Wednesday, July 16, 2025

13th Alabama Infantry flag is back at Gettysburg for the first time since Pickett's Charge. Read all about its close call, intrepid color bearer, capture and conservation

13th Alabama flag (Alabama Archives); Pickett receiving orders from Longstreet at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and Confederate veterans at the grand Gettysburg reunion in 1913 (Library of Congress)
A half mile away from where it was captured – but not before its color bearer inflicted an ugly wound on a Yankee – the battle flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry is on display at Gettysburg for the first time since the July 1863 battle.

The regiment, part of Archer’s Brigade, suffered a staggering 62 percent casualty rate in the three days of fighting; many members were captured during Pickett’s Charge, where the flag was lost to the 1st Delaware Infantry near the Angle.

Gettysburg National Military Park is showcasing the flag at the visitor center’s main museum gallery until February 2027.

Cool to see this flag coming for a visit,” Civil War flag expert and researcher Greg Biggs told the Picket in an email.

The park reached out to the Alabama Department of Archives and History for the loan. The effort was assisted by the Gettysburg Foundation.

The flag has been at the Alabama Archives since 1905, when numerous Civil War flags were returned to states by order of President Theodore Roosevelt as a symbol of reconciliation. It was conserved in 1991 and, until this year, has only been on display at the Archives and Confederate Memorial Park, said Ryan M. Blocker, a curator at the archives.

Three veterans at Alabama soldiers' home in 1902 (Confederate Memorial Park)
Confederate Memorial Park in Chilton County, Ala., routinely displays Civil War flags, said site manager Calvin Chappelle. The park is on the site of a soldiers’ home that operated from 1902 to 1939. Several residents were veterans of the 13th Alabama.

“Each flag has a story to tell. It obviously it was very important to the men who fought underneath them,” Chappelle said of the rotating displays.

A provenance report on the flag provides compelling details on its near capture on the first day at Gettysburg and how it apparently was attached to a lance for the Rebel attack at the Union center on July 3, 1863.

“I think its survival in itself is significant,” said Blocker. “The flag has not been back to Gettysburg since 1863, and we were honored to partner with the curators at Gettysburg to temporarily return the flag to the site where Alabamians carried it through one of the most significant battles of the Civil War.”

This flag was a replacement crafted in Richmond

The 13th Alabama was formed in Montgomery in July 1861 and it joined the Army of Northern Virginia, where it took part in numerous campaigns in Maryland and Virginia, ending at Appomattox.

Made of wool bunting, this flag was issued to the regiment after it lost its flag at Antietam in September 1862. Biggs noted the flag was made by the Richmond Clothing Bureau, one of 14 Confederate quartermaster clothing bureaus.

The depot also manufactured shell jackets (right, Library of Congress)

The RCB contracted with a local painter, Lewis Montague, to stencil the regimental designations and battle honors onto flags.

Blocker said the 13th Alabama flag – which was conserved by Textile Preservation Associates -- is in “good, exhibitable” condition. The artifact is mostly intact, with about 5 percent of its fabric missing.

There is some insect damage in the wool and accumulations of soil from exposure to a polluted environment, possibly a coal or oil-heated atmosphere,” she said in an email.

Before conservation, the flag exhibited sharp crease lines from being folded for many years. Crease lines can develop into weak points over time, Blocker said. If left unaddressed, the fibers would have broken, leading to additional damage.

Color bearer took a stab at bluecoat foe

13th Alabama is part of the Fry command at left center; click to enlarge (Hal Jespersen / Wikipedia)
The 13th Alabama was at Gettysburg from the battle’s beginning. Its brigade tangled with the Federal Iron Brigade at Willoughby Run.

“As the fighting intensified, Federal troops appeared on the regiment’s right flank, resulting in the capture of approximately 100 of its soldiers and forcing the remainder back across the run,” says a National Park Service article about the exhibit at Gettysburg. “Before the withdrawal, however, Private William Castleberry tore the 13th Alabama Infantry’s battle flag from its staff, saving it from capture.”

On July 3, regimental commander Col. Birkett Davenport Fry (right) noticed the flag bearer had attached a “formidable looking lance head to this staff,” according to the provenance report.

The condition of this flag indicates that at the time Castleberry tore it from the staff on July 1, the leading edge was ripped, tearing away the two top eyelets, leaving only one by which the flag could be attached to a staff. “So, what Colonel Fry apparently saw was the flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry attached to a lance which had been used to replace the missing staff,” the provenance report says.

The 13th Alabama pushed to the front of the doomed Confederate assault and the flag was carried by multiple bearers. The 1st Delaware captured it and two other flags. A total of 38 flags from 50 Rebel regiments were seized at Pickett’s Charge.

Pvt. Bernard McCarren of Company C, 1st Delaware Infantry, was credited with the capture of the flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry and he received the Medal of Honor the following year.

Fry, who lost a leg in the charge and was taken prisoner, later said he encountered a Federal soldier with a serious shoulder wound from the lance.

The flag was eventually forwarded to the U.S. War Department, where it was assigned Capture Number 60.

Handwritten words across the top of the artifact say, “Confederate Flag of the 13th Alabama Reg. Captured by Company C. 1St Del. Vols.” The center star bears the inked inscription: “captured by Co. C., 1st Delaware Volunteers Regt., Gettysburg Pa., July 3d 1863.”

These graybeard Alabamians attended reunion

The 13th Alabama flag was on display at the 102-acre Confederate Memorial Park from 2021-2022.

The park, which the state opened during the Civil War centennial in 1964, contains the site of the original veterans home and other historic structures, as well as a museum, research facility and two soldier cemeteries.

13th Alabama flag while on display in Chilton County, Alabama (Confederate Memorial Park)
Chappelle, the site manager, told the Picket the park typically displays a few flags from the Alabama Archives on a rotating basis. Currently on display are ones for the 18th Alabama, Hilliard’s Legion and the Rifle Scouts.

Five soldiers from the soldiers’ home attended the famous Gettysburg 50th reunion in 2013. Two served in the 13th Alabama, notably Capt. James M. Simpson, head of the home. He was wounded during Pickett’s Charge.

Confederate Memorial Park, in a Facebook post last year, quoted a June 25, 1913, article in the Montgomery Advertiser, Simpson was "very much gratified over the prospects of such a happy reunion at Gettysburg. Monday morning before the reunion begins, Captain Simpson has an engagement to meet old comrades at Reynolds’ monument on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the spot where they entered the great fight."

There is no evidence the 13th Alabama flag was brought to Gettysburg for the reunion, Blocker said.

“There may have been a sense of reunion, but not complete reconciliation or equality. Regardless, it was a start to the long process that we are perhaps still enduring today,” Confederate Memorial Park said on social media.

James M. Simpson was commandant of the home from 1906-1916 (Confederate Memorial Park)
Among the residents at the Alabama home was Pvt. Oscar Williams, who served with the 6th Alabama, which suffered heavy casualties at Gettysburg.

A database about the soldiers, created by Chappelle and late park director Bill Rambo, says Williams was “the toast of veterans” at a reunion, according to a 1911 Montgomery Advertiser article. That’s because he was shot twice on July 2 at Gettysburg while carrying the colors of the regiment.

It was apparent then, as in any conflict, a unit’s flag elicited much pride and emotion.

Flags need time to rest for a few years

While the 13th Alabama flag wasn’t back at Gettysburg until earlier this year, the 5th Alabama’s did pay a visit in 2009 during a meeting of the Artist Preservation Group. The Montgomery, Ala., chapter of the organization helped fund that flag’s conservation.

“Our chief curator at the time drove the flag up to the conservator, passing through Gettysburg. The flag was displayed temporarily at the Gettysburg convention center during the convention,” said Blocker.

Photo of the 13th Alabama flag during conservation (Alabama Dept. of Archives and History)
I asked the curator about how often the 13th Alabama flag has been displayed. She described how the archives came to protect them from light, heat and humidity.

When the Archives moved to its current location in 1940, these flags were exhibited in cases lining the hallways of the second floor. In the 1980s, the flags were removed from display and placed in storage to assess their condition, Blocker wrote.

A flag conservation program was established in the early 1990s, and the 13th was sent for conservation in 1991. After its conservation, it was featured in the “Tattered Banners” exhibit at the Archives, which was on display until the early 2010s. Flags in this exhibit were rotated in and then out as new flags underwent conservation.

“Our policy on displaying flags has evolved over time as our understanding of best practices for the storage and display of textiles has improved,” Blocker said. ”We aim to limit the duration that a flag is loaned or displayed to a maximum of two years. The conditions for display are very specific; for example, light levels must stay within certain foot-candle measurements, and temperature and humidity must remain within defined parameters.”

Union veterans (background) at Gettysburg face Confederate men in 1913 (Library of Congress)
After a flag is displayed, it rests for several years before being exhibited again.

After its time at Confederate Memorial Park, the 13th Alabama flag rested until earlier this year, when it was shipped to Gettysburg. “While the timeframe was shorter than our regular practice would allow, we thought it was a good opportunity for the flag to make its return to Gettysburg,” said Blocker.

She and other curators and conservators stress the condition of a flag helps tell its story. So the focus is on conservation and preservation, rather than restoring them to their original state.

“The flags reveal the harsh realities of war; some have holes where shrapnel has torn through, and others have whole sections of the flag missing. These holes and marks are an integral part of the flag's history,” said Blocker.

No comments:

Post a Comment