Clay,

What Ken stated is good ground for the troops at Shiloh but I have some caveats about it. We know that when Beauregard arrived in the west in January 1862 he pushed for standardizing the battle flags of the newly forming Army of the Mississippi at Corinth. AS Johnston did not seem to care about flags but Beauregard was one of the two primary movers of the Southern Cross pattern since he was in Virginia when the ANV got them in late November 1861. He also had one of the Cary made flags of this pattern so pushing this to the new army was important to him.

However, he met resistance from the various corps that made up the new army. The Third Corps (Hardee's) was the old Army of Central Kentucky and they retained their blue and white Buckner/Hardee flags for the most part for Shiloh and thereafter. Leonidas Polk's Grand Division, having fallen back from the KY-TN line, had their own battle flags using the cross of St. George issued in late January 1862. Beauregard convinced Polk to use Southern Cross flags and flags were made in New Orleans by Henry Cassidy and sent to Columbus, KY, but got lost due to Polk's retreat. These flags made it back to Memphis and were on the way to Corinth but did not arrive until after Shiloh. I have a pretty good paper trail for these flags in my files. Thus, Polk's First Corps did not use these flags in that battle but rather their silk Polk Corps flags from Memphis. These flags were replaced with the Bragg flags after Shiloh.

Breckinridge's Reserve Corps was made up of the troops from Zollicoffer's army of eastern Tennessee that had been defeated at Mill Springs in January plus additional troops. These men mostly used the First National flag for battle flags as they had been doing since Wildcat Mountain in October 1861. One of his brigades, the KY troops, had been part of the Army of Central Kentucky and they may have retained their Buckner/Hardee flags. Bowen's Brigade is the enigma here as they were part of Polk's corps before the end of 1861 and then sent to Bowling Green, KY to join the Army of Central Kentucky but it is unknown if they ever got Buckner/Hardee flags.

What becomes Bragg's Second Corps, from Mobile and Pensacola, will be carrying a hodge-podge of flags and they will adopt the Bragg pattern Southern Cross flags made in New Orleans by Cassidy. These flags arrive at Corinth just as the troops were leaving for Shiloh and there are accounts of them being handed out to the regiments literally on the march. Bragg's request for the flags is dated March 8th, 1862 and can be found in the papers of his Adjutant George Garner in the CS Staff Officers file at the National Archives via Fold3.com.

Beauregard's attempt to standardize the battle flags was stifled and some orders were issued to the units:

Army of the Mississippi, Special Orders # 15, March 27, 1862 – The commanders of Grand Divisions will furnish each other accurate detailed descriptions of the battle flags in use in their divisions…which descriptions will be read on parade to each regiment…and will accustom their men to these flags…which for the present must be used.”

This alone tells us that several flag patterns were in use at Shiloh. But what is also interesting are the accounts of these flags being displayed by staff officers riding the columns to familiarize the troops as to what corps these flags represent. Here's three for you:

Orleans Guard Battalion, LA, Major Leon Queyrouze – “During the halt, the battle flag of Gen. Hardee’s Division was paraded…Met a cavalry officer exhibiting Polk’s Division battle flag…” This officer was of the same brigade as the Crescent Regiment and the 18th Louisiana Infantry - Pond's.

18th Louisiana Infantry, Major Silas Grisamore – “I can never forget the sensations I experienced…some staff officers came riding by us and, each one displaying a flag…’The battle flag of Gen. Hardee,’ ‘the battle flag of Gen. Polk…” The 18th, as stated above, was in Pond's Brigade. While this does not state what flag that regiment carried it again shows that the Army of the Mississippi was using several flags at Shiloh.

38th Tennessee Infantry, Joseph Thompson – “General Polk’s Battle Flag has been shown to the boys.” The 38th Tennessee was also part of Pond's Brigade.

But we still do not know how many units actually used them at Shiloh as ken has stated. We do know from the file of Henry Cassidy that he made the following flags on these dates:

February 25, 1862 - 30 battle flags at $6.75 each
- 12 battle flags at $5.25 each
- 8 battle flags at $4.25 each

We know from another quartermaster invoice, Edward Powell's, that these were for Polk's Grand Division then up in Kentucky but falling back to Corinth. Powell's invoice states the same numbers and prices exactly and states that they had been sent to Columbus, KY. These were supposed to replace the 45 silk Polk flags of January.

March 6 - 31 battle flags at $8 each
- 31 battle flags at $8.75 each
- 12 battle flags at $7.75 each
- 8 battle flags at $7 each

Within this grouping are the flags for Bragg's Corps which at Shiloh contained 36 units of infantry, cavalry and artillery. It has been supposed that the cheapest flags were of cavalry sizes and the next expensive flags were for artillery units. Thus, Cassidy made more than enough flags to fill Polk's Crops and Bragg's Corps demands for flags prior to Shiloh.

Breckinridge's Reserve Corps had 25 units; there were four unattached cavalry units; and Hardee's Corps contained 23 units So if you add up the numbers and arrive at 106 units in all (including Polk's Corps) and the Cassidy invoice states that he made 132 of his battle flags, that was more than enough to cover the entire Army of the Mississippi had all of the commands accepted these flags. Some of the flags made during March were probably the rectangular Bragg pattern flags that were issued later in 1862 - I would guess that these flags were those that cost $8.75 for the extra material used in making them.

Now, as Ken stated, we also have other flags definitely seen st Shiloh including units with First Nationals in Bragg's Corps (Gage's Alabama Battery for one); a Pelican flag (unknown LA unit), also from a unit in this corps, based on a Federal account; and the 2nd Texas, again of Bragg's Corps, using its Texas state flag, also based on Union accounts. I suspect that this is the same flag they carried at Corinth in October 1862.

The western Confederate army was a different stripe than its more famous eastern cousin who began standardizing their battle flags in late November 1861. It would take nearly 2 years more for the ANV to be fully completed for a myriad of reasons. The western Army of the Mississippi/Army of Tennessee would use, by 1864, upwards of nine patterns and sub-patterns of battle flags, most of which looking nothing like the Southern Cross. This really took off after Beauregard left the army in June 1862 and because his replacement, Bragg, did not care about flags being standardized.

In summation, I would bet that the Crescent Regiment and the 18th Louisiana got their Bragg pattern flags on the way out of Corinth to Shiloh. But did they use them there? Who knows? Until we unlock some accounts from men in these units that state one way or another this remains a mystery.

Greg Biggs