Ken,

I also stated that the flag could have come from one of the units with Thompson near Sikeston that day. We have no idea what Sylla said about the flag - for the third (maybe fourth) time. We have the family letter from 1960 that said he took the flag and the plaque on the flag that says Island Number Ten. So his family certainly knew where it was taken and when. And for the third or fourth time, Sylla got out of the 10th Illinois in June 1862 and the only serious campaign they did was Island Number Ten prior to that according to their history in Dyer's.

I also stated that he could have obtained the flag at some other point in the campaign but with the two newspaper articles only making mention of the flag taken from Thompson near Sikeston, making it very important to the 10th Illinois, that the odds of this flag being that flag are greater than one being found in a chair like Heg's men did.

Greg Biggs