Descendant To Return Captured Flag From Pickett's Charge To Gettysburg
By Deborah Fitts
November 2004

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - A Confederate flag captured during Pickett's Charge is returning to the battlefield for the first time since July 1863 - this time to stay.

The flag is being donated to Gettysburg National Military Park by the grandson of the Federal officer who captured it. The officer, Maj. Walter A Van Rensselaer of the 80th New York Infantry, died in 1879 of wounds suffered during the scuffle for the prize.

Along with the flag comes Van Rensselaer's diary, in which he describes the capture.

"This is quite unusual in having well-established provenance to the battle," said Greg Goodell, supervisor of museum services for the park. "We have a number of flags, both Confederate and Union, but not many have a definite provenance to the battle of Gettysburg."

At presstime, the transfer of the flag and diary were tentatively scheduled for Oct. 25 in Kingston, N.Y.

Van Rensselaer was a physician from Kingston who served in the prewar 20th New York State Militia, the Ulster Guard, which in wartime service transformed into the 80th New York, a unit of the First Corps. On July 3, according to Goodell, the 80th was behind the Union line to the left of the Copse of Trees, and during the Confederate assault came forward to help fill a gap.

Van Rensselaer recounted in his diary what happened next:

"When near a slash of timber I discovered a rebel flag behind the fence in the hands of an officer. I demanded its surrender. He replied, 'Not by a d-d sight!' and fired at me with his revolver, wounding me in the small of the back. I lunged at him with my saber, when he fired again, the ball striking my saber scabbard. Five or six of my boys came to rescue me and he surrendered."

The men of the 80th afterward presented Van Rensselaer with the banner. He was later brevetted colonel as a result of the action.

Goodell said the diary entry was dated July 3. It's possible, however, that it may have been written a day or two later, he said, since shortly after the fight near the Copse of Trees Van Rensselaer was "knocked senseless" by a shell burst, as he wrote, and was taken to the 12th Corps hospital.

The flag that Van Rensselaer captured is a Confederate First National design - the "stars and bars" with a blue canton and three stripes of red, white and red.

"We do know that Pickett's division had been issued new regimental banners," Goodell said, and this clearly was not one of them. "More than likely this flag marked a headquarters unit, probably a brigade headquarters site."

He conjectured that, given the location of the capture, the flag was the headquarters flag of one of Pickett's brigade commanders, generals Lewis Armistead, Richard Garnett or James Kemper.

The flag and diary were placed on loan to the City of Kingston, N.Y., Van Rensselaer's hometown, by his granddaughter in 1949. For half a century they sat in a glass case in City Hall, until a renovation project in 1999. This August Tompkins Van Rensselaer, 87, a grandson of the colonel, asked that the items be donated to Gettysburg.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from the 22nd District, is facilitating the transfer. A spokesman for Hinchey said the Hudson Valley congressman was interested in history and would be present for the ceremony in Kingston.

Goodell said the flag was in "immaculate condition." Made of cotton, it measures 34 by 70 inches, bears 11 stars and was likely made in mid-to-late 1861, he said.

Once the flag and diary are cataloged and have received any necessary conservation measures, Goodell said they will be placed on display, possibly late this year.