Captured Flags

[gbeardsley]

Is there a list of the captured Confederate flags at Antietam? I'm specifically looking to see if any of the Louisiana regiments from Starke's Brigade lost their colors, but if there is a full list that would also be awesome!
My main goal is to identify some of the men in Gardner's photos but to narrow down who they could be it is essential to determine the positioning of the regiments in Starke's Brigade along the Hagerstown Pike.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I recently had an obscure question about the Battle of Antietam and got an accurate and timely answer from the Antietam Institute. Try https://antietaminstitute.org/contact/

Park Service ranger/historians are also usually good in answering these kinds of questions. A ranger named Brian Baracz was on staff some years back when I had some questions and he was excellent.

 

[Fairfield]

The state of Maine had a Confederate flag captured at the Battle of Antietam that had been brought here by a Union officer and which remained in his family for generations. Because it was in private hands it wasn't included in the 1927 return of all Confederate flags in the state's possession--however, when when the officer's great-grandson died, the flag was returned (that is what he had wished).

 

[BowieResearcher]

The 2nd Massachusetts captured the flag of the 11th Mississippi, which had been abandoned in or near the Cornfield.

Lt. Colonel Wilder Dwight took this flag and rode up and down the line with it, shortly before being mortally wounded during the regiment's advance to the West Woods.

CSPAN has a short video about the flag, which is on display at the US Army Heritage and Education Center.

Edit: Note the curator is incorrect about Dwight being hit while carrying the flag. He was shot shortly after the flag incident and after dismounting.

 

[BowieResearcher]

Is there a list of the captured Confederate flags at Antietam? I'm specifically looking to see if any of the Louisiana regiments from Starke's Brigade lost their colors, but if there is a full list that would also be awesome!
My main goal is to identify some of the men in Gardner's photos but to narrow down who they could be it is essential to determine the positioning of the regiments in Starke's Brigade along the Hagerstown Pike.

Lewis C. Parmelee of the 2nd US Sharpshooters captured the flag of the 1st Louisiana. The color bearer had climbed over the Hagerstown Pike's fence and was shot just as Stafford ordered a retreat. Parmelee saw the flag lying in the road, and jammed his sword in the broken end of staff.

Determining the exact position of Starke's regiments is difficult because it appears their advance to the fence not only resulted in the regiments of the brigade intermingling, but also caused parts of Taliaferro's Brigade (under JW Jackson) to get tangled with them as well.

Hartwig raises the possibility that one of the men in the Gardner photos may be Sergeant Joseph Joyce of the 10th Louisiana (Dread, 69).

 

[Brian Downey]

Lewis C. Parmelee of the 2nd US Sharpshooters captured the flag of the 1st Louisiana. The color bearer had climbed over the Hagerstown Pike's fence and was shot just as Stafford ordered a retreat. Parmelee saw the flag lying in the road, and jammed his sword in the broken end of staff.

and, to finish the story ... Adjt. Parmelee was shot while trying to carry off a rebel flag he had seized, fastened to a fence post; but unfortunately for him and others, the rebels were behind the fence, and the gallant adjutant had five bullets put in him.