Your posts here have been very beneficial and well thought out and I know I appreciate them as does Tom and others. You have indeed made it very clear that the yellow flag at LBH is, at best, a theory, which is a hypothesis with some testing that has passed. It is not, however, like a Law of Science or Economics which are irrefutable (I have background in both).

So should this yellow flag turn up, I believe that none of us here would laugh it off at all. It would have to be sent to an experienced flag textiles conservationist for testing of the fibers and dyes that would closely date when the flag was made. None of us here would have closed minds - and indeed none of us here do - should this flag be proven by this testing to have been of the proper period. it would be a flag that would be of immense importance and all of us would celebrate that.

What Joe has not done is to offer absolutely irrefutable proof that the flag was there and he bases most of what he has said on a painting! If the 7th Cavalry had such a flag why didn't Sturgis or Custer write about it? Why didn't a ton of 7th Cavalry veterans of LBH from Reno's and Benteen's commands state, "and we had this beautiful yellow flag as a regimental standard," at some point in their 7th careers or afterwards? Joe has also offered black & white images of said flag as proof, when anyone with experience in B & W photography, especially of the 19th Century, will tell you that the shades or lack thereof on these images are not what most people think they are in terms of their real colors. All we have ever asked for here is documentation which is what good historians always seek. If that cannot be found then the flag remains, at best, a theory.

Give us a lot of these statements or statements from Sturgis and/or Custer on this flag and we will be far more willing to accept this as being accurate. Most of us have had their minds changed on a flag more than once in our research careers by rock-solid evidence that makes it equivalent to a scientific law - irrefutable. I certainly have a few times and I welcome that new knowledge.

You have great respect in the LBH community and certainly from me and if your extensive research cannot prove the 7th had such a flag then it remains, at best, a theory as I am sure you will agree. I am sure you would welcome this absolute proof as much as we all would as flag historians.

Greg Biggs