Ken,

Forgot that - sorry.

This is cited in Dubb's book on Williamsburg, Greg Urwin's bio of Custer and in Jeff Wert's bio of Custer. Dubbs writes, "He also claimed to have captured the 5th North Carolina's battle flag, 'a large white silk flag with a red cross in the center." This is from his letter to his sister. I have never seen the full letter. Dubb's goes on to state, "More likely it was picked up by a 5th Wisconsin soldier and handed to Custer." I concur with that considering what we know of the VA militia era flag that we know he did capture there. I think that Custer was only describing the flag he saw of the 5th NCST - but it will take getting a copy of the entire letter to be sure that he was not claiming its capture as well.

Letter to Lydia Reed, May 15, 1862. Copies at Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument and the Custer Collection in the Monroe, MI Historical Society.

Urwin's footnote also cites:

Marguerite Merington - The Custer Story: The Life and Intimate Letters of General Custer and his Wife Elizabeth.
Frederick Whitaker - A Complete Life of Gen. George A. Custer, Major General of Volunteers
George A. Custer - Custer in the Civil War: His Unfinished Memoirs

Wert's footnote also cites:

Paul Hutton - The Custer Reader
Stephen Sears - To The Gates of Richmond

Of the books listed above I only have the Sears title and it makes no mention of the flag capture at all. The Whitaker book is from 1876 and may be on Google Books. The Merington and Custer books might have greater details as well.

Greg Biggs