11th Virginia flag captured at Pickett's Charge is sold at auction for a total $468,000. The largely intact artifact surfaced at a Georgia collectors show a few years back

A Confederate battle flag captured during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg has sold at auction for $390,000, four years after it surfaced at a Civil War show in Dalton, Ga.

Fleischer’s Auctions listed the flag of the 11^th Virginia, which served in Kemper’s Brigade, as likely going between $150,000 and $300,000. With the buyer’s premium, a private individual purchased the flag Saturday for $468,000, president Adam Fleischer told the Picket in an email Sunday.

“The flag's high sale price was gratifying, given its historic significance and rarity,” said Fleischer. “Its recognition as one of the most valuable Civil War artifacts sold in recent years rightfully reflects its importance.” (Photos courtesy Fleischer's Auctions)

The flag was among dozens of Civil War and militaria items sold over the weekend by the Ohio business. There were 30 bids on the hand-sewn artifact involving four people on the phone. 

Fleischer talked with Columbus, Ohio, NPR station WOSU about the regimental flag.

“It was advanced by several successive color bearers who were either wounded or killed before it was ultimately captured by an officer in the 16th Vermont Infantry. That officer, after capturing the flag, was killed himself.”

The officer was 2^nd Lt. Cyren B. Lawton.

Fleischer’s said the flag hung at a home in Memphis, Tenn., for decades. It belonged to a 16th Vermont veteran who moved there are the war.

The person who brought the flag to the Chickamauga Civil War Show cracked open a wooden frame and unfolded the flag. With it was a tag:

"Confederate flag remnant, Taken at Gettysburg by Capt. H. F. Dix, 16th Vt. Vol. Inf. Loan of me Elizabeth Dix, June 1943." Dix kept the flag after comrades divided portions of the flag as a souvenir after the failed Confederate assault.

Gregg Biggs, a flag expert who wrote a report on the artifact for Fleischer's, was at the Dalton show and took photos of it being removed from its frame.

"This was a stunning flag to finally turn up so long after it's capture in July 1863," he told the Picket. "The 16th Vermont who took this flag also got the silk flag of the 2nd Florida Infantry, which is still missing and presumably still in Vermont if it has not fallen apart by now."

He said about 50%-55% of the original flag remained.

"The flag was heavily souvenired into the form of a plus (+) which was done in honor of the death of a fellow soldier," Biggs said by email. "After it turned up it went to a conservator who shadowed in the missing areas. If you look closely at the flag you can see these differences easily enough."

Biggs said the man who brought it to the Dalton show from Memphis was a descendant of a 16th Vermont veteran who moved to Tennessee after the war. A collector bought the flag, had it conserved and then sold it to an individual who later consigned it to Fleisher's Auctions, he added.

Mike Kent, who runs and promotes the Dalton show, told the Picket on Monday the flag came in as a walk-in item, but he was not aware of it until recently, because many rare and valuable items change hands without his knowledge.

“I get excited when articles such as the flag are brought to our shows, identified and often sold at high end auctions as it adds credence to our events and often encourages others to bring artifacts to our next event or some other show which keeps our industry alive,” Kent said in an email.

“For it to emerge after 158 years in the condition it is in is unbelievable. Cloth and paper items from the Civil War are usually the first to disintegrate due to their fragile nature and rough usage, which adds even more value to this particular flag. It was definitely one of the finest items to ever pass through our show and we all hope it is well cared for so that future generations may appreciate it."

It’s believed to be the only Confederate battle flag captured during the assault that is in private hands.

"Following the flag’s discovery, it was expertly conserved, and appropriate modern material was artfully arranged in the frame for display purposes," the auction house said.

The Confederate battle flag in the past decade has been embroiled in controversy. Some argue it’s a symbol of Southern culture while others call it a racist symbol. WOSU asked Fleischer how to contextualize Confederate relics.

“The artifact that we're offering is just contextualized by the fact that it's a historic artifact. It's not a monument. And as you can imagine, we put this online recently and it stoked a lot of controversy,” he told the station.

“There are those who think it should be destroyed, even as a historic artifact. But I guess what I would remind them is that this was a flag that a Northern officer lost his life to capture. And so it not only represents the Confederacy, but also the heroism of Union soldiers who captured it.”

Fleischer's said its weekend auction netted $2 million in sales.  

Behind every Civil War picture there is a story, sometimes hard to find. Author Ron Coddington is a detective on the case

Ron Coddington at the Civil War show in Dalton, Ga.

The two troopers with the 13^th New York Cavalry wanted their loved ones to know they were ready for whatever would come at them. A painted patriotic camp scene serves as a backdrop as they pose, swords at their sides and their feet resting on a photographer’s props. One gazes at the camera, his ample whiskers concealing what might be a sly smile.

“It’s a favorite of mine. It’s in pristine condition,” said Ronald S. Coddington, an author, historian and journalist who was manning a table Saturday at the Chickamauga Civil War Show in Dalton, Ga. The show concludes Sunday.

The New Jersey native was talking about one of the 2,700 carte de visite, or small portrait cards, he has collected since he was 14. Unlike most people, Coddington, now 55, took his passion to a much deeper level.

He is working on his fifth book – about nurses – in his “Faces of the Civil War" series for Johns Hopkins University Press. He publishes Military Images magazine and also has written for Civil War News and the The New York Times’ Disunion series during the Civil War’s sesquicentennial. (Full disclosure: I worked during the 1990s with Coddington at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; where he was an illustrator, caricaturist and graphic artist).

This weekend, Coddington interacted with patrons on a number of levels, scanning tintypes, ambrotype images and cartes de visite for possible print and online galleries for this magazine, getting story ideas, networking and weighing in on a card’s value, a la “Antiques Roadshow” style. While the market currently is a bit soft, the higher-quality images can still draw a pretty penny, some up to the tens of thousands of dollars.

The Arlington, Va., resident spoke briefly spoke with me about what he and about 100 other such collectors do to learn more about the subjects of cards. Coddington goes the extra mile, researching newspapers, old records, pension records and more.

“Show me a photo of somebody and let me read about them,” he said. He writes about 1,000 words for each image appearing in his books.

Many of the photographs in his books belong to other collectors. He purchased the one of the men with the 13^th New York at the Dalton show about 15 years ago.

(Courtesy of Ronald S. Coddington)

The gentleman on the right is Q.M. Sgt. Henry Augustus Blanchard, a “big, stout, square-built” fellow who served until the end of the war, despite declining health. His photo and vignette appeared in Coddington’s first book, “Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories.”

Coddington does not know the identity of the other NCO. He said that happens about 25 percent of the time.

Cartes de visite were the baseball cards of the time. Unlike a tintype photographc, the cards came from a glass plate negative, allowing a soldier or sailor to purchase a dozen copies to hold or send to loved ones by letter.

Coddington spoke a few years ago with the Civil War Trust about Military Images, which has pushed its online and social media presence.

Reverse side of scanned cartes de visite

He told the preservation group: “Over time, I’ve come to understand and appreciate that these rare soldier portraits humanize the terrible conflict that raged on our soil during the four bloodiest and most violent years in our nation’s history. When I see these photos, which were personal, intimate objects shared with family, friends and comrades at a time of war, I am reminded of these soldiers’ courage, and my own responsibilities as an American and a world citizen.”

Civil War fashion show: These re-enactors jump through hoops to get it right

“Hollywood has wrecked history.”

With that, Holly Sheen ticked off a litany of fashion faux pas on the screen, including the classic, “Gone With the Wind.”

The bonnets were wrong. The hair was wretched.

There was a bright spot: “Melanie was fabulous.” Scarlett -- not so much.

Sheen, of Greenville, S.C., and a dozen other living historians walked the runway Saturday during two Civil War fashion shows at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. The park held four days of events remembering the 150^th anniversary of the battle during the Atlanta Campaign.

These sticklers for accuracy spoke to me before the program, emphasizing the proper looks for the mid-19^th century.

Mature women would wear their “confined” hair parted down the middle. The household would have access to fashion and etiquette publications.

“As a girl grew up, her skirts grew longer,” said Janine Whiteman of Roswell, Ga.

Phillip Whiteman of Roswell, Ga., wore a businessman's frock coat with a fancy silk vest. His tophat was fashioned with wool felt.

Sheen and her daughters, Heather and Raquelle, wore V-neck dresses based on designs from the Archibald Smith Plantation Home in Roswell. “It’s a hot-weather dress.”

Just getting properly dressed was a considerable task.

Sherry Key explains hair design worn by Heather Sheen

A woman would don drawers, a chemise, stockings and garters, a corset and one to three petticoats, possibly a few more. A hoop or cage would give the illusion of several petticoats.

Of course, many women wore a plain work dress while doing chores.

“Hoops are dangerous around fire,” said one of the event participants.

Holly Sheen, Jeannie Rucker, Sherry Key, Heather Sheen

The cut of women's and men's shoes not all that different

Phillip and Janine Whiteman of Roswell, Ga.

Chris Rucker with picnic blanket tote

Tom Key as a colorful mule skinner.

Weekend artifact show launches commemoration of burning of coastal town

A coastal community in southeast Georgia, rebuilt from the ashes, this year is marking the 150^th anniversary of its burning at the hands of Union troops.

Leaders of the effort have launched a “Burning of Darien” website and are getting the word out through Facebook about events, culminating June 15 in a commemoration at the town’s downtown district and a living history encampment on nearby Butler Island.

First up is a Civil War artifact show planned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Fort King George, the British crown’s southern outpost in the 1720s and 1730s.

Residents are encouraged to bring in items and explain their backstory.

"These artifacts may include those handed down from ancestors, or the neat stuff you happened upon in your yard when planting that garden, or maybe even interesting items you bought off others since you are a serious collector," the Facebook page says.

Experts will explain the items' significance.

“We are trying to get people to bring in effects and loan them to the museum for the 150^th events,” said Steven Smith, site manager at the fort and a leader of the Darien sesquicentennial committee.

Smith said artifacts and other items will be displayed in a new Civil War museum at the town’s Trailhead Center.

About 500 residents had largely fled inland in the weeks prior to Union troops moving from St. Simons Island on the town, known then for its rice and timber exports. It held little strategic importance, historians say.

Col. Robert Gould Shaw (left), who objected to the deserted and undefended town’s burning, commanded the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was ordered to seize any supplies and commit the destruction by Col. James Montgomery, commander of the 2^nd South Carolina Volunteers, which also participated.

Only a few structures survived the June 11, 1863, incident, depicted in the 1989 film “Glory.”

“This is something that didn’t happen in the Civil War,” coastal historian Buddy Sullivan told the Picket.

Events leading up to the June 15 commemoration include lectures, a screening of “Glory” and the unveiling of a new bridge mural.

• Burning of Darien website

COMING SOON: The Picket takes a closer look at the Darien incident and efforts to promote tourism in the region.

Relics show this weekend in Savannah

Some of the nation's top military memorabilia dealers will participate in the second annual Savannah Civil War Relic and Bottle Show this weekend, looking to sell from or add to their collections, said one of the event's organizers. • Article