Civil War Photo Friday: Famous Union Battle Flags

This illustration was originally published in My Story Of The War: A Woman’s Narrative of Four Years Personal Experience as a Nurse in the Union Army by Mary Livermore. It shows several Union battle flags from celebrated units. From left to right they are: Thirteenth Illinois, Twenty fourth Michigan, Eighth Missouri, First Minnesota Artillery, Second Michigan Artillery, and the Seventh New York Heavy Artillery.

The Eighth Missouri was organized in St. Louis in the summer of 1861. The men were drawn from the Irish workers on the city's riverfront. They wore distinctive Zouave uniforms and fought with distinction in the Eastern theater. Today the regiment is remembered with its own reenactment group.

Some nice flags, although the heavy artillery from New York seems to have shredded theirs!