The Legend of Renfrew and His Flag

SWMODave

Sergeant Major
Thread Medic
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Jul 23, 2017
Location
Southwest Missouri
I apologize to the administrators who probably prefer members not paste stories in images, as their content can not be indexed by Google or other search engines, but this is a story best told by actual newspaper articles.

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Initially published in 1901, the South became fascinated with this story, and in 1906, a book was printed called ‘The Flag Still There’ by Theodore F Allen. The article above is from the Pacific Commercial Advertiser of Honolulu dated July 26, 1901 quoting a Cincinnati Enquirer article.

Captain Theodore F Allen of the 7th Ohio had a little history with Morgan’s 4th Kentucky. Allen wrote of the capture of Basil Duke and many of his men July 19, 1863 at Buffington Island which I quoted from earlier on cwt (here).

Later Allen was captured by the 4th Kentucky on November 6, 1863 at Rogersville, TN, but was able to steal a horse and escape. A bond developed between Allen and the 4th Kentucky, and in Volume 13 of the Confederate Veteran, a National Tribune article is quoted were Allen was invited to attend the 1905 reunion of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, and was asked to bring back the horse he had stolen when he escaped. He did attend, without the horse, and wrote the following about the meeting.

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Everyone wanted to know more about Henry Clay Renfrew and Lela Giltner. Colonel Henry Giltner had numerous children, the youngest being Susan, born in 1852. (here) No one seemed to remember who Lela was but some remembered Renfrew. Here is an article posted in the Arizona Republican Sept 23, 1901
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In 1899, Basil Duke had presented the captured flags of the 21st, 58th and 60th Ohio to the Noyes-McCook GAR Post, where Allen was a member. A bond formed between Allen and the men of the 4th Kentucky. The story of Henry Clay Renfrew was written, in my opinion, as a tribute to his former enemy. And that was the problem - it was only a story. Henry Clay Renfrew never existed. It was a made up tale, that quickly got out of control. When men he had grown to respect, started claiming they personally knew the figure he had made up, Allen did not immediately advice of the ruse, but let it grow. Even his friend Basil Duke felt the story was legitimate.

The New York Herald, on December 31, 1922, carried a full page story (page 8) titled “The Legend of Renfrew The Silent”. Here are a few clips from the story
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This is posted as a legend of the Civil War. This one was identified as a hoax by its author and thus is widely forgotten today.

Other legends are widely accepted today as fact, thanks in part to dime store historians looking to pump out books, without actually doing any research. It has been said that if a lie is repeated often and long enough, it becomes fact. Next Friday, we will see this in action. On the (two days before) anniversary of an 1861 raid by Kansas forces under the command of James Lane on the town of Osceola, Missouri, we will identify some of the false claims made about this event. While a war crime was committed here (one repeated too many times throughout the war), the sacking and burning of a small Missouri town where Sterling Price had a military depot until just days prior, has since grown in our history books into a massacre at the third largest city of Missouri, with hundreds of homes destroyed, and twelve unidentified men shot.



 
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