Greg Biggs
19th Alabama - and flags
Mon May 21 02:27:26 2001


Hello,

So the AOT pattern flag of the 19th Alabama rears up yet again?

Hayes cited me a couple times in other discussions of this flag and others of the regiment - which is in a private collection in Georgia as of December, 2000, by the way (and I just missed seeing it by an hour tooat that time!)

The flag Hayes cited me was the one issued to Deas' Brigade that was blue with a solid white cross. I have gone over extensively (with the able help of Lee White, who also posts on this list) all the flags taken in the Chattanooga Campaign, and we both feel the 19th Alabama lost this flag on Missionary Ridge in late November, 1863.

In my files, from the CSR rolls of the 19th Alabama, I have a flag requisition (along with other supplies) for the AOT pattern flag the unit would lose at Ezra Church in July, 1864. It was found in the file of E.G. Bradley, QM of the 19th Alabama. The date of the requisition is Feb 29, 1864.

This shows that the blue flag was indeed oficially replaced by the AOT pattern. It does not prove that the blue flag of the 19th was captured - but with the standardization of flags in the AOT in 1864, the blue flag would have been replaced with the new one anyway.

The evidence that the 19th Alabama lost a flag at Missionary Ridge is very strong however.

Greg Biggs