Although the Museum of the Albemarle’s Civil War Sesquicentennial exhibit will remain on display until 2015, the same artifacts will not remain up for that entire time. Every 12 months the curatorial staff rotates new objects into the existing displays. A new artifact just went on display this month, the Whitford Flag.
Sometimes referenced as the “Stars & Bars,” this early Confederate flag measures 72 inches by 38 inches. The flag’s field contains the following inscription: “FORT THOMPSON, CAPT. J.N. WHITFORD, Commanding.” Exactly how the flag ended up at the museum is a story in itself.
J.N. Whitford stands for John Nathaniel Whitford. Born in Craven County, Whitford came from a powerful local family. His father served as a General Assemblyman.
John N. Whitford worked as a local merchant in New Bern. When the war broke out, Governor Henry Toole Clark quickly commissioned Whitford as an army captain.
Using his local connections, Whitford raised a company of artillery—Company I, First North Carolina Artillery. Union troops on the Outer Banks posed a threat to New Bern, so Whitford’s men remained in their hometown. They began work on a series of fortifications to protect the port from attack. Whitford’s battery manned a section of this line known as Fort Thompson.
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