Surrendered, Smuggled, or Severed? The Battle Flags of the ANV and the AOT at Appomattox and the Bennett Place.

37th Alabama Infantry

   Back in January/February 1987, an article appeared in Confederate Veteran magazine about the flag of the 37^th Alabama Infantry. As the story goes, that flag escaped surrender twice. After the regiment was surrendered at Vicksburg, the flag was secreted away, folded up in the saddle blanket of Col. James F. Dowdell’s horse. Then after the surrender of the regiment at Greensboro, the flag was “smuggled out of Greensboro” by a Captain Johnson. The flag remained in various families until it was donated to Auburn University and is today in the Alabama Room at Auburn.[1]

   The surrender terms worked out between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, stipulated that “arms, artillery, and public property” were to be stacked and turned over to an officer designated by Grant. Likewise, the final terms worked out between Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman at the Bennett Place on April 26, 1865, specified once again that  “public property” had to be turned over to an ordinance offer of the United States army. Since flags were issued by the government, they would be considered public property. But like the story above regarding the flag of the 37^th Alabama, not all flags were surrendered. Some were, but others were secreted away, while others were destroyed by Confederate soldiers.

61st Virginia Infantry 

   Federal General John Gibbon wrote on April 13, 1865, that 71 Confederate flags were surrendered at Appomattox.[2] Most of the descriptions of the surrender of flags come from the Federals. One Federal wrote that the Confederates seemed to hate to give up their flags more than anything else. Many kissed the flags with tears in their eyes.[3] Federal General Joshua L. Chamberlain, supervising the stacking of arms, wrote that “Then, slowly and with a reluctance that was appealingly pathetic, the torn and tattered battleflags were either leaned against the stacks or laid on the ground.”[4] However, one North Carolinian wrote that the flags were placed on the stacks, not on the ground.[5] Among those surrendered include the flags of the those of the 5^th, 48^th, and 60^th Alabama Infantry regiments; the 13^th, 15^th, and 28^th North Carolina regiments, and the 61^st Virginia Infantry. A few Army of Northern Virginia flags were secreted away. Ensign Emanuel Rudisill, 16^th North Carolina State Troops, sewed his regiment’s silk battle flag inside the lining of his coat and brought it home.[6] Likewise the flags of the 2^nd South Carolina Infantry, 12^th South Carolina Infantry, 38^th North Carolina Troops, and 25^th North Carolina Troops were not surrendered and were brought home. The flag of the 14^th South Carolina Infantry was concealed under a rock before the surrender, and was later retrieved.[7] A few flags, like the headquarters flag of Robert E. Lee, and the flags of the 23^rd and 24^th Virginia Regiments, were not surrendered or brought home, intact. Instead, they were cut up and the pieces distributed among the paroled soldiers.

It was a different scenario with the Army of Tennessee. Instead of being boxed in like the Army of Northern Virginia, the various Confederate regiments in North Carolina were spread out, from Greensboro to High Point to Salisbury, even Charlotte. There were no formal surrender ceremonies. Instead, artillery was parked and some regiments stacked some of their arms, although Confederates were allowed to keep some of their weapons. Very few flags were surrendered. A report from the New York Herald noted that “We have got very few battle flags or horses.”[8] Many of the Army of Tennessee soldiers concealed their flags to take home. The third bunting issue Army of Northern Virginia flag of the 26^th Alabama Infantry (the regiment served in both the ANV and the AOT) was wrapped around the body servant of Dr. Hayes, the brigade surgeon, and brought back to Alabama.[9]

3rd Tennessee Infantry

The flag of the 49^th Tennessee was concealed on the person Robert Y. Johnson, only to be forcibly taken by Federals when the group reached Lenoir City, Tennessee.[10] Other flags that were concealed and brought home include those of the 3^rd, 7^th, 10^th, 12^th, 16^th, and 24^th South Carolina Infantry, 20^th, 33^rd, 34^th, 36^th, and 40^th Alabama Infantry; 8^th and 17^th North Carolina Troops; 3^rd, 4^th, 6/9^th, 11^th, 13^th, 18^th/26^th, 24^th, 32^nd, and 49^th Tennessee Infantry regiments; 7^th Florida Infantry; 9^th Arkansas Infantry; and 1^st and 42^nd Georgia Infantry regiments. Some flags, such as those of the 7^th and 58^th North Carolina Troops, 1^st Tennessee, and 7^th South Carolina Battalion, were cut up and the pieces distributed to the remaining members. A member of the 2^nd Tennessee Cavalry recalled cutting their flag up into 160 pieces.[11] A member of the 47^th Georgia recalled cutting up their flag,  concealing the pieces in a saddle blanket and setting off to the Trans-Mississippi department.[12] Except for the flag of the 26^th Tennessee Infantry, it is not clear if any other flags were surrendered by the Army of Tennessee, and this banner could have been captured at the battle of Bentonville.[13]

This post just barely scratches the surface of Confederate battle flags and the last month of the war. Unless it is hidden away at the National Archives, there does not seem to be a list of Confederate flags that were captured, destroyed, surrendered, or secreted home through the months of April and May 1865. What a project! 

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[1] Golden, “The 37^th Alabama Flag,” Confederate Veteran (January-February 1987): 24-25.

[2] Official Records, 46, pt.3, 734.

[3] Cauble, The Surrender Proceedings, 95-96.

[4] Chamberlain, “Last Salute,” 362.

[5] Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 3:77.

[6] Dedmondt, The Flags of Civil War North Carolina, 100.

[7] Dedmondt, The Flags of Civil War South Carolina, 106.

[8] New York Herald, May 9, 1865.

[9] Dedmondt, The Flags of Civil War Alabama, 80.

[10] Cox, Civil War Flags of Tennessee, 361.

[11] Cox, civil War Flags of Tennessee, 431.

[12] Dunkerly, The Confederate Surrender at Greensboro, 116.

[13] Cox, Civil War Flags of Tennessee, 294.

Macon County

Since I am leading a discussion about the War and Macon County this afternoon (at the Hudson Library in Highlands), I thought maybe we would turn our attention to a survey about Macon County and the War.

Macon County was created in 1828, taken from Haywood County. It was named for Nathaniel Macon, a early North Carolina political leader in Washington. Franklin is the county seat.

In 1860, the population of Macon County was 6,004, including 519 slaves and 115 free persons of color. In the 1860 presidential election, local white men cast 221 votes for Breckinridge, 469 for Bell, and 13 for Douglas.

When the secession crisis came in February 1861, locals were divided. Local men cast 250 votes for the convention, and 259 votes against calling the convention. Their one delegate was Conaro D. Smith. Born in 1813 in North Carolina, Smith grew up in Tennessee, and then returned to North Carolina, clerking for the firm of Smith and McElroy in Yancey County. Soon thereafter, Smith was licensed to preach, traveling the circuit in Georgia and Tennessee, before retiring to Macon County. He would go on to serve in the General Assembly in 1862. He died in January 1894.

When the war came, Macon County sent 1,267 men to Confederate service. They served in Company K, 1st North Carolina Cavalry; Companies E and G, 6th North Carolina Cavalry; Company A, 7th North Carolina Cavalry; Company H, 16th North Carolina State Troops; Company G, 25th North Carolina Troops; Companies B and I, 39th North Carolina Troops; Company D, 62nd North Carolina Troops; and Company K, 69th North Carolina Troops. Macon County also had 22 men who served in the Union army, mostly in one of the United States Volunteer regiments. By the end of the War, 201 men had died in Confederate service.

Like many other mountain counties, Macon County's war was very personal. There were a couple of key events that did take place within the county. Thomas's Legion of Cherokee and white soldiers was created in Franklin in September 1862, and one of the last surrenders of Confederate forces in the east also took place in the town at Dixie Hall on May 12, 1865.

After the war, there was a United Confederate Veterans camp in Franklin (camp 955) and in 1909, a Confederate Monument was dedicated in the town of Franklin.

News and notes....

Yes, I know, I just did this recently, but several things have come up that you might be interested in.

There will be a Mitchell County and the Civil War Round Table tonight at the Masonic Lodge in Bakersville. Starts at 6:30 pm and everyone is invited to attend.

There is some information on the Cape Lookout Lighthouse in a magazine called Sport Fishing. You can check it out here.

Information about a Tar Heel soldier who served in the 25th NCT and who might have owned a Henry rifle can be found here.

Zeb Vance gets a mention in a article about the Tenth Amendment, which you can read here.

The Gaston Gazette reports on the activities of writer and historian Mark Hughes, who has put together “The New Civil War Handbook.” Check it out here.

There is a upcoming living history at the site of the Fayetteville Arsenal this weekend. Learn more about the Arsenal and the event by clicking here.

This past weekend, there was a memorial service honoring Maj. James Riley, the officer who surrendered Fort Fisher. Check it out here. Andrew Duppstadt has more information on his blog, Civil War Navy, which you can find here.

Henderson County

For our next county survey, I thought we would look at Henderson County. In 1838, the southern part of Buncombe County was taken to create Henderson County. The county is named for Leonard Henderson, Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1833. The county seat, Hendersonville, is also named for Henderson.

In 1860, Henderson County had a total population of 10,448, including 1,382 slaves, and 85 free blacks. The county boundaries also contained most of present-day Transylvania County. In the 1860 presidential election, Henderson County cast 425 votes for Breckinridge, 496 for Bell, and 4 for Douglas. William M. Shipp was elected over Alexander Hamilton Jones to represented the County during the Secession vote in May 1861. There were actually threats made that men voting for Jones would be shot. Jones later enlisted in the Federal army, and served as Henderson County’s representative at the state convention in 1865, and in the United States Congress.

According to Terrell Garren’s Mountain Myth, Henderson County supplied 1,296 men to the Confederate army and 130 men to the Federal army. Men from Henderson County served in Company I, 16th NCST; Companies A and H, 25th NCT; Company G, 35th NCT; Company G, 56th NCT; and Company D, 60th NCT. On the Federal side, Henderson County men served in the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (US).

Probably the most interesting aspect of Henderson County’s role in the war actually stems from the area being used as an antebellum summer home for many people from the South Carolina low country. Probably the best example would be Christopher G. Memminger. After growing up in South Carolina, Memminger bought land and built Connemara, his summer home in 1838. Memminger would later become the first Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederacy. He served until 1864, when he resigned. Memminger was replaced by another part-time Henderson County resident: George A. Trenholm, who owned Solitude. It is believed that Trenholm was the model for Rhett Butler in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.

Numerous accounts of bushwhacking in Henderson County survive. We will focus on two main events. On June 10, 1864, Andrew Johnstone was eating dinner with his family when six men showed up at the house, Beaumont, near Flat Rock. After eating dinner with the Johnstones, one of the “bushwhackers” shot and killed Andrew. His thirteen year-old son retrieved the pistol that Andrew was attempting to draw, and then killed two and wounded another of the attackers. Later, Company E, of the 64th North Carolina Troops was sent to Flat Rock to help maintain order.

On April 23, 1865, Some of Stoneman’s men arrived in town, spending the night and quartering their horses in a part of an unfinished college building.

There is much to see in Henderson County today when it comes to the War. Connemara was later purchased by Carl Sandburg, who wrote a Pulitzer-winning biography on Abraham Lincoln. The house has been preserved and is a part of the National Park Service. If you visit the area, also check out the St. Johns in the Wilderness Episcopal Church Cemetery, where Memminger is buried, along with several other officers. This is one of the best cemeteries in all of western North Carolina. If you have time to visit one other place, make sure it is the Henderson County Museum in Hendersonville. Located in the old courthouse, the museum has a fantastic Civil War display. On the grounds of the courthouse are numerous monuments, including a Dixie Highway marker, and a Confederate monument, erected in 1903. Also, in the northern portion of the county, in Fletcher, near Calvary Episcopal Church, is a group of monuments to Robert E. Lee, Zebulon Baird Vance, Daniel Emmett, Francis Key Scott, and O. Henry.

Clay County

Folks, I started this county survey long before the holidays. I am just now finishing it. I could not find much that took place in Clay County during the war.


For this county study, we are going to turn our attention to the far southwestern corner of the state and look at Clay County.

Clay County was created in 1861 from Cherokee County and named for the Kentucky politician Henry Clay. The county seat, Hayesville, is built on the site of the former Cherokee village of Quanassee, and was not incorporated until 1913.

Clay County, population wise, was a small place during the war. Since the county was formed in 1861, there is no 1860 census. In 1860, the area of Cherokee County was listed with a population of 9,166, including 519 slaves. In 1870, Clay County had just 2,461 people living within its borders.

Men from the area served in Company G, 25th North Carolina Troops; Co. E, 39th North Carolina Troops; Co. B, 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry (6th NC Cavalry); and a company in Walker’s Battalion in Thomas’s Legion.

There is not a lot of information about the war and Clay County. Apparently, the people in that corner of the state hard a hard time getting their mail during the war (see Raleigh Weekly Standard 30 Dec. 1863).


An interesting letter was in the Weekly Standard in July 1863. It read, in part, that crops were generally poor, due to the amount of rain and the lack of hands to work the land. The writer, “S.,” concluded with this:

Will you be so kind, Mr. Editor, as to inform Jeff. Davis and his Destructive coadjutors, that, after they make the next draw of men from this mountain region, if they please, as an act of great and special mercy, be so gracious as to call out a few, just a few of their exempted pets from Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina, to knock the women and children of the mountains in the head, to put them out of their misery. Assure Mr. Davis that his pets in such a campaign will be in no danger; the poor women and children will be so weak they can’t hurt them.

If I find more about Clay County, I’ll revise this post.

Books

Today, I read that the North Carolina Historical Publications Office is getting ready to release the next volume of the North Carolina Troop book series (Volume 16). This volume is to contain a roster of Thomas’s Legion. While not yet listed on the web page, you can check out the other volumes here.

I’ve also seen that McFarland is releasing a history of the 25th North Carolina Troops, written by Carroll C. Jones. I’m not sure why there is a picture depicting the 26th North Carolina on the front of a book about the 25th North Carolina. Check it out here.

From the publisher:
This historical account covers the 25th Regiment North Carolina Infantry Troops during the Civil War. Farmers and their sons left the mountains to enlist with the regiment organized in Asheville in August 1861 to defend their home territory. The book chronicles the unit’s defensive tactics in the Carolina coastal regions and battlefield actions at Seven Days, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Plymouth and Petersburg, in addition to casualty and desertion records. More than 125 photos, illustrations, and maps are featured, as well as a complete regimental roster.

I am also very much looking forward to Paul Escott’s North Carolinians in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction, soon to be released by UNC Press.


I’ve also seen a new book by Arcadia entitled Greensboro’s Confederate Soldiers, by Carol Moore

Just a few thoughts! Do you think we will ever run out of material to write about?