Adjutant and Inspector General Reports
1865 Report
RETURNED COLORS.
From time to time during the war, as the colors of regiments in the field have become unserviceable, they have been returned to the State and new colors obtained. On the fourteenth of June, 1865, it was ordered by the War Department, that the colors of all returned regiments be delivered to the Governor of the State. There are now in the possession of the State seventy stands of returned colors, under which the troops from this State have been led to battle and to victory. Many of them have been pierced by shot and shell, until they are mere tattered remnants of the original. Among them is the flag of the "Old Brigade," borne in the battles at the Wilderness, Spotyslvania, North Anna, Pamunkey, Hanover court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Washington, Strasburg, Charles Town, Opequan, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Mount Jackson, New Market and Cedar Creek, and under which, in a period of little more than five months, three thousand one hundred and sixteen Vermonters were killed or wounded; the original flag of the Fourth Regiment, now but a remnant of tattered shreds, borne at Lee's Mills, Williamsburg, Golding's Farm, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Crampton's Pass, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Marye's Heights, Banks' Ford, Gettysburg and Funkstown; the remnant of the flag of the Sixth Regiment, borne from January, 1864, until June, 1865, under which three hundred and sixty-eight men were killed or wounded; the shreds which remain of the guidon of the Second Battery, attesting the severity of their service at Port Hudson; and many others, all bearing the evidence of the service which Vermont troops were expected to perform, some with their staffs scarred by rebel bullets, and many of them baptized by the blood of their bearers. These flags have been displayed in the Capitol of the State, to remain, silent but unerring witnesses of the loyalty of Vermont, of the gallant bearing of her sons, which has won for them a national reputation, and an incentive to continued patriotic action and sacrifice whenever required,--for surely no man can ever dare to utter a disloyal word under their folds.
 Substitutes |
Captured Rebel Flags |