Correct on the battle honors for the 21st VA. Howie Madaus found in his research that these flags were the first to have the battle honor "Gettysburg" on them. He also found that Ed Johnson's Division, due a full issue of flags before the GB campaign but not getting it due to the bunting shortage in the Richmond Depot, got new flags in late August/early September 1863. A new shipment of bunting arrived through Wilmington, NC via blockade runner in August and was shipped to the Richmond Depot. I believe the 21st VA was part of Johnson's Division which carried First National flags, a Maryland state flag, ANV silk flags, ANV wool/cotton flags and some Third Bunting flags (and maybe some Second Buntings as well) at Gettysburg.

Other flags being issued when Johnson's Division got them included those units of Heth's Division that lost colors at Gettysburg. Included in this was Archer's Brigade and its three Tennessee regiments. One of those flags was taken on April 2, 1865.

Howie, in his work, also concluded that Johnson's Division was the last full divisional issue for the ANV. After that, it reverted back to a brigade level issue for the rest of the war as it was in the fall of 1862 before the divisional issues began. Some of these stayed with the Montague honors (including Cox's NC Brigade) while others did not have honors at all.

With regards to missing honors, some of the orders that authorized these have been found but many have not. I suspect that each regiment was subject to the whims of the brigade commander who, when asked what honors were to be on the flags, made the list and sent them in. Where those orders are today I have no clue. So that might be one reason. I suspect that no new honor were added by the units themselves for, at least with the Montague painted honors, all of the lettering is uniform. I doubt that a flag was sent back in to add a new honor after a specific battle. Such new honors that came into being, including those for "Fort Harrison," and some of the 1864 battles, came on new flags issued to a regiment. Please note that the Seven Days battles were no longer listed individually on some flags. Instead, they were abbreviated as "Seven Days Around Richmond."

Please keep in mind that battle honors were something special for a unit's flag. Just because you fought in a certain battle does not mean that you get an honor for your flag the next time it gets issued. It comes down to how well a unit did in this battle. In Napoleon's army, battle honors were only added to flags for those battles where the Emperor was personally in command. Thus, if you were fighting with Marshal Soult in Spain, no matter how awesome the regiment did, there was no honor for the flag because Napoleon was not in command. While the Confederate Army did not follow this route (nor did the US Army), the bottom line is that honors were special. So this might also address why certain honors were not listed on flags.

The only ANV flag I know of that added honors on their own is the flag of the 1st Georgia Regulars who seem to have done their own. This is based on the non-uniform style of the letters on the flag.

Hope this helps.

Greg Biggs