New Jersey Flag Collection
By Joseph G. Bilby
TRENTON, N.J.

The long awaited New Jersey Civil War flag collection exhibit was opened to the public on Oct. 26.
The colorful collection of state and national battle flags, camp colors and guidons carried by New Jersey's regiments and batteries, as well as Army of the Potomac brigade flags and captured Confederate standards, has been held in protective storage by the New Jersey State Museum for the past 15 years.
A number of these historic banners will now be on permanent display in the New Jersey Department of State and Cultural Affairs galleries at the New Jersey State Archives, located at 225 West State Street in Trenton.
The revolving display, which will change every six months to bring new flags to public view as well as limit the fragile artifacts' exposure to light, consists of five large custom-made cases which are housed in the climate-controlled west gallery of the Archives building.
The flags, 53 of the total of 140 Civil War-era colors owned by the state, were selected after considering both condition and historical interest, and are scheduled to rotate every six months.
The current exhibit features the National Colors of the 15th and 3rd New Jersey Infantry, the former a standard Philadelphia Depot star pattern and the latter with a state emblem in the star field; a 3rd New Jersey Cavalry "butterfly" guidon; the state crest (all that remains) of a 33rd New Jersey flag, probably the one captured by the Confederates at Peachtree Creek and then recaptured by the 9th New Jersey Infantry in the waning days of the war; and a Second New Jersey Brigade headquarters flag, with combined Second and Third Army Corps insignia, dating it to 1864, after the consolidation of those corps.
Illustrated panels designed by New Jersey State Museum guest curators Civil War News columnist and historian Joseph Bilby, Gettysburg scholar Dr. David Martin, Joseph Seliga of the Sons of Union Veterans, and reenactor Bruce Jones of the 15th New Jersey Infantry, provide a brief history of New Jersey's Civil War troops, the history and meaning of the flags themselves, then and now, the heroism surrounding captured and lost flags (New Jersey had a more than 3 to 1 advantage here ã 17 captured and five lost), and the story of the flag collection itself.
A map pinpoints the locations where specific New Jersey Civil War units fought, from Arkansas to Roanoke Island, N.C.
An informative illustrated brochure on the collection, written by Martin and funded by the Abraham Lincoln Camp 100 and James A. Garfield Camp 4, New Jersey Department, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, is also available to visitors.
In his dedicatory remarks opening the galleries, which also house an impressive collection of New Jersey artists' work, New Jersey Secretary of State DeForest B. Soaries Jr., who was introduced by Assistant Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Barbara F. Russo, stressed his department's dedication to telling the rich and diverse cultural story of the Garden State, its art and history.
New Jersey State Senator Robert E. Littell, the legislator most responsible for creating the state Archives's new home, addressed the obligation of the people of the present to preserve the past for those of the future.
The battle flags project had its inception several years ago, with Civil War reenactors Jack Fitzpatrick, Bruce Jones and Bill Styple of the 15th New Jersey Infantry. Their efforts led to the founding of the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association (NJCWHA), which got the project off the ground and running.
The unstinting support of the New Jersey National Guard and its commander, Maj. Gen. Paul J. Glazar, and the encouragement of State Archivist Karl Niederer, as well as New Jersey State Museum personnel, were essential to the NJCWHA's creation and effectiveness.
Valuable assistance in both cash donations and volunteer effort was provided by a large number of people and organizations, including the trustees and general membership of the NJCWHA, the reenactors and N-SSA skirmishers of the 11th, 14th, 15th and 33rd New Jersey Infantry, the Sons of Union Veterans, American Legion, Elks Club and the Robert E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Woodbridge, N.J.
These contributions, capped by 15th New Jersey Infantry reenactor Doug Dobbs's South Mountain preservation fund raising march, put the NJCWHA's goal within reach. In a timely melding of state and private resources, Governor Christine Todd Whitman's office provided funding for the flag cases, allowing the NJCWHA to concentrate its efforts on other aspects of the exhibition and its ongoing work to increase public awareness of and preserve the material culture of New Jersey's role in the Civil War.
Although the opening of the battle flag display is a major milestone for the NJCWHA, the organization, which is also involved in a records preservation project at the Archives, has established a number of other goals to assure that the state's citizens will never forget New Jersey's Civil War heritage.
For further information contact the NJCWHA, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation, at P.O. Box 3316, Mercerville, NJ 08619 or at its website http://www.njcivilwar.org/