From the Florence Times, as reprinted in the 28 May 1908 issue of the Guntersville Democrat:

A Battle Scarred Flag. On Monday morning last, Mr. R.B. Meadows, a veteran of the great war, by invitation visited the Patton school with the old battle flag of the 26th Alabama Infantry, Gen. O’Neal’s and made an address to the school giving the history of the flag and its preservation. The students were greatly interested, asking many questions, among them, how the men went into battle, how close they got together, and so on.

This tattered souvenir of the war between the states went out with Gen. E.A. O’Neal’s Regiment, and was in seventeen battles in Virginia. In the general cataclysm it was captured, but the late Dr. J.M. Hayes got possession of it, turned it over to his colored body servant, and it was secreted under the outer clothing of the faithful colored man, and brought home. It has a history that is revered by the old soldiers, and especially Mr. Meadows, in whose care only it is allowed to be placed on exhibition.