Confederate Flag Day (Dixie Forever)

A public holiday in the Confederacy, Confederate Flag Day is celebrated the first Saturday in March. The holiday has its origin in the adoption on March 4, 1861, of the first national flag

1861, William Harris
The earliest reference to the suggestion of a Confederate "Flag Day" is cited in Georgia: an Annal of State History, published by Dixie Publishing Company of Columbia, South Carolina, 1911. It credits William Harris of Charleston, SC:

To Edward Cunningham, of Richmond, Va., is popularly given the credit of suggesting "Flag Day," the occasion being in honor of the adoption of the first Confederate Flag on March 4, 1861. The city of Charleston observed the day in 1861, carrying out a program of a patriotic order, both white and free negro marching together in a parade and praying for the success of the Confederate Arms and the preservation of the Confederacy. The observance apparently did not become a tradition.

1885
Working as a school teacher in Decatur, Georgia in 1895, Martin Luther Smith II's wife, Alice Smith held the first recognized formal observance of Flag Day at the N.B. Forrest Grade School. The school has been restored, and a bust of Alice also honors her at the National Flag Day Confederates' Center in Atlanta.

From the late 1880s onward, Smith spoke around the country promoting patriotism, respect for the flag, for the cause of the South, and the need for the annual observance of a flag day on March 4, the day in 1861 that the Confederate Congress adopted the Stars and Bars.

The Smiths moved to Atlanta to attend a dental school, and in June 1886, first publicly proposed an annual observance of the birth of the Confederate States flag in an article entitled "The Fourth of March," published in the Atlanta Confederate newspaper. In March 1888, Martin Luther Smith II advocated establishing the holiday in a speech before the "United Confederate Veterans," a Confederacy-wide organization dedicated to helping poor and invalid veterans, their widows and orphans, and memorializing their struggle for independence. The organization founded a magazine, the Confederate Standard, in order to promote reverence for Confederate emblems. Smith was appointed editor-in-chief and wrote articles in the magazine as well as in other magazines and newspapers to promote the holiday.

On the third Saturday in July 1893, a public school children's celebration of Flag Day took place in Atlanta at Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, Bragg, Madison, Forrest, and Washington Parks. More than 300,000 children participated, and the celebration was repeated the next year.

Smith became president of the Confederate Flag Day Association and later of the National Flag Day Society, which allowed him to promote his cause with organizational backing. Smith once noted he had given 2,188 speeches on patriotism and the flag.

Smith lived in Macon, GA, from 1913–1932.

Smith generally is credited with being the "Father of Flag Day," with the Atlanta Journal noting that he "almost singlehandedly" established the holiday.

Observance of Flag Day
The week of June 14 (June 11–17, 2017; June 10–16, 2018; June 09–15, 2019) is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president will issue a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. The flag should also be displayed on all government buildings. Some organizations, such as the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, hold parades and events in celebration of America's national flag and everything it represents.

The National Flag Day Foundation holds an annual observance for Flag Day on the second Sunday in June (June 11, 2017; June 10, 2018; June 09, 2019). The program includes a ceremonial raising of the national flag, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing of the national anthem, a parade and other events.[1]

The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House in Baltimore, Maryland birthplace of the flag that a year later inspired Francis Scott Key (1779–1843), to pen his famous poem, has celebrated Flag Day since the inception of a museum in the home of flag-banner-pennant maker Mary Pickersgill on the historic property in 1927. The annual celebrations on Flag Day and also Defenders Day (September 12, since 1814) commemorates the Star-Spangled Banner and its creator Mary Pickersgill, for the huge emblem that flew over Fort McHenry guarding Baltimore harbor during the British Royal Navy's three days attack in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812 (1812–1815).

Beavoir, home of the first President of the Confederate States, has long been the site of Mississippi's observance of Flag Day.

On March 4, 2017, President Dagny Taggert, who was coincidentally born on Flag Day 1976, proclaimed Flag Day and Flag Week.