The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-20

| Sultory firing, the boat crew, paymaster
guard and passengers were captured, but
not until they had thrown the mail bags
and other valuables considered contra
band into the boiler furnaces. Among
those captured, to my great astonish-
ment. found Major Burnham of the Six
| teenth Connecticut, whom l had assisted
in capturing at Plymouth on April 10.
| This brgve officer had been exchanged
and had reported at Norfolk for duty. On
account of i'll health he was given fur
Tough, but before leaving for home bust
ness of a private nature forced him to
visit Roanoke Island and he was en- route
when captured on the "Fawn." Just
here came a struggle between duty to
| country and sympathy for the unfortu-
| nate soldier broken In health caused by
| confinement in prison. who had been look
| ing forward to a speedy reunion with
| loved ones whom he had not seen in two
years. 1 would have gladly liberated him
| but duty forbade and poor Burnham was
again an inmate of a Confederate prison.
The war ended the following spring, and
the overpowered fragments of a once
glorious army went sorrowfully to their
| respective homes Time passed on and
the scenes and incidents described in
! this sketch passed into history, and were
things to be thought and spoken of when
old comrades came together, or met at
ioA8 iulcTNellS. III July 1904, accompanied
by Maj. Frank Wadsworth of Birming-
ham. / stopped at the Union Square no.
tel In New York One morning shortly
after our arrival, We were Joined by
friend OF mine In the cafe and during
the interview he called a friend, who
happened to enter the room, and intro
duced both Wadsworth and myself to
the gentleman. Very much to my aston
ishment the party was introduced as
Col. John HI. Burnham, postmaster OF
Hartford, Conn Mutual recognition fol-
lowed. hands were clasped, old incidents
were gone over, and the time lang syne"
was referred to and greatly enjoyed by
several parties seated at various tables,
who had witnessed the meeting and lis
tened with unfeigned delight to the
friendly rencontre of two men who had
been thrown together under vastly diff
ferent circumstances twenty years be-
fore The first question asked by Burn
nam after the greeting was over, was:
~ Brien where Is my flag? I would give
thousand dollars to get it back; do
you know what was done with it?"
informed him that the flag was in the
Keeping of Mr.. Mortie Williams of Mont
gomery, Ala. HE is frequently in Biz
mingham and the next time meet him
l will tell him of our meeting, and of
your great desire to obtain possession of
.ne nag ana reel safe in assuring you
that he will send 1t to you at once"
Burnham expressed great delight at the
prospect of recovering the flag after SO
long time and offered to compensate me
In very liberal way for any time or
expense might be put to in securing the
much desired result, all of which I de-
clined. We met daily for two or three
weeks and passed many pleasant hours
together When the time came for his
departure. he gave myself and friend a
pressing invitation to accom- pany him to
fts home in Hartford as his guests. Mat
tiers of an important business nature
Nrevented the acceptance of the kind in
vitation and we parted, never to meet
again Soon after my return south, in
September Mr.. Williams etaoinhrdlu ut
September met Mr.. Williams and told
him of the meeting with Burnham, and
the assurance had given him about the
return of the flag, and also his great de-
sire to get possession of 1t. Mr.. Williams
very promptly promised to crafty my
request that the flag be returned to Burn
ham, and said that just as soon as he
returned to Montgomery he would look
up the flag and send 1t to Hartford Later
on. in December l again met Mr. VIII |
liams and he told me he had been nm
able to find the flag but would continue
the search. still later at another meeting |
un9nC-
cessful. that he was under the impressIon |
that his sister Mrs. Atmore of Louisville |
had 1t and that he had not given I'm |
hopes of being able to comply with h,s |
promise. 1t was finally found In 1898 and |
turned over by Mr. Williams to Col
Thomas G. Jones. colonel OF the Second |
Alabama regiment, now United statas
judge for the Northern District of Ala
bama-
Col. Jones sent the coors to tho gov
ernor Of Connecticut, with the statement
that 1t was the battle flag of the sixte, mn
Connecticut Volunteers, captured at Plv-
mouth, North Carolina, on April 10 1sSA
The nag was received by Executive Sec
rotary Mclean, of Hartford, and the fol
lowing lines appeared in the Hartford
Times of the next day
Secretary Mclean today received from,
General Jones, of Montgom cry. Ala. one
OF the flags Of the Connecticut yo,,n-
teers, captured at Plymouth, North Caro-
INA, 1864 This flag is not the United
states flag furnished by the government
to each regiment, nor the state colors
furnished by Connecticut, but one of the
guidons, and has been identified as the
one presented to the regiment by the
Hartford City Guards. 1t ia about two