The third and final flag of the Confederate States of America, was created by an Act of the Congress of the Confederate States (Second Congress, Session II), approved by the President on the 4th day of March, 1865, four years to the day after the first raising of the STARS AND BARS in Montgomery.
The Flag Act of 1865 describes the flag in the following language:
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue saltier thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag.
