Hello Ben,

Each Department could and did set its own policy for flags. What we call the ANV pattern was just that - a pattern that was carried by units in the ANV. Other armies or departments could also adopt such a flag but were not obliged to do so. In the fall of 1864 the Department of Western Virginia was a separate entity that answered to the War Department in Richmond and for whatever the reason it adopted new Virginia state flags and continued to carry these flags into late 1864.

When Breckinridge was transferred to the ANV in the summer of 1864 his division probably should have adopted the ANV but I suspect he had enough political influence to resist any such orders. He may also have been still technically in command of the Department of Western Virginia and the vagaries of departmental command policies and politics could give him a lot of leeway.

Here is a bit more on the flags captured at Winchester. Scott Patchan, The Last Battle of Winchester, (2013) lists the following MoH awards for the 19th of September. The first seven are for capturing a flag from a unit in Wharton’s (Breckinridge’s) Division:

Corp. Chester Bowen (1st NY Dragoons) - capture of a flag from Patton’s Brigade.

Corp. Gabriel Cole (5th Mich Cav) - capture of flag from 45th Va.

Sgt. Henry Fox (5th Mich Cav) - capture of flag from 60th Va.

Sgt. Andrew Lorish (1st NY Dragoons) - capture of an unidentified flag from Patton’s Brigade.

Farrier George Meach (6th NY Cav) - capture of a flag from Wharton’s Division.

Sgt. Patrick McEnroe (6th NY Cav) - capture of flag from 36th Va.

Pvt. George Reynolds (9th NY Cav) - capture of a state flag from 22nd Va or 23rd Va Btn.

Other flags taken at Winchester are also listed:

Lt. Robert Laughlin (9th WV) - capture of a Confederate battle flag.

Unknown (37th Mass) - capture of flag from 2nd Va.

Unknown (49th Pa) - capture of Fitz Lee’s signal flag.

The Rebel cavalry at Winchester included the 46th Va Cav Btn in Thompson’s (Jackson’s) Cavalry Brigade which was originally part of the Department of Western Virginia. But since the 46th Va Cav Btn only took one casualty in the battle I strongly suspect that the NYT reporter misidentified the flag of the 45th Va as that of the 46th Va.

Ryan