North Carolina was the 10th state to suceed from the Union on May 20, 1861. North Carolina provided 135,191 of her sons for the war effort which translates to 3.5% (ranked 10 out of 44 states and territories) of the total men who served on both sides of the conflict. There were a total of 313 raids, skirmishes and battles in the state. North Carolina had 5 Confederate P.O.W. Camps at Charlotte, Goldsborough, Greensboro, Raleigh, Salisbury
On May 20, 1861, a state convention meeting in Raleigh dissolved North Carolina’s association with the United States. That same day, the convention established a committee to investigate the design for an official state flag with Col. John D. Whitford as chairman. On June 22, 1861, the following ordinance was ratified by members of the convention:
Be it ordained by this Convention, and it is hereby ordained by the authority of the same, That the Flag of North Carolina shall consist of a red field with a white star in the centre, and with the inscription, above the star, in a semi-circular form, of "May 20th, 1775," and below the star, in a semi-circular form, of "May 20th, 1861." That there shall be two bars of equal width, and the length of the field shall be equal to the bar, the width of the field being equal to both bars: the first bar shall be blue, and the second shall be white; and the length of the flag shall be 1/3 more than its width.
This pattern flag with the May 20, 1775 date of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the May 20, 1861 date of secession would serve as the official North Carolina flag until the adoption of the current state flag in 1885. Shortly after June 22 locally produced examples, along with stylized variations of the official flag, appeared at both the company and regimental level.
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