The War for Southern Independence
In Florida

Florida's Secession Flag (Collections of the Museum of Florida History)

Helen Broward, of Broward's Neck in Duval County, and other southern women who supported the secessionist cause made and presented this flag to Florida Governor Madison S. Perry. It was unfurled by Governor-elect John Milton on the east porch of the state capitol when the delegates signed Florida's Ordinance of Secession on January 11, 1861. The three large stars represent the first three states to leave the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida. The flag's motto, "The Rights of the South at All Hazards!", echoes the uncompromising position of southern supporters on the eve of the Civil War. The banner reportedly hung above the speaker's desk in the Florida House of Representatives throughout the war.

At the war's end, the banner still hung in the capitol and reportedly was taken as a trophy by a Union army officer during the postwar occupation of the building. It is recorded that this officer later felt guilty about taking the banner and gave it to a Mrs. Hasson, the wife of a military doctor, to return it to the state. The Hassons moved to the western U.S. shortly after this incident. It was not until 1911 that Mrs. Hasson sent the flag to a Florida member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who then returned it to the State of Florida.