I was first contacted about this flag back in 2001. I conducted the research over the winter months and sent the findings to the respective decendent, and MOC. Since MOC had gone through a number of staff changes it apparently had been placed on the back burner. I again sent the data to MOC last year.
I will try to summerize the research as brief as possible on here...
A Battle flag was captured on March 25th 1865 at the Battle of Ft.Steadman by Joseph Chambers of the 100th PV. This flag then was identified as belonging to the "1st Virginia". He later was awarded the MOH for this feat in 1871. The Citation also states "1st Virginia". All the battle reports of the 100th PV also reflect same.
A decendant of Joe Chambers made public claim that his ancestor was mistaken that this flag did not belong to the 1st Virginia, it belonged to the 21st Virginia. His claim that "The 1st Va was only a small headquarters unit and not present at Ft.Steadman, therefore it could not be their flag and it belonged to the 21st Virginia."
Somehow this was relayed to MOC, and its identification of this flag was officially changed to reflect the decendants claim and thereafter it has since been labeled as the 21st Va... I think MOC later discovered that this flag (which is only half a flag) and that another one (another half) contributed and credited to Corp DeWire also of the 100thPV same event.. were two diagonal halves of the same flag.. According to the 100th PV reports DeWire got a staff and half a flag... apparently Chambers got the outer half that was torn off..
I systematicly went through all the battle reports and witnessed accounts of the 100th PV, its brother units,, its brigade and divisional reports... and same for both the 1st Va and the 21st Va.. This concluded that the 1st Va was indeed in the area of operation that the 100th PV was engaged in...Ft. Haskell then Ft.Steadman... The 21st Va position was much further down the line of battle no where even close to Ft.Steadman itself. The 21st had mild casualties and resistance on their part of the line. This combined with the accounts that the 21st gave no mention of losing a flag..The same one issued in Aug 1863 was still in their possession till Appomattox and wasnt even the same type of flag that was captured here. The 1st Va did lose their flag there..
The dismissal of the "1st Va" as only a headquarters unit and not present at St.Steadman I believe was the root of the problem. The Decendent apparently had only glanced superficially and obviously had no real historical knowledge. It appears he found a reference to the 1st Virginia Infantry "Battalion".. which was indeed a headquarters unit at this time of the war... and apparently thought to look no further. However the 1st Virginia Infantry "Regiment" is an entirely different unit and was indeed present at Ft.Steadman...
I was quite surprized that MOC would have changed a flag ID that had been as such since its return to Va... without any real historical evidence to even support the claim or changes. As mentioned I had sent them the full research twice (2002 and 2009) with no results to at least give it a review of my full researched historical findings.
Frederick