Hello,

I got the sad news today while finishing up doing flag research at the Ft. Wayne (IN) Public Library (their collection of unit histories is exceeded only by Carlisle!) and to say I was devastated is not saying how deeply this hit me.

Howard Madaus was my friend and my flag mentor. Much of what I know after 15 years of serious research came from him and his willingness to share with me and others. I was always amazed when I found soemthing that he had yet to locate, especially since he was over 40 years into the research of Civil War flags. Most don't know this but he was also the top historian on Confederate firearms as well and his book with the late John Murphy is probably the ultimate work on that subject.

Of course it goes without saying that everyone who cares one whit about Civil War flags owes everything to his groundbreaking research!!!!

I have seen his library and his files and they are immense but may actually be exceeded by what was in his incredible brain. We all will miss that a lot as well as his amazing ability to disect things and put them together.

I will treasure the times we had together (like seeing "Gods And Generals" and picking the flags in that film apart or praising those that were well done - there was more picking than praising!), his sense of humor and his amazing knowledge. I will also deeply treasure being asked by Howie to speak at the prestigious Star Spangled Banner Flag Symposium held a few yars ago at the National Civil War Museum. I was beyond flattered when after speakingon Baltimore's mid-19th Century flag makers, he simply looked at me and said, "wow!" We all had so much more to learn from him!

I will miss him deeply. There is now a huge hole in Civil War research that I am not sure will ever be filled by anyone else.

Greg Biggs