Meanings
plural Van Dorn battle flags
- rareA flag used by the regiments under the command of the Confederate major general Earl Van Dorn during the American Civil War.
The flag of the 4th Missouri Infantry, which may be one of the earliest examples of a Van Dorn battle flag.
2018 January 17, Sarah Laskow, “The Museum That Keeps Now-Obscure Confederate Flags”, in Atlas Obscura, archived from the original on 25 Sep 20232 more examples
The Van Dorn battle flag had a red field adorned with thirteen white stars arranged in five rows, with a white crescent in the upper corner. The flags were bordered in yellow or white.
1989 January 1, Devereaux D. Cannon, The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History, St. Lukes Broadfoot Publishers, →ISBN, page 63The Van Dorn battle flag, as it came to be called, was a red rectangle bordered in yellow on three sides. Thirteen stars were scattered across the field, and in the upper left was a white crescent symbolizing Missouri.
2001 December 10, Robert Maberry Jr., Texas Flags, Texas A&M University Press, →ISBN, page 91
Origin
Named after American major general Earl Van Dorn (1820–1863).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Van Dorn battle flag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Van%20Dorn%20battle%20flag
“Van Dorn battle flag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Van%20Dorn%20battle%20flag. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Van Dorn battle flag,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Van%20Dorn%20battle%20flag.
Source: Van Dorn battle flag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.