"Sergeant James B. Stormes of Company A, 44th New York Infantry Regiment in uniform with regimental flag." Sgt. Stormes enlisted in the summer of 1861. He was wounded at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg and mustered out in October 1864.
(Library of Congress)
If you wish to read Part I of this two-part series, you may do so here.
Introduction
In submitting a list of casualties for his Vermont Brigade from losses at the Battle of the Wilderness, Brig. Gen. Lewis Grant noted, “The whole number of casualties at the present time is 1,363. It is with a sad heart that I inform you of so great a loss of Vermont’s noble sons, but it is with a certain pride that I assure you there are no dishonorable graves.” The brigadier fully understood the symbolism of his regiments’ colors and the honor and inspiration they provided for his soldiers. “The flag of each regiment, though pierced and tattered, still flaunts in the face of the foe, and noble bands of veterans with thinned ranks, and but few officers to command, still stand by them; and they seem determined to stand so long as there is a man to bear their flag aloft or an enemy in the field,” Grant concluded.
The following accounts in this Part II CVBT History Wire come from actions during the Mine Run Campaign, the Battle of the Wilderness, and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. They provide abundant additional evidence of the importance of colors to the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia.
The Mine Run Campaign
Maj. William Terry (shown here later in the war as a brigadier general), 4th Virginia Infantry, praised the courage of wounded Color Sgt. Jacob H. Lawrence, and Pvt. Ted Barclay, who picked up the colors in Lawrence's stead at the Battle of Payne's Farm on November 27, 1863, during the Mine Run Campaign.
(Library of Congress)
As mentioned in Part I, it was fairly common for officers to mention courageous and inspirational acts involving the colors in their battle reports. Following the Mine Run Campaign’s November 27, 1863, Battle of Payne’s Farm, Maj. William Terry, then commanding the 4th Virginia Infantry, noted in his after-battle report that “Among the non-commissioned officers wounded is Color Sergt. J. H. Lawrence, who was severely wounded through both legs while gallantly bearing the colors of the regiment against the foe; and I desire to mention specially the conspicuous gallantry of Pvt. A. T. Barclay, Company I, who seized the colors when Sergeant Lawrence fell and carried them through the balance of the fight.”
Pvt. Alexander Tedford “Ted” Barclay provided his own perspective and additional details about the incident in a December 5 letter to his sister Hannah in Lexington, Virginia: “We drove their line of skirmishers back upon their line of battle, when the firing commenced in earnest on the Yankee side. As yet our line had fired very little. At this time our color bearer [Jacob H. Lawrence] was shot through both legs and the colors fell to the ground. I threw down my gun and took the colors. The line was reformed and with a rebel yell we dashed forward, but were met with such a terrible fire that we were compelled to halt, formed our line along a fence, and held our ground until dark when we withdrew, being under fire about four hours.” Ted proudly but humbly added that “I was complemented on the field by General Walker’s Adjutant General, and General Walker also took my name, as you see I have endeavored to do my duty. Major Terry also, since our return to camp, has complimented me very highly.” Pvt. Barclay understood that “I now have a very honorable place, though by some considered dangerous, but I think that one place is as dangerous as another, for God has appointed our day and we are perfectly safe until that day comes. Whether I will continue to hold it I cannot say, as the colors do not properly belong to our company. But enough about self, for fear you think I am disposed too much to blow my own horn, a thing above all things I despise.”
Maj. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson mentioned the "Stonewall Brigade" commander Brig. Gen. James Walker's (pictured here) gallant act with the colors at the Battle of Payne's Farm in his battle report
(Find a Grave)
Division commander Maj. Gen. Edward “Allegheny” Johnson praised a couple of his brigadiers for their conspicuous courage at Payne's Farm. Johnson wrote that “General [James] Walker, when during the engagement one of his regiments staggered under a terrific fire, seized the colors, leaped his horse over a fence and into an open field in front of his command, and waved his men on, while the lines of the enemy, 80 yards distant, directed a converging fire upon him. General Stafford acted with similar daring, but, fortunately, neither was wounded.” Gen. Johnson knew that such actions by his officers inspired the men and non-commissioned officers on the battlefield and would be remembered, and hopefully imitated, in future contests.
Likewise, the 10th Louisiana Infantry’s Lt. Col. Henry D. Monier also mentioned one of his soldier’s courage with the colors at Payne’s Farm. Monier reported, “I will only state that Color-Bearer [John] Boykin, of Company E, was conspicuous for his coolness and bravery, bearing his colors within 40 or 50 yards of the enemy’s line.”
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The Federals were not without their exciting colors moments at Payne’s Farm either. The 11th New Jersey’s commander, Col. Robert McAllister, wrote to his wife Ellen on December 3, about the November 27 fight, which was the baptism under fire for their new set of flags. McAllister wrote, “I forgot to tell you that we have new colors presented to us by the State. This is the first battle that they were in. [Corp. George H.] Johnson, who carries the American flag, was determined to show the Star-Spangled Banner to the best advantage before the enemy. When retreating, and on reaching the open space at the crossroads, he unfurled the flag to the breeze and waved it right and left in the very face of the enemy. He is one of the bravest men I have ever seen.” McAllister also mentioned Johnson’s bravery in his report on the campaign.
A regiment's pride in their colors is further illustrated in a comment made by a soldier in McAllister’s 11th New Jersey Infantry. In a letter to his sister a couple of days after returning to their Culpeper County camps from the recent Mine Run Campaign, Pvt. Alonzo Searing also wrote beamingly about the retirement of their old colors and the adoption of their new colors. “The two flags which we carried with us from Trenton in August, 1862, were so badly shot and staffs so shattered in the different battles, that they were unfit for service and on [Nov.] 20 Gen. A. T. A. Torbert, of the First New Jersey Brigade on behalf of the State of New Jersey accompanied with an appropriate address, presented us with a new stand of colors.” Searing thought “They are very pretty and on one side of the State flag is the coat-of-arms of our State and this inscription in gold letters: ‘Presented by New Jersey to her 11th Regiment.’ The old ones have been sent to Trenton and will be preserved in the State House as relics of war. The new ones are made of heavy silk with gold bullion fringe on the State flag, while the stripes of our United States flag in golden letters is inscribed the names of the different battles in which we have taken part.”
The 20th Indiana’s William C. H. Reeder wrote a letter to parents on December 3, 1863, about Payne’s Farm and how the presence of the colors on the battlefield buoyed his morale in a time of combat stress. Reeder penned, “When we rushed to relieve the front line we found them coming out and the bravest rallying on their colors, turning and firing whenever the chance afforded. There was one squad coming out with their colors, singing ‘Rally Round the Flag Boys, Rally Once Again.’ I suppose you are familiar with the song, but I will guarantee that no one heard it when it sounded more sweet and appropriate. It cheered and nerved me to the work, and I felt no fear, but went in regardless of danger.”
William C. H. Reeder, 20th Indiana, noted the inspiring effect that the colors and the singing of "The Battle Cry of Freedom" had on the men at Payne's Farm.
(Library of Congress)
The Battle of the Wilderness
"Army of the Potomac - Bartlett's Brigade of Warren's Charging the Enemy [at the Wilderness]."
A Michigan soldier noted of Bartlett's Brigade: “They were splendidly in line, moved rapidly, their colors all unfurled, and formed as they advanced one of the finest battle pictures that I can remember.”
(Harper's Weekly, May 28, 1864)
Often fighting in the dense thickets of the Wilderness on May 5-6, 1864, did not seem to totally prevent opportunities for soldiers to comment on incidents involving flags. However, as one might imagine, most colors accounts at the Wilderness occur in the area's few open spaces—fields and roadways—where they were better observed.
Sgt. George F. Williams, a color bearer for the 146th New York, a Zouave regiment, was among those fighting at Saunder’s Field during the opening actions of the Wilderness. Williams received three wounds and fell wounded. A member of the color guard picked up the standard, but he, too, was soon killed. Finally, Corp. Conrad Neuschler grasped the flag and started to withdraw to prevent their capture. Neuschler, however, fell in a ditch and there was wounded and captured, but fortunately, Sgt. J. Albert Jennison plucked the flag and flagstaff from Neuschler before the Confederates arrived. “Unheeding the demands of the gray-clad soldiers to stop and surrender, and dodging the bullets they fired at him . . . [Jennison] reached the woods in safety. The flag, torn and soiled, was preserved to the regiment.”
On the south side of the Orange Turnpike, Gen. Joseph Barlett’s mixed brigade of Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania soldiers went forward. A Michigan soldier who was serving as a skirmisher noted of his brigade mates: “They were splendidly in line, moved rapidly, their colors all unfurled, and formed as they advanced one of the finest battle pictures that I can remember.”
In the see-saw fighting at Saunders Field, some of Ewell’s Confederates captured several pieces of hard-fought-over artillery previously commanded by Lt. William Shelton. Alabamians from Gen. Cullen Battle’s brigade joined in the rush and were ecstatic at the prize. An officer in the 6th Alabama jumped up on one of the guns and waved a flag in celebration. North Carolinians in Gen. George Steuart’s brigade, who had actually battled for the guns, believed the credit belonged to them. A brief standoff was settled between the contending Confederates when Battle’s men were outnumbered by Steuart’s soldiers.
Saunders Field, shown here in 1866 looking west, was the scene of several dramatic instances
involving colors at that Battle of the Wilderness.
(Library of Congress)
Also fighting on May 5, but south of Saunders Field, Sgt. Abram J. Buckles of the 19th Indiana Infantry and their Iron Brigade comrades had their hands full. Buckles received the Medal of Honor for his actions and remembered later that “Just then we got the order to advance and away we went down into the dense woods, and almost immediately striking the enemy’s line of battle, we struck them hard, Iron Brigade fashion, and drove them back until we reached a cleared place, where our line stopped to reform.” Sgt. Buckles recalled the challenges of his job in the thick woods: “Meanwhile the Johnnies crossed the clearing and posted themselves in a dense thicket. Up to this time I had been unable, because of the bushes and trees, to unfurl my colors, but on coming into the clearing I loosened its folds and shook the regiment’s flag free to the breeze.” Buckles noted that time was of the essence in this situation: “From their covered position the enemy had begun to pour a withering fire into us, comrades were dropping at every hand and delay was fatal, while retreat was never dreamed of. The only possible safety lay in a charge, and believing that a short, quick rush with such a line as we had, a heavy one, would force the Confederates to fly, I ran to the front. Waving the flag above my head, I called on the boys to follow. To a man they responded, and together we dashed toward the troublesome thicket. We were going in fine style when I was struck, shot through the body. I fell, but managed to keep the flag up until little John Divelbus, one of the color-guard and as brave a man as ever lived, took it out of my hands, to be killed a few minutes later.”
Another brigade that found itself in hot fighting was the Vermont Brigade, which was detached along with Gen. George Washington Getty’s Sixth Corps division. Pvt. Wilbur Fisk of the 2nd Vermont wrote to the Green Mountain Freeman newspaper, describing their May 5 fight along the Orange Plank Road and noted how the Confederates had bravely followed their colors: “No serious attack, however, was made directly in our front, but to the left, where we advanced in the first place, they tried to break our lines and they tried it hard. They charged clear up to the breastwork, and fairly planted the colors on the top of it, but they did not live to hold them there long. The ground in front of the works was literally covered with the rebel dead after they left. One Colonel lay dead clear up to the breastwork.”
First Sgt. Patrick DeLacy, 143rd Pennsylvania Infantry, received the Medal of Honor for capturing the enemy's colors and helping his comrades take their earthworks on May 6, 1864.
(Deeds of Valor: How America’s Civil War Heroes Won the Congressional Medal of Honor by W. F. Beyer and O. F. Keydel, 1903)
High drama raged on May 6, both at the Orange Plank Road sector as well as near the Orange Turnpike during the day and evening. The color bearers’ experiences served as a bit of a microcosm of the fighting at large.
Several men received the Medal of Honor for courageous actions on May 6 involving colors. Among them was Sgt. Leopold Karpeles, who was born in Prague and served in the 57th Massachusetts Infantry (Ninth Corps) at the time of the Battle of the Wilderness. Karpeles had previously served in the 46th Massachusetts, a 12-month regiment, and had received praise for being a brave color bearer. He later remembered that “I received my Medal of Honor as color sergeant. . . . during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. When a general stampede occurred, I was the only color sergeant to stand the ground during the evening of May 6. With the assistance of some officers, we succeeded in rallying around my colors a sufficient number of men to keep the Rebels in check, and prevented the capture of the stragglers in the woods. Our small body of men succeeded in holding them until after dark.”
Although he did not receive the Medal of Honor, Col. Charles E. Griswold of 56th Massachusetts (in the same brigade as Karpeles's 57th Massachusetts) received praise for his bravery from Lt. Charles J. Mills, who was serving then as adjutant of the First Division of the Ninth Corps. Lt. Mills wrote home that Col. Griswold “behaved with the utmost gallantry, rallied the men, holding the colors himself. He was killed instantly just afterwards, the ball passing through his throat. He never spoke a word. His body had to be left and was not recovered until the next day.”
Another soldier who received the Medal of Honor on May 6 was First Sgt. Patrick DeLacy of the 143rd Pennsylvania Infantry. Previously, at Gettysburg, Sgt. Ben Crippen set a high standard when he was killed while holding the flag and shaking his fist in defiance at the Confederates; an act immortalized on their regimental monument there. Ten months later at the Wilderness, DeLacy had just rescued a comrade when he returned to his lines and found that he was now in command of his company, all of the officers having been killed or wounded. After receiving orders to retake an earthwork, DeLacy went “Running ahead of the line, under a concentrated fire, he shot the color bearer of a Confederate regiment on the works, thus contributing to the success of the attack.” DeLacy captured the foe’s banner and his efforts helped recapture the earthworks.
Scenes depicting colors and color bearers appeared on much of the Union and Confederate war-time print media. Images like this one on a piece of sheet music reinforced the cultural significance of flags.
(Library of Congress)
Sgt. Stephen Rought’s brief Medal of Honor citation obscures the bravery he displayed on the morning of May 6 during the fighting by Maj. Gen. Winfield Hancock’s Second Corps along the Orange Plank Road. While the citation merely reads, “Capture of the flag of the 13th North Carolina (C.S.A),” things played out much more dramatically. Spying the 13th North Carolina’s colors on the improvised works, Sgt. Rought told his comrades with an expletive, “I’ll have that flag!” Ordered to charge, but without a bayonet, Rought and his comrades flew forward through “the whiz of bullets in our ears—through the powder-smoke, and through the bramble bushes.” Rought went over the works and demanded the surrender of the flag. When the Confederate color bearer boldly refused, “Rought with his clubbed musket split his head open and felled him prostrate at his feet, at the same time breaking his own musket off at the stock.” Rought grabbed the flag as the defender fell. A Confederate in the color company attempted to shoot Rought with his rifle, but Capt. Marcus Warner pulled his revolver and shot the Confederate soldier before the southerner shot Rought. Rought turned the flag in to Gen. David B. Birney. It was displayed at the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair and then stored at the War Department. Sgt. Rought was awarded his Medal of Honor on December 1, 1864.
On the north end of the Union line, and fighting with the Sixth Corps, Sgt. Charles E. Morse, 62nd New York, performed a heroic deed involving the colors that also earned him the Medal of Honor. His citation reads: “Voluntarily rushed back into the enemy's lines, took the colors from the color sergeant, who was mortally wounded, and, although himself wounded, carried them through the fight.” Like Sgt. Rought’s account above, Morse’s story was also much more intense than his citation and was chronicled in Deeds of Valor. After attempting to dislodge the Confederates from their position, Sgt. Morse and the 62nd received an order to fall back to their hastily built earthwork line. The account explains that “Though this movement was carried out in perfect order, the Confederates concluded that the men were in full retreat and at once started in hot pursuit. They failed to bring the lines of the New York regiment into disorder, however, and the men continued to fall back, all the time loading, facing about and firing. Presently, the color-sergeant was struck by a ball. He staggered, reeled and dropped, covering the colors with his body. Then someone shouted: ‘The colors are down!’” As anxiety gripped those who heard the cry, “Two men at once broke out of the ranks and started toward the spot where the dying color-sergeant lay. The rebels, too, were rapidly approaching the coveted spot. Who would be the first to reach it, the enemy or the daring New Yorkers? The latter was Corporal [Michael] Deitzel and Sergeant Morse. Morse was first at the side of his almost lifeless comrade and in an instant secured the precious colors. He was soon joined by Deitzel and both then retreated to their lines, holding the enemy at a safe distance by keeping up a well-directed fire. In the retreat Sergeant Morse was shot in the knee, but notwithstanding the painful wound he pluckily remained with his company all during the subsequent fighting, carrying aloft the banner he had so heroically saved.”
Widow Tapp Field at the Wilderness.
(Tim Talbott)
Conspicuous actions on the part of the Confederates drew comments, too. In Widow Tapp field, during Longstreet’s counterattack on May 6, Col. William F. Perry, who was commanding a brigade of Alabamians in the assault, later remembered that Maj. George W. Carey, commanding the 44th Alabama, “was in front of the center of his line, his countenance ablaze, the flag in his left hand, and his long sword waving in his right,” encouraging his men.
Following Longstreet’s counterattack, and during the subsequent flank attack on May 6 that utilized an unfinished railroad bed, the assaulting force had to navigate some swampy areas. When Ensign Benjamin May of the 12th Virginia got stuck in some mud, Lt. Col. Moxley Sorrel told him to “Give me the colors and I will lead the charge.” The stubborn standard bearer, unwilling to part with his flag, told Sorrel no thank you, but “We will follow you.” Ensign May did not relinquish his colors, but did follow as Sorrel led. Not long after this episode, and in the confusion of the attack along the Orange Plank Road, Longstreet fell wounded by his own troops. When someone asked to “Show your colors!” in an attempt to determine if the force was friend or foe, Ensign May bravely stepped from the cover of the woods into the openness of the Orange Plank Road so he could be seen and waved his banner to show who was there, certainly an underrated act of bravery.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
The opening shots of what would end up being an almost two-week fight at Spotsylvania Court House occurred on May 8, 1864, near the Spindle Farm, and now known as Laurel Hill. Making the attacks on the previously arriving Confederate troops were the soldiers of Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren’s Fifth Corps. After marching down Brock Road early that morning, several of the brigades in Warren’s Corps filed to the right and into position to make attacks on their foes across the way. Warren hoped to secure the Confederate position before it became too strong. In an effort to meet the emergency, the Federal attacks happened largely in piecemeal fashion. Getting enough reinforcements into position in time proved troubling, and little effort went into maneuvering to find an advantage. The defenders rebuffed the assaults. At one point in the fighting, Gen. Warren rode forward, grabbed a flag, and attempted to rally the troops. It proved futile as the casualty count continued to grow.
"Gen[era]l Warren rallying the Marylanders."
Sketch by Alfred R. Waud
(Library of Congress)
During the May 8 fighting, Lt. Abner Small of the 16th Maine Infantry remembered that “One of the first men hit was Corporal [Charles F.] Palmer, carrying our national color. While we had been in the woods, the color had been carried in the case to protect it . . . but when the charge was ordered, Palmer stripped off the case and flung the [flag] to the air. A bullet struck him in the arm and side, yet he held up the flag until it was taken from his grasp by our other color-bearer Corporal [William J.] Manchester, who gave the state flag into the hands of Corporal [Robinson] Fairbanks. The banners went forward together in the charge.”
On the Confederate side, Brig. Gen. Cullen Battle wrote to Maj. Gen Robert Rodes on May 9 about the fighting the day before in an attempt to explain his actions. Battle claimed “The simple truth is that in obedience to your order I advanced, passing a line of our troops then engaging the enemy on our front; charged the enemy and drove him rapidly for about 600 yards. At this point I encountered the enemy’s works, supported by two lines of battle. My left was originally nearest the enemy, and as a consequence the Twelfth Alabama, Sixth Alabama, and Sixty-first Alabama Regiments first encountered the works, and the colors and some officers of the Sixth and Sixty-first were captured within the enemy’s works. Just at this time, too, there was much confusion on my right, caused in great measure by the crowding together of troops of my own and other brigades. At least three brigades of your division were represented. Believing from the evident demoralization of the enemy that his position could be carried, I attempted to lead forward all the troops at that point. To accomplish this purpose, I took the colors of the Third Alabama in my hand, went forward, and asked the men to follow. I regret to say that the result did not correspond with my high hopes and confident expectations, a result no doubt greatly attributable to physical exhaustion from long marching, constant labor, and their rapid advance.”
Even when not in battle proper, the colors drew attention to those holding them. Such was the case in an incident involving the 15th New Jersey along the Sixth Corps lines. Their regimental historian, who was also their chaplain, remembered that “On the morning of May 9 a rebel rifleman was posted on our right, in a tree. He seemed to kill at almost every shot, and was said to have taken twenty lives. As a change was being made in the position of our regiment, he caught sight of the colors, and as Samuel Rubadeau, the Color Sergeant, rose with them, a ball struck him in the breast, passing through his body. He was taken back to our field hospital and died a few moments after. He was of French Canadian descent, an excellent soldier, of great bravery, and attentive to all the duties of his station. The same bullet, after passing through him, struck Sergeant Israel D. Lum, wounding him in the thigh.”
"Spot where Gen[era]l Sedgwick was killed"
Sketch by Alfred R. Waud
The location shown in this sketch was probably near where the 15th New Jersey's color bearer,
Sgt. Samuel Rubadeau, was killed.
Federal attempts to dislodge and or pin down the Confederates at Laurel Hill resulted in more assaults on May 9 and 10. In an attempted attack on May 10, Pvt. John Vautier and his 88th Pennsylvania comrades returned to their Spotsylvania earthworks, while another “heavy force was massed in our rear for the purpose of storming the enemy’s lines.” Vautier noted in his diary that most of one regiment behind the 88th lay “flat on their stomachs,” however, their color bearer “stood upright with the flag in his right hand.” While Vautier was looking at him, “A shell fell and exploded in the soft ground right in front of him. An immense cloud of smoke and dust was raised and we thought the poor fellow gone. The smoke rolled away, and the dust settled down but our flag was still there and the brave man still stood there are if nothing happened.”
Near the same area of Laurel Hill, Lt. Abner Small and his 16th Maine comrades participated in a charge on the evening of May 10. As mentioned above, the 16th Maine had lost a color bearer two days before when Charles F. Palmer was wounded. Small explained that in the May 10 fight “Corporal [Robinson] Fairbanks, being wounded, gave the State colors to Corporal [Luther] Bradford, of Company E. During the charge, Corporal [William J.] Manchester was wounded, when Bradford, the only one of the color guard left, seized the colors and carried both, until relieved by [Pvt.] Barney Boyle . . . who, mixing [Irish] brogue and courage, stuck by Bradford, swearing by all saints in the calendar that he would ‘stand by the ould flag as long as there was a gray divil in front.’”
As a participant in Col. Emory Upton’s famous May 10 charge, Sgt. Alexander Q. Smith of the 5th Wisconsin had a front-row view of the evening assault and wrote about it to his sister on May 16. Smith explained that during the assault, “our Color Sergt. Was killed and the Colors came near falling into the rebels hands, but when I saw the man fall I ran and grabbed the flag and brought it off the field with a shower of bullets after me. But I escaped them all except one which burnt my right side a little, but not enough to draw blood, I have been acting as Color Sergt. since that night. . . .”
"Army of the Potomac - The Struggle for the Salient, Near Spotsylvania, Virginia, May 12, 1862."
Based on a sketch by Alfred R. Waud
(Harper's Weekly, June 11, 1864)
No matter the weather, colors and color bearers were present. The horrific fighting on May 12, produced many memorable moments for those that carried the flags. As the 1st Delaware Infantry, a Second Corps regiment, in Col. Samuel Carrol’s brigade lined up to make the charge, Sgt. David Riggs, of Company D, who served as the regiment’s color-sergeant, made a bold proclamation. Sgt. Rigg’s said, “I’ll plant this [flag] on the rebel breastworks or die in the attempt.” His vow proved true as he was “killed near the slope of the enemy’s work, and another member of the color-guard carried the flag upon the crest.”
Fighting to the right of the Second Corps, and among the Sixth Corps units, the 15th New Jersey lost more than half its men killed, wounded, or missing. From the regiment’s color guard of nine soldiers, only one man came through the storm of shot, shell, and bullets unscathed. Their regimental colors were brought off by a sergeant from outside the color company. Their regimental historian profiled two of the color guard who fell: “Color Corporal John L. Young, of Hackettstown, had crawled apart from the rest, and lay behind a log. With his hands clasped and uplifted, as though in the very act of prayer, he was found dead. A handsome boy of eighteen years, he lay there in all the beauty of his young manhood, with his Testament in his bosom, and his blue eyes opened toward heaven. . . . Corporal Joseph G. Runkle, Company A, of the color guard, had his right arm pierced by bullets, and it fell paralyzed by his side. He continued to carry the colors with his other hand, until the contest ended. He died from his wounds, at the hospital in Washington June 7.”
When the Confederates counterattacked, Gen. Nathaniel Harris’s brigade was sent forward to the Bloody Angle. In one account from the 16th Mississippi Infantry, “Apprehending the desperate bloody character of the prospective charge, the men at first hesitated, but seeing their colors moving forward borne by . . . Alexander Mixon, whose clarion-like voice resounded along the line urging the men to follow, they hesitated no longer, but rushed forward through a storm of bullets and were in a short time in possession of the trenches.” The regiment’s Pvt. David Holt later wrote about how close the two contending forces were and that their flags almost touched each other. “The battle flag of the Sixteenth Mississippi was right in the angle of the salient. The enemy clambered up the embankment and planted the United States flag and the flag of New York right on top of the embankment, but the man that held the Confederate flag did not move an inch. The Federal and Confederate flags flapped together, but not a man was left living around the Federal battle flag, and the Confederates pushed over the dead. Eight times the Federals picked up their flags and endeavored to place them on the top of the breastworks, and eight times the determined men were killed, and the Confederate flag was in the hands of the third man who had borne that day, and he was wounded in the arm,” Holt wrote.
Also, during the Confederate counterattack at the Mule Shoe on May 12, Pvt. Charles Whilden inspired his 1st South Carolina Infantry and McGowan’s Brigade comrades by taking the battle flag and advancing into danger. Shot in the left shoulder, another bullet took off the tip of the staff, freeing the top of the flag. Seeing it about to fall, Whilden tore the flag’s other ties from the staff and wrapped it around himself, and continued forward. His armed comrades followed, slamming into the surging Federal tide and stalling its momentum.
Lt. Charles Harvey Brewster of the 10th Massachusetts commented on damage inflicted on his regiment's flagstaffs and flags on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania.
(Library of Congress)
Pvt. John Weeks of the 152nd New York Infantry received the Medal of Honor for his display of bravery on May 12. Weeks remembered: “About this time I saw the enemy give way on the left wing, and among the rest was a color-guard surrounding its flag. These men fired their muskets at us in a volley and broke for their rear. They had to pass down our front to get out of the angle. I had discharged my gun, but, making up my mind to have those colors I ran up to the sergeant and snatched the flag from him, threw it on the ground and put my foot on it. I cocked my empty gun and told them that the first man that moved out of his tracks would be shot, and ordered them to throw down their guns and surrender. The sergeant said to them: ‘Boys, they have our colors; let us go with them.’ They threw down their guns and marched to the rear as my prisoners.”
The 10th Massachusetts of the Sixth Corps suffered terribly on May 12, too. Lt. Charles Harvey Brewster, wrote to his sister Mary the day after that “I do not know how many men we have lost as we have not got but about 30 muskets with us this morning . . . both flagstaffs were hit three times and the state flag was cut short off.”
Conclusion
"Tattered flags of the 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment after a battle."
(Library of Congress)
In particularly tough fights, commanders sometimes measured success by taking ground, weapons, men, or flags. The day after the hard-fought May 12 battle at Spotsylvania, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade issued a congratulatory message to the Army of the Potomac via circular: “For eight days and nights, almost without intermission, in rain and sunshine, you have been gallantly fighting a desperate foe, in positions naturally strong and rendered doubly so by intrenchments . . . now he has abandoned the last intrenched position, so tenaciously held, suffering in all a loss of 18 guns, 22 colors, and 8,000 prisoners, including two general officers. Your heroic deeds and noble endurance of fatigue and privations will ever be memorable.” Despite Meade’s laudatory sentiments, few probably felt like victors.
Of course, the bloody fighting for the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia was far from over. They would continue to battle at Spotsylvania for another week. The armies then moved on to other famous battlefields: North Anna, Totopotomoy Creek, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and finally Appomattox. Along that long road of war, many more opportunities arose for colors and color bearers to hold a line, lead a charge, or provide a boost of morale just when it was needed most to the soldiers who were worn down by almost constant fighting, maneuvering, and being away from home and loved ones.
Some Sources and Suggested Reading
F. Beyer and O. F. Keydel. Deeds of Valor: How America’s Civil War Heroes Won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Smithmark Publishing, 2000 (reprint of 1903 version).
Gordon C. Rhea. Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, The Confederacy’s Most Unlikely Hero. Basic Books, 2003.
Parting Shot
Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Conrad Noll, 20th Michigan Inf. (Ninth Corps),
May 12, 1864.
(Public domain)
Citation: “Seized the colors, the bearer having been shot down, and gallantly fought his way out with them, though the enemy were on the left flank and rear.”
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