Volume 17 , Issue 23

History of Confederate Battle Flag

Did you know that Twelve Historic Banners of South Carolina that were stored in the attics of the War departments. The Newberry Herald and News, Newberry, South Carolina, dated 23 June 1887, Thursday, had this mention concerning the Confederate Battle Flag.

Washington, June 15 (1887) -- The suggestion of Gen. R. C. Drum that the Confederate flags which were captured during the civil war, and had for twenty years been stored in one of the attic rooms of the war department buildings, should be returned to the respective States to which they belonged had caused a great deal of comment. The letter Gen. Drum to the Secretary of War was itself on of the most notable contributions to the history of these times. It was the letter of a brave man and a true soldier.

Among the captured Southern banners were twelve flags which were captured by the Federal troops in battle or were picked up after the surrender of Charleston. Some of them were of very great historic value and it was hoped that they would be carefully preserved when they were finally turned over to the State of the valor of whose troops they were so precious a memorial. The following was a brief description of these flags and of the circumstances attending their capture:

Confederate battle flag - captured from South Carolina regiment at the battle of Sharpsburg, September 17, 1862, at the stone wall in front of the 1st brigade, 3d division, 9th army corps, by private Thomas Hare, Co. "D," 89th regiment, New York Volunteers. Private Hare was afterwards killed.

Confederate battle flag - captured at Malvern Hill, near James River, Virginia, July 1, 1862, by Serge. W. J. Whittrick, 83d Pennsylvania Volunteers, Butterfield's brigade. This flag was taken from a South Carolina regiment, who piled up their dead to resist the attack of the brigade.

Flag of the 11th South Carolina Volunteers. Inscribed Port Royal, Cedar Creek, Swift Creek, Petersburg, June 24th, Weldon Railroad. Flag of the 16th South Carolina Volunteers, was captured by Capt. J. W. Scott, Company "D," 157th Pennsylvania Volunteers. It was taken from the hands of the color bearer on the line during the engagement of April 1, 1865, at Five Forks, Virginia.

Confederate battle flag of the 27th South Carolina regiment, captured by private F. C. Anderson, Company "a," 18th Massachusetts battalion.

Confederate battle flag, captured by Gen. Sheridan's forces September 13, 1864, from 8th South Carolina infantry.

Battle flag of Sumter Flying Artillery, captured in the battle of Appomattox Station April 8, 1865, by Chief Bugler Chas. Shorn, 1st Virginia Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, 3d brigade, 3d cavalry division, Gen. Custer commanding.

Battle Flag of the Sumter Heavy Artillery, captured in the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865, by Serge. George J. Pitman, Company C, 1st New York Lincoln Volunteer Cavalry, 3d brigade, 3d division, Gen. Custer commanding. Garrison Flag - "Secessionville," James Island, C. C., defenses of Charleston, captured February, 1865. Presented to the war department y Grig. Gen. A. Schimmelpfennig.

Garrison harbor, captured February 18, 1865. Presented to the war department by Brig. Gen. A. Schimmelpfennig.

Garrison flag of the citadel of Charleston, S. C., captured February 18, 1865. Presented to the war department by Brig. Gen. A. Schimmelpfennig.

I found this information concerning the Confederate flag that most see flying in the Southern States: "....as the civil rights movement gathered force, especially in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, defenders of segregation increasingly employed the use of the battle flag as a symbol of their cause. Most damaging to the flag's reputation was its use in the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Although founded by Confederate veterans almost immediately after the Civil War, the KKK did not use the Confederate flag widely or at all in its ritual in the 1860s and 1870s or during its rebirth and nationwide popularity from 1915 to the late 1920s. Only with a second rebirth in the late 1930s and 1940s did the battle flag take hold in the Klan..." ~ SEE ALSO: Embattled Banner @ Historynet.com.
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