The flag of Mississippi echoes the Confederate "Stars and Bars" flag and the Confederate battle flag. It is the only U.S. state flag currently to incorporate the Confederate battle flag, included in the design as a memorial to Confederate dead. It was adopted in 1894, and before that when Mississippi seceded from the Union on January 9, 1861, as a sign of independence, the Bonnie Blue Flag (a single white star on a blue field) was raised over the capitol building in Jackson.