Nicola Marschall (March 16, 1829 – February 24, 1917) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

artist who supported the Confederate cause during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. He designed the original Confederate flag, the Stars and Bars, as well as the official grey uniform of the

Confederate army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighti ...

Biography

On March 16, 1829, Marschall was born in

St. Wendel Sankt Wendel is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According to a survey by the German Association for Ho ...

, Germany, to a wealthy

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n family of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

merchants. In 1849, Marschall emigrated to the United States through

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, headed for the home of a relative in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama ...

. In 1851, Marschall relocated to Marion, Alabama, where he began teaching art first at his portrait studio, and then at the

Marion Female Seminary The Marion Female Seminary, also known as the Old Perry County High School, is a historic Greek Revival-style school building utilizing the Doric order in Marion, Alabama. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 4, ...

. During this time he briefly returned to Germany to further his art technique. Mary Clay Lockett, wife of prominent Marion attorney Napoleon Lockett, requested of Marschall to take part in the competition to create a new flag to represent the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. Marschall's design became the first Confederate flag, first raised in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County, Alabama, Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the Gulf Coastal Plain, coas ...

, on March 4, 1861. During the Civil War, Marschall served in the Second Regiment of Confederate Engineer Troops, under Samuel Lockett. After the war, he returned to Marion and married Martha Eliza Marshall. During his career, Marschall painted portraits of

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

, various Southern families, and Confederate and Union soldiers. He was one of the few who was able to have

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

pose for him. Additionally, he did many landscapes and religious paintings. He was known to sign and date his portraits using a steel pen while the paint was still wet, at the bottom-right of the portrait. Due to the economic depression in the South following the war, Marschall returned to Mobile in 1872. In 1873, he and his family moved to

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, as his friends told him it would be an easier place to gain commissions to do portraits. At the Centennial International Exposition in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

in 1876, he won a medal for his portraits. In 1908, Marschall gave up working on portraits. On February 24, 1917, Marschall died in Louisville, Kentucky. His remains were interred at Cave Hill Cemetery.

Gallery

File:Young Girl with Cat 1867.jpg, ''Young Girl with Cat'', 1859 File:Mary Susan Robins - Nicola Marschall.jpg, ''Mary Susan Robins'', 1859 File:The Hale Child 1863.jpg, ''The Hale Child'', 1863 File:Nicola Marschall 1881.jpg, ''Nicola Marschall'', 1881 File:Napoleon Lockett 1883.jpg, ''Napoleon Lockett'', 1883

References

External links

Sarah Rebecca Robins at the Birmingham Museum of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marschall, Nicola 1829 births 1917 deaths Artists from Louisville, Kentucky People of Alabama in the American Civil War Confederate States Army officers Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery American people of German descent People from Sankt Wendel (district) Painters from Kentucky Painters from Alabama American male painters American portrait painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters Prussian emigrants to the United States Flag designers 20th-century American male artists