is odd considering how hemp was the workhorse of all flag, rope, paper and thread of any kind during this period of history. Any reason why in the world they would use silk?

 cc_rider wrote: 
The rub is that many Federal Laws are not Constitutional. That's why we have the 10th amendment. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Because this country declared independence from a King, not because it wanted to be ruled by a different one.

The party of Lincoln and civil war history carries one of the biggest myths ever, that it 'free'd the slaves, etc. Thank you publik education.

 sirdroseph wrote:
 
Yes, the War was about states' rights. The 'right' to own slaves! Slave-owning states wanted the freedom to run their states as they pleased. Jim Crow laws were enacted by states, and found unlawful by (evolving) Federal standards. Today, voter-ID laws and voter-roll purges are just a few of the efforts states are using to assert states' rights. Of course states have certain rights, but when state laws contravene Federal and Constitutional laws, well, there's the rub.

How's that for a threadjack?

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Silk, unless it was a homemade flag, then who knows?
 
 
edit: Link

 cc_rider wrote: 

Yea, Union dissolution was a horrible idea back then and it is no better of an idea now. I have had many arguments over those who have tried to defend the South as fighting for states rats (spelled correctly). My retort is states rights to do what exactly??

 sirdroseph wrote:  ...grown in the South, with the raw materials transported north to the textile mills. Finished goods were sent back South (before the war of course) with the usual markup. States imposed tariffs on each other willy-nilly, which added to the hilarity.

What I find so hilarious about the current GOP stand on many issues is that it favors states' rights over the Federal government. There are people in Texas (and likely elsewhere) who are dead serious about attempting to secede from the Union. Not just a few outlying wackjobs, but a lot of people. I wish I was kidding. Many, if not all, of them identify strongly with the Party of Lincoln. Irony? What's that?

 aflanigan wrote: 

Actually they were more than likely Hemp.

 sirdroseph wrote: 

A fascinatingly ironic device (wall clock) to memorialize the Confederacy and its army.  Robert E. Lee, pictured above, and his officers were most likely pulling pocket watches made in Waltham, Massachusetts from their vest when deciding whether it was time to launch their attack on the Union position (if they were very wealthy, they might have owned a Breguet).  When they visited home for a furlough, it was quite likely that the clock or clocks in their home that counted off the precious hours before they had to return to the front were made in Connecticut.

I suspect it is just as likely, that many of the battle flags flown by Union regiments during the war were made of cotton harvested in the south.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
How Southern of you

 bokey wrote:
  Dreamer.

j/k Bokes, you know we luvs ya.

Got my dad this for Father's day, he is a Civil War historian:

I had a good fathers day. Being a Dad is, at the same time, the most rewarding and sometimes the most difficult thing to do.

I wish I had more respect for my own Dad, it's hard. Yesterday he gave me a gift card with 200.00 written on it. I was shocked at the amount. He left and went to work, my Mom later told me it was a joke, and it was only for $20. I said that wasn't very nice and her response was, "We don't have to get you anything at all." Maybe this is why I have little respect for either one of them.

One of my life goals is to not be them. Thankfully I have an awesome father in law. He's my wife's step Dad, but to both of us, he's family. He's there for us no matter what. Cheers to that a day late.