"Our
Reg't won the admiration of all for its gallantry,
having
captured 3 stand of colors and lots of prisoners."
Capt.
E.D.Keyes, Company H, 16th Vt. July 4, 1863
16th Vermont regimental flag VHS |
Stannard says the
Sixteenth took in "the regimental colors of the Second Florida and Eighth
Virginia Regiments, and the battle- flag of another regiment." ~ Report
of Brig. Gen. George J. Stannard, July 4, 1863.
Veazey's diary says
the third flag was lost: "Captured 3 colors -lost one
afterward. Brought in 2nd Florida and 8th Va. We have won a great
victory." ~ From the Diary of Wheelock G. Veazey, Colonel, 16th
Vermont Regiment.(VHS), in David Cross, Wheelock Veazey, (Rutland Historical
Society, 1995)
The regimental flag of the Second Florida, "a handsome silk flag," was taken by Company K Color-Sergeant Charles D. Brink, "who bore it off from the field with the colors of the Sixteenth", according to Benedict.
This was indeed a beautiful and special banner, with a sunburst design unique to any Confederate regiment, with the inscriptions "Williamsburg" and "Seven Pines" and the motto “In God is our trust.” The flag had been sewn by the women of Tallahassee from the best silk gathered by Gov. John Milton of that state.
The Second Florida was with Lang on Wilcox' left. The Sixteenth Vermont, having just flanked and routed one of Pickett’s regiments, turned bout, and crashed headlong into the left flank of the Second Florida. In one swoop, the Vermonters captured eighteen of the regiment’s men. Shane M. Turner, REARGUARD OF THE CONFEDERACY: THE SECOND FLORIDA INFANTRY REGIMENT "Being unsupported... our only safety from utter annihilation was in retreat." Lang reported. "The 2d Florida being on our left, and their color-bearer wounded, they lost their colors and the greater part of their men." Southern Historical Papers D. M. Pogue was carrying the regimental flag when, “at the moment the Vermonters attacked, a cannonball tore off his left foot. He handed the flag to another man who took just a few steps before being forced to surrender." Shane M. Turner, (citing D. M. Pogue, Letter “April 9, 1906,” United Daughters of the Confederacy Collection, Florida State Archives, Tallahassee, Florida.)
One of Brink's descendants quotes a witness as later writing "Color Sergeant Charles Brink while carrying his own flag in one hand, grasped a rebel flag with the other and demanded its release."
Others had other stories:
The
second flag.
The flag of the
Eighth Virginia was brought in by Pvt. Piam O. Harris, of Company E.
The Eighth Virginia
served with Garnett's brigade, on Kemper's left, part of Pickett’s Division. About ninety
percent of the Eighth were killed, wounded, or missing in the charge.
Hunton of the Eight later wrote that "only 10 of those who
went in [the charge] responded to the roll call--190 out of 200 were
gone." Bendedict says " In the thickest of the
assault on Pickett's flank, the colors of the Eighth Virginia, of Garnett's
brigade, fell with the fall of the standard bearer, and were captured by
private P. O. Harris of company E of the Sixteenth"
But the Eighth
Virginia was nowhere near Veazey's assault on Wilcox and Lang. There
are conflicting stories how the regimental flag of the Eight Virginia came into
Vermont hands.
One speculates
that "Some of the men from the [8th Va] regiment may have been
intermingled with those of the 11th & 24th Va. Regiments of Kemper's
Brigade in parrying the flanking movement by Stannard's 13th & 16th
Vermont Regiments." Kathy Georg Harrison & John W.
Busey, Nothing But Glory: Pickett's Division at Gettysburg.
Eugene Schael's
account of the charge of the "Bloody Eighth" agrees that "the
brigades of Kemper, Garnett and Armistead intermingled. In succession, bearers
of the 8th's flag were wounded and killed. When there was no one left to pick
it up, it was captured by the 16th Vermont Infantry." Eugene Scheel'
"30 Gruesome Minutes for 'Bloody Eighth'" The Washington Post
Company Sunday, July 2, 2000
Another source
says, "The color Sgt. of the 8th Virginia Regiment pitched his flag
into the bushes near the Vermont line [spitting]that he would not fight
with that flag in his hands. A Vermonter picked it up where the Color Sgt.
had left it, only to get wounded and drop the colors. Private Piam Harris
(Company E, 16th Vermont) found it & carried it from the
field." John Michael Priest, "Into the Fight -- Pickett's Charge
at Gettysburg.
According to Wert, Private
Harris found the battle-flag of the Eighth Virginia, as "Harris walked
along the wounded and dead Confederates."
Jeffrey D. Wert, Gettysburg Day Three 228, this is probably speculation
based on the fact the location of the 8th Virginia was north of Kemper. At
the Angle, not with Wilcox or Lang.
Or did Company E
itself fight farther to the north? Perhaps Piam and Company E of the 16th were
fighting at the Angle. Company B of the 16th was north of the
Codori house " separated from the regiment's other
pickets," according to Coffin. "It withdrew toward the Clump of
Trees and would fight there." As Benedict has the Sixteenth's
flanking movement extending behind the Virginians as far north as Codori house:
"As the left of
the Sixteenth regiment extended beyond the rear line of the enemy, it
undoubtedly prevented the retreat of a large number of them, and many
surrendered to the Sixteenth. Lieutenant Spafford [ of Company E] with a squad
of men brought in a number of Confederates who were scattered among the trees
of the orchard near Codori's house; and still larger numbers threw down their
arms closer to the Union front. ... In the thickest of the assault on Pickett's
flank, the colors of the Eighth Virginia, of Garnett's brigade, fell with the
fall of the standard bearer, and were captured by private P. O. Harris of
company E of the Sixteenth."
.
"In any
event," as Harrison & Busey say, "the 8th VA lost its flag
to the 16th Vermont sometime during the repulse of the attack." Nothing
But Glory: Pickett's Division at Gettysburg.
The
third flag?
Benedict says the
third "battle-flag” was taken by W. C. Kingston of company C. "It had been torn, probably by a shell, so that put a portion of the flag
remained on the standard; and, after carrying it a short distance it was thrown
away by Kingston, as it interfered with his use of his musket, and it was
subsequently brought in by other troops."
Kingston's obituary
says it was the flag of the “17th Alabama regiment." But the 17th
Alabama was not with Wilcox or Lang on Picket's right. What flag was it?
The Confederate story
is that this was not a flag, but only the standard of the battle-flag of the
5th Florida, and that the flag itself had been saved when Capt. Junius Taylor
tore it from the staff and hit it under his shirt. Only "the staff
stripped of its flag [was] turned it over to Veazey." Pickets charge the
last attack at Gettysburg. [This source also has the Flag of the
Second Florida not captured in battle but “left lying on the ground to be
picked up by Veazey's men."]
In any case, on July
4 "Sergeant "Brink and Private Harris, escorted by company E of
the Sixteenth, marched to General Meade’s headquarters next day and formally
delivered the captured flags to him, and received his thanks, which he
accompanied with praise of the gallant service rendered by Stannard’s
brigade. Benedict, George Grenville. Vermont in the Civil War. Burlington VT: Free Press Association, 1888 CHAPTER XXVI 475
As Veazey says:
"Captured 3 colors - lost one afterward. Brought in 2nd Florida and
8th Va."
Postscript
Meade forwarded
the two flags among a large number of captured flags to
Washington.. (" I have the honor herewith to transmit thirty-one
battle-flags, captured from the enemy in the recent battle at
Gettysburgh")
The beautiful silk
flag of the Second Florida, with a record of its capture by the Sixteenth
Vermont, was one of the eighteen captured Confederate flags sent by Secretary
Stanton to be exhibited at the great fair of the Sanitary Commission in
Chicago, in October, 1863.
The flag of the 8th
Va is now in the Museum
of the Confederacy.
And the Second Florida
flag is now lost. One source says the War Department loaned it to the 16th
Vermont after the war and it was lost. Another, implausibly, that “the flag
captured that day is now displayed in the State Capitol in Augusta,
Maine." It has somehow .disappeared.