Raleigh, NC Feb. 19, 2013 – During the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12, 1864, a Union soldier ripped the battle flag of the 1st Regiment North Carolina State Troops from its staff during hand-to-hand combat with the color-bearer. The flag’s missing left border attests to the ferocious fighting in the Virginia battle.
This historic banner is part of the Confederate flag collection, one of the nation’s largest, at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Conservation of these banners requires expensive, specialized textile treatment. To help fund this need, the museum has formed a partnership with the 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops, Reactivated, the state’s largest Civil War re-enactment group
During a Jan. 19 presentation at the North
Carolina Museum of History, the 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops,
Reactivated, unveiled the seventh flag it has helped conserve: the
battle flag of the 1st Regiment North Carolina State Troops. CREDIT:
North Carolina Museum of History
“This flag is a silent witness of one of the most horrific days of battle in the Civil War, but it has not been seen by the public for nearly 100 years,” said Jackson Marshall, Associate Director of the Museum of History. “Once again, the museum owes a debt of gratitude to the 26th Regiment members for donating the funds needed to conserve and exhibit the flag.”
Organized in Warrenton, the 1st Regiment participated in many of the major engagements fought by the Army of Northern Virginia. The regiment suffered enormous casualties at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. During the fighting, Pvt. George W. Harris of the Pennsylvania Volunteers seized the 1st Regiment’s battle flag carried by color-bearer Sgt. John Reams of Northampton County. Harris received a Medal of Honor for his deed — Reams was captured and imprisoned in Maryland and New York until he was paroled when the war ended.
The 1st Regiment’s flag was sent to the U.S. War Department in Washington, D.C. It was returned to North Carolina in 1905 and generally kept in a storage vault awaiting conservation.
“This flag is a silent witness of one of the most horrific days of battle in the Civil War, but it has not been seen by the public for nearly 100 years,” said Jackson Marshall, Associate Director of the Museum of History. “Once again, the museum owes a debt of gratitude to the 26th Regiment members for donating the funds needed to conserve and exhibit the flag.”
Organized in Warrenton, the 1st Regiment participated in many of the major engagements fought by the Army of Northern Virginia. The regiment suffered enormous casualties at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. During the fighting, Pvt. George W. Harris of the Pennsylvania Volunteers seized the 1st Regiment’s battle flag carried by color-bearer Sgt. John Reams of Northampton County. Harris received a Medal of Honor for his deed — Reams was captured and imprisoned in Maryland and New York until he was paroled when the war ended.
The 1st Regiment’s flag was sent to the U.S. War Department in Washington, D.C. It was returned to North Carolina in 1905 and generally kept in a storage vault awaiting conservation.
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