This weekend's Civil War show in Dalton, Ga., features tons of relics and four lectures, including one on Confederate flags at Fort Donelson and Fort Henry

Guns and other collectibles at the 2018 show in Dalton (Civil War Picket photo)

Civil War historian and author Gregg Biggs will speak Saturday at the annual Chickamauga Civil War Show in Dalton, Ga., about Confederate flags flown during the Henry-Donelson Campaign in Tennessee.

The 31^st edition of the annual firearms, artifacts and relics show at the Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Tony Ingle Parkway, takes place Saturday and Sunday. Mike Kent, who has been producing Civil War shows for 35 years, said vendors will set up items on about 450 tables.

Biggs is one of four speakers scheduled Saturday

Many Confederate flags were captured as Union forces under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant took Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1862 and gained vital land and river areas in the Western Theater. About 13,000 Confederates were taken prisoner.

Biggs, a noted flag expert, told the Picket his afternoon program will cover three major flag patterns in use: The first national flag of the Confederacy, Virginia state flags used by Brig. Gen. John Floyd’s brigade, and the first use of the Hardee pattern flag by Brig. Gen. Simon Bucker’s division. (Hardee example at left is 3rd Tennessee in a private collection. It was captured by the 14th Missouri.)

Buckner designed the flag while in Bowling Green, Ky., in January 1862. Hardee pattern flags had a blue field and a circular or rectangular white center. They are most identified with units in the Army of Tennessee.

The units holding the forts were from Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. Biggs’ talk will cover existing flags and captured flags that cannot be located today.

"None of the captured CS flags from Henry or Donelson were ever sent to the War Department, which makes tracking them difficult," Biggs told the Picket. "Some were sent home by Union officers and most of those remain missing today."

A few days after Fort Donelson fell, Clarksville and Nashville were captured; the latter the first capital of a Confederate state to go into Union hands.

The lectures Saturday are in Room 1-A on the lower level of the trade center. Seminars are for paying attendees only, said Kent.

Other speakers on the schedule

11 a.m.: Michael J. Manning, author of “They Fought Like Veterans:The Military History of the Civil War in the Indian Territory.” A summary of the book says the strife of the Civil War severely fractured the Five Civilized Tribes, splitting allegiances between the Union and the Confederacy. 

Noon: Historian and author Scott Sallee on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He will present the theory that the killing had nothing to do with the Confederacy but, instead, the radical faction of the Republican Party and the highest levels of the U.S. government.

1 p.m.: Greg Biggs (see above)

2 p.m.: Fort Donelson expert and battlefield tour guide John Walsh will discuss photography during the Civil War. Walsh operates Fort Donelson Relics.

Relic shows are a major place for sellers, museum curators, authors, collectors and others to network.

Show hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $12 for adults; children 12 and under are free.

30th edition of the Civil War show in Dalton, Ga., offers boatloads of relics, three lectures and a familiar place for collectors and vendors to network

The Bullet and Shell table at the 2018 weekend event in Dalton, Ga  (Picket photos)

Patrons at this weekend’s 30^th edition of the Chickamauga Civil War Show in Dalton, Ga., can take in lectures on battlefield preservation, religion during the conflict and Reconstruction.

The annual firearms, artifacts and relics show at the Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Tony Ingle Parkway, takes place Saturday and Sunday. During dealer move-in Friday, people can pay $50 for an “early buyer” badge that gives them the first crack at many items. They can use the pass through the weekend.

Show organizer Mike Kent, who has been producing Civil War shows for 34 years, including 20 at Dalton, said nearly 200 vendors will set up items on 450 tables.

“Standout displays of Confederate buckles by Dr. Bill Blackman, Kenny Copelin and Scott Riddle are always one of the top attractions at the show and Father Bob Miller, who is one of our guest speakers, will also have a display on religion during the war,” Kent (left) told the Picket.

Kent said all Civil War shows have evolved over the years. What started out as mainly a show for dug relics from the Civil War has developed into an all era, militaria-type show with relics, artifacts, weapons and memorabilia from the Revolutionary War up through World War ll.

“As Civil War material becomes more difficult and expensive to acquire, collectors are tending toward items from more recent eras such as WW ll, but the Dalton show is still 80% to 90% Civil War related.” Kent also runs the larger Franklin Civil War Show in Tennessee, held in December.

Beyond sales, relic shows are a major place for sellers, museum curators, authors, collectors and others to network.

While there is a fee to enter the Dalton hall, three lectures Saturday in Room 1-A on the first floor of the trade center are free and those interested do not need to enter the show to listen. The schedule:

11 a.m.: Anthony Hodges, head of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, and Joe Trahan, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, will discuss battlefield preservation.

Noon: Father Bob Miller, a Catholic priest and historian, speaks on “Religion is what makes soldiers brave: Seven reasons why faith was important during the Civil War.”

1 p.m.: Historian and author Scott Sallee lectures on Reconstruction following the Civil War, and its three phrases.

Civil War photo collector and expert David Wynn Vaughan of Atlanta plans to attend Friday’s VIP session. “I (always) hope to find a nice Confederate image.”

Ronald S. Coddington,  author, historian and publisher of Military Images magazine, has previously set up shop at the Dalton show -- interacting with patrons by scanning tintypes, ambrotype images and cartes de visite for possible print and online galleries for this magazine, getting story ideas and weighing in on a card’s value.

While he is unable to attend this year, Coddington said he enjoys meeting the public.

“The passion and knowledge these caretakers have for artifacts is inspiration. And the opportunity to be physically present to touch the artifacts is not something you can get in the digital world -- at least not yet.”

A prospective buyer checks out firearms in 2010 (Civil War Picket)

Kent says photo collector and dealer Paul Reeder, known for his Confederate images, will be at the show. Military Images has published some of his collection.

Show hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $12 for adults; children 12 and under are free. Friday’s VIP session ($50) is 10 a.m.-7 p.m.