Flag: 59th Alabama Infantry
Catalogue No. 86.3924.1
(PN10193)
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Provenance Reconstruction:

This flag is an Army of Northern Virginia, 3rd wool bunting issue. Flags of this issue were manufactured at the Richmond Depot between July 1862 and May 1864. The flag of the 59th Alabama Infantry was captured near Hatcher's Run, Virginia, on March 25, 1865, by Private George W. Tompkins, Co. F, 124th New York Infantry. The flag was being carried by Lt. Col. Daniel S. Troy, 60th Alabama Infantry, who was urging the men under this command forward when he was shot down by Private Tompkins. Tompkins was recommended for and received the Congressional Medal of Honor. The flag was forwarded to the U.S. War Department where it was assigned Capture Number 272. It was returned to the State of Alabama effective April 26, 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 The Flags of the Confederacy," an unpublished manuscript, Curator's Files, Alabama Department of Archives and History.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. 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. Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.