Modern display of the Confederate flag initially proposed, and rejected, as the national flag in 1861. The design was instead adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) under General Robert E. Lee. Most popular today is a rectangularized variant of the originally square ANV battle flag, common in modern reproductions. (A similarly rectangular flag was used during the war by the Army of Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston.) Despite never having historically represented the Confederacy as a country nor been officially recognized as one of its flags, it is commonly referred to as "the Confederate Flag" and has become a
Army of Northern Virginia Gen. J. E. Johnston as it was joined by the Army of the Shenandoah on July 20, 1861, when command was relinquished to General J. E. Johnston. The following day this army fought its first major engagement in the First Battle of Manassas. With the merging of the Army of the Shenandoah, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston took command from July 20, 1861, until May 31, 1862. Under the command of Johnston, the Army immediately entered into the First Battle of Manassas. On October 22, 1861, the Department of Northern Virginia was officially created, officially ending the Army of the Potomac.