Flags of the Confederate States of America diagonal cross design. Miles' flag and all the flag designs up to that point were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Generals Beauregard and Johnston and Quartermaster General Cabell approved the design of the 12-star Confederate Battle Flag at the Ratcliffe home, which served briefly as Beauregard's headquarters, near Fairfax Court House in September 1861. The 12th star represented Missouri. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at Fairfax Station soon after and was shown the design for the
Congress of the Confederate States 1861 and February 1862 in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. The Virginia secessionist convention was already in session, and after Lincoln's call up of 75,000 troops to secure federal property, on April 17 that convention voted 88 to 55 to seceded. North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas soon after called secessionist conventions that voted to leave the Union by overwhelming majorities. On May 6, 1861, the Confederate Congress officially declared war on the United States and authorized the President all land and naval force in pursuit of the war that had commenced. Arizona secessionists met in convention at La