Hello,

Ken's postulation of other towns as being sources of these flags has a good level of possibilities to that. I know from finding a payroll voucher in the Citizens & Business files for a lady who made uniform shirts for Staunton Depot that, most likely, these flags were made the same way as those from Richmond; women taking home pre-cut kits and sewing them there. Upon completion they were brought to or sent to the Staunton Depot for inspection, the issuance of pay vouchers to the maker and then distribution to the forces in the Valley.

We know for a fact that Staunton Depot existed and was the primary source of supplies for the Valley army. Richard Goff cites that in his book "Confederate Supply," citing documents from the CS QM Department in the NA. But that does not mean that the flags were themselves made in Staunton, although some, using the ladies as labor, probably were. Others could well have been made in the other towns Ken mentions and then distributed through the Staunton Depot. QM General Abraham Myers set up Stauntom as the primary source of supply for the Valley army according to Goff's book and its cited documents. It was also around this time that Dalton, GA became a subsidiary depot to Atlanta cutting down a days shipping time for supplies to the Army of Tennessee then operating in Tennessee.

Ken mentioned that I found the documents in the NA that proved that the Army of Tennessee flags of 1864 were not made in Atlanta but, rather, in Augusta (probably by local flag maker Jacob Platt who sent a letter to the CS War Department offering to make such flags in October 1863. This letter is in the MOC library). These were in a series of telegrams between Augusta and Atlanta and then Dalton, GA found in the file of the telegraph operator. I have since found shipping documents for the flags going by Southern Express and railroad. Telegrams between the depots may also be a key to flags at Staunton - or not.

The Citizens & Business files have files for almost all of the telegraph operators by name as well as the main telegraph companies. These men are usually listed by location. Staunton should have had one or two such operators. Once I get some taxes stuff taken care of I can hit these files and see if they yield any pertinent information. I can also search for the operators from the towns that Ken mentions.

Greg Biggs