Honoring Valor: Pennsylvania’s Collection of Civil War Battle Flags

The Flag Day event on June 15, 1914, in which Pennsylvania’s Civil War flags were transferred to the State Capitol, began with a parade through Harrisburg. Here, the veteran flag division marches up State Street toward the Capitol. Pennsylvania State Archives/RG-25

As the American Civil War Sesquicentennial of the past four years draws to a conclusion, it is appropriate to direct attention to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s vast collection of Civil War battle flags and its 1914 transfer from the Executive, Library and Museum Building to the Capitol’s main rotunda cases. This special event, which occurred on Monday, June 15, 1914 – Flag Day observed – was a moving tribute to the valor of Pennsylvania’s aged Civil War veterans. It was by all accounts the last time these surviving bearers – septuagenarians and octogenarians – held and beheld their blood-stained banners. According to the Harrisburg Telegraph, thousands of people witnessed the parade and it was “doubtful if the exercises . . . have ever been paralleled in the country.” The collection of Pennsylvania flags carried that day 101 years ago represents one of the largest state assemblages of Civil War flags in the nation and, aside from touring Civil War battlefields, provides arguably the closest connection to the more than 340,000 veterans in blue. Those who truly want to understand the hell of Civil War combat need look no further than the tell-tale signs of shot and shell etched across these 6-by-6-foot banners.

State colors, such as this one for the 151st Pennsylvania Regiment, were issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and featured 13 red and white stripes and a blue star-spangled canton with the Pennsylvania coat of arms in
the center. Regiments often added the names of the battles in which they fought to their flags. Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

At the onset of the Civil War, the issue of providing Pennsylvania’s regiments with flags was first debated during a special session of the legislature on April 30, 1861, at which it was decided to produce not only national-style colors but also to place the coat of arms for the commonwealth within the canton. The reasons for this were threefold. First, the national color was easily distinguishable from the flag of the Confederacy and would avoid friendly fire. Second, as stated by militia officer Henry J. Biddle in his letter to Senator Hiester Clymer (1827–84), “the colors of Pennsylvania regiments should when in U.S. service proclaim their allegiance to the constitutional government by subordinating her nationality on the flag for the time being.” Last, and perhaps least apparent, was so that regular and volunteer troops could not be readily distinguished in combat and inasmuch would have a demoralizing effect on enemy troops.

As a result of the debate, Joint Resolution 6 was signed into law by Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin (1817–94) on May 16, 1861, and the process of creating state-issued flags began. The last part of the resolution stipulated that the flags, “after the present unhappy rebellion is ended, shall be returned to the adjutant general of the state . . . that they be carefully preserved by the state, to be delivered to such future regiments as the military necessities of the country may require Pennsylvania to raise.”

After this resolution was passed, the commonwealth sought bids for the production of flags for its regiments. Three companies submitted offers and, because of the demand for increased amounts of troops, two were awarded contracts. The first and oldest firm was Horstmann Brothers & Company and the second was Evans & Hassall. Over the course of the war, Horstmann furnished 134 state colors and Evans & Hassall 88, with both further producing cavalry and artillery flags and guidons.

State color and bearer for the 8th Pennsylvania Reserves, 37th Regiment, circa 1865. National Archives

According to military historian Richard A. Sauers, when the flags were produced, Governor Curtin took special interest in presenting the colors to Pennsylvania regiments, bestowing 55 flags himself. He delegated 29 others to his deputy, Col. Samuel B. Thomas. Seemingly, nearly half of Pennsylvania’s troops had flags presented to them by the governor or his appointee, with the remainder being sent to Harrisburg, the State Agency in Washington, D.C., or by courier to regiments already in the field.

National colors, such as this one for the 51st Pennsylvania Regiment, had 13 red and white stripes and a blue star-spangled canton, typically in the formation shown here, but sometimes varying depending on location. Regiments often continued carrying their battle-torn flags as symbols of their combat experience. Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

As the war raged on and Pennsylvania regiments distinguished themselves on successive fields of battle, the men themselves began to highlight their achievements by painting battle honors on the stripes of their flags. The federal government at first tried to regulate this practice but later deemed it impossible. As a result, some state colors bear the names of every battle in which a specific regiment fought, even those where they were held in a reserve capacity. Others highlighted only those battles with heavy casualties. These ranged from minor skirmishes to those engagements etched in the national memory. As the war went on, many colors were reduced to tatters by the incessant shot and shell that tore at their folds. Consequently, many colonels requested and received replacement colors for their regiments, but often a regiment, rather than appearing green on the field, chose to carry their flag until it was literally shot to pieces.

Regimental colors were issued by the state, funded by the unit, or given as gifts from hometowns. This is the color for the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry. Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

Although the state took great care in assuring that every regiment received a state color while in federal service and stipulated that each be cared for in perpetuity following the conflict, the reality of the mustering out process led to many flags being scattered throughout the commonwealth. Regiments that left service prior to the end of the Civil War often took their flags home to be used in parades and fairs, for recruiting purposes, or simply because there was no provision at the state level to care for them. Rather than see them hastily stacked somewhere, many colonels unilaterally decided to keep them until the state made plans for their proper return.

The state’s plans for the colors came in late 1865, when it was announced that all flags would be formally returned on the Fourth of July 1866 at Independence Hall. The state appropriated $5,000 and the city of Philadelphia $10,000 to help defray the cost of the event. All color-bearers and guards were afforded free railroad passes to attend the event, along with all children attending the commonwealth’s Soldiers’ Orphan Schools. All in all, the parade was broken into seven divisions representing all infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments, battalions and militia that had served the commonwealth during the war. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–86) led the parade, but it was during the speech of Gen. George Gordon Meade (1815–72), hailed as the “Hero of Gettysburg,” that the colors were officially returned to Governor Curtin.

On July 5, 1866, 270 flags, mostly state-issued colors, were loaded on a train and sent to the Pennsylvania State Arsenal in Harrisburg. Hundreds of other homemade and custom-made flags were returned to towns and villages across the state. Sauers wrote that some of these eventually made their way into local historical societies, but overall very few have survived to the present.

Regimental color for the 6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

Once in Harrisburg, the colors remained in the arsenal until 1872, when a room was designated for their display in the old South Executive Building adjacent to the Stephen Hills – designed State Capitol. The flags were exhibited on wall brackets and large central cases. Although anathema to our aesthetic of the flags as “priceless artifacts,” they were sometimes handled at the request of visiting veterans or their families.

In 1893 the state built its first purportedly “fireproof ” building within Capitol Park, the Italianate-styled Executive, Library and Museum Building. In 1895 the flags were moved to four large glass cases on the second floor of the new building in front of Peter F. Rothermel’s mammoth 1870 painting Battle of Gettysburg: Pickett’s Charge (now located in The State Museum of Pennsylvania). This new flag room, however, was becoming more and more crowded with drums, guns and all types of Civil War accouterments that had been donated to the state by returning veterans. The need for a more permanent location for the collection became apparent on February 2, 1897, when the Hills Capitol caught fire and burned.

In 1905 the U.S. War Department returned the captured battle flags held in its collection to the respective states and Pennsylvania gained 11 more colors. By 1909 Adjutant-General Thomas Stewart (1848–1917) suggested that the colors be removed from their cramped spaces in the Executive, Library and Museum Building and placed in the new Joseph Huston–designed Capitol’s main rotunda. Stewart further recommended that first-floor niches, originally intended for statuary, could be modified with massive bronze cases in which to house the flags. In June 1913 Stewart’s idea was signed into law and a commission was established to transfer the flags to the new Capitol. The commission determined to hold a parade on Flag Day the following year and invite the original surviving color-bearers to carry their flags from the Executive, Library and Museum Building to the Capitol’s main rotunda. In cases where the veteran or original bearer was deceased, the regiment would appoint a new representative to carry the colors. All told, the sum of $6,000 was appropriated toward the event, most spent on railroad passes for the veteran bearers.

Parading veterans carry their battle flags through Harrisburg on June 15, 1914. Pennsylvania State Archives/RG-25

Late on the morning of June 15, 1914, as Flag Day proper fell on a Sunday that year, veteran bearers began to gather outside the Executive, Library and Museum Building, waiting for the doors to open. At approximately 1 p.m. each man accepted his banner in the order it was pulled from each case. Many of the aged veterans wept openly as they again held the banners under which they had fought for four years. The newspapers reported that there was a slight delay in the formation of the parade until the men could regain their composure, not wanting to go out in public with their faces still wet with tears.

Beginning on 4th Street at the rear of the building, the parade divided into four divisions with many veterans groups and bands participating. The Harrisburg Telegraph arranged for the entire parade to be filmed and later screened it at a local Harrisburg theater, as well as sending it to the 1915 San Francisco World’s Fair, where it was shown daily. Many of the bearers were the same men who had carried the flags in the 1866 Independence Day parade, but most were now in their 70s and 80s.

The parade stepped off around 2 p.m., marching down 4th Street to Market Street and then north on Front Street and up State Street to the grandstand that had been erected in front of the Capitol’s main entrance. All along the route, thousands of visitors and residents watched the parade advance. By roughly 2:45 they arrived at the front of the building. As they turned onto State Street, the National Guard members at the head of the parade formed from column into line, creating an honor guard on either side of the street through which the veterans marched.

The ceremony itself began around 3:15 with the song “Pennsylvania,” followed by an invocation by Rev. J. Richards Boyle, of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and the singing of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” by all present. Governor John K. Tener (1863–1946) then delivered a brief opening address to the crowd, after which Senator Franklin Martin, chairman of the Flag Transfer Commission, spoke. Martin’s final words seemed to further ennoble the collection and the need for its perpetual care: “These torn and tattered battle-rent emblems of national pride need no eulogy. Their history is written in the blood of Pennsylvania’s loyal sons who fought and died for the preservation of the nation . . . let them be preserved, as a tribute to our fallen heroes . . . as an ever-living inspiration of loyalty and patriotism to the generations that follow.”

Veterans of the 29th Pennsylvania Regiment march with their colors. Pennsylvania State Archives/RG-25

When Martin concluded, Maj. Moses Veale, Medal of Honor recipient and member of Company F of the 109th Pennsylvania Volunteers, delivered the keynote speech, in which he assessed the contributions of Pennsylvania’s Civil War soldiers as a whole and spoke of specific episodes involving the colors. In closing, the entire crowd sang “America” and Rev. M. L. Ganoe, chaplain of the State Grand Army of the Republic, delivered the benediction. While the band played a Civil War medley, the veterans then went one by one into the rotunda to place their flags in the cases. The artifacts and other donated Civil War materials remained in the Executive, Library and Museum Building until they were moved to the current State Museum in 1964.

One by one, the last of Pennsylvania’s old Civil War soldiers and veteran color-bearers passed away, leaving only the furled colors in the cases of the State Capitol. Throughout the 20th century, veterans groups and interested parties occasionally asked how the colors were faring or if something more could be done to secure their long-term protection. From the 1920s to the 1960s measures were proposed but were always tabled or vetoed for action at a later date. The centennial of the Civil War from 1961 to 1965 failed to generate a groundswell of support for preservation, but it did ignite an interest in Civil War reenactment. In reality, it was the support of the reenactment community that saved Pennsylvania’s Civil War flags from the lethargy of inaction.

On February 18, 1865, the state color of the 52nd Pennsylvania Volunteers was the first U.S. flag to fly over Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, since its capture by the Confederacy in 1861. Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee

In 1981 reenactors from the 87th Pennsylvania first expressed an interest in seeing their flag conserved. From this grassroots initiative, the project of removing and conserving all of the Civil War flags grew, and by 1985 the colors were removed from the cases and taken to an off-site storage facility, where each was unfurled and meticulously documented. As the physical conservation of the colors progressed under the direction of textile conservators, military historian Richard A. Sauers authored a two-volume set of books detailing the history of each flag.

The flags were photographed and stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment that is open to the public. For the first time since the passing of the aged veterans, visitors could see what was written on the flags, as well as the battle damage they sustained. Recently the entire collection has been digitally photographed and housed in 23 cases on acid-free trays, 18 per case.

Pennsylvania’s Civil War battle flags are truly a one-of-a-kind collection. They are, of course, artifacts of war, but their inherent symbolism embodies and evokes something more moving. Even today, 150 years after the war, they remain as the lifeblood of every Pennsylvania regiment and serve as a lasting testament to the sacrifices of all who carried them, fought under them and died for them. They are, as General Meade said in his 1866 speech, “mementos of the prowess and deeds of valor of the noble sons of Pennsylvania.”

For More Information . . .

The best overall work on the Civil War battle flags is Richard A. Sauers’ two-volume Advance the Colors: Pennsylvania’s Civil War Battle Flags (CPC, 1987, 1992). For more on the events of the original 1866 and 1914 parades, the Philadelphia and Harrisburg newspapers are the best resources available.

Copies of state documents and photographs related to the 1914 Flag Day parade can be found at Pennsylvania State Archives, RG-25, Records of Special Commissions, Flag Transfer Commission, as well as specific editions of Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania.

To schedule a tour of Pennsylvania’s Civil War battle flags, call the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee at 717-783-6484.

Jason L. Wilson is the historian for the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee (CPC). A graduate of Susquehanna University with a B.A. in history, he has written numerous publications for CPC and contributed to the books A Sacred Challenge and Literature in Stone: The Hundred Year History of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol. He has also written several articles for the Past Tense section of The Burg: Greater Harrisburg’s Community Magazine. A life-long Perry Countian, he lives in Landisburg with his wife Jennifer and three children, Brooke, Koen and Carter.