After the flag was recaptured, Colonel Charles Wheelock of the 97th New York appa rently still had the broken flag staff in his possession. As he fled toward town along Chambersburg Turnpike, the colonel took refuge in the nearby home of Carrie Sheads, which served as the site for a private women's boarding school. The pursuing Confederates eventually cornered him in the basement and demanded that he surrender his sword. Carrie Sheads quickly intervened. During the distraction, she hid the sword and the staff of the 20th North Carolina's flag in the folds of her dress. Wheelock eventually escaped from the Confederates and returned several days later to retrieve both the sword and flagstaff. Although most accounts only mention the sword, the chaplain of the 97th New York noted in a letter soon after the battle that the items also included the captured flagstaff. For details, see John V. Ferguson to Dear Kate, July 11, 1863, 97th New York File, New York Unit History Files, New York State Military Museum.