Museum looks to preserve Gettysburg flag

The Tennessee Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is spearheading an effort to conserve a Confederate battle flag captured on the pivotal third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, at the apex of Pickett’s Charge.

The organization is seeking to raise $12,000 to conserve the banner, which belonged to the 14th Tennessee Infantry Regiment and today resides in the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville.

The flag was captured by the 14th Connecticut on July 3, 1863, after the Tennessee unit had joined with approximately 10,000 other Southern troops and advanced over open fields for three-quarters of a mile under heavy Federal artillery and rifle fire.

The men of the 14th Tennessee were actually able to breach the stone wall that protected many of the Union soldiers, but couldn’t hold its gains, eventually being forced to fall back with heavy losses.

The unit lost four of its regimental colors.

After its capture, the flag was forwarded to the US War Department, where it was held for decades.

President Theodore Roosevelt pursued a policy of returning flags captured during the War Between the States, and in 1905 the banner was returned to Tennessee.

The flag was presented to the 14th Tennessee after the Battle of Chancellorsville, which took place in May 1863, so it had been carried for only a couple of months before Gettysburg. That meant it spent relatively little time exposed to the rigors of the battlefield and the elements.

The flag’s battle honors are evident, designating actions the 14th Tennessee took part in before the banner was captured, including First and Second Manassas, Seven Pines and Fredericksburg.

The Tennessee State Museum is one of fewer than a dozen museums with active Confederate flag-conservation programs.

Conserving even a single flag can be a major strain on the financial resources of a museum, tens of thousands of dollars in some instances.

There’s a key difference between restoration and conservation.

“Restoration is that process by which an artifact undergoes treatment in order to make it look like its original condition, while conservation is an environmental control process that conserves the artifact in its present condition but prevents further deterioration. Conservation allows flags to be cleaned and stabilized, but does not try to make the flag ‘look new,’” according to vexillologist Richard R. Gideon.

The 14th Tennessee holds a special place in the hearts of Tennessee Civil War aficionados.

The unit, organized in May 1861, was made up of Tennesseans from Robertson, Montgomery, and Stewart counties and fought in virtually every major battle or campaign conducted by Robert E. Lee.

Of the more than 1,000 men and officers who served in the unit, just 40 were with the regiment at Appomattox, at the war’s conclusion.

The 14th served as part of James J. Archer’s famed “Tennessee Brigade,” assigned to AP Hill’s Light Division.

Hill’s men earned a hard-fought reputation for making critical counterattacks preserving Confederate victories at such battles as Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas and Sharpsburg, with the 14th in the van of each of Hill’s desperate onslaughts.

However, the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg nearly destroyed both the 14th Tennessee and Archer’s Brigade. Initially, the regiment fared well, helping inflict devastating casualties on the 2nd Wisconsin on the first day of action, with Wisconsin unit losing 77 percent of its men.

After a day’s rest, Lee assigned the remnants of the Tennessee Brigade to join Major General George Pickett’s division in an ill-fated attack on the Union center.

The men from Tennessee aligned on Pickett’s left but long before any could reach the Union line, Federal fire cut the men of the 14th down in droves.

An eyewitness reported that the 14th Tennessee had four color bearers shot down, the last of whom was at the enemy’s works.

Despite the heavy losses, the regiment fought on through the end of the war, seeing action at such major battles as the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and Petersburg.

The Tennessee State Museum has designated the 14th Tennessee flag as among those banners most in need of conservation.

The Tennessee SCV, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is accepting donations to put toward the costs associated with conserving this 150-year-old relic of US history.

Donations can be sent to: Tennessee Division, SCV, Box 782, Lebanon, Tenn., 37088-0782. For more details, go to http://saveourflags.org/index.php/donate.