A Moment in Time

"Keep the Flag to the Front"

November 2001
By Blair Tarr

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

And is that old flag flying still
That o'er your fathers flew,
With bands of white and rosy light,
And field of starry blue?
-Ay! look aloft! Its folds full oft
Have braved the roaring blast,
And still shall fly when from the sky
This black typhoon has past!

--"Voyage of the Good Ship Union,"
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1862

The Eighth Kansas Infantry was present when Union and Confederate forces clashed at Chickamauga, Georgia on September 19, 1863. They were in the thick of the battle, and nowhere was it more noticeable than in the color guard of the regiment. At the front of the unit, they presented a target for the enemy. When the battle was over, of the nine members of the color guard, four were dead, three wounded, and two escaped unharmed.

The colonel of the regiment, John A. Martin, described the nature of the color guard. "The color-bearer and his guard of honor formed a striking group-he tall, powerful, manly, grave and silent; they boyish, beardless, laughing, chattering, careless-but one and all of them daring and gallant beyond what was common even in those heroic years."

Colonel Martin went on to describe their fate at Chickamauga. "Within an hour after the battle began, Rovohl. . .was mortally wounded. When he fell his comrades indulged in fierce dispute as to which of them was entitled to carry the flag. Several claimed it, but Wendell, affirming his seniority in rank as a corporal, secured it. Two of them proposed carrying Rovohl to the surgeons in the rear, but he refused all help, saying, 'My life is nothing-keep the flag to the front.'"

The weapons of the Civil War produced a great deal of smoke, so the flags of the regiment took on a great deal of importance. They were large enough to be seen at a distance. The color guard was at the front of the regiment, giving guidance to the troops behind them. From a distance, officers could conduct troop movements in the battle by observing the flags, and issue appropriate orders. Because they were so prominent in the field, the Civil War soldier appreciated the flags, even as they became tattered, because it reflected their service in the field. The flag was an object of morale, to be protected from capture, and to be captured from your enemy.

The flag could also be a symbol of the people left at home. In early 1861 the ladies of Emporia presented Company H of the Second Kansas Infantry with a flag they had made. On August 10, 1861, the Second Kansas was engaged at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, just outside Springfield, Missouri. The flag the Emporia ladies made was the flag of the regiment, and the color bearer, Corporal Thomas Miller, was mortally wounded in the battle.

Two months later, the Second Kansas Infantry, having completed its service as a 90-day regiment, returned home. In Emporia, Company H returned the flag. One of the flagmakers, Anna Watson Randolph, described the flag:

"We saw it full of bullet holes, ragged and battle-stained. He pointed to the dark stains on the staff where the blood of our young soldier had trickled down, and told us how even in the struggle of death he had borne it up until a comrade could take his place. It was the target for the whole Rebel army. . .We sobbed and cried aloud. It was our first experience of the horrors of war."

The flag inspired then, and it has continued to inspire, whether it is flying over Iwo Jima in World War II, or at the World Trade Center site in New York. People continue to thrill at its sight, much like the scene described by Stephen Crane in his book, The Red Badge of Courage, one of the best novels about the Civil War. Crane wrote:

"From a sloping hill came the sound of cheerings and clashes. Smoke welled slowly through the leaves.

Batteries were speaking with thunderous oratorical effort. Here and there were flags, the red in the stripes dominating. They splashed bits of warm color upon the dark line of troops.

The youth felt the old thrill at the sight of the emblems. They were like beautiful birds strangely undaunted in a storm."

The Kansas Museum of History presents the Special Exhibit, Keep the Flag to the Front: Battle Flags of Kansas, running through April 2002. The museum is open 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday - Saturday, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Sunday, and located at the Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka KS 66615-1099; 785-272-8681, TTY 785-272-8683; www.kshs.org .

The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The Society requests prior notification to accommodate individuals with special needs or disabilities.