1st Alabama Infantry Flag Returned

[captain_kirk]

According to the Birmingham News of May 24, 2007, the Flag of the 1st Alabama Infantry was returned to the State of Alabama in a ceremony in Washington, DC. Members of Congress from Nebraska presented the flag to Congressional members from Alabama and the director of the Alabama State Archives. The picture on the front page was of a first national flag of unusually large size made of cotton and wool. It is said to have been captured on April 8, 1862 on an island in the Mississippi River near the Missouri shore.

[captain_kirk]

A little research reveals the flag was captured at Island # 10.

[Micah Trent]

This should be moved to Other Business under Flags & Statues

[Che]

I really don't understand why anyone would want to give up a war prize captured in battle. I am not, under any circumstances, ever giving the tire sandals I took in Vietnam back to the Cong!

http://www.tired-feet.com/

[paul hadley]

I will look for my news clipping, but to paraphrase, the curator of the State Historical Society was happy to return the flag to Alabama because "it didn't have anything to do with Nebraska history."
IMHO, the nearly 20,000 Union veterans buried in our state might disagree with that assessment, but it is what it is.

The flag -- captured, battlefield pickup or whatever -- was passed from a federal officer to his U.S. soldier son and eventually was part of a G.A.R. collection in Nebraska if I'm remembering the story right (sorry), then given to the state when the last veterans were dying out.

That's the only part with which I have conflicting thoughts -- part of me thinks it's important to have the flag returned to its origins, part of me believes those who captured it thought it should be shared with all of the citizens of our area, not "forgotten" in a Historical Society warehouse. Makes me wonder what else they have squirreled away that's not seen the light of day since before Shelby Foote was in short pants.

Anyway, I guess the flag is back where it will be appreciated, but it surely would have been nice for our southern neighbors to have reciprocated by sending something interesting back up our way. Maybe later.
If anyone's interested, stories were carried in the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star and since the presentation was made in Washington I suppose the eastern press might have covered it.

Cheers,
Paul Hadley
Lincoln, Neb.