Alabama Secession Convention (1861, Reconstruction, Reverse)

This design is the reverse of the banner approved by the Alabama Secession Convention on January 11, 1861. Often called the “Republic of Alabama” flag or secession banner, it was used unofficially and was never formally adopted as the state flag. The reverse paired a cotton plant, symbolizing Alabama’s agricultural base, with a rattlesnake and the Latin warning “Noli Me Tangere” (“Touch Me Not”). During Reconstruction, Alabama had no official state flag until the legislature adopted the crimson St. Andrew’s cross on white in 1895.