We only determined that when we examined the flag during the show. Until now we assumed the flag had been partially ripped then repaired later. However, upon close examination it is clear that it was cut completely through and sewn back together at a later date. Now the questions are, when was it cut, why and when was it sewn back together, and how did Chamberlain acquire the flag. All we can say for sure now is that it is the flag of the 5th Battalion captured during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, somehow acquired by Joshua Chamberlain and returned to the state of Alabama by his heirs in 1943.

Bob