As was the case in neighboring Louisiana, as many as seven different flags of sovereign nations have flown over the territory known now as Mississippi. When Mississippi seceded from the Union, the leaders adopted the Magnolia flag in January of 1861. This design incorporated a magnolia tree on a white field with its canton corner made up of a white star on a blue field (the Bonnie Blue flag). Mississippi became part of the Confederacy in March of that year and flew its flag until the State Legislature adopted its present-day flag in 1894. This flag has the Confederate battle flag in its canton corner (instead of the Bonnie Blue design) with a field made up of equal bars of blue, white, and red at the bottom. In 2001, a proposal to remove the Confederate battle flag was soundly defeated by Mississippi voters, keeping the original design.
