John,

In my file for the 10th Virginia ANV flag I have this letter from Lt Whitfield Kisling of the unit that can be found in the li9brary of the Museum of the Confederacy:

August 26, 1863

"We have received a new flag for the regiment. it is emblazoned with the names of nearly all the principle battles that have occurred in this department since the war, beginning with Manassas #1 and ending with Gettysburg. Fourteen in number in all...our old flag will be sent back to Rockingham where it will be preserved as a momento of valor of the glorious old 10th - it has some ten or twelve bullet holes in it besides large rents made by pieces of shell."

This certainly tells me that this new ANV flag was used from this point until the end of the war for this regiment and that whatever previous flag was sent home. They lost an earlier ANV flag at Chancellorsville.

Also, in an email to me from someone with an ancestor in the regiment named John B. Monger, one of the color bearers. His ancestor was knocked down by a shell carrying the ANV flag in the Wilderness in May 1864 but he was not injured. Seeing that he was about to be captured he rolled the flag up and placed it between two dead comrades and it was recovered later and brought home by Lt. Miller.

Lastly, Manassas National Battlefield has the silk First National flag of the 10th Virginia Infantry. What was its battle service? Did they use this at Gettysburg as some of the CS units did due to lost flags from Chancellorsville or not getting new flags before the campaign?

Greg Biggs