Self description -
“The Burke Sharpshooters, a company composed of the flower of manhood, had donned the Confederate Gray and were fully equipped and awaiting their country’s call” [“The Burke Sharpshooters”, Confederate Veteran, Volume 32, 1924, p. 464.]
On 27 June '61 Thomas Michelle Carter / Columbus Guards compared the Burke company favorably to his own, insofar as drill, guns, gear, etc. Both companies had nice uniforms and were fully equipped for war. Not all the other companies in 2nd Ga even had uniforms. To quote Carter, “besides our Co. and the Burke Sharp Shooters, the Reg. consists of men from the lower grades of society, used to hard labor” and unable to afford arms, accoutrements, uniforms, etc [T. M. Carter to Mother, June 27, 1861. T. M. Carter Papers, MARBLE]
27 May 61 Burke Sharp Shooters received flag at Tybee. Presented by John D Ashton. I made a note that a copy of Ashton's speech followed the pages I have copies of. The speech might describe some of the flag's features. Unfortunately I did not copy the speech. [Smith, History of the Georgia Militia, Volume 2.]
The Sharp Shooter's Captain Holmes was a 41 yo doctor and a bachelor, wealthy, the end of his immediate family's line. Ashton was a Waynesboro area politician, and an Ashton was one of the company's Lieutenants. One of the Ashtons acted as Holmes's second in a well publicized duel with Llewellyn Nelms in 1860, fought over issues surrounding that year's dueling Democratic Conventions and Delegations. These pieces factor into my expectations that the presentation flag would have been more like the Columbus Guards' than a generic battle flag
Andrew Johnson