First Flag of Independence Raised in the South
In 1860, it was widely believed that the election of a Republican administration would cause widespread secession. News of the election of Abraham Lincoln prompted a public demonstration in Savannah’s Johnson Square, at which the first flag of Southern independence was flown and a resolution adopted for a state secession convention. A sketch of the scene by Belgium-born artist Henry Cleenewerck, who was in Savannah at the time, was used by R. H. Howell to create this lithograph. The flag is emblazoned with the image of a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Our Motto, Southern Rights, Equality of the States, Don’t Tread on Me.”
<p>In 1860, it was widely believed that the election of a Republican administration would cause widespread secession. News of the election of Abraham Lincoln prompted a public demonstration in Savannah’s Johnson Square, at which the first flag of Southern independence was flown and a resolution adopted for a state secession convention. A sketch of the scene by Belgium-born artist Henry Cleenewerck, who was in Savannah at the time, was used by R. H. Howell to create this lithograph. The flag is emblazoned with the image of a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Our Motto, Southern Rights, Equality of the States, Don’t Tread on Me.”</p>