Flag: 6th Alabama Infantry
Catalogue No. 86.3955.1
(PN10176-10177)
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Provenance Reconstruction:

This flag is an Army of Northern Virginia, 3rd wool bunting issue. Flags of this pattern were manufactured at the Richmond Depot between July 1862 and May 1864. This flag was issued to the 6th Alabama Infantry in April, 1863. It was captured on the night of May 8, 1864 at Spotsylvania Courthouse (Laurel Hill) by Captain Benjamin F. Davis, 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. According to the Official Records, Davis was killed two days later on May 10th by a sharpshooter. According to a letter from Captain R. G. Carter dated March 28, 1905, Davis was killed the following morning (May 9) as he emerged from the woods with the captured colors.

The flag was forwarded to the U.S. War Department on October 6, 1864 by G. K. Warren, Major General of Volunteers commanding the 5th Army Corps. The flag was assigned War Department Capture Number 194. It was returned to the State of Alabama by the U.S. War Department effective March 25, 1905.

Sources:
       Biggs, Greg. "Ragged Rags of Rebellion. The Flags of the Confederacy," an unpublished manuscript, Curator's Files, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
       Curator's Object Files, Civil War Flags, Alabama Department of Archives and History.
       U.S. War Department. War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.