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WELL PROVENANCED UNKNOWN TENNESSEE COMPANY

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
WELL PROVENANCED UNKNOWN TENNESSEE COMPANY

CAPTURED CONFEDERATE FIRST NATIONAL FLAG. Pictured as color plate 118 & described on pgs. 400-401 in the recently released book by University of Tennessee Press “Civil War Flags of Tennessee”, a monumental work and a project 20 years in the making. The capture of this flag is described in the August 13th 1862 Nashville Daily Union newspaper. It was taken home by Capt. Charles Gibbs of the 69th Ohio. The regiment itself served in Nashville from June 29, 1862 to July 31, 1862 before moving off to somewhere else. After the capture it was displayed in the Newcomb tavern in Dayton. The structure still stands today as the oldest building in Dayton. An old, inked note from the family, which has stayed w/ the flag, provides a bit of its capture history & states “Souvenir hunters have practically ruined it” while on exhibit in the Tavern.
According to an analysis that accompanies flag the family note has some incorrect information. The flag had at least 7 stars based on analysis plus possibly more in quadrants & center. We know Capt. Gibbs took the flag from the store of a grocer John H. Buddeke (1808-1887). Capt. Gibbs does not mention the unit designation, so he likely did not know it. Researching John Buddeke, we find he has a son John H. Buddeke Jr. (1844-1912) who would have been 17 years old when the war began. There is a J. H. Buddeke listed in a Tennessee Artillery in 1861. Mrs. John H. Buddeke was on a committee to equip a local battalion of cavalry “Marion Guards”, though there is no mention or description of their flag known. Most company flags will never be identified but this souvenired Nashville flag may not always be a mystery due to so many potential clues. UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: research on connection of Buddeke family & Marion Dragoon; lg. file of research along w/ the original letter that accompanied flag. / Copy of photograph of Capt. Gibbs at a reunion in later years w/ his comrades. / Scan of newspaper article describing the capture of the flag. / Brief soldier history from American Civil War research database. CONDITION: of the portion remaining, the blended cotton/silk (weft/warp) red material is sound, the same material is used on both red bars as can be seen in photographs where one side is more salmon in color. Remaining blue silk is sound w/ remnants of gold & red paint at edges of souvenired areas. White silk is fragile w/ reductions as can be seen at fly. Flag currently measures 86" on fly, & 57" on height. Flag is missing hoist & about 10" of top red bar along w/ most of canton which only outlines of 3 approx. 7" stars can be seen. The flag is totally machine sewn w/ exception of folded fly edges which are folded over & finished w/ hand stitch. We can estimate the total size of this flag would have been approx. 68" on hoist & 90" on fly. Ratios of early Civil War flags are sometimes closer to square than 3:2 as we think of today based on other surviving flags. Confederate unit flags varied dramatically in dimensions from almost square to over 2:1 (fly:hoist). PROVENANCE: Captain Charles Gibbs captured flag August 12th 1862, Nashville, TN; Displayed Newcom Tavern, Monument Street, Dayton, OH; Gary Delscnap, Kettering, OH who purchased it circa 1980 from descendants of Capt. Gibbs; Michael Simens Historical Antiques, Willoughby, OH; Ron Grieve Collection 2010. (02-15709/JS). $6,000-8,000.