I first visited the old "Battle Abbey" [now home of the Virginia Historical Society] in 1950, when the Battleflags returned by the Federal government hung at various angles, cathedral-like, many in tatters or with holes or stains of mysterious origin, and remember how moved I was, feeling that I was truly on sacred ground. Since we haven't had much activity recently (have all our questions been answered?), perhaps it wouldn't be out of place for me to post -- for the new-comers and future researchers, and for the romantics among us -- the following, which could be the Introduction to this site:

"Nothing But Flags"

"Nothing but flags--but simply flags
Tattered and torn and hanging in rags;
Some walk by them with careless tread,
Nor think of the hosts of the patriot dead
That have marched beneath them in days gone by
With a burning cheek and a kindling eye,
And have bathed their folds with their life’s young tide,
And, dying, blessed them, and, blessing, died."
-- Moses Owen