previous next

[484]

Frankfort, Ky., Jan. 15th, 1872.
My dear General,—Your kind note of the 11th instant, enclosing copy of letter to Captain Preble, in reference to Confederate ‘battle-flag,’ is received. I concur with you in regard to your recollections of the circumstances connected with its adoption, and have so endorsed upon the letter.

Caramba! what recollection the sight of your handwriting and reference to Fairfax: Court-House, ‘battle-flags,’ etc., brings swarming in my mind. But ‘What is done, is done,’ and can't be undone. My wife joins me in kind regards to yourself and family.

As ever, very truly, your friend,


Savannah, Jan. 16th, 1872.
My dear General,—Your letter of the 11th is received, and, as you request, I write my ‘recollections’ of the origin of the ‘battle-flag.’

It was generally believed by those with whom I was in the habit of conversing, just after the battle of Manassas, that some of the Federal regiments bore Confederate colors in the action, and Northern papers contained similar accusations against us. This led to observation of the difficulty of distinguishing the colors of the armies from each other. On that account I attempted to procure, from the different Southern States, State flags for their regiments. Only the Virginia regiments were supplied in this way, however, when, you and other leading officers concurring as to the necessity, I determined to have colors made by the Quartermaster's Department. Many designs, drawn by members of the army, were offered—most by you. All of them were oblong. I selected one of those you offered, but changed the shape to square, and fixed the size: colors of infantry to be four feet, of artillery three, and standards to be two and a half. They were then made by the Quartermaster's Department as soon as practicable.

I had no conference or correspondence with the War Department or civilians on the subject. My recollection is that it was an army affair, and, when questioned on the subject, I have always said so. I was not a party to your consultation with Colonel Miles, but heard long after, indirectly, from him, that he had corresponded with you in relation to a new design for colors.

I have no particular confidence in my memory, but this subject has been so often talked of in my presence, both during and since the war, that I believe that I am not far wrong in my recollection of my own agency in this matter, such conversations having prevented me from forgetting circumstances not important enough to be thought of otherwise.

There is no doubt that in this generation Southern troops will fight better under that than any other flag, as you say.

Yours truly,


Frankfort, Ky., Jan. 19th, 1872.
My dear General,—Yours of the 13th instant reached me yesterday. I enclosed and sent the copy of letter to Captain Preble back to you on the 15th. I


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)
hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
George Henry Preble (2)
G. T. Beauregard (2)
Gustavus W. Smith (1)
W. Porcher Miles (1)
Joseph E. Johnston (1)
Fairfax (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
January 19th, 1872 AD (1)
January 16th, 1872 AD (1)
January 15th, 1872 AD (1)
15th (1)
13th (1)
11th (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: