Lamar,

The captor really did not have the choice to make - it was his superior officer and then that officer's superior officer to make. There was a US War Department order from 1862 that required all captured flags be sent to them but that was not heavily enforced based on captures particularly in the Western Theater. Rosecrans claimed some 18 flags at Corinth and none were sent in; Grant claimed 85 flags at Vicksburg and none were sent in.

I have lots of accounts where soldiers captured flags and then had to give them to superior officers for transmittal to the War Department. Some were not so handled as the officer sometimes kept the flag and sent it home instead.

Greg Biggs