Nice information. I have the 19th Maine taking two flags - WD 52 and WD 53 (no ID) that day (one might be a flag from the 82nd NY). I have these listed as the 15th, 46th or 48th NCT. A researcher into flags lost in this battle has taken the 15th NCT off the table.

In the New York Herald of October 19, 1863, the major commanding the 82nd New York sent a letter that mentions the forwarding of the colors of the 28th NCT Three days earlier, the same paper reported the capture of the 26th NCT by the 19th Maine and the 28th NCT by the 82nd New York. This was echoed in the Chicago Tribune of October 18, 1863. A book on Bristoe Station, in an appendix, disputed the ID of these flags as neither regiment was in the NC brigade involved. The historian that wrote this book thinks that the 82nd NY captured the flag of either the 52nd NCT, 11th NCT or 26th NCT. He then goes through and eliminates regiments including the 11th and 26th and thinks the most likely ID for this flag is the 52nd NCT. He reports that the unit history of the 19th Maine claims the flag as being that of the 27th NCT but the historian eliminates that one by process of location on the field. He concludes that the Maine men took the flag of the 26th NCT.

The gentleman who did the research in the first paragraph above wrote a long essay on the mystery flags of Bristoe Station that can be found on the 26th North Carolina web site (I assume it is still there). The units in the two NC brigades that were involved were: Cooke's (46th, 15th, 27th, 48th NCT) and Kirkland's (44th, 26th, 52nd and 11th NCT). He thinks that the flag taken by the 82nd New York was that of either the 47th or 52nd NCT. He does concur that the 19th Maine took the 26th NCT's flag.

Too bad these flags were not marked - it would make things much easier.

Greg Biggs