Mr. Rushing,

Saumuel Chamberlain's "My Confession, Recollections of a Rogue" mentions (and illustrates) a flag used by Arkansas troops that was captured by Santa Anna's forces at Buena Vista. The guidon had printed on it "Rackensack, in the Field" (it did have the oddly placed comma). The illustration shows a red rectangular flag (Chamberlain calls it a guidon) with a white inscription. The flag is bordered in something gold or yellow.

Chamberlain was a former Illinois volunteer, but by this point was a member of the U.S. Dragoons serving Lt. Col. Charles May. He had no liking for Arkansans generally. He seems to have written his odd memoirs from a diary he kept and sometimes embellished or was mistaken in what he wrote, but I don't doubt much about his account at Buena Vista. And some of the Dragoons were certainly sent under flag of truce for a prisoner exchange after the battle. It makes sense that he would have been there.

There are several editions of his memoir, but the one I'm using was published by the Texas State Historical Association (Austin, 1996) and was edited by William H. Goetzmann. The mention of the flag is on page 171 of this edition, but was on page 169 of Chamberlain's original manuscript.

All that said, I've read of several Arkansas company flags -- two are at the Old State House Museum -- but have only seen a reference to the "Rackensacker, in the Field" flag in Chamberlain's account. My connections in Mexico City say that they are uncertain where the captured U.S. flags have gone; they were once on display in a museum there.

Does that help?

Bill