Look at the official seal of the State of Georgia. This seal is visible on the 1956 Georgia flag and on the 2003 Perdue counterfeit flag. The Three columns representing the three branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial) support the overarching Constitution. And between those columns on the right is the guardian of Liberty, a soldier holding a sword.

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. That was a concept of government put into practice as a ‘grand experiment’ by the Founding Fathers of our country. In all of history before and since, it has been the soldier who gave the various governing authorities the force of authority and who defended against any forces that would seize that authority and take possession of the land and all the people and property located thereon.

The significance of flags in military tradition and customs would be difficult to overstate. The flag's importance is much more than a symbolic representation of the land, people, and principles for which one fights -- the flag is a marker of territory, a proclamation of authority, a symbol of resistance, and its capture, lowering, or absence is an indicator of defeat.

The presence of the U.S. flag over Fort McHenry the morning after a British attack on Baltimore's harbor in 1814 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words to what is now America’s national anthem. (Ironically, Key’s son would later become a Confederate soldier and be held as a POW in Fort McHenry..."...in the home of the free.")

One of the best known military photographs in the world depicts U.S. Marines erecting a U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific during WWII. Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, photographs circulated by email showing the similarity of the firemen erecting U.S. flags over the rubble with the Marines on Suribachi.

Military traditions of using flags dates back to the earliest recorded history. There are numerous references in the Scripture to banners and flags.

In western cultures, a variety of unique military customs all revolve around the significance of flags. In particular, we should review the customs associated with military funerals and memorials to fallen soldiers.

As Jeff Davis points out in his commentary, the flag removed from the Riverwalk was the official flag of the CSA when General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was killed in 1863. The flag sent from Richmond to cover his casket was the Second National Flag, also known as the “Stainless Banner.”

As you’ll see below, there is symbolic meaning in every aspect of military ceremonies with respect to flags, particularly funerals and the folding of the flag. The folded flag is presented to the widows, mothers or other next of kin “as a token” of a grateful nation, as a memorial to the departed soldier’s service.

Flags are inextricably a part of memorials for soliders. The explanatory markers on the riverwalk flag terrace are there to explain the flags and the military/governmental entities they represent. The flags are a memorial to the governments and to the soldiers that gave them the force of authority and defended those government claims to juridiction over the Augusta area. There is no convincing argument to the contrary.