Secession Flags

(1860)

Two days after Lincoln's election, a crowd gathered on one of Savannah's public squares in a demonstration urging Georgia's secession from the Union. As documented in a lithograph of the time entitled, "The first Flag of Independence raised in the South, by the Citizens of Savannah, Ga. November 8th 1860" [detail shown above], a flag is shown hanging from the monument in the square. The flag contains a coiled snake on white background with the inscription, "Our Motto, Southern States, Equality of the States, Don't Tread on Me."

This would qualify as Georgia's earliest secession flag--and probably one of the earliest in the South. At least one secession flag of similar design survives in the collection of Georgia's Secretary of State [see photo].

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

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