Michael
Shut up Sven. There were a lot of black confederate soldiers and there are black confederates today. The Civil War wasn't really about slavery. The North owned slaves themselves. Just not as many because they were more industrialized and all the field work was done in the South. But a lot of them had house slaves. The war was more about states individual rights.

TheGrandOnion
Ironically, a ship bearing that flag would've been quite welcome in your home country's ports nearly 150 years ago. The red flag with the big blue X on it is the Confederate battle flag. These were issued out to military units not unlike regimental colors were issued out to your British regiments. Just as you would have the King's Color (the Union Jack) and a regimental color, the flag w/ the X on it was the regimental. Instead of a "King's Color" the Confederate units had a flag that had 3 horizontal stripes (red, white, red) with a blue field in the upper left corner, with vary numbers of stars in that field. This was the national flag of the confederacy and, due to its similarity to the Federal flag, was changed repeatedly during the war. Anyway, ask the average Confederate then & he would say he was fighting for "states' rights", "against a too powerful Federal government", etc. Way down at the bottom of reasons was anything having to do with slavery. When the war was over, and the South occupied by Federal troops, some southerners began to fight a kind of clandestine war against the north. They would dress up in white sheets, claim to be the spirits of restless Confederate dead, and ride around with their old regimental colors. Unforunately, one means of striking back at the occupying forces was to terrorize the recently emancipated blacks of the South. In time, the regimental flag became symbolic of the terror. It is unfortunate b/c most confederate soldiers would've claimed they were not fighting for slavery. Heck, most of them didn't even own slaves! Were you to examine images of period Confederate flags you'd often find slogans like "Our State, Our Rights!". To my knowledge, no one had one that said "Slavery, YEAH!". Anyway, one principal trading partner of the Confederacy was the United Kingdom. One principal Southern ship, the Alabama, was built in a Brit shipyard and came to its end within sight of the British coast.

Baxter
Theres more to the flag then just saying "I agree with slavery". There was more to the Civil War then just slavery. Theres alot of different issues regarding the Confederate flag. Pride in the southern way of life, freedom, and anti-government are a few that come to mind. Ive seen the flag used in a negative way such as your describing, most times just by ignorant rednecks, but I have also talked to a few people that gave me a different viewpoint of the meaning, such as those few Ive listed.

libra_619_83
Anyone trying to tell you that slavery was not the main issue with the Confederacy is either ignorant or a bigot. With the industrial revolution taking place in the north, the south’s ‘’workforce’’ was slavery, their economy depended on it. It’s just that simple. You tie this to racism, and you have things anyone in the south would have fought for at the time, a fight for their way of life; a right to own human beings for they're greater good. The English abolished slavery in the 17th century, though ‘’indentured servants’’ were kept around as a form of punishment, for both blacks and whites. And the ship the British built for the Confederacy was built in secret and was built as a commerce ship as oppose to a war ship. Why? Because the British government supported the union. The confederate flag, at its roots, represents racism and glorifies slavery, yes its wrong and it is nothing to commemorate or be proud of. You being from England and living in California, you met the other side of this country, your in-laws represent that other side of ignorant, insensitive, culturally challenged, rednecks that are being dragged kicking and screaming into the next century.

Liam Q
southerners are famous for their pride in the confederate flag and it was actually the state flag for one of the southern states for a while. lots of southerners had a hard time accepting their defeat in the civil war and would say"the south will rise again" and i guess that mentality never really left cuz lots of them are still extremely proud of their heritage from the south

Jeff M
Your comments are not really unlike those of ignorant liberals, particularly from the New England area, who constantly rail against the Confederacy, and its flags (particularly the Confederate Battle Flag, which I assume you're referencing in your question). While I can be tolerant of your obvious ignorance (as you said, you're from England), what does bother me is that you are not tolerant of another culture--one of which you're obviously not familiar (the Southern culture). I don't know why your girlfriend doesn't want to explain it to you, but I'll be happy to do so. First, you need to understand, as British men like Charles DIckens and Lord Acton did, that the War for Southern Independence was not a war about slavery. It was actually a war fought over economic issues. At the time of the war, the South was paying 90% of the tax bill for the entire country (which, at the time, was funded through excise taxes, not income taxes), while receiving only 10% of the benefit of the taxes, which were disproportionately spent on Northern projects and interests. These increased tariff rates caused great conflicts in the South, and lead to much debate, and previous talks of nullification. When Lincoln came to power, he promised to increase tariff rates again. Lincoln was also a "free-soiler". What this meant at the time was not that he was opposed to slavery ideologically. What he was opposed to was expansion of slavery into the territories. This was not because he wanted to keep those territories from of blacks. He made it clear in speeches that he was a white supremacist, and just didn't want black people in those territories. His suggestion on what to do with the black people already in the United States was to either export them to another country (and, indeed, he did some of that), and to have them labor on the Panama Canal. He was hardly a champion of the black people. Far from it. The Southern soldier fought for the same things that the Colonial soldier fought for a couple of generations earlier--the right of self-government. There would have been no war if the Northern army hadn't invaded the South. All they had to do was recognize that the South was now its own country and form a separate peace with the Southern States. Had this been done, there would have been no war, or subsequent bloodshed. Instead, the Northern army not only invaded the Southern States, but they also murdered Southern civilians, raped countless women (black and white), plundered, pillaged, and burned everything in sight. I suggest you read period works, and other books that you've likely never been exposed to, in order to learn the truth of the war. I'll include a partial list of such books below. The Confederate Battle Flag is a source of Southern pride. There's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are and where you're from. How you look at the Union Jack---that's how Southerners look at the Confederate Battle Flag. I think when you understand that, and throw off your natural prejudices about the flag and the Southern people, you'll be able to appreciate such events much easier.