Regiments in the Civil War usually carried two flags: a national flag (the Stars & Bars in the case of the Confederates) and a regimental flag. These flags, called “colors”, were precious to the regiments and many a man died for the honor of carrying the colors in battle. It was a great disgrace for a regiment to lose its colors in battle, and a great honor to capture them from an opponent, and many a man died attempting to seize the opponents’ colors.
Here are a few battle flags collected off the Web. These all happen to be Confederate flags, but any photos of Federal battle flags you know of and like see added to this collection, would be greatly appreciated. The more history you have of the flag, the better. And the more battle history the flag has, the better.
- 19th Mississippi
- 18th Tennessee
- 17th Virginia
- 17th Tennessee Regulars
- 8th Virginia
- 9th Texas Cavalry
- 13th Virginia
- 16th North Carolina
- 6th Kentucky Volunteers
- 4th Tennessee
- 3rd Alabama
- 1st Texas
- Jeb Stuart’s HQ Flag
- Jeb Stuart’s Horse Artillery
- 1st Mississippi
- 2nd Georgia
- Gen. Leonidas Polk’s Flag
- General Lee’s HQ Flag
- CSS Tennessee Ironclad Flag
- 47th North Carolina Volunteers
- 22nd North Carolina
- 28th Virginia
- 33rd North Carolina
- 31st Tennessee