Battle Flag of the 2nd/6th Missouri Infantry

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Flag_Second__Sixth_Regiment_Infantry_Missouri_CSA_Obverse.jpg

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm/ref/collection/cwflag/id/47

The 1864 battle flag of the 2nd & 6th Missouri Infantry consolidated. This flag was carried throughout the Atlanta Campaign, Allatoona Pass, and was captured in the battle of Franklin. It is of the pattern manufactured by civilian contractors in Mobile and issued to the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana in late 1863.

Both the 2nd and 6th Missouri were in Francis M. Cockrell's Missouri Brigade. Both consisting of Confederate volunteers from the Missouri State Guard, the 2nd Missouri was organized on January 16, 1862, and 6th Missouri later that year in August. The Missouri Brigade was arguably one of the finest Confederate brigades in the Western theater - exceptionally well commanded, drilled, and known for fightin'. Its ranks were largely made up of Missouri State Guard veterans, and it was praised for its conduct at Elkhorn Tavern, Corinth, Champion Hill, and Vicksburg.

After the fall of Vicksburg the brigade was exchanged in Sept. 1863 at Demopolis, AL, where it was reorganized and its regiments were consolidated, the 2nd being consolidated with the 6th. It was then sent with Polk's Army of Mississippi to join the Army of Tennessee in May 1864. From then on it served throughout the Atlanta Campaign, fought at Allatoona Pass, and was decimated at Franklin. The remnants went on to garrison Fort Blakely in the Mobile Campaign, where they were later captured with the fall of the fort on April 9, 1865.

The flag of the 2nd & 6th Missouri was captured in the battle of Franklin by Sgt. Alfred Ransbottom of the 97th Ohio Infantry. The color bearer managed to reach the Federal entrenchments at the Carter Cotton Gin and plant the colors on the parapet, where he was shot down and flag pulled over the works. The colors of the 1st & 4th Missouri Infantry were also captured in the same manner by the 88th Illinois Infantry. The 1st & 4th's flag was sent to Chicago where it was unfortunately lost in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The Missouri Brigade suffered the the loss of over 60% of its strength at Franklin, more than any other brigade in the battle.
 
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/568016571722762250/

Here is the Earl Van Dorn pattern battle flag of the 6th Missouri Infantry on display at the Civil War Interpretive Center at Corinth, MS. This flag was carried by the regiment at Corinth, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, and the Siege of Vicksburg. Before his death at Vicksburg, Colonel Eugene Erwin gave the flag to his wife Josephine for safe keeping; she sewed the flag to the inside of her dress and brought it through the lines back home to Missouri.

Inscribed upon the flag is:

"EUGENE ERWIN, COL. COMMANDING
This Regiment was the first to charge the inner intrenchment at Corinth, Miss., and 26 of its 30 commissioned officers, and 22 of its 28 non-commissioned officers were killed or wounded.

WILLIAM HUFF,
ENSIGN.
Received 9 wounds in defense of this flag before resigning it to keeping of a comrade, and of 300 men who went in battle only 30 answered the roll call afterwards."

Col. Eugene Erwin was later killed at Vicksburg while leading the 6th Missouri in a counter-attack at the crater on June 25, in support of the 3rd Louisiana. It was said his last words were "Come on, my brave boys, don't let the Third Regiment get ahead of you!"

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Col. Eugene Erwin
 
Flag_1st_Regiment_Cavalry_dismounted_Missouri_Volunteers_CSA_Obverse.jpg

http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm/compoundobject/collection/cwflag/id/53/rec/5

Battle flag of the 1st Missouri Cavalry (CS), which also served in Cockrell's Missouri Brigade. It was captured in the battle of Big Black River, May 17, 1863, by Pvt. Rosswell Clark of Co. F, 11th Wisconsin Infantry. It was returned to Missouri in 1943 and is now located in the Missouri State Museum, Jefferson City, MO.

This flag, often referred to as the "Missouri Battle Flag" was issued to the Missouri Brigade and Green's Brigade of Bowen's Division during the Vicksburg Campaign. The first issue of flags were made in Missouri and brought to the division by Gen. Bowen's wife. The Missouri Battle Flag is also known as "Belle Edmondson's Latin Cross," Miss Belle Edmondson of Memphis originally designing the flag for her "adopted" Missouri troops. She presented her first flag to Gen. Sterling Price in late summer or fall of 1862.
 
Here is the 4th Missouri Infantry's Earl Van Dorn pattern, courtesy of the American Civil War Museum's online collection.

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Description: Flag of the 4th Missouri Infantry. According to donor, was carried in Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 1862; if so, would be one of earliest issued Van Dorn pattern flags. Owned in postwar years by Lt. Col. Waldo P. Johnson.

The Van Dorn flags for the Missouri Brigade are believed to have been made in June 1862 by the ladies of Guntown, Mississippi.
http://moconfederacy.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/A61D5C65-3589-4634-BA65-195325775828
 
I'm pretty sure I've seen the flag of the 2nd/6th Mo in the basement museum at the state capital in Jefferson City, but that was 20 years ago. I remember whole racks of flags, union and confederate on diplay, most in terrible shape. I think this calls for a road trip down to Jeff City soon to check up on the situation and to see if my memory is correct
 
I'm pretty sure I've seen the flag of the 2nd/6th Mo in the basement museum at the state capital in Jefferson City, but that was 20 years ago. I remember whole racks of flags, union and confederate on diplay, most in terrible shape. I think this calls for a road trip down to Jeff City soon to check up on the situation and to see if my memory is correct
Booner,
You and I remember the same thing. I'm pretty sure it was longer than 20 years ago. However, you will not find the flags on display at the MO Capital Building these days. I believe they are all in the State Archives now, where they are stored flat in drawers in a very controlled environment. You can see many of them online.
 
View attachment 57327
http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm/compoundobject/collection/cwflag/id/53/rec/5

Battle flag of the 1st Missouri Cavalry (CS), also of the Missouri Brigade. The 1st Missouri Cavalry was organized on December 30, 1861 and Elijah Gates was elected its Colonel. The regiment first served with the brigade throughout the Pea Ridge Campaign. In May 1862 both the 1st and 3rd Missouri Cavalry were dismounted, fighting on foot as infantry for the rest of the war. Throughout the Vicksburg Campaign the 1st and 3rd Missouri Cavalry served in Martin E. Green's Brigade. After the fall of Vicksburg, parole and exchange, the 1st and 3rd Missouri Cavalry were consolidated and placed back in Cockrell's Missouri Brigade, which they served with for the remainder of the war.

This flag, often referred to as the "Missouri Battle Flag" was issued to the Missouri Brigade and Green's Brigade of Bowen's Division during the Vicksburg Campaign. The first issue of flags were made in Missouri and brought to the division by Gen. Bowen's wife. The Missouri Battle Flag is also known as "Belle Edmondson's Latin Cross," Miss Belle Edmondson of Memphis originally designing the flag for her "adopted" Missouri troops. She presented her first flag to Gen. Sterling Price in summer of 1862.

It's also referred to as the Sterling Price flag and became somewhat standard for State Guard units prior to PeaRidge / Elk Horn Tavern.
 
It's also referred to as the Sterling Price flag and became somewhat standard for State Guard units prior to PeaRidge / Elk Horn Tavern.
I've never heard of them being used at Pea Ridge.... According to "The Flags of Civil War Missouri" by Glenn Dedmondt, Miss Belle Edmondson and her friend Hallie Rodgers sewed the first flag in late summer of 1862 and presented it to Sterling Price, I assume, shortly thereafter. The 1st Missouri Brigade received theirs later on and carried them in the Vicksburg Campaign. Parsons' Missouri Brigade west of the Mississippi also received a batch of these flags in 1863.
 
Booner,
You and I remember the same thing. I'm pretty sure it was longer than 20 years ago. However, you will not find the flags on display at the MO Capital Building these days. I believe they are all in the State Archives now, where they are stored flat in drawers in a very controlled environment. You can see many of them online.

Hey, Patrick!

I was going to mention that I saw several of the preserved flags on display in the Capitol when I was there just a few years ago - but then I saw an article from 2012 that explained that they were only going to display a few at a time until June of last year. Now that I know it was a temporary display, I especially wish that I could've had more time to look at them when I was there. Unfortunately I was too busy with other planned activities that day.

You can see one of the flags on display in the background of this photo from the Missouri State Parks website:

State Museum History Hall.jpg


https://mostateparks.com/page/58400/exhibits

And here's the article from 2012:

http://m.columbiatribune.com/wire/s...cle_35b7db18-8b90-5546-a7b9-ca32818f1769.html
 
Hey, Patrick!

I was going to mention that I saw several of the preserved flags on display in the Capitol when I was there just a few years ago - but then I saw an article from 2012 that explained that they were only going to display a few at a time until June of last year. Now that I know it was a temporary display, I especially wish that I could've had more time to look at them when I was there. Unfortunately I was too busy with other planned activities that day.

You can see one of the flags on display in the background of this photo from the Missouri State Parks website:

View attachment 100843

https://mostateparks.com/page/58400/exhibits

And here's the article from 2012:

http://m.columbiatribune.com/wire/s...cle_35b7db18-8b90-5546-a7b9-ca32818f1769.html
I obviously missed the temporary display. However, like Booner, I remember going through there as a high school kid and seeing racks and racks of furled unit flags from both sides. It has been a very long time since you could see that sort of display in the capital building. I used to think (cynically) that it was no longer politically correct. I have since decided it's because the flags are now getting the conservation measures that they always deserved. Good going, MO State Archives!!!
 
I've never heard of them being used at Pea Ridge.... According to "The Flags of Civil War Missouri" by Glenn Dedmondt, Miss Belle Edmondson and her friend Hallie Rodgers sewed the first flag in late summer of 1862 and presented it to Sterling Price, I assume, shortly thereafter. The 1st Missouri Brigade received theirs later on and carried them in the Vicksburg Campaign. Parsons' Missouri Brigade west of the Mississippi also received a batch of these flags in 1863.

It replaced the "Bear Flag" shortly after Oak Hills and Lexington the "Bear Flag" being the Blue Field flag with the Missouri state seal in gold that Price proscribed upon taking command of the State Guard in early 61. There is some conjecture that the CBF was carried by some MSG units at Elk Horn Tavern also , but most were not in CS service at the time so as state troops some believe they would have carried eithier the "Bear Flag"' the Sterling Price Flag or a Flag presented to them by their community.

By late summer 62 Price was in Mississippi/Tennessee area prior to the Iuk .Corinth battles and had probably taken up the CBF or the Trans-Mississippi Battle Flag thou I'm sure the Sterling Price Flag was still carried by some units as well as the Bear Flag .
 
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It replaced the "Bear Flag" shortly after Oak Hills and Lexington the "Bear Flag" being the Blue Field flag with the Missouri state seal in gold that Price proscribed upon taking command of the State Guard in early 61. There is some conjecture that the CBF was carried by some MSG units at Elk Horn Tavern also , but most were not in CS service at the time so as state troops some believe they would have carried eithier the "Bear Flag"' the Sterling Price Flag or a Flag presented to them by their community.

By late summer 62 Price was in Mississippi/Tennessee area prior to the Iuk .Corinth battles and had probably taken up the CBF or the Trans-Mississippi Battle Flag thou I'm sure the Sterling Price Flag was still carried by some units as well as the Bear Flag .
By late summer of 1862 and into the Iuka-Corinth Campaign it's my understanding that most of Price's troops were issued Van Dorn battle flags. There may have been some MSG Bear Flags left over, but seeing that all in Price's Division had been transferred to Confederate service by fall of '62 it's likely that they were issued new battle flags by then.

I don't see how they could be using the Sterling Price/Belle Edmondson flag well before she even made the first one (that being presented to Price in late summer of fall of 1862). The Missouri Brigade didn't receive their first batch until sometime shortly before the Vicksburg Campaign.

The Van Dorn seems to have been the prominent flag in the Iuka-Corinth Campaign. There are surviving Van Dorn battle flags that were captured at Corinth or carried into the Vicksburg Campaign, e.g., those of the 4th and 6th Missouri, the 9th Texas Cavalry, Northwest 15th Arkansas Infantry, etc.
 
They may have been issued Earl's Rag.Ive not heard that,but I think alot of Van Dorns force was muking about west of the area while Price was in the area and supposed to be covering Braggs Advane as was Van Dorn who never really attempted to follow Braggs orders to the point of trying to order Price to support his action. There were CBF's at Pea Ridge and the AoT was carrying some CBF's but many had the Hardee flag or Stars and Bars. Could be .
 
They may have been issued Earl's Rag.Ive not heard that,but I think alot of Van Dorns force was muking about west of the area while Price was in the area and supposed to be covering Braggs Advane as was Van Dorn who never really attempted to follow Braggs orders to the point of trying to order Price to support his action. There were CBF's at Pea Ridge and the AoT was carrying some CBF's but many had the Hardee flag or Stars and Bars. Could be .

I think not - it appears Ben McCullough, Van Dorn or somebody else had an issue made up of First Nationals that were very oblong - 2 1/2 - 3 times longer than they were wide - at least for all the units under McCullough. (I don't know about the Missouri State Guard, but imagine they were still carrying their own flags; someone correct me if I'm wrong.) As for some of the flags that were formerly on display or at least in the possession of the State of Missouri, two of them were "returned" to Arkansas a few years ago and are now on display in Little Rock, one of the Pea Ridge pattern. It allegedly belonged to the Dallas Artillery of Dallas, Ark., but is almost certainly that of the Dallas, Texas, unit of the same name whose captain admitted to his wife had been left lying on the ground furled when the unit retreated March 8, 1862.
 
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They may have been issued Earl's Rag.Ive not heard that,but I think alot of Van Dorns force was muking about west of the area while Price was in the area and supposed to be covering Braggs Advane as was Van Dorn who never really attempted to follow Braggs orders to the point of trying to order Price to support his action. There were CBF's at Pea Ridge and the AoT was carrying some CBF's but many had the Hardee flag or Stars and Bars. Could be .
Well, it's known that the Army of the West was first issued the Van Dorn battle flags in June 1862, after its transfer across the Mississippi to join Beauregard at Corinth. In June 1862 the Army of the West was encamped near Tupelo after the retreat from Corinth; the Van Dorn flags were supposedly made by the ladies of Guntown, Mississippi, which is also in Lee County, not too far from Tupelo.

There were a limited number of CBFs issued to the Army of Mississippi/Army of Tennessee in 1862 (the Cassidy pattern), but none were ever issued to the Army of the West. As James N. said, prior to the Van Dorn battle flag, I believe the Army of the West was probably using a mix of First Nationals, homemade presentation flags and MSG battle flags.

This is my understanding of the 1st Missouri Brigade's flag history:

Early to mid 1862 -- MSG "Bear Flag" and other homemade presentation flags.

Mid to late 1862 -- Van Dorn battle flags, possibly with some MSG battle flags left over.

1863 -- Sterling Price/Belle Edmondson battle flag and Van Dorn battle flags.

1864 to end of the war -- Rectangular CBF of the pattern manufactured in Mobile.
 
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