Flag of the 37th VA Inf. Regiment
circa April 1864 (restored), third bunting issue
Captured on May 12, 1864 at the Mule Shoe
Salient action at the Battle of Spotsylvania. The colors were taken from
Capt. James H. Wood of Co.D of the 37th VA by First Lieutenant C. Fraunberg
of the 20th Indiana Volunteers.
All that remains of the flag today
is the lower third, including part of one bar, the two lower left stars,
and the battle honors "Chancellorsville" and "Gettysburg" stencilled in
blue paint on one side. This remnant was part of the U.S. War Dept.'s collection
of captured colors, and still bears "WD No. 17 May 12, 1864" on the mounting
border in black ink. It was returned to the State of Virginia in 1907,
and now resides in the collection of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond
Virginia (formerly the Richmond Historical Society). The above restoration
is based upon research by the museum staff. It utilizes the (intact) flag
of the 23d VA Regt. (the sister regiment of the 37th) as a basis for the
missing details, especially the battle honors.
It is uncertain how the flag came
to be in the damaged state in which it now exists; and the actual moment
of capture was accompanied by considerable struggle and confusion, in the
words of Capt. Wood,
"During the engagement I noticed
that the regimental flagpole had been inverted, and a white handkerchief
displayed at its top. I quickly caught it and again hoisted the flag, and
held it while the men were being forced to surrender along the line on
each side of the position we occupied. The Federals now charged against
our front and rear, bringing injury and death to some of our little band
around the colors.
I was still holding the flag
and not surrendered. The Federals were around us. Louis Fitch, a
private soldier of my own company, and the others were by my side.
Fitch discovered a Federal soldier bearing down upon us and immediately
fired upon him. The momentum of this soldier carried him forward as he
fell and his bayonet penetrated the ground at my feet, and at the moment
I heard the blow of a sword made by a Federal lieutenant against the barrel
of a gun, and in my glance at the instant I saw the bayoneted gun being
forced to the ground. I have regretted my failure to get the name of this
lieutenant, confusion and hurry of all at the time prevented."
from James H. Wood The
War, Butternut Press 1984
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