Many thanks to you all for your varied and interesting comments about a possible flag of the 43rd MS Infantry.

I hope that I haven't started any sort of squabble here on the board; if I have, I sincerely apologize, as it was never my intention so to do.

And I really appreciate all that all three of you have taught me about flags and the war in general over these many years.

It just occurred to me that, logically, unless Miss Helen Cozart was working from one of Maury's overgrown Mobile flags (the 71" x 71" behemoths!), it is entirely likely that she, instead, produced a unique battleflag for the 43rd MS in early 1864.

While any flag she made this late in the war would clearly have been a variant of one of the major, then-current types (2nd National, Dept. of AL, MS, & East LA, etc.), it is altogether likely that her flag would not have conformed really closely to any other flagmaker's dimensions. Doesn't this make sense to you all?

I would also think that the flag she made would feature the regiment's motto, as that is what the period newspaper article seems to imply. The motto was "Non nobis solum --
Sed Patriae Et Amicis," which roughly translates as "Not for ouselves alone, but for country and friends."

I wonder if this motto is on the prototype that Tom has, because, if it is, I'm supplying Tom with some beans and bacon forthwith!

Your thoughts on the motto and its being on the flag, fellows? -- Jim H.