Flag: 2nd Alabama Infantry (Reserves, redesignated 63rd Alabama Infantry)
Catalogue No. 86.3939.1
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Provenance Reconstruction:

Organized on August 16, 1864, the 2nd Alabama Infantry Reserves was redesignated as the 63rd Alabama Infantry in March 1865. This flag, manufactured by either Jackson O. Belknap or James A. Cameron of Mobile, conforms to the pattern issued to units within the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. Since the flag bears an appliqued unit designation for the 2nd Alabama Infantry, it must have been issued prior to the unit being redesignated as the 63rd Alabama Infantry. It was captured on April 9, 1865 at Blakeley, Alabama by Sgt. George F. Rebman, Co. B, 119th Illinois Infantry. Sergeant Rebman was recommended for and later received the Congressional Medal of Honor. On April 12, 1865, the flag along with others was forwarded to Lt. Col. C. T. Christensen, Assistant Adjutant General, Army and Division of West Mississippi by Major General A. J. Smith. The flag was eventually sent to the U.S. War Department in Washington where it was assigned Capture Number 449. It was returned to the State of Alabama effective March 25, 1905.

Sources:
      Curator's Object Files, Civil War Flags, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
      Madaus, Howard Michael. The Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1976.
      Sifakis, Stewart. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Alabama. New York, Oxford, 1992.
      U.S. War Department. American Decorations, 1862-1926. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1927.
      U.S. War Department. War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.Washington, Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.